against both Italian fascist abuses against Catholic Youth organizations in 1931 and German Nazism in 1937, Stepinac refrained from condemning or even mentioning Fascism or Nazism, pointing out that in 1938 the Catholic Church was supporting the Italian and German allies of Franco Spanish Civil War, and public criticism of their political ideologies would not have been helpful. Finally, Tomasevich stresses that the Vatican saw Germany as the most important opponent of communism. Nevertheless, Stepinac was a member of the Yugoslav Catholic Bishops' Conference that issued warnings against both Nazism and Communism after the 1937 papal encyclical against Nazis ideology. Stepinac feared both Nazism and communism, even as he disdained western parliamentary democracy. This can be seen from Stepinac's diary entry of 5 November 1940, when he wrote, If Germany wins [the war], there will be appalling terror and the destruction of little nations. If England wins, the masons, [and] Jews will remain in power ... If the USSR wins, then the devil will have authority over both the world and hell. West describes Stepinac as a "puritanical zealot", who gathered together those opposing communism, liberalism, secular education, divorce reform, profanity, sexual intercourse outside of marriage, and birth control, under the umbrella of the Croatian Catholic movement. Stepinac even railed against "mixed sunbathing and swimming". West also observes that by 1934, Stepinac had developed into an ardent, almost obsessive, Croatian nationalist whose bigotry was softened only by his piety and a measure of human kindness. According to the journalist Marcus Tanner, by the time he became coadjutor bishop, Stepinac had become a determined opponent of the Serb-centric approach of the Yugoslav government, and by the time he became archbishop he was a strong supporter of the HSS, making it clear that he had voted for Maček in the 1938 elections. Stella Alexander wrote of Stepinac's political outlook: He was in many ways a typical son of the Church in Croatia of that time, fervidly pious, narrow and dogmatic, believing, in his own words, that "Jews, freemasons and communists" were "the worst enemies of the Church", and that the Orthodox Serbs, the schismatics must whenever possible be brought back to the true Church. This was coupled not only with great courage, but with social concern and charity, especially when he was confronted with individual cases; he was a good pastor and felt close to his people. The impression he makes is