Themes and Variations

Abstract

From the December Council meeting,¹ it was not until May 1937 that the League again considered the Spanish Civil War in any detail. On May 19, following several previous protests, Spain made a formal request to have the Council include a discussion of Spain on its agenda. (At the Council meeting in December Spain had reserved the right to raise the question later when they saw fit.) The first meeting of the 97th Council opened May 24. Four days later the Loyalist delegate, Alvarez Del Vayo, submitted a collection of documents known as the White Paper, showing without doubt that there were complete units of the Italian army, acting in their zone of “occupation” as if Spain were a conquered country.² Alvarez Del Vayo denounced the control scheme as a failure and claimed that if “the League is to have a future, the struggle in Spain cannot end without the League adopting a clear and firm position.³ As before, although not expecting her demands to be fulfilled, Spain hoped to create a favourable public opinion, especially in Great Britain, which would demand the strengthening of Non-Intervention.