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Uniting against fascism Unite’s legacy unions in Ireland and the Spanish Civil War Unite’s legacy unions in Ireland and the Spanish Civil War PPPPP May 2017 ¡NO PASARÁN! Preface “When the vile creed of fascism is again raising its ugly head it is vital for the young people of today to learn the lesson taught in Spain – the great lesson of unity. We need that unity more than ever today when fascism is on the rise all over the world, even in Germany. We must again say “Never!” to racism and fascism. No Pasaran! Salud!” Waterford-born Brigadista Peter O’Connor , a member of Unite’s legacy union MSF, speaking at Jarama in 1994 Fighting against fascism and all its manifestations is oDf uabcltiniveer Mtraaxd Le evitas speaking at an event organised by It was also difficult for the trade union hardwired into Unite and the trade union Unite Community in 2016 to mark the 80th anniversary of movement, and for Unite’s legacy unions, to movement, a movement built on the principles the Battle of Cable Street maintain a united front in support of the Spanish of solidarity and equality. From the 1930s to the Republic in Ireland, North and South. present day, Unite and our legacy unions have been at the forefront of the battle against ultra- Yet, despite the obstacles – and despite mistrust nationalism, racism and xenophobia – just some manufactured by both political and religious of the ingredients which, mixed together, can give forces – the Irish trade union movement birth to fascism. provided vital support not only to the Spanish Republic, but also to individual brigadistas Eighty years ago, our legacy unions and many following their return. individual members were not only working to defeat Fascism in Spain, but were engaged in Eventual unity in the battle against fascism was battles closer to home – whether against Oswald only achieved following analysis, engagement Mosley’s British Union of Fascists in London, or and persuasion – and that is one of the Saint Patrick’s Anti-Communist League and the lessons the 1930s hold for us today. Irish Christian Front in Dublin. unionists and socialists, one of whom was to serve in The rise of fascism in the 1930s taught us the need for It was a universal struggle, and ongoing emigration the Connolly Column in Spain. active vigilance – and in 2017, there is much to be meant that young men from Belfast and Dublin could vigilant against: hate crime is on the rise, and perceived find themselves fighting fascists in London, Liverpool In remembering the past, we must avoid mythologizing national self-interest is being pitted against values of or Manchester. it: there were fractures in the unity which defeated solidarity and internationalism. the fascists on Cable Street, as Levitas remembers: Last year, Unite Community played a central role in Today, Unite Community mobilises trade union and events organised to mark the 80th anniversary of the Mosley wanted to march through Whitechapel because it community activists in campaigns as diverse as the Battle of Cable Street, when around 7,000 people was where a large number of Jewish people lived and struggle against homophobic hate crime in Northern wearing the black shirts of Oswald Mosley’s British worked, and I knew the only way to stop him was to have Ireland and solidarity with refugees and asylum Union of Fascists attempted to march through unity of the people. I approached a number of unions, seekers in the Republic. London’s heavily Jewish Whitechapel area, despite a Jewish organisations and the Communist League to band petition of over 100,000 signatures calling for the together against the Fascists but although they agreed what What follows is a brief, and necessarily incomplete, march to be banned. Jews and Irish, dockworkers and I was doing was right, they wouldn’t support me. overview of the role played by Unite’s legacy unions tailors, socialists and communists, trade union and some individual members in the struggle for the members and those without work – they all came But […] there were thousands that came together in Spanish Republic. together to send a clear message to the fascists: No Aldgate, and when we heard that Mosley’s intention was to Pasaran! You shall not pass! march along Cable St from Tower Hill into Whitechapel, The fight against fascism in all its guises continues. large numbers of people went to Cable St and barricades ¡No Pasarán! And, on October 4 th 1936, the fascists did not pass but were set up. The police attempted to clear Cable St with were vanquished by solidarity. horses, so that the march could go ahead, but the people of Len McCluskey , General Secretary 1 Cable St fought back and the police had to give in . Jimmy Kelly , Regional Secretary The use of the slogan ‘No Pasaran!’ by the residents of Whitechapel that day indicates that progressives saw Trade unionists demonstrating in support of migrants, Belfast 2017 a clear link between Mosley’s Blackshirts and Franco’s Falange movement. They knew that the fight against Fascism was and is universal and indivisible. And they knew that fascism poses an existential threat to all our freedoms – including trade union freedom. The organic links between many of those who battled Mosley’s Blackshirts on Cable Street in London, those who battled anti-Communist mobs on North Great Strand Street in Dublin, and those who fought and died in Spain are therefore unsurprising. The picture above shows Cable Street veteran Max Levitas, born in Dublin over a century ago to a family Unite’s legacy unions in Ireland and the Spanish Civil War May 2017 ¡NO PASARÁN! PPPPP A tale of two workers In 1933, 17-year-old Dubliner Bob Doyle was among those attacking Connolly House in Dublin’s Great “I’m still determined to stay here until Strand Street, just a few metres away from where Unite House stands today, while Belfast-born William Fascism is completely crushed” Tumilson was among the defenders of Dublin’s communist headquarters. William Tumilson writing to his fiancée Kathleen Walsh, March 11th 1937 Both men were, at different times, members of Unite’s William (Liam) Tumilson was born in 1904 in East Belfast; his father was a legacy unions – Bob Doyle of the print union SOGAT, shipyard riveter and there were six children in the family. There are unconfirmed and William Tumilson of the electrical union ETU 2 . stories that Tumilson had been a member of the Junior Orange Order in his Both men fought on the Republican side in Spain. youth. What we do know, however, is that he was politicised by the 1932 Belfast William Tumilson died at the Battle of Jarama, while Outdoor Relief Riots. In 1933, he was among those defending Connolly House, Bob Doyle died in 2009 following a lifetime of trade the headquarters of the Revolutionary Workers’ Group [precursor of the union and political activism. Communist Party of Ireland], against an attack by adherents of the Irish Christian Front. In 1934 Tumilson joined the Republican Congress, and in the same year helped carry the banner of the Shankill James Their stories mirror the Irish trade union movement’s Connolly Socialists to Bodenstown. In 1935, probably while working in Liverpool, he joined the Communist complex history in the fight against 1930s fascism. Party of Great Britain, and left for Spain in December 1936. William Tumilson was killed in action at Jarama on March 14 th 1937. In his memoirs, Doyle explained what motivated him to join the assault on Connolly House: Tumilson was a crane driver and at one time a member of one of Unite’s legacy unions, the Electrical Trades Union . “I had attended the evening mission on Monday 27 March 1933 at the Pro-Cathedral [….] I remember him [Jesuit preacher] saying – which scared me – “Here in this holy Shortly afterwards, working in London, Doyle met Kit Catholic city of Dublin, these vile creatures of Communism Conway, whom he was to follow into the Communist are within our midst.” Immediately after the sermon Party of Ireland and the Republican Congress. His everybody then began leaving, singing and gathered in politics were now firmly of the left, and he spend much a crowd outside, we must have been a thousand of the intervening period engaged in street politics singing “To Jesus Heart All Burning” and “Faith of our before going to Spain. Fathers, Holy Faith”. The attack on Connolly House was just one of many We marched down towards Great Strand Street, to the demonstrations of pro-Fascist power during the 1930s headquarters of the socialist and anti-Fascist groups in by organisations such as St. Patricks’s Anti-Communist Connolly House. I was inspired, if you could use that League and, later, the Irish Christian Front and expression, by the message of the Jesuit. There was no General Eoin O’Duffy’s Blueshirts, as well as by 3 attempt by the police to stop us” . ostensibly unorganised or spontaneous groups. Police officers on guard in one of the rooms of Connolly House following the attacks “I didn't know much about Spain, but I knew my thoughts were that every bullet I fired would be against the Dublin landlords and capitalists.” Robert (Bob) Doyle was born in Dublin in 1916 and grew up in a t enement on North King Street. He became politically active in the 1930s, suffering a beating from Eoin O’Duffy’s Blueshirts which left him with permanent damage to one eye. He joined the Republican Congress in 1935 and volunteered for the International Brigades in 1937, reaching Spain in December of that year.

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