Loyalist territory. Largo Caballero would not yield to these demands, and he was forced to resign on May 15. Dr. Juan Negrin became the Premier of the new Government, as Stashevsky had long ago decided. His Government was hailed as the Government of Victory. Negrin remained premier until the collapse of the Loyalist defence in March 1939.
Garcia, on hearing the news from Barcelona, came running to me in a state of high excitement. He had been to the Spanish Embassy. He wanted to return to Spain at once. He could not understand why he could not get away. But Sloutski would not let him go; Orlov, in Barcelona, did not want Garcia around. True, he was an important Communist, but he might make trouble. In Barcelona the Ogpu was taking prisoners en masse. Sloutski offered Garcia a trip to the Caucasus and the Crimea, insisting that the Soviet Government wanted him to see everything. But Garcia wanted to go home. Of course, lie did not go.
In the Spanish Embassy, Garcia made the acquaintance of four other Spaniards, who also wanted to go home. These four had been provided with two spacious rooms at the Hotel Metropole. They had been escorted to every museum in Moscow, to every sight in and around the capital. They had been to the Crimea, to the Caucasus, to Leningrad, even to the Dnieprostroy Dam. For five months they had been seeing sights in the Soviet Union.
Daily they went to the Spanish Embassy for news from home. Daily they tried to get their passports back. From talking with them, I suspected that they knew they were prisoners. Their Government would not help them; Stalin ruled their Government.
I asked Sloutski who they were.