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Hull art students find inspiration in the volunteers Jimmy Rutherford banner, made by Edinburgh East Communist Party and now held by the People’s Story Museum, City of Edinburgh Museums & Galleries. From Edinburgh’s Newhaven district, Rutherford was only 20 when he was executed by the fascists. Captured at Jarama in February 1937, he was released in a prisoner exchange on condition he did not return to Spain. He was captured again, however, this time in Aragón and on 24 May 1938 he faced the firing squad. Before returning to Spain he had told his father: ‘If all the young men had seen what I saw out there, they would be doing what I am doing.’
21 March 2020 IBMT’s annual Len Crome Memorial Conference SCOTLAND AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR INSIGHTS INTO THE CONTRIBUTION OF A NATION AND ITS PEOPLE George Square Lecture Theatre, University of Edinburgh, A IONA ERN LES Edinburgh EH8 9LD, 10.30am to 3.30pm NT D I E S L O A I
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Tickets Details to be announced early in Daniel Gray Writer, researcher, TV presenter 2020. and author of ‘Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War’. For travel and accommodation information International Brigade email Mike Arnott, IBMT Scotland Secretary: Memorial Trust Live music Gallo Rojo & friends. [email protected] www.international-brigades.org.uk ¡NO PASARÁN!
Magazine of the International Brigade Memorial Trust No.53 l 1-2020
p Image of former Hull University student Frida Members of Charlie Hutchison’s extended family attended the event, including daughter Susan (seated left) Knight (née Stewart), who drove an ambulance and son John (seated right). during the Spanish Civil War. It was created by Sarah Murdoch of Hull College of Art and Design for an exhibition inspired by the volunteers who went to Spain. See page 8. Celebrating black British 4 News l Report and photos of the IBMT AGM, plus Joe Solo’s new recording Brigader Charlie Hutchison
12 Volunteers from Scotland ntil recently very little has been known about The students strongly engaged with the poetry l Mike Arnott on Scots in the Spanish Civil War Charlie Hutchison, who is the only black and prose that came from the International Uvolunteer from Britain in the International Brigades’ experience of the Spanish Civil War. To 14 The People’s Army Brigades. In an effort to redress this, on 19 October quote the last lines of one poem by sixth former l Alex Clifford looks at the Ejército Popular the Marx Memorial Library brought together Kacey Leigh Jasper: ‘Nevertheless I stand here / In a students from Newham Sixth Form College and the proclamation of sincerity to the men 16 The ‘Big Three’ discuss fascist Spain extended Hutchison family for an exploration and on the right side of history.’ l Transcript from Potsdam celebration of Charlie’s life. Coinciding with Black Seventeen members of History Month, the event was the culmination of a Charlie’s extended family 18 Letter project undertaken by the students after a visit to the attended the event, l From Havana library in March last year to hear a talk on the including his son, International Brigades. The students were intrigued daughter, niece, 19 Books & the arts to find out about one Brigader in particular – Charlie nephew and l Reviews of ‘The Red Gene’ and ‘Violencia’ Hutchison – and agreed to work with the library to grandchildren. develop a history project around him. Daughter Susan Small 22 Final word presented some of l Jim Jump on mass graves on British soil Research the detailed Both students and their teachers presented information she had ¡No Pasarán! (formerly the IBMT Magazine and the original research, poetry, prose and even artwork found on her father. In IBMT Newsletter) is published three times a year. inspired by Charlie’s life. Teacher Alan Kunna spoke fact, most of the new Back numbers can be downloaded from the IBMT about Hutchison’s father, who was a member of a material that the students website. All content is the © of the IBMT and prominent African family from the Gold Coast had been working from had been credited contributors and cannot be reproduced (present day Ghana), while Carina Ancell described provided by her. without written permission. Views expressed are the circumstances of Charlie’s birth and early Charlie’s son John gave more details about his not necessarily those of the IBMT. family life. parents, including the fact that his father was a The students’ projects drew from Charlie’s anti- lifelong friend of Jack Jones, the International Editor Ajmal Waqif fascist political commitments, his experience of Brigade veteran and trade union leader. He IBMT, 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DU fighting in Spain, his family background, his revealed that Charlie had remained a committed 020 7253 8748 experience of being black in mid-20th century communist throughout his life, and painted a [email protected] Britain and his Second World War record. Many of portrait of a man who had not only once been a the students brought their own experiences of Brigader but was also a loving father and husband, International Brigade Memorial Trust being from migrant or mixed-heritage backgrounds an active trade unionist, an anti-apartheid activist www.international-brigades.org.uk into their work. and a peace campaigner.
¡NO PASARÁN! 3 EAST END HISTORY TOUR: On the Sunday of the IBMT AGM weekend, members were taken on a Spanish Civil War-themed walking tour of London’s East End led by historian David Rosenberg. The tour covered key anti-fascist historical sites, one of the most significant being the Cable Street Mural in Shadwell where members (pictured above) stopped for a group photo.
tt Freddie Shaw (left) and Richard Baxell (right) gave talks about the volunteers from London. The panel was chaired by Meirian Jump (centre), Archivist and Library Manager of the Marx Memorial Library.
t Karl Lewkowicz spoke about the development and reception of the musical ‘Goodbye Barcelona’ .
4 ¡NO PASARÁN! NEWS International Brigade Memorial Trust Members gather in London for eventful Annual General Meeting weekend he IBMT’s Annual General Meeting was held over the IBMT’s No Pasarán Raffle. Prizes ranged from three class Brigader, Harold Bernard Collins. Shaw traced the the weekend of 4-6 October in London; the nights in Madrid (or £500), a case of Spanish wines, growth of anti-fascist activity among Jewish Londoners Tvenue was the main hall of the Marx Memorial paintball vouchers to many books and CDs. The raffle and their presence at the Battle of Cable Street and the Library, which also houses its International Brigade results can be found on the ‘News’ section of the IBMT International Brigades, using his own father Jack Shaw archive and two framed British Battalion banners. As website. as a case-study. well as standard AGM business, members who Members also heard a pair of historical lectures Another key moment of the AGM was the attended enjoyed an interesting and varied from Richard Baxell, author of ‘Unlikely Warriors: The screening of David Leach’s documentary ‘Voices from programme of activities. Extraordinary Story of the Britons who Fought in the a Mountain’ (2001). The film is about the rediscovery in Karl Lewkowicz, composer of ‘Goodbye Barcelona’, Spanish Civil War’, and Freddy Shaw, historian of the Sierra de Pàndols of a memorial to XV International presented footage from productions of the musical, London Jewish volunteers. Baxell spoke about a Brigade volunteers killed at the Battle of the Ebro. including performances at London’s Arcola Theatre in surprisingly under-discussed regional grouping of Using detailed interviews with veterans, Leach hones 2011. His talk also featured interviews with the writers, volunteers – Londoners. He pointed out that hundreds in on five Republican volunteers named on the producers and cast. of British Battalion volunteers enlisted from the capital, memorial, exploring their backgrounds, their actions Lewkowicz went on to draw the winning tickets in and traced the journey of one little-known working- during the civil war, and their untimely deaths in battle. Trustee elections bring new faces to the Executive Committee New Trustees Mike Arnott, Jonathan council and is a GMB shop steward. the first time and he will serve for Three other Trustees have also Havard and David McKnight were Jonathan will serve for one year, three years. The Executive stepped down from the executive: elected to the IBMT Executive replacing Mary Greening, who has Committee has appointed him to be Christopher Hall, Charles Jepson and Committee at the AGM on 5 October. retired from the Executive the IBMT’s Wales Secretary. He is a Manuel Moreno. Mike returns to the committee Committee a year early. He lives in full-time official for Unison. A complete and up-to-date list of after a one-year gap and retains his Essex and is a former national Re-elected to the committee the Executive Committee, including position of IBMT Scotland Secretary. secretary of the maritime trade were Megan Dobney and Jim Jump, past and present members dating Elected for a three-year term, he is union Nautilus International. who have also retained their back to the IBMT’s foundation in based in Dundee, where he is David, from Llangollen, has also positions of IBMT Secretary and 2001, can be found on the ‘About’ secretary of the local trades union been elected to the committee for IBMT Chair respectively. page of the Trust’s website. Herminio Martínez: Thanks and farewell
Herminio Martínez (left), one of the Basque refugee children who arrived in Britain in May 1937, was presented at the IBMT AGM (standing right) with a framed photo of the liberation of Mauthausen concentration camp in 1945, where many Spanish Republicans were killed. The presentation on 5 October, in recognition of Herminio’s support for the work of the IBMT, came only weeks before his death at the age of 89 on 29 December. Herminio was seven years old when the refugee Herminio, along with Helvecia Hidalgo (1923-2014), anniversary of the arrival of the Habana. ship Habana docked in Southampton, bringing became an unofficial convener for the niños, His final words on that occasion were: ‘I want to nearly 4,000 children from Bilbao to safety while including organising a get-together every year in end by expressing our deepest thanks and the Basque Country was being bombed by Franco’s London in May. gratitude to the British people. They were wonderful German and Italian allies. Herminio was also active in the IBMT, in the support they gave us. Some people gave Most of the ‘Children of Guernica’ eventually participating in many events and memorably years of their lives to support and look after us. Life returned to Spain or joined their families in exile. A addressing the IBMT’s annual commemoration on has been tough but in many ways, it has been few hundred made Britain their home and London’s Southbank in July 2017, the 80th wonderful. Thank you. ¡Viva la República!’
¡NO PASARÁN! 5 NEWS AGM CONDEMNS EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION ON REMEMBRANCE
embers at the 2019 IBMT AGM condemned the Text of the IBMT motion makes no reference to the war in concern that the European MEuropean Parliament for Spain, nor to the Munich Pact that Parliament’s resolution fails to adopting a resolution in September This Annual General Meeting of the sacrificed another European acknowledge the decisive role last year, which, supposedly in the International Brigade Memorial Trust democracy, Czechoslovakia, to Nazi played by the Red Army in defeating interests of ‘European remembrance’, deplores the resolution adopted by aggression. Nazism and the enormous sacrifice equates communism with Nazism the European Parliament on 19 We also reject in the strongest of the Russian and Soviet peoples in and ignores British appeasement of September 2019 on the importance terms the equivalence given to doing so. This is an unforgivable fascism as one of the key factors of European remembrance for the communism and fascism in the insult to their memory and, by leading to the Second World War. future of Europe. European Parliament’s resolution. We equating communism and Nazism, In a motion moved by IBMT The European Parliament’s note that tens of thousands of seeks to place the liberators of Chair Jim Jump, it was pointed out resolution makes highly contentious communists from around the world, Auschwitz on the same moral that tens of thousands of communists statements about the causes of the motivated by international solidarity footing as the perpetrators of the from around the world, motivated by Second World War. Specifically it and opposition to fascist ideology, Holocaust. international solidarity and opposition ignores the defeat of the Spanish volunteered to fight Franco, Hitler and Finally, we note with dismay that to fascist ideology, volunteered to fight Republic as an important factor in Mussolini in the Spanish Civil War. the resolution was carried by MEPs Franco, Hitler and Mussolini in the hastening the advent of the war. The Thousands of them gave their lives. with 535 votes in favour, 66 against Spanish Civil War. Thousands of them non-intervention treaty adopted by Many more continued the fight and 52 abstentions and that among died in Spain, and many survivors Britain and other countries in relation against fascism in the Second World those voting in favour were continued the fight in the Second to the Spanish Civil War and the War, whether in Allied forces or in members of the S&D socialist and World War, whether in Allied forces wider policy of appeasement underground resistance and partisan social democrat group in the or in resistance and partisan towards the fascist powers movements, including communist European Parliament, including the movements in fascist Europe. Carried emboldened the expansionist and other patriotic forces. We salute Labour Party. We resolve therefore to unanimously, the motion went on to ambitions of Hitler and Mussolini. We their bravery, sacrifice and memory. send a copy of this resolution to the deplore the ‘unforgivable insult’ by find it alarming that the resolution In addition, we note with deep European Parliamentary Labour Party. MEPs for failing to acknowledge the decisive role played by the Red Army in defeating Nazism, along with the enormous sacrifice of the Russian and Soviet peoples in the war. There was dismay at the AGM that Labour MEPs and others in the parliament’s S&D socialist and social democrat group had voted in favour of the resolution. The IBMT has sent these MEPs – and others who supported the controversial resolution – a copy of the motion carried at its AGM. Jim Jump said the European Parliament’s resolution was a dangerous attempt to rewrite history. It was designed to give cover to a growing number of apologists in Europe who wish to rehabilitate the memory of pro-Nazi, fascist and collaborationist groups during the Second World War. ‘It is an outrage,’ he declared, ‘that those guilty of the ANTI-FASCIST HISTORY: ‘Raising a Flag over the Reichstag’ crimes of Guernica and Auschwitz are by Yevgeny Khaldei, taken during the Battle of Berlin, 2 May being likened to the men and women 1945. The Soviet Union played the decisive role in the defeat who fought fascism in Spain or, in the of Nazi Germany. An estimated 8-11 million Red Army case of the Red Army, liberated the soldiers gave their lives in the struggle against fascism. Nazi death camps of Eastern Europe’.
6 ¡NO PASARÁN! Joe Solo (front) and supporters in Hull. Joe Solo gathers choir of comrades to record new song very special choir assembled at the their voices as part of the song gives it an Unison Building in Hull on 13 October. emotional edge as well as making it as much A Made up of members of the local a song about now, about current struggles, as International Brigades Memorial Group and it is about remembering the past. They were relatives of the Hull volunteers, they had brilliant. True professionals. We had great fun gathered to sing on a new song by singer- and I think the finished article is really songwriter Joe Solo, which remembers each powerful.’ of the 10 names on the city’s newly There was another moment which stood unveiled memorial. out for Joe. ‘We had a photo taken by the The song, ‘To Die With Your Fist In The Sky’, memorial, and I found myself crouched will be released as a bonus track on the holding one end of a Spanish Republic flag forthcoming re-issue of Joe’s ‘¡No Pasarán!’ with the other being held by young Harry, Jack album, for which he felt it needed Atkinson’s great nephew. It really felt like we something extra. were handing this massively important piece ‘I wanted to include as many of the family of history on to the next generation.’ members as possible. It completes a circle. ‘¡No Pasarán!’ is being re-issued with We’re singing of their forebears, and to have bonus tracks in March this year.
p Joe Solo (above) is a socialist folk singer-songwriter and activist. His 2013 album ‘¡No Pasarán!’ celebrates the International Brigaders who came from Hull.
u Supporters rally around Hull memorial, unveiled in March 2019.
¡NO PASARÁN! 7 RNA IONALE TE S IN D E NEWS S L O A I
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The International Brigade Memorial Trust keeps alive the memory and spirit of the men and women who volunteered to Hull art and design exhib fight fascism and IBMT Film Coordinator international solidarity, Pasionaria’s image, like her defend democracy MARSHALL MATEER Brigaders shaking hands and message to the Brigaders, is raised fist salutes appear again repeated and repeated in a in Spain from 1936 reports on the opening and again – proclaiming, kaleidoscope image. Mosley’s to 1939. night of an exhibition memorialising and mask-like face intrudes, organised by the Hull questioning. reduced to a map of blue, College of Art and This is the exhibition ‘No orange and yellow, as hollow International Brigade Memorial Trust Pasarán’, based on the Spanish now as his message was then. 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DU Design, held on 8 Civil War and the volunteers The names of the Hull Executive Officer: Ajmal Waqif November 2019. who went from Hull, by volunteers reverberate through 020 7253 8748 students from Hull College of Art the gallery: requiem plaques [email protected] flight of planes drones and Design’s photography and remember those who died: www.international-brigades.org.uk overhead while a huge graphic design departments. Jack Atkinson, James Bentley, Registered charity no.1094928 Awave of flame devours Image upon image: a map Morris Miller, Robert Wardle, the land beneath; ‘No Pasarán’ of Spain set in a sea of orange and those who returned: Joe President Marlene Sidaway emblazoned across the dark flame behind the new Hull Latus, Sam Walters, Richard [email protected] rock of Republican resistance. memorial; a bleb of blood on a Mortimer, Clive Smith and Bert Chair Jim Jump Along the gallery walls images shattered limb protrudes out of Wilson. A colourised image of [email protected] of the International Brigades’ coarse woollen clothing – pain Frida Stewart with her Secretary Megan Dobney three-pointed emblem of and loss are ever present. La ambulance is one of a set of [email protected]
u Treasurer (vacant) [email protected] By Lewis Snow.
Ireland Secretary Manus O’Riordan uu [email protected] By Jamie Leach. Scotland Secretary Mike Arnott [email protected] Wales Secretary David McKnight [email protected] Other Executive Committee members Pauline Fraser, Alex Gordon, John Haywood, Jonathan Havard, Alan Lloyd, Dolores Long, Tosh McDonald
Founding Chair Professor Sir Paul Preston Patrons Professor Peter Crome, Hywel Francis, Professor Helen Graham, Ken Livingstone, Len McCluskey, Christy Moore, Jack O’Connor, Maxine Peake, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, Mick Whelan
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ition inspired by volunteers for Spain postcards: ‘Wish you were latest song, ‘To Die With Your here’, a call across time. Fist In The Sky’, recorded with Drawing from the concepts the Hull memorial group a few of games such as ‘Minecraft’, a weeks previously. student shows the civil war as Speaking on behalf of the an infographic. Elements from IBMT at the opening night, I the war – air/Madrid, concluded with the following water/Ebro and land/Teruel, lines: ‘As one of the Brigaders with icons for planes, boats and former IBMT President Jack and tanks – turn a game-view Jones used to say: "The cause is into art. worthy" – it was then and still is A Republican flag lies – and it’s in your hands. From amongst the grass of a field in the evidence of this exhibition Hull. Is it sinking back in time, it’s in good hands. As the rising up or is it left in the Brigaders used to say, "¡Salud balance, awaiting our action? camaradas!"’ More photos of A photograph of a fist the exhibition can be found emerges from the ground online at: www.flickr.com/ besmirched with earth, bringing photos/ibmt/albums/72157712
to mind the title of Joe Solo’s 043662722. p By Leika Partington.
By Aisling Longbottom.
p By Connor Summers.
¡NO PASARÁN! 9 Your local International NEWS Brigade Update on plans for memorial in Newham Clapton Community Football Club West Ham Park for the 11 known Unfortunately the City of memorial is working closely with the IBMT Newham volunteers in the London has since rejected the to erect a monument in memory International Brigades. proposal, so an alternative site is group of the volunteers from East being sought. London who went to fight Newham Borough Council Several independent locally-based fascism in Spain. might be approached for a Based in Newham, the club is memorial in Stratford, or it could International Brigade memorial groups have known for its anti-fascist leanings be placed at the Old Spotted Dog sprung up around the country in recent years. and last year produced a best- home ground, which the club has The IBMT welcomes this development and selling football shirt, dedicated to once again been offered supports their work. the International Brigades, as part on lease.
of their away kit. There are also plans for a Local groups that join the IBMT gain extra At their annual general banner to be produced with the benefits. They receive additional copies of ¡No meeting in June, club members p Digital rendering of the names of the Newham Pasarán!; they can buy IBMT merchandise at unanimously voted to set aside proposed memorial stone. It volunteers and for an annual discount prices for resale; their details are £4,000 for upgrading the current features gold lettering and the event be held at the memorial published in this magazine so that members memorial to a memorial stone in International Brigade emblem. when it is finally erected. in their area can contact them; they enjoy all the rights of IBMT membership; they receive priority support and advice from the Trust.
To join, local groups pay an annual membership fee of £30. Download the application form from the ‘Membership’ page of our website (www.international- brigades.org.uk) or phone 020 7253 8748 to request a membership affiliation form. DIRECTORY Max Arthur (above) l Aberdeen XV International Brigade with International Commemoration Committee Brigaders (standing, Contact: Tommy Campbell from left), Jack Jones [email protected] and Sam Lesser and l Belfast International Brigade (seated from left) Bob Commemoration Committee Doyle and Jack Edwards. Contact: Ernest and Lynda Walker [email protected] l Hull International Brigades Memorial Group Contact: Gary Hammond Paddy Cochrane. Later he drew on these experiences [email protected] Obituary: Max Arthur and with documentary maker Matt Richards made l Oxford International Brigades the film ‘The Brits Who Fought for Spain’, which had Memorial Committee Military historian Max Arthur, author of an oral several showings on the History Channel. Contact: Colin Carritt history of the Spanish Civil War, ‘The Real Band of One of the most moving moments of the film was [email protected] Brothers’ (2009), died in May 2019 at the age of when Sam Lesser was wheeled through the re-built 80. Marlene Sidaway, President of the IBMT and a Madrid University, where he told of protecting himself friend of Arthur, writes: from enemy bullets by stuffing the gaps in the wall with books from the library shelves, and was moved I first met Max Arthur at the Groucho Club, when he to tears when Max presented him with three of the was launching his book – ‘Forgotten Voices of the books – with bullet holes. They might even have Great War’. He was interested in the Spanish Civil been the very books that saved Sam’s life. War and many months later he rang me to talk Max was a kind and generous man – he and about meeting some of our Brigade veterans. Matt funded the film themselves. He was a skilled and empathetic interviewer and Max’s work helps us keep alive the memory of International Brigade the book became ‘The Real Band of Brothers’, these brave International Brigaders by bringing Memorial Trust featuring Lou Kenton, Penny Feiwel, Jack Jones, Jack some of their stories to the general public in a www.international-brigades.org.uk Edwards, Bob Doyle, Sam Lesser, Les Gibson and moving and accessible way.
10 ¡NO PASARÁN! Become a Friend of the IBMT and help preserve the memory and spirit of the International Brigades You can help make a special contribution to our declaration with your donation, you can request essential work by becoming a Friend of the IBMT. a form from [email protected]
Donate more than £50 a year and your name will be l Alternatively, click the Donate button on our listed as a Friend of the IBMT in our magazine. If you website (www.international-brigades.org.uk) and dedicate your donation to a particular International make a donation of at least £50 via PayPal. If you do Brigade volunteer, this will be published along with this, please email [email protected] your name. We’ll also send you an exclusive Friend of to notify us. the IBMT badge (above) to wear with pride. Thank you for your support. ¡No pasarán! l Send a cheque for £50 or more made out to the A IONA ERN LES IBMT, along with your name and address, to: IBMT, NT D I E S L O A I
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2020 LEN CROME MEMORIAL CONFERENCE THE LEGACY OF THE SC he principles of social justice, portrayed by lazy historians or those This year’s annual IBMT Len Crome health, education, women’s with an axe to grind. These are Tand workers’ rights, on humane, often funny, free willed which the fledgling 1931 Spanish but disciplined individuals, full of Memorial Conference will be held Republic was based, chimed loudly life and optimism, all driven by a with progressives around Europe desire to defeat fascism. at the alma mater of its namesake, and beyond. But it was these Many more joined the largest principles which were to come community-based international the University of Edinburgh. IBMT under brutal assault by Spain’s solidarity movement the country forces of reaction, including the army and the Catholic Church. It ‘These are Scotland Secretary MIKE ARNOTT was also these principles, as well as the recognition that Spain was humane, often looks at the impact of the Spanish perhaps a prelude to another world war, which drew many from the funny, free willed Civil War on Scotland, which the politicised working-class to the but disciplined ranks of the International Brigades, formed by the Comintern in the individuals, full conference will explore. autumn of 1936. Scotland’s working-class was no different. of life and The vast majority of the 549 optimism, all Scots who volunteered were working- class and mostly driven by a desire communists, some already blooded in fighting fascism at home, such as to defeat in Edinburgh’s Usher Hall or on fascism.’ Aberdeen’s Castlegait. Glasgow- born Jock Cunningham, had ever seen. From beetle drives Aberdonian Bob Cooney and nurse in elegant Edinburgh terraces to Annie Murray were amongst the collection prams pushed around the Scots who became rightly cobbled pit rows of Fife and renowned for their leading roles in Lanarkshire, money, food, Spain. But it is within the lived bandages and clothes poured in. experiences of the unheralded fighters, nurses and the Aid Spain Organised volunteers on the home front The first organised group to where revealing, untold stories can leave for Spain was actually the be found. Scottish Ambulance Unit, organised by a former Glasgow Voices Lord Provost, Sir Daniel Stevenson. Accounts of the Scots in Spain, On 17 September 1936, six from Ian MacDougall’s ‘Scottish ambulances, a supply lorry and Voices from the Spanish Civil War’ male and female medical and to Dan Gray’s ‘Homage to support staff left George Square in Caledonia’ and STV’s documentary the city. One of the drivers, Thomas ‘The Scots who Fought Franco’, all Watters, would become the last combine to present a group portrait surviving Scot who served in Spain, of those involved. Forged in dying aged 99 in February 2012. austerity, on hunger marches and in The diary of one of his fellow SAU street battles with the Blackshirts, volunteers, Donald Gallie, has just the honesty and sincerity of their been published by Sussex Academic witness resonates across the years. Press, edited by his daughter. These are not the dupes of Moscow The military volunteers or the Stalinist dogmatists followed, building in number as International Brigade Memorial Trust OTTISH VOLUNTEERS Christmas 1936 approached. In all medical services. It is a touching for our dead; / Stars shine steadfast, more than 200 from Glasgow and coincidence that Len Crome served eternal vigil keep, / Light soft the over 60 from Dundee made up half as a doctor in Tarancón. Every year, soil around each valiant head.’ of those who were to go from as part of the Asociación de Amigos In the years since the end of the Scotland, the last not leaving de las Brigadas Internacionales civil war, physical memorials to that Scotland until April 1938 when the (AABI) annual Jarama same sacrifice have arisen across bad tidings from the front line must commemoration, hundreds who Scotland: from those almost epic in have been known to them. One of gather at the memorial also learn their scale, at Glasgow and these, a teenage Steve Fullarton, about those medical services and Motherwell, to iconic symbols in was the last Scottish combatant to about a local campaign to preserve small communities, such as die, in February 2008. Four one of the original hospital Renton’s famous Spanish bull, they volunteered from his street alone in buildings. This has attracted act to this day as focal points for the Shettleston in Glasgow. A few were wide support from locals and growing numbers of annual involved in the late 1936 fighting visitors alike. commemorations that continue to around Madrid, but all of Britain As many fell in the successive populate the calendar. Dundee in and Ireland’s volunteers in Spain battles: Brunete, Teruel, Gandesa, February, Edinburgh in April, were brought together at Albacete Caspe and the Ebro, more arrived, Renton in May, Motherwell in July, following Christmas that year to but in fewer numbers. Eventually, Glasgow, Irvine and Kirkcaldy in
p Len Crome, born Lazar Krom in the join the new arrivals who would in September 1938, the Brigaders September. Russian Empire, moved to Edinburgh form the new British Battalion. were withdrawn and arrived back in to study and qualified as a doctor in They left for the front line, 600 the UK in December that year. Celebrated 1934. After the outbreak of the strong, in early February 1937, to They left over 120 Scots behind, to Popular culture has also Spanish Civil War, he volunteered with Jarama. rest forever in Spanish soil. The celebrated the legacy, with last the Scottish Ambulance Unit and then Since 2011, a memorial to the 39 words of Dundonian Mary year’s play ‘549 Scots of the Spanish joined the International Brigades. He Scots Brigaders who fell at Jarama Brooksbank’s poem ‘Graves of Civil War’ by Wonder Fools joining became Chief Medical Officer of the has stood in the cemetery of the Spain’ recall how their sacrifice was the Maley brothers’ ‘From the 35th Division and of the 15th Army town of Tarancón in Spain, where remembered at the time; ‘Tread Calton to Catalonia’ from the Corps. The IBMT’s annual conference some of those remembered died in softly, señoritas, o’er their lonely previous generation to create a is named in his honour. the hospitals of the Republican graves, / Spaniards mute your voices proud theatre tradition inspired by the Scots Brigaders. In music, the Lanarkshire Songwriters continue a fine tradition stretching back through Ewan McColl to Glasgow Brigader Alex McDade, who penned the original lyrics of ‘Jarama Valley’. Consider this a taster of some of the subject matter you may encounter in March in Edinburgh at the Len Crome Memorial Conference. Consider it also a hearty invitation to join us in the hallowed precincts where the young Mr Crome became Dr Len Crome.
t Scottish Brigaders at a reunion in Glasgow, 1986. From left: Eddie Brown, Phil Gillan, George Murray, George Drever and Steve Fullarton.
tt International Brigade memorial in Duchess of Hamilton Park, Motherwell. It was unveiled in July 2013.
¡NO PASARÁN! 13 THE PEOPLE’S ARMY Holding out against all odds The story of the regular Spanish Republican Army, the Ejército army), there can be no doubt that it was the only reason the Republic was able to resist for so long Popular, is perhaps less known than that of the International against Franco’s fascists. Historians have not Brigades. ALEX CLIFFORD argues that it is nevertheless an been especially kind to the Republican army, nor its leaders, and indeed rarely are to defeated important one that deserves attention. He presents the militaries. However, when compared to other following article as an introduction to his book on the military armies built in wartime, for instance the American Expeditionary Force of 1918, it can be history of the Republican Army. seen that the People’s Army actually performed rather admirably and the issues it did face are in he Spanish Republic faced a seemingly Some columns operated like committees, with fact common to other similar attempts to build an insurmountable task at the start of the commanders elected and orders discussed and army during wartime – a dearth of experienced TSpanish Civil War. Due to the nature of debated before being obeyed or discarded. Yet leaders, poor logistics and organisation and the war’s outbreak, an attempted military coup, in a matter of months, this unpromising raw shortages of crucial arms and equipment. many army units that did remain loyal were material was forged into a regular army, the swiftly dissolved and the inexperienced Ejército Popular, best translated as the Unique conscripts dismissed. The Republicans therefore People’s Army. While fatally flawed, the People’s Army had had to fight a military rebellion without an army. While at the time the formation of the two historically unique features: the This problem was initially overcome by the People’s Army was politically controversial (many International Brigades and a motley blend of arming of the workers’ and peasants’ militias. revolutionaries opposed the creation of a regular professional and amateur officers. Readers of ¡No While the militias, alongside loyal police units, Pasarán! will doubtless be familiar with the had performed admirably in putting down the ‘The story of the international volunteers and their celebrated part army revolt across much of Spain, by August in the story of the civil war. However, the story of 19å36 a more conventional war was being waged, People’s Army as a the People’s Army as a whole and its ragtag and their deficiencies became clear. whole, and its ragtag leadership of loyalist professional officers, The problems that the militia faced were ‘geographically loyal’ generals and unlikely obvious. They had little to no training or leadership of loyalist worker-soldiers is probably less well-known. A experience. Their equipment and supply was significant proportion of the 2,000 professional haphazard and they possessed virtually no heavy professional officers, officers who fought for the Republic did not do so weapons, nor the expertise to use them. They “geographically loyal” out of conviction, but out of necessity due to the armed themselves however they could, with one geographical division of Spain in July 1936. Their peasant in Toledo province later explaining that generals and unlikely performance was naturally lacklustre, given that he and his comrades raided a local collection of many had more sympathy with the military antique weaponry and set out to defend the worker-soldiers Rebels than the Republic. Republic with lances and swords. The militias is probably less On the other hand a small number, such as the lacked military discipline or organisation; many Chief of the General Staff, Vicente Rojo, were appear to have gone on leave when they wished. well-known.’ both committed and talented and provided some
Troops of the Republican 46th Division being reviewed by senior Republican figures. People’s Army advance at Brunete, July 1937.
14 ¡NO PASARÁN! International Brigade Memorial Trust
Juan Modesto leading from the front at Brunete, July 1937. much-needed expertise to the fledgling army. as I entered the teaching profession. After several troops were needed at the front immediately and There is both romance and tragedy in the story of years of study, I decided to write a book that there was no time for specialist training, tactical dozens of militia leaders, mostly young, working- would fill a gap in the historiography – a narrative innovation or a thorough theoretical assessment class political activists, who rose to high account of the People’s Army from conception to of the military situation. That the Nationalists command in the People’s Army. While mavericks destruction, focused on its three most significant were able to manage their resources better and such as Enrique Líster and the talented but and revealing campaigns, Brunete, Belchite make the best of their own less substantial caustic Juan Modesto were inspirational and 1and Teruel. deficiencies is patently obvious by the final determined commanders, other militia leaders Wherever possible, I used eye-witness outcome of the conflict. But the People’s Army proved well out of their depth and made testimony to provide a real sense of what did give them an extremely tough fight and held disastrous mistakes. To further complicate frontline service for the Republican army was out far longer than expected and, in the end, that matters there were also several Red Army like. Failure in these offensives would ultimately was the greatest achievement of this unique officers who commanded divisions in Spain spell defeat for the Loyalists in the civil war, but makeshift military. under false names, and their records were understanding what went wrong, rather than decidedly mixed. writing the Republic off as incompetent and under-resourced, is far more revealing. The ‘The People’s Scant coverage intensity of the aforementioned battles is Army in the The People’s Army has received scant testament to the strength, resilience and fighting Spanish Civil War: coverage in the English-language literature on power of the People’s Army and would likely A Military History the Spanish Civil War, with historians more surprise a general reader perhaps only familiar of the Republic focused on the political, social and diplomatic with George Orwell’s account of the conflict. and International aspects of the war. The academic is well-served While the Republican People’s Army will not Brigades’ is by Michael Alpert’s in-depth study, but for all its go down in history as a great fighting force, it can published by Pen virtues Alpert’s book is an organisational history be argued that the Loyalists did nearly the best & Sword Books in that mentions combat, the raison d’être of any they could with what they had. Organisation, January this year. army, only in passing. After specialising in the logistics, training and leadership were poor, and Spanish Civil War at university, I continued to the Republic was probably guilty of not making research the war, and in particular the the best of the scant military resources they International Brigades and the Republican army acquired. However, Spain was fighting a civil war; ¡NO PASARÁN! 15 HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS The Big Three discuss fa Papers published by the US Department of State reveal discussions at the Potsdam Conference on 19 July 1945 between Soviet leader Stalin, US President Truman and UK Prime Minister Churchill on Franco and the future of Spain . The Soviets called for the condemnation of Franco’s fascist regime by the United Nations, the breaking off of diplomatic relations and the promotion of democratic forces in Spain. In response, Truman and Churchill claimed they personally disliked Franco but Churchill in particular flatly rejected taking any action.
Soviet proposal presented to foreign ministers, sent correspondence to Marshal Stalin and the 19 July 1945 President. We all detest the Spanish regime. ‘I wish the Spanish The Soviet government present for The difficulty with the Marshal’s proposal is consideration by the conference the following with the breaking-off of relations with Spain. people to know that suggestion. It may cause them to rally to his support. we are on the side In view of the fact: Breaking off relations breaks your influence. 1. that the regime of Franco originated not as a Ambassadors are needed particularly in time of of the democratic result of the development of the internal forces difficulty. The course suggested would in Spain but as a result of the intervention by the strengthen Franco’s position, and he has an forces... and against principal axis-countries – Hitler’s Germany and army. Should we take a rebuff or use force? I am fascist Italy which imposed upon the Spanish against that. I am against interfering in the the regime of people the fascist regime of Franco; internal affairs of a country which has not 2. that the regime of Franco constitutes a grave molested us. I would greatly regret embroiling Franco.’ danger to the freedom-loving nations in Europe ourselves in their internal affairs. and South America; At the present time Franco’s powers are Truman: No. Franco is weakening. 3. that in the face of brutal terror instituted by undermined. We should speed the parting Stalin: Franco is gaining strength. He is Franco the Spanish people have repeatedly guest. But breaking off relations because of its encouraging fascism elsewhere. I believe you expressed themselves against the regime of internal conduct is a dangerous principle in this have no love for Franco, but you must prove it Franco and in favour of the restoration of war. Nor would I like to see a renewal of the by acts. I do not propose a civil war, but I wish democratic government in Spain… Spanish Civil War. The San Francisco Charter the Spanish people to know that we are on the The conference deems it necessary to has a provision against interfering in internal side of the democratic forces of the Spanish recommend to the United Nations: affairs. people and against the regime of Franco. There 1. to break off all relations with the government Truman: I have no love for Franco. I have no are diplomatic means of showing this to the of Franco; desire to get into a Spanish Civil War. We would Spanish people. 2. to render support to the democratic forces in be most happy to recognise another Let us assume breaking relations too severe. Spain and to enable the Spanish people to government. But Spain must settle it. There must be more flexible means. We should establish such a regime as will respond to Stalin: That means everything remains not pass by this cancer. Otherwise we sanction it. their will. unchanged in Spain. It is presumed that the Big Three can settle such
t Despite Churchill’s Third plenary meeting notes, 19 July 1945, 5pm suggestion that Truman: Let us proceed. The next subject is Franco (right) was Spain. ‘moving to his finale’, Stalin: Our proposals have been submitted. he would rule for Churchill: His Majesty’s Government and past another 30 years. government have strong distaste for General Under President Franco and the government of Spain. All I said Eisenhower (left), the for Franco was that there was more in Spanish United States politics than drawing cartoons of Franco. But I established a view with disgust the killing of people for what rapprochement with they did five or six years ago. When Franco Franco in 1953. asked me to line up against the menace of Soviet Russia, I sent him a most chilling reply and I
16 ¡NO PASARÁN! International Brigade Memorial Trust scist Spain at Potsdam
questions. Are we entitled to keep silent? We principle against interfering with internal agreed in principle to making any Allied cannot shut our eyes to the dangers that the affairs. declaration and I did not understand that the Franco regime holds out for all Europe. Stalin: It is not a matter of internal affairs. No President was. Churchill: We cannot favour breaking relations. such regime exists in any country of Europe. Stalin: [A] statement need not be in reference to We have valuable trade relations and could not Churchill: Portugal might be considered a Spain alone but to all Europe. interfere unless we were certain of success. I dictatorship. Churchill: Our action in other countries is appreciate how the Marshal feels as they sent Stalin: Portugal’s government arose from because of their involvement in the war. Of the Blue Brigade against him. But they internal forces; Spain from foreign forces. I do course if you wish to make a declaration of refrained from using arms when we went into not place on the same level Spain and Portugal. general principles regarding governments Africa when they could have done us great Churchill: Franco is moving to his finale. He which have not achieved those principles, that is harm. came to power many years ago. The Russian different. That declaration is in the Stalin: I suggest that the foreign secretaries try government as well as the fascist government[s] American Constitution. We can’t improve to find some means of making it clear that we are took part in the civil war. upon it. I don’t know what the Spanish people not in favour. Stalin: The foreign secretaries should prepare think but I feel that they do want to be rid of Truman: I agree. an appraisal of the regime of Franco, including Franco. Churchill: I should deprecate this. The the sentiments express[ed] by Mr Truman: There seems to be no chance of question should be decided by the Churchill. This will not bind the agreement. Let us pass on and come back to this Big Three. government of Great question later. Truman: I urge the Prime Britain. I suggest [a] most Stalin: But let us refer this matter to the foreign Minister to let the foreign mild form of influence – secretaries. Perhaps they can find a formula. secretaries discuss the less than we applied to Churchill: That is the very question we are question. Greece and Poland. debating. I suggest we leave the question Churchill: It is a matter of Churchill: I am not without decision for the moment.
THE BIG THREE: From left: Winston Churchill, Harry Truman and Joseph Stalin gathered at Potsdam, Germany, in June 1945 to negotiate the post-Second World War settlement. Among the matters they discussed was the fate of Franco’s Spain. Inset: Francisco Franco.
¡NO PASARÁN! 17 LETTER Cubans who fought in Spain are a heroic example for our Revolution
n your issue of 2019-3 there is a photo supposedly of Alberto Bayo in the Sierra Maestra with Fidel Castro Iand Che Guevara. All the information that I have is that Alberto Bayo Giroud (Camagüey, Cuba, 27 March 1892 – Havana, 4 August 1967), who in Mexico instructed Fidel and his comrades in guerrilla warfare tactics and techniques, came back to Cuba from Mexico only after the triumph of the 1 January 1959 Cuban Revolution. There is false information on the internet saying that Bayo, a former officer in the Spanish Republican army, was one of the combatants that sailed from Mexico with Castro on board the Granma in 1956. He wanted to do so, but he was already 64 years old and it was decided that he should stay in Mexico. After he returned to Cuba, Bayo received the military rank of ‘Comandante’ of the Cuban armed forces, the Poster by the Agrupación de highest rank in Cuba then. In April 1959, after his return, Veteranos Internacionalistas he sent an open message to Spaniards explaining the Cubanos en España 1936-1939 important example of unity of the different – the Cuban veterans’ revolutionary forces in Cuba in securing victory and the association – for the 50th necessity of real unity of all the different Spanish forces anniversary of the creation of the in the fight to obtain victory against Francoism. International Brigades. In your same report on Cuban volunteers in the Spanish Civil War I am quoted as saying that some of them could also be defined as Spanish as they had One of the volunteers who went from Cuba, (For us today the concept of a homeland is universal). Spanish parents or had been born before Cuban Federico Chao, later explained in a video interview that, The heroic example of internationalism shown by independence from Spain in 1898. as one of the members of the armed group that the those fighters for the Spanish Republic has been One of the reasons for the positive influence in the Communist Party of Cuba had in those years, he present in the 60 years of the Cuban Revolution: big response of Cuban volunteers in defence of the wanted to go to fight in defence of the Spanish l in education, helping to eliminate illiteracy in many Spanish Republic was the historical ties that existed Republic. But the head of that organisation and of the countries and training citizens from various developing then due to the close relations of Cuba and Spain and committee responsible for sending the volunteers to countries in different specialities; the large number of Spaniards who for different Spain, Ramón Nicolau, for a long time didn’t authorise l in medicine, with thousands of Cuban doctors and reasons were then living in Cuba. him on the grounds that his presence in Cuba was other medical specialists helping in dozens of countries In Cuba, we consider as Cuban all those who were more important. Chao insisted, however, and found a and training doctors and other medics (including some born in our territory. For example, the parents of José Spaniard, by family name Huerta, in the eastern from poor communities in the US) at the Cuban Latin Martí Pérez, the most important Cuban national hero, province of Cuba who had a coffee plantation. The American School of Medicine and with the only were both Spaniards (father from Valencia and mother Spaniard sold his property and with the money of the condition being that after graduating they serve the from the Canary Isles), and he was born in Havana in sale paid for the trip to Spain by himself, Chao and 11 poorer people in their respective countries; 1853 and died in Cuba in combat against Spain in other Cubans. Huerta, who was killed in Spain, was l in helping different countries that suffered 1895, when Cuba was technically a province of Spain. always considered to be a Spaniard, while the other 12 hurricanes, earthquakes and other natural disasters; Martí is always considered a Cuban who dedicated his were Cubans. l in the military field, with hundreds of thousands of life fighting for the independence of Cuba. We Cubans are proud of the positive response and Cuban soldiers participating in the struggle against Most of the Cuban internationalists who fought in number of participants in the defence of the Spanish South Africa and apartheid and in the liberation of defence of the Spanish Republic were born in Cuba Republic. One of the Cuban fighters who gave his life in African countries such as Namibia and Angola. after the independence of our country from Spain, and the Spanish Civil War, Pablo de la Torriente Brau, said: Dr Victor Pina Tabío most of them were in their 20s and 30s. ‘Para nosotros hoy el concepto de la patria es universal’ Havana
18 ¡NO PASARÁN! BOOKS & THE ARTS International Brigade Memorial Trust
‘Violencia: A New History of Spain: Past, The two faces of Santiago Present and the Future of the specialist academics. It’s very ‘Spanish history… transition is still not over. As Paul West’ by Jason engagingly written and should be Preston and others have pointed Webster read as an occasionally irreverent has been an out, there was never a (Constable 2019). introduction to Spanish history. enduring struggle denazification (or de- The author’s fondness for his Francoisation) in Spain. Many on ased in his farmhouse in adopted country is made between two sides, the Right still resent any perceived Andalusia, Jason Webster abundantly clear by a detailed personified by the challenge to their inalienable right Bhas spent much of the last description of its influence around two faces of the to rule. The government’s heavy- 15 years writing with great the world. ‘Without Spain,’ he handed response to the Catalan affection about Spain, its people, points out, ‘emblematic aspects of patron saint of referendum of October 2017 and culture and history. Many readers “Western” civilisation as diverse as Spain: on the one the draconian sentencing of the will already know ‘Duende’, his rational thought, modern surgery separatist leaders up to 15 years for account of years obsessing over and the American cowboy would hand Matamoros, their crimes – originally portrayed flamenco, or ‘Guerra’, an all be missing.’ Likewise, he the violent Moor- as rebellion – could be seen as examination of the enduring legacy highlights the powerful impact of slayer, and on the further evidence of the trend. of the Spanish Civil War and centuries of Arab rule over Spain. The author is certainly right to Franco dictatorship. His latest The ‘Moors’, he argues, were not other the peaceful state that Spain currently faces publication, ‘Violencia’, is a bold (and are not) ‘the other’, but a vital sage.’ many challenges. Yet another attempt to write the history of part of Spanish history and culture. election has taken place, with Spain in less than 400 pages. This However, as the book’s title a long and unfortunate tradition of concerns over Catalan nationalism has earned one or two disdainful would suggest, it is not just a turning to violence as a means of and immigration seeing support for remarks on social media, unfairly, celebration of Spain’s past solving political crises. Spanish the neo-Francoist Vox party spread for this book is aimed at the greatness. The main tenet of the history, Webster argues, has been well beyond its Andalusian cradle. everyday reader, rather than book is an argument that Spain has an enduring struggle between two The recent disinterring of Franco’s sides, personified by the two faces remains from the Valley of the of Santiago (St James), the patron Fallen was not supported by a third saint of Spain: on the one hand of the population (according to a Matamoros, the violent Moor- recent poll in El Mundo) and has slayer, and on the other the infuriated the family and peaceful sage. This ‘dark side’ of supporters. In these Santiago has been turned against circumstances, the author wonders many different forms of enemy, for if Felipe VI might be the last king Spain has always needed an ‘other’, of Spain. Does the country’s future against which to unite a disparate lie with democracy or country. Sometimes that enemy authoritarianism? Could Spain has lain overseas, but on other return to the violence of the past? occasions it has existed within the Personally, despite the recent ‘indivisible’ Spain itself. The angry protests in Catalonia, I think expulsion of the Jews, the that’s unlikely. Franco is long dead Reconquista, the Carlist wars of and Spain has been a democracy the 19th century and the civil war for more than 40 years. In many itself thus all become symbols of ways, the importance of this struggle. disinterring Franco’s remains was At the end of the book, the symbolic, more than anything else. author considers whether this However, it’s hard to disagree with thesis might be applied to the author when he concludes that contemporary Spain. Franco’s ‘pretending that the ghosts from dictatorship was, of course, built on the past don’t exist, only makes violence and, though the transition them stronger in the long run’. appeared to signify that Spain was RICHARD BAXELL at last turning away from violence, many would argue that the Richard Baxell is a founding IBMT Trustee and former Chair. His next
t Santiago Matamoros (‘killer of book will be a collection of Moors’) in the altarpiece of the Chapel biographies of British people of the Marshal, Seville Cathedral. involved in the Spanish Civil War.
¡NO PASARÁN! 19 BOOKS & THE ARTS Diary of a Scottish medic in Spain ‘The Road to Madrid: Diary of Donald Gallie, his book is based on the diary of Donald he was locking horns with Jacobsen. The Member of the Scottish Medical Aid Unit, Gallie, a member of the Scottish conflicts between the two ended shortly into the Serving in the Spanish Civil War, September– TAmbulance Unit, who was in Spain from journey after a wire was received from Glasgow December 1936’ by Nina Stevens (Sussex September to December 1936. Whilst much has telling the group to send Levin home, and put Academic Press 2019). been written about the SAU this is the first book Duncan Newbigging in charge. Curiously, in to give voice to the thoughts and experiences of view of events during future missions, this is one one of its participants. of the very few occasions that Donald mentions The chequered and somewhat controversial Jacobsen in his diary, although in his appraisal of story of the SAU began in Glasgow, ‘the hub of some members of the group he describes her as the Scottish Aid for Spain movement’. It was the ‘highly strung, fairly headstrong and a hard brainchild of wealthy philanthropist Sir Daniel worker. Would like to have her hand in Macaulay Stevenson, with the support of a everything.’ number of wealthy friends and the Scottish Just over two weeks after leaving Glasgow, TUC. Chief amongst the TUC supporters was and having driven down through France and General Secretary Walter Citrine, who was keen Spain, the SAU were on the Toledo front, south to see that the SAU stressed the humanitarian of Madrid. As well as the continuous ferrying of and non-political nature of its work, which may casualties back to base, there was the constant have been as much about his paranoia regarding fear of being shelled or strafed, with Franco’s the Communist Party as putting the SAU in a forces judging ambulances to be legitimate non-partisan light. targets. The first of what was to become four missions However, strains within the group remained to Spain by the SAU consisted of six ambulances and Donald complained about ‘drunkenness loaded with stores and medical supplies. There and immorality’, which eventually led to seven was a crew of 19 people, including the 24 year men being sent home. Two wished to return and old motor mechanic Donald Gallie, and one the other five went ‘for disciplinary reasons, as woman, the formidable Commandant Fernanda they are a menace to the unit’. He was also Jacobsen, who had been a secretary to pretty scathing about Newbigging who Stevenson. ‘preferred driving to leading’ and was often The notional leader of the group was the sole ‘missing again’. doctor, Louis Levin, and it was not long before Despite these various machinations, there is no doubt from Donald’s honest and graphic descriptions of their work that the core of the unit was totally committed and extremely brave, risking their lives on a daily basis to tend to soldiers and civilians alike. In a letter to his girlfriend at the end of October he wrote that ‘for the three and a half weeks that we have been in Spain we have dealt with about 1,000 wounded…’. They built a great reputation for the unit, and were known locally as ‘The Wizards’. A combination of exhaustion and shattered nerves led to a request for withdrawal from Spain in December 1936, and they were able to get transported via HMS Greyhound from Alicante to Marseille, and then to drive back to Glasgow, having set the standard for future missions. Not only are Donald’s diary entries descriptive and heartfelt but they are also supported by a great number of the photographs he took, along with a diagram of the bombing and destruction of ambulance No 3 in Parla. The book has been transcribed and edited by Donald’s daughter, Nina Stevens, who has done a THE WIZARDS: Members of the second Scottish Ambulance Unit, from wonderful job of producing this fitting and left, Morris Linden, Roderick MacFarquhar, Alan Boyd, John MacKinnon, sincere memorial to her father. George Burleigh, Thomas Penman, unknown, Thomas Watters. ALAN LLOYD
20 ¡NO PASARÁN! International Brigade Memorial Trust THE BALLAD OF JOHNNY LONGSTAFF RETURNS he Teesside-based, award- The show follows the life and used by the band – was born in Originally debuting in March winning folk trio The struggles of the eponymous Stockton-on-Tees and joined the 2018, the first ‘Ballad of Johnny TYoung’uns have announced antifascist stalwart and hunger marches as a teenager. He Longstaff’ tour saw The Young’uns new tour dates for their show ‘The International Brigader. participated in the Battle of Cable perform to sell-out audiences at 19 Ballad of Johnny Longstaff’ from the Longstaff – pictured on the left Street and signed up to fight in the venues around Britain. end of January to mid-April. in this promotional image being Spanish Civil War. They went on tour again in January 2019, performing across the UK and Ireland, accompanied by a new album with 17 songs and other material about the International Brigades and their struggles as well as about Longstaff specifically. The tours and album received great praise, not least in the pages of ¡No Pasarán!. This year the The Young’uns will once again be touring, with dates announced for Dublin, Newcastle,
Photo: www.theyounguns.co.uk/johnnylongstaff Edinburgh, Hull and Liverpool. The band has promised an updated, more theatrical version of their show, with substantial new material. In December 2019 the BBC featured ‘The Ballad of Johnny Longstaff’ in its list of theatre shows not to miss in the coming year. More information can be found and tickets can be booked at: www. theyounguns.co.uk/johnnylongstaff A story of war and separation ‘The Red Gene’ by Barbara Lamplugh (Urbane decide to join the groups hiding in the hills to be educated in the ‘right’ way). Publications 2019). continue the fight. However, Rose is heavily When Rose returns to England and her pregnant and their escape is impossible. She is family, she is unable to share with them, or her e Red Gene’ captured and taken to a convent hospital to give friends, the tragedy she has experienced in Spain. begins with the birth. She sees her baby daughter only briefly, but But the Second World War has started, and she is ‘Tstory of Rose, a is later told that the baby didn’t survive. soon wholly occupied with that. young nurse who In fact the child has been taken away and Now the story moves effortlessly between volunteers to serve with given to a Nationalist family for adoption (over Rose’s life in England and her daughter’s life, the Republicans during 300,000 babies were taken away from growing up with a family she gradually realises the Spanish Civil War. Republican mothers during the Franco she doesn’t belong to. The first part is a well- dictatorship and given to Nationalist parents to As their separate stories are told with page- researched story of her turning skill, the history of the two countries time there – the terrible ‘As their separate during the last century is also told. conditions and hard Both Rose and her daughter, Consuelo, do work, desperately trying to help the wounded stories are told... the eventually achieve happiness in their lives, but with insufficient resources. Some of the people Rose can never forget the daughter she lost, and she meets and works with are recognisable as history of the two Consuelo realises that she has a mother she has International Brigaders; many of our members never known. Will they ever find each other? would have known or have read about them. countries during That is the question that keeps the reader in Rose falls in love with a soldier in the the last century is suspense in this engrossing and well written story. Republican army, Miguel, and, as the war draws I can recommend it to all our members. to an end with the defeat of the Republic, they also told.’ MARLENE SIDAWAY ¡NO PASARÁN! 21 FINAL WORD International Brigade Memorial Trust
tt Caroline Sturdy Colls, pictured on a publicity shot for her TV documentary.
t Cover of a memoir by Juan Dalmau, a Spanish prisoner who settled in the Channel Islands after the Second Warld War.
u Forced workers on the Channel Islands being watched by visiting German officers. Anti-fascist mass graves on British soil IBMT Chair JIM JUMP looks at efforts to unearth the tragic fate of Spanish Republicans and other prisoners used by the Nazis as slave labourers on the Channel Islands.
s campaigners continue to press for the refugees in France were shipped to the Channel team, who used drones and radar technology to exhumation of tens of thousands of Islands to build the ‘Atlantic Wall’ defensive locate previously unidentified burial sites. AFranco’s victims from unmarked graves system. They were subject to brutal treatment Her revelations have stirred unease on the across Spain, could it be that, here in the British alongside 14,000 other slave workers. These islands. The governing States of Alderney have Isles, there are also mass graves of anti-fascists? included Jews, captured Red Army soldiers and hit back at accusations that it deliberately tried to This is the startling suggestion being made by prisoners from more than 20 other countries. block her investigations. Sturdy Colls said the a leading forensic archaeologist, who says there is An unknown number of them were worked to project was nearly derailed after she was banned a cluster of unmarked mass burial sites in the death or executed. Some bodies were thrown into from conducting exhumations on the island. Channel Islands. They contain the remains of the sea, according to Sturdy Colls, or even The Alderney authorities say any investigation slave workers, including many Spanish pushed into concrete by SS guards. Reports also should be carried out by them and not by Republicans and Soviet prisoners of war, who point to prisoners being herded into a railway outsiders, and point out that an annual memorial were used by the Nazis to build fortifications on tunnel where they would be machine gunned. service is held for Nazi victims each year at the the islands during their occupation from 1940-45. Some estimates put the number of dead on all island’s Hammond Memorial. The claim is being made by Professor the islands as several thousand. Sturdy Colls plans to write a book about her Caroline Sturdy Colls, who says that Hitler’s A few surviving Spaniards made the islands studies. ‘This is about re-humanising them [the forces killed many more prisoners than official their home after the war and provided harrowing prisoners] and being able to give their stories a records state, especially on Alderney. It amounts eye-witness accounts of conditions. voice,’ she told Fox News in June last year. to ‘possibly the biggest murder case on British Sturdy Colls set out the soil’ of modern times. results of her investigations in a Along with Alderney, Jersey, Guernsey and TV documentary for the the other islands off the French coast of Smithsonian Channel titled Normandy were the only part of the British Isles ‘Adolf Island’. This was the seized by the Germans during the Second name given to Alderney, which World War. was home to several labour Sturdy Colls is an expert on ‘Conflict camps, as well as a Archaeology and Genocide Investigation’ at concentration camp called Staffordshire University, and has spent nearly a Lager Sylt. The resident decade investigating Nazi war crimes on population was evacuated to the Alderney. She believes that a conservative other Channel Islands. estimate of the number of people in mass graves Witnesses and survivors are on the island would be at least 700 – double the quoted in the TV programme as number of bodies found in exhumations that took saying that thousands died on place in the 1960s. Alderney. Their claims were A memorial stone in St Helier, Jersey, to Vicente Gasulla Solé, one of Between 1,500 and 2,000 Spanish Republican backed up by Sturdy Colls’s the Spanish Republicans who survived the war.
22 ¡NO PASARÁN! Merchandise from the IBMT
Proceeds help fund the commemorative, educational and publicity work of the International Brigade Memorial Trust.
International Brigade flag: Replica of the flag Free postage & IBMT badge: Solid metal Football scarf: In the colours of the mainly English-speaking badge with International packing on goods of the Spanish Republic. Says 15th International Brigade, which included Anti-fascist women’s t-shirt: Fitted t-shirt Brigade medal in centre totalling £30 or more ¡No pasarán! on one side, the British Battalion. Based on the flag of the featuring names of British nurses who served and ‘International Brigade International Brigade Memorial Spanish Republic. 150cms x 87cms. for orders within the in Spain. Made for the IBMT by t-shirt Memorial Trust’ around Trust on the other. £10.99 plus £3.99 p&p. specialists Philosophy Football from ethically the edge. UK and Europe. £12.99 plus £4.99 p&p. sourced cotton. ‘International Brigade £3.99 plus £2.99 p&p.
Memorial Trust’ on sleeve. Available in XXL Send orders, including (size 18); XL (size 16); L (size 14); M (size 12). your name and £19.99 plus £4.99 p&p. address, a size and colour where appropriate, and a cheque payable to the IBMT to: IBMT Mug: On one side the Merchandise, 37a International Brigades three- Clerkenwell Green, pointed star and on the reverse London EC1R 0DU. the words of La Pasionaria: ‘You are legend’. £9.99 plus £3.99 p&p. For multiple orders in ¡No Pasarán! bag: Ethically sourced jute bag the UK up to a value (30cms square, 18cms across). One side printed, other blank. Robust, useful for any shopping trip of £30 (excluding and a great way to show support for anti- p&p) calculate total fascism and the IBMT. p&p by taking the £6.99 plus £2.99 p&p. highest p&p among items ordered, halving Tote bags: One with image of the p&p of the International Brigaders, the remaining items and other with the Spanish adding them together. Republican flag. British Battalion t-shirt: In red or grey and £6.99 each plus £3.99 p&p. Brooch in colours of the made for the IBMT by t-shirt specialists For orders outside the Spanish Republic: Bespoke Philosophy Football from ethically sourced perspex laser-cut brooch cotton. British Battalion banner on front and UK or to pay by credit designed for the IBMT in art ‘International Brigade Memorial Trust’ on sleeve. card or PayPal, go to deco style. 6cms x 4.5cms. Available in: S (36inch/90cms chest);
£9.99 plus £3.99 p&p. M (40inch/100cms); L (44inch/110cms); the merchandise page XL (48inch/120cms). on our website: £19.99 plus £4.99 p&p. Volunteers for Liberty plate: Highly decorative (www.international- commemorative plate made in Staffordshire by brigades.org.uk/ Heraldic Pottery exclusively for the IBMT. Fine catalog) where there bone china. 26.5cms diameter. Re-issue of the are also other items much sought after 50th anniversary plate produced by International Brigade veteran Lou listed for sale. Kenton. Includes mount for wall display. Three-pointed star SPECIAL OFFER: £24.99 plus £5.99 p&p. See the new International Brigade brooch: Bespoke perspex Clenched fist sculpture: Life- products/special laser-cut brooch designed for sized sculpture in specially offers section on the the IBMT. 4.5cms x 6cms. treated concrete. Based on the £8.99 plus £3.99 p&p. website for discount clenched fist created by deals on certain sculptor Betty Rae for the top products. of the pole of the original 15th International Brigade t-shirt: British Battalion banner. With flag of 15th International Brigade, which 23cms high. The clenched fist included British, Irish, American, Canadian and Three-pointed star International Brigade was the iconic salute of the Commonwealth volunteers. ‘International earrings: Bespoke perspex laser-cut earrings Popular Front and is still used Brigade Memorial Trust’ on sleeve. Available in Earrings in colours of the designed for the IBMT. 2.5cms x 3.5cms. by anti-fascists around the S, M, L and XL (see British Battalion t-shirt for Spanish Republic: Bespoke £7.99 plus £3.99 p&p. world. perspex laser-cut earrings size details). £29.99 plus £7.99 p&p. designed for the IBMT in art £19.99 plus £4.99 p&p. deco style. 3cms x 2.25cms. £8.99 plus £3.99 p&p. International Brigade Memorial Trust Help us inspire new generations with the SAVE THE DATE story of the men and women who fought The IBMT’s annual commemoration at fascism and defended democracy in Spain the International Brigade memorial in from 1936-1939. Jubilee Gardens on London’s Southbank To make a donation or become a Friend of will take place on Saturday 4 July 2020 the IBMT go to www.international-brigades. from 1pm. org.uk and click the donate button.
International Brigade Memorial Trust 37a Clerkenwell Green, London EC1R 0DU ¡No pasarán! 020 7253 8748 [email protected] www.international-brigades.org.uk They shall not pass!