IBMT Newsletter www.international-brigades.org.uk Issue 34 / 1-2013 INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE MEMORIAL TRUST Joe Gough Farewell to last two portrait Brigaders brings in Britain Luton’s anti-fascist hero back to life Bike r’s journey from Wall of Death to

Why I’m proud of my captured grandfather

Plus: The war that continued in after 1939 For booking details see page 26 NEWS IBMT mourns loss of last two volunteers in Britain

The last two known International Brigade veter - Issue 34 / 1-2013 ans in Britain have died. They were , Cover story who passed away on 17 September at the age Frank Casey’s new painting shines light on of 104, and David Lomon, who was 94 when he Luton’s anti-fascist roots died on 21 December. 7 The deaths leave one surviving British volunteer with whom the IBMT is in contact: News Stan Hilton, who lives in a nursing home in …including IBMT’s Annual General Meeting; Yarrawonga, Australia. appointment of more IBMT Patrons; Lou Kenton was a life-long political activist. A new memorials in Dublin veteran of the , he went to 3-8 Spain in the summer of 1937 and served as a From the Secretary despatch rider and ambulance driver. 9-10 Manchester-born David Lomon attended sev - Features eral IBMT-supported events in Britain and Spain AC Williams; Spain’s guerrilla war in the last two years of his life, including one in Lou Kenton (left) at home with his ceramics collection and David Lomon in Madrid in November last year. after 1939; volunteers in the Carlist Wars; November only weeks before his death. British technicians in Spain’s aircraft He arrived in Spain, aged 19, in December He is almost certainly unique in having been a factories; Clem Beckett 1937 and, along with other members of the member of the Communist and Labour parties 11-14 , was captured by Italian troops for 40 years each. in in April of the following year. He spent Family and friends at his funeral in Mortlake, Obituaries the next six months in prisoner-of-war camps south-west London, on 1 October were read a 15-17 before repatriation. After the Second World War, message from Labour leader Ed Miliband: “I Can you help? Lomon settled in London and had a successful was very sorry to hear of Lou’s passing. He was 18 career in the garment industry. a remarkable man whose history probably out - Letters Lou Kenton worked full-time for the Commu - shone everybody who is still with us in the …including Jubilee Gardens plaque wording; nist Party and then the British Czechoslovak Labour and Communist movements. From the Leila Berg’s lovers; Dutch Brigaders Friendship League, leaving in 1968 when the things I’ve read and the people I’ve met, I know 18-20 Prague Spring was suppressed. This also he touched so many lives and the Labour Party Books, music & film prompted him to leave the party and to join will be poorer without him offering us his advice 21-26 Labour. He returned to working in Fleet Street and guidance.” and as a sideline produced commemorative ce - What’s on ramics for left-wing causes, including some See: From the Secretary: page 9 and Obituaries: pages 15 26 pieces for the International Brigade Association. and 17. The IBMT Newsletter is published twice a year and is sent free to all members. Back numbers can be downloaded from the IBMT 2013subsnowdue Your bigger Newsletter website on [www.international- brigades.org. The IBMT Newsletter will now be published uk/newsletter.htm]. All content is the IBMTsubscriptionsfor2013arenowdue.Ifyou twice rather than three times a year. But copyright © of the IBMT and credited havenotalreadydoneso,pleasesendyour each issue will be much bigger than before. contributors and cannot be reproduced paymenttotheMembershipSecretaryatthe More pages will allow us to carry longer without permission. addressbelow. articles and features. Increasingly members Editor Subscriptionrateshavebeenincreasedfrom are relying on our online information serv - Jim Jump 1January2013.Seepages4(UKonly)and20(UK ice, website and Facebook page for up-to- 6 Stonells Road, London SW11 6HQ andoverseas)forthenewrates.Whenreturning date news and announcements. 020-7228 6504 yourcheque,clearlystateyournameandaddress The magazine has expanded greatly in re - [email protected] sothatthesecanbematchedwithour cent years. Until 2008 each issue had just membershiprecords. eight pages. Four more pages were then International Brigade MemorialTrust Also,pleaseconsiderpayingyoursubsbydirect added, and in 2011 we went up to 16 pages. www.international-brigades.org.uk debit.Thedirectdebitformcanbedownloadedat: During this year we also plan to revamp Charity no: 1094928 [www.international-brigades.org.uk/join.htm]. our website and all our online communica - Sendchequesorcompleteddirectdebitformsto tions media, including our YouTube and IBMTMembershipSecretary,2WoodfordClose, Flickr sites as well as our popular Facebook RadyrWay,CardiffCF52PH. page and email information service. G Foranyqueries,tel:029-20195412;email: Remember to pay your 2013 membership [[email protected]]. subscriptions so that you carry on receiving G Seeoverleaf:Whywe’vehadtoraisesubs. the IBMT Newsletter .

3 NEWS

WELCOME: Ed Tyhurst, a helper at Newhaven Fort, painted this eye-catching Why we’ve had to placard advertising the IBMT’s “Antifascistas” raise membership exhibition, which was hosted at the fort in the run-up to the Trust’s subs (for the first Annual General Meeting. The IBMT is in discussions time in 12 years) with the management of Newhaven Fort – a By Jim Jump, IBMT Secretary popular Second World War visitors’ centre on the Our 2012 Annual General Meeting approved South Coast – on the possibility of a permanent an increase in membership subscription display about Sussex and rates from 1 January 2013. the and These rates have remained unchanged the links between the civil since the IBMT was created in 2001. But our war and the world war that activities and running costs have both in - immediately followed it. creased substantially. For example, standard second class postage rose by 85 per cent be - tween 2001 and 2012, while our magazine doubled in size from eight to 16 pages. In recent years we have also produced our popular “Antifascistas” travelling exhibition. Busy AGM in East Sussex More commemorative and educational events have been organised. And we have By Pauline Fraser, IBMT Trustee refurbished our magnificent national memo - rial on London’s South Bank and added a The IBMT’s 2012 Annual General Meeting was TwonewTrustees plaque beside it. held in the sunny south and, for once, it did not TherearetwonewfacesontheIBMT Although income has also increased – belie its name. Trust members discovered that, ExecutiveCommitteethatwaselectedatthe thanks to more members joining (we’ve among his many talents, Mike Anderson, who or - AnnualGeneralMeeting.TheyareDanny tripled in size over the past four years) and ganised events in East Sussex, was also a magi - Payne,whohasrunthehigh-profileMersey- cian who could conjure up fine weather. Thanks sideInternationalBrigadesNetworkfor “Standard second class to Mike, former IBMT Treasurer and Executive severalyears,andMickWhelan,General Committee member, the entire weekend went off Secretaryofthetraindrivers’unionASLEF, postage rose by 85 per cent without a hitch. astrongsupporterofthetrust. between 2001 and 2012, A video of the “Goodbye ” musical AtthesametimetheAGMrecordedthe based around the life of a young Jewish volun - Trust’ssincereappreciationfortheout- while our magazine doubled in teer from the East End got Friday night off to a standingworkofoneofourfounding size from eight to 16 pages.” cracking start at the Leaf Hall Community Arts ExecutiveCommitteemembersandTrustees, Centre in Eastbourne. Composers Judith Johnson RodneyBickerstaffe,whodidnotseekre- growing merchandise sales – this has not and Karl Lewkowicz attended the screening, electionattheAGM.HenowbecomesanIBMT been enough to offset our rising costs. which started the weekend on the right note. Patron(seereportonfacingpage). As a result, in the past two years we have On Saturday morning members staying in AlltheotherexistingTrusteeswerere- for the first time spent more than we’ve re - Eastbourne were taken by coach to Newhaven elected,includingChairDoloresLong, ceived in income. This state of affairs cannot Fort, where a short re-dedication ceremony was SecretaryJimJumpandTreasurerCharles continue, so the AGM approved the Execu - held at the bench in memory of the volunteers Jepson.Thefulllistcanbeseenonpage9. tive Committee’s decision to increase sub - who left for Spain or returned via Newhaven. scription rates by £5 a year. So the annual David Lomon, one of only two known Brigaders rates for UK-based members are now: Un - still alive, laid a wreath. The bench was first un - showed us some fascinating archive film of waged £12.50; Individual £20; Family £25. veiled by Jack Jones in 2008 and was the last labour movement events on the South Coast Non UK-based members will be notified public event of the Trust that Jack presided over. from the 1930s. separately of their new rates, which will re - Members explored the fort, where the IBMT’s Many members stayed on until Sunday and flect the additional cost of overseas postage. “Antifascistas” exhibition was on public display, took a coach to Hastings, the “Mugsborough” of I hope all members will understand why until it was time for the afternoon’s AGM. Follow - Robert Tressell’s “The Ragged Trousered Philan - we’ve had to raise subscription rates. Please ing the officers’ reports and elections, a lively but thropists”. Local historian Steve Peak guided us continue to support us in our commemora - friendly discussion ensued among the 50 or so around the town. We saw the three houses tive, educational and publicity efforts to members present. where Tressell and his daughter lived, and Steve keep alive the memory and spirit of the vol - In the evening it was back to the magnificent set the book in context of the economic condi - unteers who fought fascism and defended Eastbourne Centre hotel – owned by Unite the tions prevailing in Edwardian Hastings. Tressell’s democracy in Spain from 1936-39. Union – for an informative and entertaining classic book of working-class exploitation was evening about the Sussex volunteers. Mike An - well known to many Brigaders in Spain. If you have any queries about membership subscrip - derson was assisted by Jon Mason and Steve tions email: [[email protected]]; Ringwood, two postgraduate students from Sus - Photos from the AGM weekend can be viewed on the IBMT’s tel: 029-2019 5412. sex University who have researched the local vol - new Flickr photo-sharing site. See: [www.flickr.com/photos/ unteers, as well as our Secretary, Jim Jump. Mike ibmt] and [www.flickr.com/people/ibmt].

4 International Brigade Memorial Trust PATRONS: (from left) Rodney Bickerstaffe, Peter Crome, Hywel Francis, Helen Graham, Ken Livingstone, Len McCluskey, Christy Moore, Jack O’Connor, Maxine Peake and Jan Royall. Opposition in the House of Lords. Paul Preston, the renowned histo - IBMT appoints new Patrons rian of the Spanish Civil War and modern Spain, who has been an The IBMT has strengthened its team Professor Peter Crome , an expert in Ken Livingstone , former London IBMT Patron for the past 12 years, of Patrons, expanding their number geriatric care and son of Dr Len Mayor and existing IBMT Patron, takes the title of IBMT Founding from two to 10. New appointments Crome, head of medical services for Len McCluskey , General Secretary Chair. This recognises his key role in include leading academics, trade the , of Unite, one of Britain’s most pow - chairing the meeting unionists and figures from the Hywel Francis , Labour MP for Aber - erful trade unions, in 2000 between the worlds of politics and the arts. All dare and author of “Miners Against Christy Moore , singer-songwriter, International Brigade share an interest in and admiration Fascism”, about the South Wales Jack O’Connor , General President Association and the for the International Brigades. The miners in the International Brigades, of SIPTU, ’s main public sec - Friends of the Inter - new team now comprises: Professor Helen Graham , author of tor union, PAUL PREST ON: national Brigades Rodney Bickerstaffe , former union several ground-breaking books on Maxine Peake, film and TV actor, Becomes IBMT that led to the cre - leader and founding IBMT Trustee, the Spanish Civil War, Baroness (Jan ) Royall , Leader of the Founding Chair. ation of the IBMT. Permanent display on Merseyside volunteers Pictured right, Unite General Secretary Len McCluskey (centre) unveils a permanent exhibition of images of Merseyside International Brigade volunteers at the Casa Bar in Liverpool. With him are Danny Payne (left) of the IBMT, who compiled the collection of more than 50 pho - tographs and reproductions of maps, letters, newspaper cuttings and other documents, along with Tony Nelson, a manager of the popular city centre bar in Hope Street that was set up by dockers sacked during their 1995-98 strike and lock-out. More than 200 people packed the bar on 15 Septem - ber to see the unveiling of the exhibition, which has been financed by Unite and other unions and laid out by graphic designer Simon Hawkesworth. The display includes many rare images of the more than 200 volunteers from Merseyside. Several of them came to light after relatives of local Brigaders saw the ac - claimed Merseyside and the Spanish Civil War at Liver - pool’s People’s Centre in 2008. “People are still coming forward with new photos,” said Payne. “We will add these to the Casa Bar display when possible.” Contact: [[email protected]].

A campaign to create a memorial to the There were some 25 volunteers from the International Brigades and the Meeting International Brigade volunteers from Cambridge, almost all of them univer - veterans themselves had always so Cambridge was launched at a packed sity undergraduates and recent gradu - strenuously denied the myth that the hears call for public meeting at St John’s ates. However, only one volunteers had mostly been poets and College on 5 October. volunteer, Ronald Rolph, intellectuals that the significant contri - Cambridge Co-hosted by Cambridge a prominent local trade bution from Cambridge University had University’s Communist unionist, is recognised often been overlooked. memorial Society and Hispanic Soci - in the town, with a row The organiser of the meeting, local ety, the meeting heard of industrial units, Ronald IBMT member Phil Katz, said after - talks by historian Richard Rolph Court, named after wards that a follow-up meeting would Baxell, IBMT Secretary Jim him. soon be arranged to press forward Jump and Dr Dacia Viejo Jump said that some with the proposal for a memorial. Right: The poster for Rose, a research fellow sort of memorial to the the public meeting in studying violence in the local volunteers was long For more information about the Cambridge cam - October. Spanish Civil War. overdue. Supporters of paign contact Phil Katz: [[email protected]].

International Brigade Memorial Trust 5 NEWS

dedicated to Sam Wild. At the time Brent was having treatment at the Baguley military hos - event ends Cover girl’s pital for septic wounds in his ankle. Mike re - members watching while his granny Lizzie with musical tribute identity is so Berry, who had been a nurse, changed his dressings. By Gordon Munro Born in Canada, Jack had been severely close to home wounded at Jarama while fighting in the Abra - A good turnout on 28 October in Edinburgh, in - ham . Invalided home to Lon - cluding many young people and local Spaniards, Following notification by the IBMT of a YouTube don, he became active in the International marked the commemoration of the 74th an - video of the book launch of “Geordie’s Story”, a Brigade Association, the veterans’ organisa - niversary of the departure of the International biography of International Brigader Jack Brent tion set up by Brigaders, becoming its General Brigades from Spain. (see review on page 25), IBMT member Mike Secretary for a while. He died in 1951. Banners were raised and flowers in the Wild from Sheffield sent off for a copy of the Mike Wild, 73, remembers sitting and chat - colours of the Spanish Republic were laid at the book. He was in for a surprise. ting with Jack. “He was a very handsome man, memorial to the volunteers in East Princes Street The son of Sam Wild, last commander of the with big smiling brown eyes. His bed was in Gardens . There were stirring speeches by local British Battalion, and brother of IBMT Execu - our front parlour, along with bikes, a piano author Daniel Gray and Colin Cargill, nephew of tive Committee members Hilary Jones and Do - and pictures of Marx, Lenin and Stalin on the Brigader Tom Murray, on behalf of the relatives. lores Long (who is the IBMT Chair), Mike was wall. When Dr Brown, our GP, said he didn’t They were joined by IBMT Treasurer Charles Jep - amazed to see on the cover of the book a like that man, pointing to Stalin, I proudly said: son, who urged vigilance in these troubled times photo of Jack Brent holding a six-month-old ‘It’s our Uncle Joe – he’s winning the war!’” The and that no space be given to fascism. The gath - baby, with a portrait of Stalin on the wall be - photo was not taken down until 1956, when ering finished with everyone singing “Jarama hind them. Mike recognised it as a picture in Khrushchev denounced the crimes of Stalin. Valley”. his family collection. A staunch communist, Jack Brent gave Mike The evening saw the launch of the “No The baby was Dolores, who was born in No - Wild a set of books by Jack London and a copy Pasaran: Scots in the Spanish Civil War” CD pro - vember 1943. In 1944 Jack Brent was staying of “The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists”, with Sam and Bessie Wild at their council which he treasures to this day. “I remember a Supporters on their way through East house at 57 Birch Hall Lane, Longsight, Man - radio covered in green leather from Eisen - Princes Street Gardens. chester – where today there is a blue plaque hower’s plane that an ex-Lincoln, who was based at Burtonwood air base, gave to Jack. We could twiddle the dials and get news and music from all over Europe.” “Geordie’s Story” author John Dickie, who is Brent’s nephew, and Dolores Long were de - lighted to be told of the connection. Neither re - alised the blue-eyed baby in Jack’s arms is the duced by local record label Greentrax (see re - current chair of IBMT. view on page 23). Daniel Gray gave a reading from his work “Homage to Caledonia”, the book The film by Isabel Cortes about the “Geordie’s Story” book that inspired Ian Green from Greentrax to put Mystery baby in the arms launch at Northampton Central Library on 4 November can out the call to artists to record the album. of Jack Brent, as featured be seen on the IBMT’s YouTube channel: [www.youtube. Staged in the Barioja tapas bar, where there on the book cover. com/user/IBMTnews?feature=mhee]. was standing room only, the event saw fine per - formances from Arthur Johnstone, Christine Kydd, Alison McMorland and Geordie McIntyre, Frank Rae, Robin Laing and Gallo Rojo. Gavin MacDougall of Luath Press, publishers IBMT’s teaching resources now online of “Homage to Caledonia”, played a helpful role The IBMT is offering teach - War important? – Consequences of the Na - in making the Edinburgh commemoration hap - ers an education CD, which – Osterley Park: Is “Dads’ tionalist victory. pen. And he was the link that brought Daniel, is available through our Army” an accurate interpre - IBMT Education Officer Ian and myself together – resulting in the CD. website [www.international- tation? Richard Thorpe says that, G A ceremony of remembrance was also held at brigades.org.uk/education 14-16 years: while principally aimed at the La Pasionaria International Brigade memo - _support.htm]. – Causes of the civil war, history lesson pupils, the rial in on 27 October. The disk contains lesson – Taking sides, materials for 14-16 years plans and materials broken – The war begins, can also be used to support Gordon Munro is a Labour councillor for Edinburgh’s up into three age groups: – The militia, post-16 Spanish cultural Leith Ward. 8-10 years: – Arms for Spain / Non-inter - lessons as a part of AS – International Brigades, vention, Spanish. – Basque child refugees, – Intervention / The role of “This list will grow as Homage in Benissa – Aid for Spain movement. Italy and , more materials are added British residents on Spain’s Costa Blanca were 11-13 years: – The war: an overview, to it – watch out for ‘Mus - among the many people who attended the an - – International Brigades, – Why join the International solini blind date’,” he adds. nual homage to the International Brigades in – Basque child refugees, Brigades? Benissa, where there was an International – Why did the Republic lose – International Brigades, Copies of the CD are available from Brigade hospital during the Spanish Civil War. the war? – Power politics in Franco’s Richard Thorpe: [rthorpe@ The programme for the weekend of 19-21 – Why was the Spanish Civil Spain, theaxholmeacademy.com]. October included a gathering at the Interna - tional Brigade memorial in the town’s cemetery.

6 International Brigade Memorial Trust Artist tracks down photo for portrait of anti-fascist hero

By Jim Jump highlight the fact that there is another tradi - St Albans-based artist and sculptor Frank Casey tion in Luton that must has brought International Brigade volunteer not be forgotten, a British ex-pats at the James William Gough back to life with a magnif - strong radical and anti- International Brigade icent new portrait (see the cover of this issue) fascist tradition.” memorial in Benissa. of the young sheet metal worker who died dur - However, before Most of the British party were members of the ing the defence of Madrid in December 1936. painting the portrait IBMT and the Labour International Costa Blanca Gough – known as “Joe” in Spain and Casey faced a major ob - North Branch. “Jimmy ” t o his family – was one of seven British stacle: no-one knew One of them, Kevin Bruton, said: “As a Briton volunteers killed in fighting at Boadilla del what Gough looked like. JOE GOUGH: Photo that I’m deeply ashamed at the failure of the British Monte, about 10 miles west of the Spanish cap - An article appeared in inspired the portrait. government to support the legitimately elected ital. They were part of a unit of 20 English- the Luton Herald & Post Spanish Republic in the civil war against a mili - speakers, nearly all British, attached to the on 14 September 2011 reporting Frank’s plans tary coup supported by Hitler and Mussolini.” mainly German Thälmann Battalion. and appealing for more information on Gough. He added: “But, also as a Briton and a Welsh - Casey has painted two versions of the oil-on- As a result Joe’s great nephew, Terry Moore, man I am very proud of the 2,500 Britons, in - canvas portrait, measuring 100cm x 80cm. One contacted him from New Zealand and sent him cluding many Welsh miners who, despite their is on display at the Wardown Park Museum in the photo that is the basis of the new portrait. government, came to Spain to fight fascism.” Luton – where it was unveiled on 20 December. Joe Gough was born on 28 January 1911, of The second version (the one featured on our British parents living in Quebec, Canada, who For the Costa Blanca North Branch of Labour International, cover) will be presented to the London & East - returned home to live in Luton. see [www.labintspain.org.uk]. ern Region of Unite the Union later this year. He probably entered Spain in October 1936 Before going to Spain, Gough worked at Vaux - and made his way to the International Brigades’ Two more memorials in Dublin hall Motors in Luton and was a member of the AUEW engineering workers’ union – one of the “I wanted to highlight the fact unions that, via various mergers, came together to form Unite. that there is another tradition The union is moving into a new regional office in Finsbury, north-west London, in September, in Luton that must not be when the portrait will be formally unveiled. forgotten, a strong radical Regional Secretary Peter Kavanagh told the IBMT that the union would be proud to hang and anti-fascist tradition.” the painting in a prominent position in the building. “It will fit well with the priorities we newly established base in Albacete. The British give to the ongoing fight against fascism,” he Battalion had not yet been created, so he was added. assigned to an English-speaking “zug” (pla - Two new International A mural of IBMT member Frank Casey says he resolved toon) in the Thälmann Battalion. Brigade memorials were (above) and a plaque in that there should be a memorial to Gough in re - He fought at Madrid’s Casa de Campo and unveiled in Dublin on Temple Bar (below). sponse to the current negative portrayal of University City in November and December 7 October as part of a Luton as a centre of neo-nazi activity, especially 1936 and was listed as killed in action during weekend of activities or - by the English Defence League. “I wanted to the fighting around Boadilla del Monte, proba - ganised by Anti-Fascist bly on 17 December, though his body was not Action Ireland to mark recovered for another three days. the 21st anniversary of It was said that he died while attempting to its formation. carry back the body of another British member A plaque dedicated of his platoon, Arnold Jeans. Both were later to the memory of all Irish anti-fascist volun - buried at Fuencarral Cemetery in Madrid. teers who joined the fight against Franco in Meanwhile, Casey has sent the photo of Spain was unveiled at Connolly Books in Tem - Joe Gough to TV and film scriptwriter Terry ple Bar by Independent Socialist Dublin City Hodgkinson, who is working on a film script Councillor Ciaran Perry. The gathering of 200 about the life of – the nephew people was addressed by Tom Redmond on of who was a member of the behalf of the Communist Party of Ireland and same platoon as Gough. by Manus O’Riordan, IBMT Ireland Secretary, As well as the Gough portrait, Casey created who also read out the roll of honour of the Irish the International Brigade memorial in Blantyre, Artist Frank Casey (left) hands over postcards written by International Brigaders who had given their Joe Gough from France and Spain and other personal , unveiled in 2009. He has lives in that fight. papers to John Callow, Director of the Marx Memorial also made a sculpture for rail and maritime A mural in memory of International Brigader Library, home of the International Brigade Memorial union RMT in honour of the merchant seamen Bob Doyle, who died in 2009 at the age of 92, Archive. Casey was given the documents by the Gough on ships trading with Republican Spain during Continued overleaf family after they learned of his interest in Joe Gough. the Spanish Civil War.

International Brigade Memorial Trust 7 NEWS Help preserve memorials with an annual remembrance

By Charles Jepson erect a memorial is not an easy task; nor can of others have been moved from their original the eventual unveiling of the memorial be seen location and one or two are in need of some In 1996 the International Brigade Association as the end of the story. Victory comes from how attention. published an excellent book titled “Memorials well that memorial is used over the years to To address this situation I would like to see of the Spanish Civil War”. Authors Colin raise awareness about the volunteers. an annual day of remembrance to be organised Williams, Bill Alexander and John Gorman iden - Members of the Trust are currently assisting at as many of the memorials as possible, held tified and described the 38 memorials that ex - in an audit of the existing memorials in order to in February to coincide with the annual anniver - isted at the time in Britain and Ireland. Today, ascertain their current location, condition and sary of the Battle of Jarama. thanks to the work and dedication of individu - accessibility. In some areas there are very active Such an act of remembrance would serve two als, supporters of the IBMT, trade unions and supporter groups looking after and making purposes. It would help raise the profile of the local community groups, the number of memo - good use of the memorials. Sadly in a few memorial, possibly attracting press coverage rials has risen to 114, and that number will con - areas the memorials are neglected and go ig - for the IBMT and, secondly, it would ensure that tinue to grow. nored. At least one memorial has been lost the memorial was inspected on an annual basis Campaigning and securing the permission to when a building was demolished, a number for damage, neglect or vandalism. Just two or three supporters gathered by a MANCHESTER: IBMT sup - memorial would be a most worthwhile and porters and anti-fascist cam - paigners are being invited to meaningful act, one that would attract growing a commemorative ceremony support in years to come. In a number of areas at the International Brigade our supporters already hold annual commemo - memorial inside Manchester rations and there is no reason why they should Town Hall (both pictured left) be moved to February; these are the example at 11.30am on Sunday 10 Feb - we should build on in order to better preserve ruary for what is hoped will the memory of those we honour. be the first of an annual event. There will be speeches, wreath-laying and songs from Charles Jepson is the IBMT Treasurer and is overseeing an a Clarion Choir. More details audit of International Brigade memorials in Britain and Ire - on page 26. land; tel: 01254-51302, email: [[email protected]].

From previous page ing people to organise and to fight for a better Spain alive. And a visit was made to the site of was unveiled by Harry Owens in North King life,” he stated. the Nazi concentration camp in Sachsenhausen, Street, where Doyle was born in 1916. an hour’s drive away, with special attention to A longer version of this report appeared in the Morning the Spanish and International Brigade fighters Fife hails its ‘working-class heroes’ Star on 3 September 2012. who were imprisoned there, including the Re - publican premier Largo Caballero. By Malcolm Burns In brief G A public meeting in Bury ’s Fusiliers Museum Trade unionists marched through Kirkcaldy on G The North Lanarkshire No Pasaran Memorial on 21 November saw the launch of a campaign 1 September to mark the 76th anniversary of Committee and the North Lanarkshire Trades for some form of recognition for local Interna - the creation of the International Brigades. Union Council held a fundraising event in tional Brigade volunteer Joe Frillingham, who Wreaths were laid at the memorial erected in Motherwell on 26 October and raised approxi - died at Teruel in January 1938. To support the 1987 in memory of the 46 Fife volunteers. mately £4,000 toward the building of a memo - campaign contact IBMT Treasurer Charles Jep - Fife Trades Union Council chairman Ian Wad - rial to the volunteers from North Lanarkshire. son: [[email protected]]. dell spoke of the need for continuing vigilance Contact [[email protected]]. in defence of democracy. G There was a memorial ceremony on 11 Novem - “The ideas that divide working people in the G Participants came from France, Italy, Nether - ber in Renton , West Dunbartonshire, to com - interests of the capitalist class are still around lands, Russia, Spain, Sweden and the UK to at - memorate the local International Brigaders who and must never be ignored,” he said. tend the annual commemorative weekend in fought and died in Spain. Wreaths were laid by a And Councillor Willie Clarke described the Berlin hosted by the German organisation KFSR number of local organisations and families, in - volunteers as working-class heroes: “The sol - (Fighters and Friends of the Spanish Republic) cluding GMB and Unite branches. diers and nurses who travelled from the towns on 8/9 September. There were lectures and dis - and pit villages of Fife knew that fascism did cussions on keeping the spirit of Republican G Preston-based IBMT member Terry Bayes is not stop at national boundaries. campaigning to have the Oldham memorials to “The lesson for us today is that working peo - local International Brigaders restored to public ple will always have to struggle for their rights view. At present visitors to the museum at and the most precious right is democracy.” Gallery Oldham have to ask to see a sculpture by Daniel Gray, author of “Homage to Caledo - John Fordham that was commissioned in 1980 nia”, described the lives of the 549 volunteers and names six volunteers killed in Spain, along from Scotland – a quarter of whom never re - with a plaque created in 1986 by ceramics artist turned. Jim Robison. Bayes has written to council lead - “They reflected all the struggles faced by ers and other key figures and has had positive working people in Scotland at the time: unem - responses from the trades council and local ployment, industrial victimisation, poverty. But At Sachsenhausen Labour MP Michael Meacher. To support the they also reflected the determination of work - concentration camp. campaign contact: [[email protected]].

8 International Brigade Memorial Trust FROM THE SECRETARY These deaths make the work of

The International Brigade the IBMT ‘even more important’ Memorial Trust keeps alive By Jim Jump that he is very proud of the fact that he went to the memory and spirit of Spain. His partner Eve died earlier last year and the men and women from he deaths of Lou Kenton and David Lomon he has since moved to a local nursing home. Britain, Ireland and in September and December respectively I’m sure he would welcome greetings from T(see obituaries on pages 15 and 17) are a IBMT supporters back home. Send messages elsewhere who volunteered sad but inevitable development. Their depar - for him addressed to: Stan Hilton, Woods Point ture leaves us with no known surviving volun - Agedcare, 75-85 Orr Street, Yarrawonga, Victo - to defend democracy and teer in Britain out of the more than 2,500 from ria 3730, Australia. fight fascism in Spain from the British Isles who joined the International 1936 to 1939 Brigades. Sticking to our objectives David remained youthful and active right up The liveliest debate at our Annual General to his sudden death and was regularly a guest Meeting (see report on page 4) came after it www.international-brigades.org.uk of honour at many commemorative events in was proposed from the floor that the IBMT ban - facebook.com /groups/7123291063 Britain and Spain. He will be sorely missed, not ner should be taken on the TUC’s anti-cuts twitter.com/IBMT_SCW least because from now on all our activities will demonstration in London on 20 October. There be conducted without the inspirational pres - were some tentative voices in favour, but most Charity no. ence of at least one veteran. of those who spoke did so strongly in favour of 1094928 We received many messages of condolence maintaining our policy of not participating in Secretary from around the world in response to Lou and contemporary political events – unless of Jim Jump David’s deaths, for which we are very grateful, course they directly relate to our objectives. 6 Stonells Road, London SW11 6HQ as indeed are the Kenton and Lomon families. Speakers pointed out that it was one of 020 -7228 6504 One of them, from David Rosenberg of Jewish the strengths of the IBMT that we brought to - [email protected] Socialist magazine, made the point that the gether people who might disagree vehemently loss of our last two Brigaders in Britain makes on many controversial topics but who were President the work of the IBMT “even more important” nonetheless united in their admiration for those Marlene Sidaway than it was before. who opposed fascism in Spain in the 1930s. marlenesidaway @hotmail.com I hope everyone will agree with this senti - There may well be many parallels to be made Chair ment and continue to support us. We must not between what the volunteers stood for and cur - Dolores Long let the memory and example of the volunteers rent political issues. But it is up to individuals [email protected] fade after their passing. to decide what these are, not the IBMT. Treasurer Greetings for Stan Cool heads are surely needed Charles Jepson There may not be any Brigaders left in Britain, Brought on by the global banking crisis, Spain’s [email protected] but there is still one British International economic woes have added fuel to separatist Ireland Secretary Brigade veteran still alive. He is Stan Hilton, sentiments in the Basque Country and Catalo - Manus O’Riordan originally from Newhaven, Sussex, but who nia. As two of the wealthiest parts of Spain, manusoriordan @d ublin.ie now lives in Yarrawonga, Australia, having emi - some supporters of independence argue that grated down under in the 1960s. We keep in their regions contribute more in taxes than the Membership Secretary touch with him as best we can, and we know Continued overleaf Mary Greening memsec@internationa l-brigades.or g.uk Education Officer Richard Thorpe thorpe.ortiz@ btinternet.com Merchandise Officer Chris Hall [email protected] Other Executive Committee members Mike Arnott, , Pauline Fraser, Hilary Jones, Duncan Longstaff, Danny Payne, Mick Whelan . Founding Chair Professor Paul Preston Patrons Rodney Bickerstaffe, Professor Peter Crome, LAST WORDS: How poignant that the New Year greetings e-card sent around the world by the Madrid-based Hywel Francis MP, Professor Helen Graham, AABI International Brigades friendship group featured the words of our Brigader David Lomon. They are an extract Ken Livingstone, Len McCluskey, Christy from a speech he made during his last visit to the Spanish capital in November last year. The card was produced Moore, Jack O’Connor, Maxine Peake, and emailed before David’s sudden death on 21 December. Baroness Royall of Blaisdon 9 FROM THE SECRETARY

THANKS JACK: We were grateful to receive in November a cheque for £500 from the es - tate of Jack Edwards (1914-2011), International Brigade veteran and IBMT Trustee. He is pic - tured right (crouching on left) in Spain in 1937 with a group of other international volunteers. Jack was an enthusiastic supporter of the Trust. His last public outing was to attend the unveiling of the memorial to his fellow Merseyside volunteers at our Annual General Meeting in Liverpool in October 2010. He al - FANS: In issue number 32 we carried a ways lamented the fact that the Spanish Civil photo of the banner of the “Jarama Val - War is so seldom taught in schools. The legacy ley Lads”, who support FC United of from his estate will help us carry on our edu - Manchester – the football club set up cational and other work to remember him and by disaffected Manchester United sup - all the other volunteers. We hope it will also porters in 2005. Now comes news of encourage others to make donations to the another group of soccer fans who pay Trust and, like Jack, to remember us in their homage to the International Brigades. wills. They are the Hayesbhoys Celtic Sup - Among other donations we have received in porters’ Club of Hayes, west London the past few months is £200 from the London (http://hayesbhoys.co.uk), whose ban - & South East district council of the train driv - ner (above) is adorned with a picture of ers’ union ASLEF. A big thank you goes to them Bob Doyle. Irish-born Doyle (1916- and all the other individuals and groups who 2009) settled in west London after serv - have made donations. ing with the British Battalion in Spain.

From previous page been blushing in his grave during the recep - to Republican Spain among the exhaustive amount they receive back from central govern - tion in the House of Commons on 13 Novem - MI5 list of 4,000 names of potential volun - ment. Others strongly contest these argu - ber that formally launched the trust. “He was teers. Nor does he appear in the official ments – seemingly it all depends on how the the left’s Winston Churchill, the other great fig - records of the International Brigades held by calculations are made. What is undeniable, ure of the 20th century,” columnist the IBMT, or in any other sources. In any case however, is that public spending all over Spain Brian Reade told the gathering. “Winston he would have been aged just 17 when the In - is being slashed as part of the austerity pro - Churchill had nothing on him,” retorted Labour ternational Brigades left Spain, by which time gramme being imposed from Madrid. So MP Tom Watson to loud cheers and applause. an age limit of 21 was being enforced, though independence-minded political parties and in - Not surprisingly all speakers, including Unite not always effectively. dividuals who say their historic nations would General Secretary Len McCluskey and IBMT If his claim was indeed false (and he would be better off going it alone have been gifted a Patron Rodney Bickerstaffe, stressed the im - not have been alone in this respect), it’s confir - powerful, if perhaps questionable, argument. portance of Jack’s role as an International mation yet again that being an International The case for and against independence is Brigade volunteer in the Spanish Civil War. Brigader was quite rightly seen as a badge of highly charged and divides opinion on the left honour for many of Prince Roy’s generation. in Spain and among Basques and Catalans Royalty at war? themselves. Was Prince Roy of Sealand an International Mark Steel says it all To outsiders it’s clear that cool heads and a Brigader. Who? The self-styled head of state of There must be many good reasons why the desire for consensus will be much needed if an abandoned wartime sea fort off the Suffolk IBMT has developed into a thriving organisa - the economic crisis is not to become a consti - coast (with its own flag, etc), who tion in recent years. But one factor behind the tutional crisis as well. What isn’t needed is the died on 9 October at the age of 91, certainly remarkably durable fascination and respect for kind of intervention that came from army added to the gaiety of the nation. But was he the International Brigades must surely be a colonel Francisco Alamán Castro in a press in - also an anti-fascist hero? His real name was hankering for causes offering a clear-cut politi - terview last September. He warned that the Roy “Paddy” Bates and his obituary in the cal choice. military would intervene if declared Daily Telegraph records: “Aged 15 Roy left This contrasts of course with today’s spin- independence – and would be justified in Lindisfarne College, Westcliff-on-Sea, and trav - heavy, idealism-light political scene, where dif - doing so because of the oath that soldiers elled to Spain to fight for the International ferences between the main parties are often swear to uphold the Spanish constitution. Brigade in the Spanish Civil War.” negligible at best. With their chilling echoes of the last time There is no record of a Roy Bates travelling Confirmation of sorts for this theory came in that Spanish army officers organised a full- the column by comedian Mark Steel in The In - scale military coup, his remarks provoked un - dependent on 3 October. derstandable outrage in Catalonia and the rest “One factor behind the Bemoaning the lack of any ideology among of Spain. Let’s hope they are an isolated twitch remarkably durable current Labour politicians, Steel said that, of a dying Francoist mindset in the army. when challenged to say what they stand for, fascination and respect they were reduced to making statements such Remembering Jack Jones as: “I believe passionately and utterly in peo - Good luck to the Jack Jones Trust (www. for the International ple. I’m not one of these politicians that puts jackjonestrust.com), which has been set up biscuits first, or gives priority to bits of coiled- to raise money to make a film about Jack’s Brigades must surely be up string or starfish, with me it’s always peo - life and to finance film projects reflecting his a hankering for causes ple. Only this week, while in Leicester, I met values. three different people, and it reminded me Such was the praise heaped on the late offering a clear-cut why I believe in people. And those are the val - IBMT Life President – who was born 100 years ues I learned from my grandfather who fought ago on 29 March this year – that he must have political choice.” in the Spanish Civil War.”

10 International Brigade Memorial Trust FEATURES

Getting to know baby Rosemary after his release from Franco’s prisons. Captured members of the British Battalion at Jarama. Third from left on the lorry is AC Williams.

By Lisa Croft

y grandfather was Archibald Campbell The life of AC Williams, the McCaskill Williams, “AC” for short. He Mwas a lifelong socialist, believing in equality and freedom for the ordinary person, grandfather I’m so proud of and an International Brigade comrade in Spain, becoming a prisoner during the Battle of Jarama. by train to Perpignan, then to Figueras in Spain. guilty of “aiding a rebellion”. Five of them were He spent his childhood in Skye and his youth At Albacete he became part of the no. 2 ma - sentenced to death and the others to 20 years. in Invergordon, but spent much of his adult life chine-gun company, and was issued with an an - Thankfully this did not happen, as in away from Scotland. He returned home for the cient machine-gun as he’d had experience with they were exchanged for Italian prisoners, last 12 years of his life, living in Renfrewshire, firearms as a trapper in Canada. though not before being paraded and marched and died in Glasgow Infirmary in 1972. In February the company was involved with through jeering crowds of fascist supporters to Many young Scots were unemployed during the rest of the British Battalion at the Battle of the French border. the 1920s and left home for work elsewhere. AC Jarama, where they were defending the road AC was met at Waterloo station in London by was the eldest and best educated of six sons. from Madrid to . They were ill equipped wife Jane. While he was in prison, she had given Aged 19, he set off for , Canada. He never compared with Franco’s fascists, who were sup - birth to a daughter and, thinking he was dead, saw his parents again. ported by German and Italian soldiers and ar - called her Rosemary for remembrance and Nina, After some short-lived secure employment as mour and on the first day of the battle half of the the Spanish for girl. a bank clerk, followed by a variety of jobs as battalion were killed or wounded. AC’s machine- lumberjack, fur trapper and rancher, like thou - gun company was ambushed by Moorish sol - I5 kept a close eye on my grandparents sands of other migrants he found himself in one diers, who they thought were their own side’s for the rest of their lives, with their tele - of the unemployed workers’ camps. Conditions reinforcements, having been tricked by the Mphone bugged and letters intercepted. of extreme poverty and brutality by camp guards singing of “The Internationale”. They were over - Their flat was also broken into and the book he led him and fellow inmates to organise and powered and captured, then marched off with had written was stolen. I recently received a demonstrate against their situation. He joined their hands above their head. Two of them were copy of his MI5 file. It included a transcript of his the Canadian Communist Party and after one shot in cold blood. interrogation by the fascists while in prison in particular violent clash with police he was ar - A photograph was taken of the prisoners on Spain. rested, convicted as a “rabid agitator” and im - the back of a lorry after their capture; it was My grandfather did not talk to his children or prisoned. Following his sentence, he was published in the . The International grandchildren about his experiences in the deported in chains to the UK. Brigade volunteers were scorned by this right- Spanish Civil War. He was traumatised by both Unemployed in London and living in a hostel, wing paper and portrayed as misguided fools of his prison experiences, but mainly by the terri - he met and married Jane. They were both Com - caught up in another country’s war. The 27 men ble events witnessed in Spain, particularly the munist Party members and politically active in were imprisoned in a makeshift jail in an old fac - brutality of the fascists towards the Spanish the fight against the Blackshirts in the Jewish tory at Talavera, where conditions were unbear - people and seeing his close comrades shot. East End of London. With the outbreak of the able. Their heads were shaved, many became ill, As a child I do remember a group of comrades Spanish Civil War they became involved in the food was scarce, they were covered in lice and it visiting my grandparents’ home, one wearing a Aid Spain movement. was bitterly cold, their overcoats having been black beret. They greeted one another with the taken from them. The British were the lucky clenched fist salute and talked into the night. My upported by his pregnant wife Jane (my ones; other prisoners were shot daily, with the grandparents would often speak Spanish to one grandmother), AC volunteered to join the Spaniards being treated the worst. another; as children we knew that “dinero” SInternational Brigades. He was responsi - AC kept a notebook while in prison, including meant they were talking about money. ble for recruiting another member, Alexander autographs of other comrades, a score sheet AC was a popular, gregarious, charismatic Foote, who became one of the most notorious and commentary for a baseball game played and loving man. He had a gentle Highland ac - Soviet spies of the time. They both joined a and a copy of a telegram to send home. cent with a touch of American drawl. I’m very group of Brigaders who set off on 23 December After three months at Talavera they were proud of him, what he stood for and what he 1936 for France via Dover. From Paris they went transferred to Salamanca, put on trial and found believed in.

International Brigade Memorial Trust 11 FEATURES y 1 April 1939, General Franco’s troops en - The armed struggle against fascism continued long tered Madrid and – as far as the rest of Bthe world was concerned – Spain’s civil after Franco declared victory at the end of the Spanish war was over. The truth was somewhat differ - ent. Franco neither forgave nor forgot. In the Civil War. For many more years there was a guerrilla years of repression that followed, thousands were imprisoned or executed. movement in several regions of Spain. Here, DAVID At the same time a guerrilla movement BAIRD , author of “Between Two Fires: Guerrilla war in sprang up, seeking to overturn the fascist regime. This was Spain’s forgotten war and it the Spanish sierras”, tells the story of the guerrillas in lasted until the early 1950s. But, thanks to Franco’s rigid censorship, few outside the the part of where he lives. country knew anything about that desperate struggle. army of up to 150 men in the sier - I first learned of this secret war when I went ras of Málaga and Granada. to live in a small Andalusian village 40 years The war didn’t He recruited fugitives from ago. The villagers would talk of a brother or a Franco’s repressive regime – those father who had perished in the sierras or others who had joined any left-wing who had been killed by “the people of the sier - party or found them - ras” – in other words, the guerrillas. end in 1939: selves continually harassed. Many It turned out that this particular area of jobs were denied to them and Málaga province had been a hotspot during the their families. To have fought on guerrilla war. Hundreds of Civil Guards and the losing side was an unpardon - Moorish troops had been stationed there in a Spain forgotten able error. bid to crush the rebel movement. Gun battles, Arms were smuggled in from kidnappings and murders were common North Africa – initially with the aid occurrences, with many villages virtually under anti-fascist fight of American and British secret siege. services – and Roberto enforced Anti-fascist guerrillas first went into action in rigid discipline on his volunteers. southern Spain during the civil war. One Aided by collaborators in the vil - group, known as “Los Niños de la Noche” be - lages, they hid out in the moun - cause they often acted at night, freed 300 offi - tains, descending to spread cers and men held in a Granada coastal propaganda, sabotage and harass fortress and escorted them to the Republican the Franco forces. lines, all without firing a shot. To raise funds they kidnapped Later, while Europe was preoccupied with wealthy pro-regime Spaniards, de - the Second World War, Franco’s opponents manding large ransoms for their feuded over how best to undermine the dicta - release. Alleged informers were tor’s government. In 1945, as German forces killed. But the activities of the Civil reeled before the Allied advance, many Leaflet given out by the guerrillas and Guard were equally brutal. Acting (right) “Roberto”, the legendary guerrilla Spaniards hoped that soon their country would like an occupying army, they en - leader in Andalusia. be liberated too. forced curfews, tortured suspects Thousands of ex-civil war combatants had in Spain are a matter for the Spaniards them - and – in many cases – shot prisoners “while at - fought in the French Resistance and communist selves. It is not for us to meddle in them.” tempting to escape”. leaders believed the same guerrilla tactics Then, when a Labour government took power Rural communities lived through a brutal could be exported to Spain. The aim was a na - in the UK, Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin un - nightmare, menaced by both the guerrillas and tional rising in preparation for the arrival of the derlined the message: “The question of the the Civil Guards. Allies once they had crushed the Germans. regime in Spain is something that the Spanish Although at first the aided the Mussolini had fallen, Hitler was under siege. people must decide.” guerrillas, at a secret Kremlin meeting in 1948 The days of the Generalísimo must also be Despite this, the communists mounted a Stalin advised communist leader Santiago numbered. Spaniards had fought the Nazis guerrilla campaign, mostly in rural areas all Carrillo (who died on 18 September last year) both inside and outside their country, so the Al - across the peninsula. While perhaps the most to change tactics and drop the armed struggle. lies would surely repay the debt. powerful rebel group operated in the Alicante- The message apparently never reached But the Allies stopped at the Pyrenees. Win - Valencia region, the Agrupación de Roberto Roberto for he continued his hopeless cam - ston Churchill indicated the betrayal to come created a major threat in Andalusia. Roberto, a paign until his arrest in 1951. when he declared: “Internal political problems legendary, charismatic figure, controlled an By then the guerrillas had been decimated. Of some 10,000 guerrillas across Spain more than half were killed or “Arms were smuggled in from North Africa – initially with imprisoned. the aid of American and British secret services – and “Between Two Fires: Guerrilla Roberto enforced rigid discipline on his volunteers. Aided war in the Spanish sierras” by David Baird can be ordered from by collaborators in the villages, they hid out in the bookshops or direct from the mountains, descending to spread propaganda, sabotage publisher, Maroma Press (http://maromapress.wordpress. and harass the Franco forces.” com) for £12.50 plus p&p.

12 International Brigade Memorial Trust y dad died when he was 97 on Carmody added: “However, the efforts came 1 April 2000,” Mary Lang wrote in to nothing as the Spanish trade unions dis - “M a letter to the IBMT. “He never Defeated by puted the use of foreign workers. In fact it was said one word to me about Spain, although my more of a political dispute. When the eight mum knew obviously… To tell the truth I didn’t British workers arrived in Albacete, they had really enquire too much anyway, but I wish they unions – and to join a Spanish trade union. In Albacete the were still here today because now I want to ask socialist UGT general workers’ union had most them loads.” of the workforce under their control. Some of The IBMT receives many inquiries of this sort Spanish food the British technicians were then sent up to and usually it’s relatively easy to confirm Barcelona to work there. Unfortunately the whether on not someone was a member of the ther would have been 34 in 1936. My parents same dispute broke out again. The Catalan International Brigades. married in 1937 and lived in north London for a workers belonged to the mainly Anarchist- The case of George Arthur Lang was not so while and then moved to Merton in Surrey dur - controlled CNT national labour confederation, routine for our researcher Jim Carmody, who ing the Second World War. I know he was in the and the British were given what they consid - had to consult MI5 files in the National Archives Home Guard and he was a sheet metal worker ered demeaning tasks well below their skill as well as documents in the International and worked for Fairey Aviation. I would love to and knowledge. Brigade Memorial Archive in the Marx Memo - find out more about his time in Spain but have rial Library in London. no idea where to look.” n top of that, the Spanish food the Daughter Mary added in her letter: “I have a The reply to a grateful Mary Lang from Jim technicians were given used a card to him written in Spanish, which I as - Carmody explained all: “From notes I made at “O great deal of olive oil in the cook - sumed was to thank him for taking part. My the National Archives in Kew and the Marx Me - ing. This began to affect the British, as they son has recently had it translated and it is ap - morial Library I can say that your father was re - were not used to so much oil in their food and parently saying that my father needed to be cruited to go to Spain by the Communist Party caused them a great deal of stomach prob - sent back to in London. However, he was not in any of the lems. So by January 1937 all except one of the as quickly as possible. I fighting units of the International Brigades – he technicians had left to return to Britain. The have no further infor - was recruited to work in the Spanish aircraft fac - only one to remain joined the British Battalion mation as to why or tories, teaching the Spanish aircraft workers the of the International Brigades.” what he had been up much more modern techniques used in the According to George Lang’s M15 file (KV5/I26), to. I have tried to look British aircraft industry. The British Communist he was given a safe conduct by the PSUC Cata - at various websites and Party recruited eight technicians, including car - lan communist party to return to England on 20 his name has never ap - penters, engineers, toolmakers and metal work - November from Barcelona. He arrived at Dover George Lang, one of the peared.” ers. Your father was in the first batch, which was three days later along with two other techni - eight technicians. She went on: “My fa - sent to Spain some time in October 1936.” cians, George Ramage and Thomas Upchurch.

arrive and typhus fever decimated their ranks, the 6th and 8th battalions mutinied. These were Volunteers in the Carlist Wars: mainly Scottish working-class political radicals. The remnants of the BAL were eventually with - International Brigades of their day? drawn but the Carlists were contained and the queen’s liberal government survived. By Nick Mansfield Many of their officers were serving in the British The Carlist movement continued, with another army, but others were political radicals them - civil war in the 1870s, and the movement was xactly 100 years before the Spanish Civil selves and some had already served in other one of the first supporters of Franco’s revolt in War another bloody contest was occurring progressive causes; in Bolivar’s wars of libera - 1936 and contributed substantially to the even - Ebetween the forces of left and right in tion in South America, the Greek revolt against tual Nationalist victory. Spain, with the participation of British left- the Ottoman Empire in 1827-28 and the Por - Given the growing interest in labour history wingers. The liberal supporters of newly tuguese civil war of 1833. Some of them went on and 19th century radical politics in the 1930s, crowned Queen Isabel were fighting the abso - to fight for liberalism with Garibaldi in the Italian it would be interesting to know whether, lutist and ultra Catholic supporters of Don Car - Risorgimento of the 1850s and 60s. during the British recruitment of volunteers los, the queen’s uncle and claimant to the The BAL had mixed fortunes fighting the for Spain from 1936, there was any awareness Spanish throne. The latter were known as Carlists in the Basque Country. They took the of the antecedent of the British Auxiliary Le - Carlists and, by supporting traditional Basque towns of Vitoria and San Sebastián, which were gion’s activities. peasant rights, they drew much popular support already familiar to some of in northern Spain. the ex-soldiers who had Dr Nick Mansfield is a senior research fellow at the Univer - The British government supported Queen Is - been there 20 years be - sity of Central Lancashire and was Director of the People’s abel and licensed the general and radical MP for fore fighting the French History Museum in Manchester for 21 years until 2010. Westminster, George de Lacy Evans to raise a under the Duke of Welling - British Auxiliary Legion (BAL) to intervene on the ton in the Peninsular War Some further reading: “The British Auxiliary Legion in the liberal side. Evans raised about 10,000 men in of 1808-1814. But the First Carlist Wars, 1835-1838” by Edward M Brett (Four Courts Britain and Ireland, in about a dozen regiments, Carlists were ferocious op - Press, 2005); “Military Radicals and the Making of Class, all paid for by the liberal Spanish government. ponents and executed any 1790-1860” by Nick Mansfield in Matthew McCormack and Some of the rank and file soldiers were mem - British prisoners they Catriona Kennedy (eds.) “Men of Arms: Soldiering in Britain bers of the radical political unions which had took. When pay and sup - and Ireland, 1750-1850” (Palgrave, 2012); “Radical General helped bring about the Reform Act of 1832, and plies promised by the lib - – Sir George de Lacy Evans” by Edward M Spiers (Manches - George de Lacy Evans. were still campaigning to widen the right to vote. eral government failed to ter University Press, 1993).

International Brigade Memorial Trust 13 FEATURES

IBMT member Tosh Mc - Donald (left) on holiday in northern Spain’s Basque Country in 2011 when, with two other Doncaster bikers, he joined a tour or - ganised by the Côte Basque Chapter of the Harley Owners Group. Right, today’s motorbike racetrack at Jarama, where speedway champion Clem Beckett (below) was killed in February 1937. TOSH McDONALD , motorcycle fanatic and executive committee member of the train drivers’ union ASLEF, recounts the life of Clem Beckett, speedway hero and Wall of Death performer who died in the Battle of Jarama.

hen I attended an event in Sheffield Trades & Labour Club in July 2011 to Wcelebrate the International Brigades I could hardly believe my ears when I started hearing stories and songs about Clem Beckett. I thought to myself: “Surely no one can squeeze Clem Beckett: The daredevil that much into one life.” Born in Oldham in 1906, Clem became a blacksmith when he left school but, as a social - biker who lost his life in the ist and member of the Communist Party, he found employers hard to come by in the dark days of the 1920s. fight ag ai nst fasci sm in Spain Fortunately, he had another string to his bow. Clem happened to have a remarkable talent as Daily Worker headed “Bleeding the men who mained loyal and committed to his working- a motorcyclist and became one of the founding risk their lives on the dirt track”, the ACU sus - class origins. So when Franco’s fascists usurped fathers of speedway – a very popular spectator pended him. His racing days were over. the Spanish Republic in 1936, he offered to be - sport at the time. He began this phase of his life come part of the International Brigades. In No - in 1928 at Audenshaw, when dirt-track racing Defying the Wall of Death vember of that year he set off to join the was in its infancy – and he was soon the leading Undeterred, he moved into show business, in - anti-fascist forces, in which he was in turn a me - rider of his day. By the end of the year he held augurating the “Wall of Death” in Sheffield, chanic, ambulance driver and machine-gunner. 28 records in the sport. which basically meant defying gravity by driv - He explained why he had gone in the most sim - ing a bike horizontally around a circular wall. ple terms and honest way in a letter to his wife: Success – and blacklisting The show was an enormous success both in “I’m sure you’ll realise that I should never have It’s difficult to imagine how popular speedway the UK and across the continent. In 1931 he been satisfied had I not assisted.” was in those days. When Clem won the Golden was injured performing in front of the King and Clem died in the fighting at Arganda Bridge in Helmet at the Owlerton Stadium, no fewer than Queen of Denmark. the Jarama Valley on 12 February 1937, one of 15,000 spectators watched him do it. He would The following year he was a great success in more than 120 members of the British Battalion often hire a plane to fly to three different events the Soviet Union as part of a British Workers’ to give up their lives during the Battle of in a single day and became a celebrity not only Sports Federation delegation. On his return he Jarama. in the UK but across Europe. In 1929 alone he began work at the new Ford factory in Dagen - His friend George Sinfield said: “As his sec - raced and gave displays in France, Germany, ham – but he only lasted two weeks as he was tion was ordered to retire, Clem kept his ma - Denmark, the Balkans and Turkey. one of the first to organise a union in the plant chine-gun trained on the advancing fascists, But at the very height of his speedway fame, and campaigned publicly about conditions in acting as cover to the retreat. The advance was he earned the enmity of the promoters of the the factory. halted but Clem lost his life.” sport, the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU). Why? Be - Clem, never the most popular man with em - It is ironic that today’s racers compete at a big cause, despite his personal success, he could not ployers, then set up a motorcycle sales and re - race track in Jarama, a fitting monument per - stand the blatant exploitation of his fellow riders, pair shop on his own account in Oldham Road haps to a pioneer of riders’ rights who lost his with inexperienced youngsters being persuaded in Manchester. life fighting fascism at that very place. to race, often with serious or fatal results. Perhaps Clem’s widow Leda summed up this Clem helped to form a union to act on their Sacrifice in Spain last adventure in the most touching way when behalf – the Dirt Track Riders’ Association. After But despite all the success, fame and wealth she said: “He went to Spain to face death be - he began recruiting and wrote an article for the his dare-devil exploits won for him, Clem re - cause he loved life.” He lived just 31 years.

14 International Brigade Memorial Trust OBITUARIES

path for the Blackshirts Rafa Ephgrave, a Teessider and fellow Commu - to march through the nist Party member, whom he married in 1941 as Lou Kenton heart of the Jewish East soon as his first marriage was dissolved. They By Jim Jump End on 4 October 1936. had a son and a daughter. During the Battle of After the war they both threw themselves into he life of International Brigader and politi - Cable Street he de - political activism, with Lou employed full-time by cal activist Lou Kenton, who died on 17 ployed his party the party. He was an instigator of the “Homes for TSeptember 2012 at the age of 104, was branch members to oc - Heroes” campaign launched in 1946 that saw linked to many of the great causes and cam - cupy the area around demobbed soldiers and bombed-out families oc - paigns of the British left during the last century. Aldgate station. Then cupy prominent empty buildings in London. Born in east London on 1 September 1908, the by motorbike he sped Following an over-subscribed Bastille Day trip eldest child of politically radical Jewish parents, from section to section to Paris for party activists in 1949, Lou and Rafa he left school at the age of 14 and worked in var - to relay news of police movements that were founded Progressive Tours, the money-making ious factory and warehouse jobs. Joining the being monitored by roof-top look-outs. holiday and travel arm of the party which, Young Communist League, he wrote years after - Many of the demonstrators at Cable Street af - thanks to its favoured status, often provided the wards, gave him a “totally new outlook on life”. terwards travelled to Spain to join the anti-fas - only means of visiting Eastern Europe during He began reading books, writing poetry and cist cause. Lou was at first rejected, but he and the Cold War. In 1952 Lou became the full-time took up cycling and sports, principally swim - Lilian eventually joined the volunteers in the secretary of the British Czechoslovak Friendship ming, football and boxing – later claiming to summer of 1937. She made the journey first League. In his complementary role as organising have had his nose broken twice: once in the ring and, as a trained masseuse, worked as a phys - secretary of the Lidice Shall Live Committee – and on another occasion in a fight with the iotherapist and nurse at an International set up to commemorate the 1942 Nazi revenge Blackshirts. The British Workers’ Sports Federa - Brigade hospital at Valdeganga, near Albacete. massacre at Lidice – he led the appeal that in tion, an offshoot of the YCL, chose him as one of Lou rode through France on his flat-twin Dou - its three competitors in the 1931 Spartakiade in glas motorbike, arriving in Spain in July. He Berlin. The left-wing version of the Olympics, worked as a despatch rider, taking messages “Looking back on those with Kenton swimming for Britain, was switched and mail to and from the various fronts. He was to Moscow at the last minute after it ran into po - also reunited with Lilian for a while, working as days it was terrible: the litical opposition in Germany. an ambulance driver at Valdeganga. He returned to Germany in the following year, They returned to England at the end of Au - spectacle of seeing this time in a socialist football team that played gust 1938, though in January 1939 Lou drove refugees pouring over several matches in the Ruhr. But the tour was through France with an ambulance donated by cut short during a game in Essen when shots print workers. But by the time he reached the the frontier.” were fired from the crowd of 30,000 spectators border Catalonia was falling. He wrote in an by Nazi sympathisers. unpublished 1988 memoir: “Looking back on 1955 helped create a memorial garden over - In 1932 he also started his first job in Fleet those days it was terrible: the spectacle of see - looking the village destroyed by the Germans. Street, working for the magazine publishing ing refugees pouring over the frontier, The Kentons became enthusiastic supporters group Iliffe. He joined the print union Natsopa wounded carrying wounded, mothers carrying of the reform process initiated by Czech Com - and, alarmed by the growing Blackshirt pres - children, some of them already dead, and the munist Party leader Alexander Dub ek early in ence in London, became the editor of The Anti- utter despair on the part of thousands of 1968. So the arrival of Soviet tanks čin August of Fascist Printer , which claimed a circulation of refugees who were being pursued by the ad - that year and the installation of a new hard-line 10,000 among print workers. vancing fascist army.” party leadership were a devastating and lasting In 1933 he married his first wife, Lilian Artner, As war broke out in 1939 he joined the crew of blow. Ties with the British Czechoslovak Friend - a Jewish Austrian refugee. They lived in Holborn, a whaler that sailed from South Shields to the ship League were immediately severed and by where Lou became the secretary of the local Antarctic for six months and returned to find the early 1970s he had finally left the party and Communist Party branch. work in London Aircraft Production’s makeshift joined Labour. Kenton was one of the tacticians behind the factory in Chiswick, west London, where he was The break with the party also prompted him successful effort to stop the police clearing a to settle for the rest of his life. In 1939 he met to return to Fleet Street, now working as a copy- reader at the , where he stayed until his retirement in 1981. At the same time he developed a passion for pottery-making. He built a kiln in his garden and soon applied his new skills to creating ceramic artefacts to sup - port union strikes and other campaigns. The first was a mug for the year-long print workers’ strike at that started in 1978. More commissions followed for various unions and left-wing groups, including the International Brigade Association, and iconic mugs were pro - duced for the People’s March for Jobs in 1981 and the 1984 miners’ strike. The latter is cur - rently on display at the V&A Museum in London. He was awarded Spanish citizenship in 2009 at a ceremony with other volunteers in the Spanish embassy in London.

Lou Kenton seated (with beret) in the Lou Kenton appears in a video, “No Pasaran / They Shall Not snow near Teruel in January 1938. Pass” by Yoav Segal. See: [http://vimeo.com/19145747].

International Brigade Memorial Trust 15 OBITUARIES

Moisès Broggi Adelina was active in the Russian associa - partisans in Creuse to form the local unit of Dr Moisès Broggi, who died tion of veterans of the Spanish Civil War – the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans. As a lieu - on 31 December 2012 in being its last president at the time of her tenant, he helped liberate the town of Guéret Barcelona, aged 104, was a death – and was always close to the exiled on 7 June 1944 and, when the war was won, a surgeon in the International Spanish Republican community in Moscow. decree by President De Gaulle awarded him Brigades’ medical service. In French citizenship. this capacity he worked closely Adolphe Low Adolphe Low’s parents and sister had been with many British volunteer Victor Grossman writes: The sad news that murdered in Auschwitz. He remained in doctors and nurses and formed lifelong Fritz Teppich, who died in February 2012, was France, living in Strasbourg near the Rhine friendships with several of them, including the last of the German volunteers in the border. In 2005 he was accepted into the Alexander Tudor Hart, Reggie Saxton, Ken - Spanish Civil War was not completely correct. French Legion of Honour. neth Sinclair-Loutit and Thora Silverthorne. There was another German volunteer, not so On 8 May last year he and his wife Nicole As a front-line surgeon during the Spanish well known in Germany because he was were honoured at a joint French-German Civil War, Broggi was instrumental in introduc - granted French citizenship in 1945 and re - meeting commemorating liberation in 1945 ing many life-saving innovations, such as the mained in France until his death. and attended by organisations from both installation of mobile operating rooms, and Adolphe Low was born in Cottbus, south of countries. He died on 11 November 2012, new techniques of anaesthesia. Berlin, in 1915, but soon moved with his fam - aged 97. After the civil war he was prevented from ily to the capital, where he joined first a left- practising his vocation for many years and wing Jewish youth organisation and then the José María Massons Espulgas holding any public office. In 1966 he was Communist Youth League. At 16 he was ar - José María Massons Espulgas, who died in named a fellow of the Royal Academy of Med - rested for the first time for taking part in a Barcelona on 10 November 2012, aged 99, icine of Barcelona, and became its president meeting of Polish Jewish anti-fascists. Later, was a Spanish Catalan doctor who served as in 1980. In 2010, he attended the inauguration when his home was again raided, he was a surgeon in the medical services of the Inter - of the Hospital Sant Joan Despí Moisès Broggi luckily absent and managed to escape to national Brigades. in Barcelona that bears his name. France, where he worked illegally, constantly pursued and arrested by the French authori - Harry W Randall Adelina Kondratieva ties. On 8 September 1936 – together with US volunteer Harry W Randall, 50,000 others – he heard the famous speech who died on 11 November by Dolores Ibárruri (La Pasionaria) at the 2012, aged 96, was chief of Vélodrome d’Hiver in Paris and decided to the Photographic Unit of the volunteer to fight in Spain. XV International Brigade – In October, sailing in an old coal ship from which included all the English- , he landed in Alicante and joined speaking battalions. the newly formed International Brigades as a Though born in Washington state and member of the Edgar André Battalion, named raised in Portland, Oregon, Randall joined the after the German communist leader who had mainly Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battal - been beheaded by the Nazis in a ion on arrival in Spain in July 1937. He was few days before. Low fought at Madrid, later appointed to head the XV Brigade’s new Jarama, Guadalajara, Teruel and Belchite – of Photographic Unit, whose brief was to supply the 600 volunteers who had landed with him images for the Brigade’s newspaper, Volun - in Alicante only 20 survived. teer for Liberty , and for propaganda purposes Kondratieva (foreground) in Albacete in 1937. After Spain’s defeat he was imprisoned in in North America and Britain. France at Les Milles and then sent to Algeria His work left an invaluable record of the vol - Adelina Kondratieva, who died in Moscow on with the Foreign Legion. When World War Two unteers and the Spanish Civil War itself. After 14 December 2012 at the age of 95, was the began and France was defeated he was able the war he gave copies of many of his images last of the 3,000 Soviet military personnel, to escape inside France; sought by the po - to the British-based International Brigade As - technicians and volunteers who took part in lice, he had to hide in the forests, surviving sociation, though most of his archive is in the the Spanish Civil War on the side of the Span - with food and clothing given by anti-fascist Tamiment Library of New York University. ish Republic. supporters, but then became one of the first Having relocated to Canada after the war, Born Adelina Abramson in , he found work with the National Film Board of the daughter of Russian emigrés to Ar - Canada and enlisted in the Canadian army. He gentina, she and the rest of the family re - returned to in 1952 and for the turned to Russia in 1932. Adelina travelled to next 30 years produced, edited, and directed Spain in 1937 and served as a translator and medical films. interpreter at the headquarters of the Re - public’s air force in Albacete. During the Sec - Elisabeth Tomalin ond World War and afterwards she worked in Stefany Tomalin writes: My mother Elisabeth Moscow as a Spanish and Italian translator (Obituaries, issue 33) and my father Miles and continued her language studies. She Tomalin – who was a professional documen - ended her career as Professor of Spanish at tary scriptwriter – separated well before I was the Institute of Education. a teenager, though we all still “got on”. His Her family suffered during the Stalinist re - widow and third wife was Madeleine and she pression, with her father being accused in accompanied him on the veterans’ expedition 1951 of . He was sentenced to five Low (standing) with fellow members of the Edgar to Spain which was televised by the BBC in years in the gulag. André Battalion in Spain. one of the years shortly after Franco’s death.

16 International Brigade Memorial Trust r e e t a M l

David Lomon l a h s r

By Jim Jump a M avid Lomon, who died on 21 December 2012, aged 94, was the last known sur - Dvivor in Britain of the more than 2,500 volunteers from the British Isles who joined the International Brigades. His active service in the Spanish Civil War was relatively brief, and he spent nearly seven of his 10 months in Spain as a . But the experience left its mark on him: he re - tained a life-long love of Spain and he was al - ways proud of the ideals that had prompted him to join the anti-fascist fight in a foreign land at the age of 19. In one of his last interviews, given in Madrid only seven weeks before his sudden death, he said that joining the Interna - PORTRAITS: David Lomon in Spain on 7 August 1938, as sketched by Clive Branson, and on 13 October 2012 at the tional Brigades had been the best thing he had IBMT’s Annual General Meeting at Newhaven Fort. done in his life. Lomon was in the Spanish capital in Novem - by another British Battalion prisoner, the artist Blown to hell by artillery and avion ber 2012 to participate in events marking the Clive Branson. They were among a group of That’s how our brave comrades were sold. 76th anniversary of the defence of Madrid in British prisoners repatriated in October 1938 in During the Second World War Lomon served the early months of the civil war, when Franco’s an exchange for Italian soldiers. Branson died on Royal Navy minesweepers in the English rebel army, backed by Hitler and Mussolini, in Burma in 1944 and the sketch remained un - Channel and the Far East. Following the war, he threatened to overrun the city and achieve a seen by Lomon until April last year, when he returned to the garment trade, working as a swift victory over the Spanish Republic. It was visited the Marx Memorial Library in London to hand-cutter for Barnett Lawson Trimmings in during these battles that the intervention of the view Branson’s sketchbook, which had only London, and to family life – he had married Mil - International Brigades – volunteers from recently been deposited at the library’s Interna - lie Levine in 1939 and they had two sons and a around the world who opposed the policy of tional Brigade archive. daughter. Years earlier he had left the YCL – “non-intervention” sponsored by Britain and Seeing the Branson sketch rekindled long- where he had met Millie – and switched alle - France – played a crucial role in halting the fas - forgotten memories for David. At the Palencia giances to Labour, in part out of disappoint - cist advance. prison he recalled how he and fellow POWs ment with the Hitler-Stalin pact of August 1939. Though born in Manchester (on 22 November made up their own lyrics when they sang On retirement, by which time he was the 1918), the youngest of eight children, Lomon “Jarama Valley”, the song originally penned by managing director at Barnett Lawson, he lived had been working in the garment trade in Lon - Glaswegian volunteer Alex McDade and then for two years in Spain before settling in Bexhill don’s East End when he arrived in Spain in De - anonymously rewritten to become the unoffi - and, following Millie’s death 15 years ago, relo - cember 1937. Already bloodied in street cial song of the British Battalion. Sung to the cating to Bourne End, Buckinghamshire, to be clashes with the Blackshirts of the British Union tune of “Red River Valley”, they would sing: closer to one of his sons. of Fascists, in Spain he changed his surname There’s a prison in Spain called Palencia The final two years of his life saw him play an Solomon to Lomon to disguise its Jewishness ’Tis a place that we know all too well active part in events in Britain and Spain to from potential fascist captors. He recounted It was there that we gave of our manhood commemorate the International Brigades, hav - years later: “I wanted to go to Spain, so I joined And spent months of misery and hell. ing made contact with the IBMT after reading the Young Communist League just because, I Surrounded one day by Italians an article in the April 2009 issue of Saga Maga - thought, these are the people who I could use Who with guns bought by Chamberlain’s gold zine about the few remaining British veterans. to get to Spain… I wanted to do something. I In October 2011 he joined three former com - wanted to fight fascism.” rades from France and Estonia in Madrid to He had made his way through France by train, “In one of his last mark the 75th anniversary of the formation of entering Spain after an exhausting overnight the International Brigades. Speaking at the in - climb over the Pyrenees to avoid the French interviews, given in auguration of a memorial to the Brigades in the border guards and international non-interven - University City, he said: “The ideals of the inter - tion monitors. After less than three weeks of Madrid only seven national volunteers will never be forgotten. training as a machine-gunner at the British Bat - Even though we lost the so-called civil war, the talion’s base at Tarazona de la Mancha, he was weeks before his democratic powers realised that fascism must rushed to the front to shore up the Republic’s be stopped, or they too would suffer the same lines as Franco’s waged a huge counter-offen - sudden death, he fate as Spain.” sive to retake the city of Teruel. Then in the He was awarded Spanish citizenship in 2009, spring of 1938 Lomon was taken prisoner by and in July 2012 unveiled a plaque beside the Italian troops as they pushed eastwards said that joining the International Brigade memorial in Jubilee Gar - through Aragon towards the Mediterranean. dens on London’s South Bank. Along with over 100 other captured Britons, International Brigades Lomon was imprisoned in the concentration David Lomon’s speech in Madrid on 10 November 2012 can camp of San Pedro de Cardeña, near Burgos, had been the best thing be seen just over halfway through this video: [www. and afterwards at an Italian-run prisoner-of-war cronicapopular.es/2012/11/acto-de-homenaje-a-las- camp outside Palencia. There, he was sketched he had done in his life.” brigadas-internacionales].

International Brigade Memorial Trust 17 CAN YOU HELP? LETTERS Plaque wording belittles heroism of volunteers he wording of the new plaque in Jubilee Gardens on London’s South Bank (report Tin IBMT Newsletter number 33) perpetu - ates the myth that only Germany and Italy gave support to Franco. Without the covert support of France, and especially Britain, he might not have won. The Non-Intervention Pact was only part of the way Britain supported the rebels. Assisting Franco back from exile and the selective action of the Royal Navy, which failed to protect British merchant ships, were some of the other ways they helped. The right-wing press and leading establishment figures expressed their support and it was obvious at the time that many felt it was all a part of their fight against communism. British and French volunteers had to defy their own governments and break the law when going to Spain. In effect, the wording belittles the heroism of the volunteers. Bill Thornycroft London SE27 CLENCHED FIST: Arthur West, pictured (left, cen - The Secretary writes: The causes of the defeat of the Span - tre) campaigning for the ish Republic are varied and complex, and there wasn’t Spanish Republic, was room to include them all in the few words available to us the owner of this sketch on the plaque. Our aim was to supplement the inscription (above). Among the on the adjacent national memorial. Many people know lit - signatories are several tle or nothing about the International Brigades and the Brigaders. Spanish Civil War. So our choice of words lays emphasis on the civil war as a prelude to the Second World War – which most people are familiar with. The importance of Hitler’s and Mussolini’s support for Franco is beyond doubt. For example, without their help he could not have transported his Army of Africa to the mainland after the the full-time union convener for many years. July 1936 coup had failed in most parts of Spain. It’s true Mystery sketch He also served as the President of the Notting - that other factors were important in determining the Can anyone shed any light on the origins of ham Trades Council and stood for election to d r

a PLAQUE: Unveiled by this sketch? It belonged to Arthur West, an ac - Parliament and the local council as a Commu - i W Brigader David Lomon tivist in the Aid Spain movement in Notting - nist and Labour candidate respectively. w e

r in London’s Jubilee ham and a prominent local trade unionist, d n

A Gardens last July. who died in 1979, aged 67. The portrait is ded - Anyone with information about the sketch or about icated at the top to “the Liverpool Local with Arthur West’s involvement in Aid Spain campaigning Red Front Saluds, Jack Coward”. Other signa - should contact IBMT Secretary Jim Jump: [secretary@ tures (not all are legible) include R Hale (Liver - international-brigades.org.uk]; tel: 020-7228 6504. pool), William James (Liverpool), Lionel Poxon (Nottingham), George Barney (Bootle), ER Paul (Riverside, California), Harold Lloyd Vegetarianism in the Brigades (Abertillery), Roland Cleveland (Hollywood, Will Boisseau is studying for a PhD at California), James Carroll (Liverpool), V Cromp - Loughborough University on the connec - ton (Liverpool) Alfred J Holmes (Liverpool) and tions between vegetarianism and the Ben Richardson (Darlington). socialist movement. He wonders if any - Arthur West was a member of the Commu - one has any information at all about Leo nist Party until 1961, after which he joined the Price, who, as far as he can tell, was the Labour Party. He was an aero engine fitter and only vegetarian who fought in the Inter - worked for most of his life at the Rolls Royce national Brigades. Contact: [w.j.boisseau plant in Hucknall, where he was an AUEW en - @lboro. ac.uk]. gineering workers’ union shop steward and

18 International Brigade Memorial Trust MEMORIAL: Plaque and sculpture (right) in Amsterdam dedicated to the Dutch volunteers. Far right is Piet Laros. See letter from Henk Koelewijn. course of the war, not least Britain’s malevolent policy of ten offers of marriage in as many weeks. How tend future IBMT anniversary meetings on the non-intervention, and the IBMT regularly makes that point conventional and idiotic the Communist Party is. South Bank. So I am taking this opportunity to – see our “Antifascistas” exhibition. Our hope is that there I sleep with a boy, and immediately he asks me thank the IBMT for arranging the past meetings will be many passers-by in Jubilee Gardens who, as a re - to marry him. Supposing I had said yes. Where and for all its other activities. It was good to sult of reading the inscriptions on the memorial and would we be?” see last year that a space had been made for plaque, will want to find out more about the International I wouldn’t say that clears it up, but it’s a start. the fine monument further away from the Brigade volunteers and in doing be made aware of the Lydia Syson London Eye. heroism that Bill Thornycroft rightly refers to. By email Years ago now I tried hard to get Islington to erect a memorial for the International Brigades Lydia Syson’s new novel “A World Between Us”, set in the but, although I was supported by Jeremy Leila’s lovers Spanish Civil War, is published by Hot Key Books. Corbyn, the MP for Islington North, the leader our last issue (num - of Islington Council, Bill Alexander of the Inter - Yber 33) asked who national Brigade Association and a number of were Leila Berg’s Inter - Dutch Brigaders other sympathisers, the plan fell through for national Brigade lovers ’m very impressed with the work that the IBMT lack of financial support. mentioned in her Iis doing. My grandfather, Hendrik Koelewijn, a This was especially disappointing consider - recent obituaries. Dutchman, was in the International Brigades, ing that Islington has long been a particularly Berg (left) wrote about but I don’t have much information about him. progressive borough and where the archives of them in her impres - Much is known about the British, French and the IBA are kept in the Marx Memorial Library sionistic autobiography German volunteers, but not so much about in Clerkenwell. Also, Islington is a neighbour to “Flickerbook”, on those from smaller countries. My grandfather Camden, where much of Aid for Spain was or - which I made some didn’t talk about the Spanish Civil War or the ganised in 1936. One difficulty was that I was notes a few years ago, though I don’t own a copy. anti-Nazi resistance during the Second World only able to find a couple of Brigaders or sur - She had a lover called Fred, whom I think was War. That was then, he always used to say. viving family members living in Islington. Bill killed at Jarama. I wonder if he was Frederick He used a different name in Spain, and after - Alexander explained that his records of London Robertson – listed among the dead in “Anti- wards he was very disillusioned. He was a so - Brigaders did not specify which London bor - fascistas”. I know he played the harmonica. The cialist and didn’t like the communists. But he ough they came from. implication is that his surname was Robson. kept up a good friendship with Piet Laros (“Hol - I just hope that some day a member of your Then there seems to have been an Alf, to lander Piet”), his company commander. I met organisation may be able to achieve getting whom she sent another harmonica, who was Piet a few times. He was a diehard communist, a memorial placed here to fill this strange also killed. I don’t think she gives surnames in though a very warm and sociable person. He historical gap. the book, or I would surely have written them told me a lot. Just like my grandfather, after the Angela Sinclair-Loutit down, but the dates work for Alfred Woodhouse war in Spain he joined the Dutch resistance, By email of Mansfield and Alfred Marks of London (more though they were in different units. likely, perhaps), who were both killed at Brunete They were captured and my grandfather was in July 1937, as well as for Alfred Ernest Capps, sent in 1942 to Dachau concentration camp; Is IBMT’s Orwell event inclusive? killed at Teruel in January 1938. She says (page Piet was sent to Buchenwald. They met each hen it was first announced that the 2013 228): “They die so fast in Spain,” which sug - other again after the war in Expog, the associa - WLen Crome Memorial Lecture was moving gests Brunete. tion of former political prisoners who were in from London to Manchester, I viewed it as a Finally, she says: “…was supposed to be the Nazi camps. positive innovation. Teddy’s girl” according to the Party, Teddy Henk Koelewijn I have long felt that for the Trust to continue being Edward Harold Cross, who was killed at By email as a vibrant and relevant organisation it needs Gandesa in April 1938. Then she says on page to reach out beyond its current constituency of 233: “I wasn’t at all; I just let him kiss me be - Brigaders’ families and the labour movement. cause he was going to Spain, and I lent myself to Islington needs a memorial Two of the Trust’s three flagship events have him for that very short time before he left, just to am now 91, and over the past few months my until now been held in London and relocating make him happy.” Imobility has deteriorated a lot, so to my re - the lecture to Manchester would make the or - Later (page 236) she comments: “I have had gret I think it unlikely that I shall be able to at - Continued overleaf

International Brigade Memorial Trust 19 Not an IBMT member? LETTERS Join now and help keep From previous page ganisation appear to be less “Londoncentric”. alive the memory and However, this positive move has been more than negated in my view by the decision to spirit of the volunteers make the hitherto free lecture a fee-paying conference. A fee-paying conference requiring pre-regis - Complete the form below and send subscriptions and any donations to : tration is likely to discourage attendance by IBMT Membership Secretary, 2 Woodford Close, Radyr Way, Cardiff CF5 2PH those who are not already members of the Trust. For a Direct Debit form or for any other membership or subscription queries Given that the chair and three of the four tel: 029-2019 5412; email: [email protected] speakers are either professors or doctors, many will also think that this is an event organ - ised primarily for historians, experts and the Membership application form already fully committed. If we want to encourage new members and Full name activists, the Trust needs to be accessible and Up to three additional names (for family membership)* inclusive. This fee-paying conference is quite the opposite. Current IBMT members may also wonder why they are required to pay the same fee as Address non members. As a former Treasurer I am aware of the Trust’s financial position. However, any short- Postcode term benefit from making the lecture a fee- paying conference will be negated in the long Email** Telephone* run by missing the opportunity to increase and broaden our membership base. Membership category and annual subscription rate (please tick as appropriate): Mike Anderson K Free – International Brigade veterans and partners and widow/ers By email K £25 – Family (single household) K £20 – Individual The Secretary writes: Speakers at the IBMT’s annual Len K £12.50 – Unwaged Crome Memorial Lecture have always been respected aca - K Institutions – contact Membership Secretary (see above) for rates demics, authors and experts in the field of Spanish Civil Donation of £______enclosed* War history. The same is true for our 2013 event. The IBMT Executive Committee decided that this year we needed a Signature Date day-long conference with a range of speakers to reflect the * Optional / If applicable differing aspects and interpretations of ’s involvement in the war. All this means extra costs and ** Members who provide an email address will receive our news service emails. puts more pressure on our already hard-pressed finances. Make cheques payable to International Brigade Memorial Trust. The minimal registration fee of £10 (£5 for students) barely covers these costs and shouldn’t put anyone off at - NB: Please note that different annual subscription rates apply to overseas (non-UK) tending what promises to be a very interesting conference. members. These reflect the higher postage cost of mailing the IBMT Newsletter . They are: G Family (single household): £30 / $48 / 37 G Individual: £25 / $40 / 30 € Barcelona Peoples’ Olympiad G Unwaged: £17 / $27 / €22 ongratulations on € Cproducing another great IBMT Newsletter (number 33). The com - Gift Aid declaration ments regarding the 1936 Peoples’ Olympiad in Please complete if you are a UK taxpayer: Barcelona I found very in - I wish this and all subsequent payments to the International Brigade Memorial Trust to teresting indeed. Readers be treated as Gift Aid donations. might like to know that as Name well as the poster illus - trated on page 2, three Signature Date different philatelic labels were produced to advertise the event, although surviving examples are rare, especially so on envelopes. This picture is of one of the types Keeping alive the memory and spirit of the men and women from Britain, which does appear occasionally on eBay. Ireland and elsewhere who volunteered to defend democracy and fight Enamel lapel badges were also available to buy at the time in 1936 and a photo of one of these, fascism in Spain from 1936 to 1939 which I’m pleased to own, is also attached. Cliff Kirkpatrick International Brigade Memorial Trust By email www.international-brigades.org.uk Charity no: 1094928 BOOKS MUSIC & FILM In their own words: the volunteers’ story

“. The British in the Spanish m u

Civil War and the Struggle Against Fascism” by e s u

Richard Baxell (Aurum Press, London, 2012) £25 M r (hardback)* a W l a i r e

Reviewed by Lewis Mates p m I he keen interest in the British Tresponse to the Spanish Civil War shows no signs of abating. The latest book taking this as its subject is Richard Baxell’s “Unlikely War - riors”, which, as the au - thor explains, is “the first to place the Spanish Civil War within the context of the volunteers’ lives, rather than the other way round”. This means that the book begins with three contextualising chapters; the first discusses Brigaders’ responses to Britain in depression, to unemployment and the hated means test; the second looks at the campaigns against in - digenous fascism (especially the British Union of Fascists), and the third considers the de - bates around the Spanish Civil War and various British responses at state and individual level to the conflict. The final three chapters and epilogue continue the story after Franco’s victory, analysing contin - uing activism on the home front, the impact of the Hitler-Stalin pact and, later, the Communist Party’s controversial decision to deem the war against Hitler an imperialist war that should not HOMECOMING: Members of the be supported (a position it of course reversed British Battalion arrive at London’s after Hitler’s attack on the Soviet Union). Victoria station in December 1938. The other 17 chapters, however, examine the Spanish Civil War itself, offering a pacey and en - also contains a chapter on those who fought Gurney and Walter Gregory, unpublished ac - gaging narrative account of the involvement of for the Nationalists. This demonstrates well the counts, detailed interviews and correspon - similarities between the experiences on both dence of fighters, as well as, of course, major sides; poor training, poor pay (though the archival sources in Britain, Russia and else - “Certain images, anecdotes Nationalist volunteers were far worse paid than where to richly illustrate the human side to the and individuals particularly the International Brigaders; they also particu - conflict. This helps to capture both the elevated larly coveted the Brigaders’ superior trench and the base; the horror, the humour, the soli - endure; for example, John coats), drink problems, fighting in units that darity, the petty jealousies, the grumbling sustained huge numbers of casualties and, (about food, toilets, lice and so forth), the bru - Sommerfield’s image of a for many at least, fighting for a cause they tality, the filth, the squalor, the boredom, the believed in. confusion, the bravery and the fear. hungry dog trying to eat a The book’s aim is to tell the story “from the Certain images, anecdotes and individuals dead fascist’s brain in perspective of the participants themselves particularly endure; for example, John Sommer - using, wherever possible, their own words”. In field’s image of a hungry dog trying to eat a Madrid and getting shot.” this it succeeds admirably. Its major strength is dead fascist’s brain in Madrid and getting shot. the wealth of detail it provides of the individual In the pouring rain the blood and brains of both Britons in the conflict, interspersed with chap - experiences of British fighters. fascist and dog mingle and wash away. “It was ters tackling various significant themes; those Baxell has done an excellent job in culling the as good a war picture as I could think of,” Som - who worked in medical aid, the visits of foreign published accounts of Brigaders such as Jason merfield comments. correspondents, Labour Party Then there is “Tom Vino”, a Brigader who cun - contingent and the May Days (1937) contro - * Available from the IBMT at the special price of £20, in - ningly replaces water with wine in his water bot - versy, Brigade discipline, and the experiences of cluding p&p; send cheques made out to IBMT along with tle; the unnamed MP who makes an unwanted those in Nationalist prison camps. your name and address (UK only) to: IBMT, 6 Stonells Road, sexual advance to Esmond Romilly and Lorimer A significant strength of the book is that it London SW11 6HQ. Continued overleaf

International Brigade Memorial Trust 21 BOOKS MUSIC & FILM

paperback version in particular will reach a new sented as fact, whereas we now know that the Writers at war readership, stimulating sufficient interest among events in which they were embroiled were more them that they will then want to find out and complex and nuanced than they imagined or let “I am Spain: The Spanish Civil War and the men read more about the Spanish Civil War and the on at the time. and women who went to fight fascism” by David international volunteers who joined the anti-fas - To conclude, this is an engrossing read and a Boyd Haycock (Old Street Publishing, Brecon, cist cause. good starting point for anyone casually inter - 2012) £25 (hardback) But beware. This is no scholarly study. It is not ested in the Spanish Civil War. But readers who founded on new research. There are no notes or want an accurate reference book or a more Reviewed by Jim Jump references – even, annoyingly, for the occasional thoughtful analysis of the war and its key play - unattributed quotation thrown into the text. Nor ers should stick to the recognised historians in am Spain” – the is there a bibliography of the memoirs and biog - the field. title is from a raphies that Haycock mined to produce his book. “I WH Auden poem There is also a peppering of factual errors. The – is a retelling of the farewell parade in Barcelona for the Interna - story of the Spanish tional Brigades was on 28 October 1938, not 15 The road to China Civil War through the ex - November. The Comintern’s decision to send in - periences of the British ternational volunteers to Spain was taken on 16- “East Wind: China and the British Left, 1925- and American poets, 19 September 1936, not 26 July – a crucial time 1976” by Tom Buchanan (Oxford University writers, intellectuals difference when establishing the sequence of Press, 2012) £65 (hardback); “‘Shanghai-Madrid and artists who took foreign involvement in the war and assessing Axis’? Comparing British Responses to the part in or witnessed the conflict. Soviet motives in deciding to help the Republic. Conflicts in Spain and China, 1936-39” by Tom Against the chronology of the war from 1936- And why is the British Battalion repeatedly re - Buchanan ( Contemporary European History , 39, author David Boyd Haycock cleverly stitches ferred to as the “English-Speaking Battalion”? Volume 21, Issue 04, November 2012, pp 533-552) together the testimonies and stories of many of Another weakness is that the first-hand ac - its well known English-speaking protagonists. counts and opinions of these famous men and Reviewed by Angela Jackson We meet writers and journalists such as Claud women are repeated without the necessary Cockburn, Kitty Bowler, John Dos Passos, benefit of hindsight. In most cases their stories om Buchanan’s capac - Martha Gellhorn, Ernest Hemingway, Stephen stand the test of time. But often highly con - ity for detailed re - Spender and George Steer. And we hear about tentious views, for example those held by Tsearch is put to those who enlisted with the fighting units and George Orwell and John Dos Passos, are pre - excellent use in his latest medical services resisting book, “East Wind”, and in a Franco’s uprising against the fascinating article on the Spanish Republic. Among them existence of a “Shanghai- are Felicia Browne, John Corn - Madrid Axis” in the period ford, Bernard Knox, , 1936-39, certain to be of George Orwell, Esmond Romilly, particular interest to IBMT Kenneth Sinclair-Loutit and Tom members for its numerous insights on this long- Wintringham. neglected subject. Both the book and the article The vivid prose and dramatic contain references to those who went to China experiences and intrigues shared after having been in Spain during the civil war, by these individuals make much Ernest Hemingway (second including familiar names such as Nan Green and of the narrative highly readable. from right) in Spain with David Crook. We must hope therefore that the Dutch film-maker Joris Ivens. Buchanan gives due acknowledgement to

‘Unlikely warriors’ against fascism tell their own story ance is admirable and indeed very necessary if our understanding of this conflict is to deepen. From previous page pen to him and then see that it was carried out. On a more prosaic note, the hardback is at - Birch; the hilarious (at times) and tragic (at oth - Kemp also relates finding a bag of post for tractively presented with 16 pages of photos. At ers) anecdotes of other Brigaders’ failed or dis - American and Canadian International Brigaders £25 for a full 450 pages it is also competitively appointing sexual adventures; the apparent in captured positions, including letters from girl - priced. These features, combined with the high disdain that Brigaders held for Ernest Heming - friends, wives and children; “It was horrible to quality of the research and writing and the fas - way. Brigader Hugh Sloan remembered one oc - feel that many of these men, who spoke my cinating, beautiful and dreadful human story casion telling fellow Brigader Jimmy Arthur to own language and who had come even further they relate, make “Unlikely Warriors” essential shoot Hemingway and an American colonel ex - to fight for a cause in which they believed as reading for anyone interested in the Spanish amining the British anti-tank guns without his deeply as I believe in ours, would never return Civil War. permission; “Many years later Hemingway took to enjoy the love that glowed so warmly from his own life. I always had the feeling that Jimmy the pages I was reading,” Kemp remarked. Lewis Mates teaches history and politics at Durham Arthur was the kind of morose character who Throughout, Baxell’s is a measured and University and is the author of “The Spanish Civil War and might have saved him the bother.” largely balanced voice, striving to give all sides the British Left: Political Activism and the ” Yet some of the most moving episodes occur in still often rather contested debates around (IB Tauris, London, 2007). in the recollections of Peter Kemp who fought the International Brigades, the Communist Party for Franco, such as when Kemp was forced to and the wider conflict a fair hearing. Some de - “Unlikely Warriors” has been shortlisted with six other shoot an Irish (Belfast) Brigade deserter bates could have been given lengthier consider - books in the Political History category of the inaugural an - (against Kemp’s wishes). After trying everything ation. Yet, while some readers will not agree nual Paddy Power and Total Politics Book Awards. Judges he could to prevent the execution, Kemp was entirely with the balance of the treatment and include Charles Clarke, Ann Widdecombe and Mary Beard, forced to tell the unfortunate what would hap - some of Baxell’s arguments, the attempt at bal - and winners will be announced on 6 February.

22 International Brigade Memorial Trust Arthur Clegg for having documented the work done by the China Campaign Committee in soli - darity with the Chinese against Japanese ag - gression (“Aid China, 1937-1949: A memoir of a forgotten campaign”; New World Press, Beijing, 1989). In “East Wind”, Buchanan explores the wider subject of the intricate relationship be - tween China and the British Left, giving a much- needed analysis of the period from the rise of modern Chinese nationalism to the death of Mao Tse-tung. Reactions in Britain to the wars being fought in Spain and China form part of this ground-breaking study. The failures of British foreign policy are brought into stark focus in one of the illustrations, namely the New Leader ’s graphic depiction of warplanes in V for - mations labelled “Spain”, “China”, “Abyssinia” and “”, flying over Britain in 1940 and captioned with the Chinese ambassador’s comment, “the air is black with the wings of chickens coming home to roost”. Drawing on PERFORMERS: Among those contributing many such apposite quotations, and with a no - to the new album are (clockwise from top tably extensive bibliography, “East Wind” will left) The Wakes, Alison McMorland and appeal to anyone with an interest in the history Geordie McIntyre and . of the Left, and will surely become a definitive reference work for students in years to come. In the article, “‘Shanghai-Madrid Axis’?”, Buchanan’s focus is specifically on a compari - Songs for Scottish Brigaders son between the campaigns in Britain to sup - port the Spanish Republic and those to aid Compilation CD “Scots in the Spanish Civil of your dead, they walk the beaches still.” War: No Pasaran” Greentrax Recordings Spain’s forgotten dead, in this case the “China never became CDTRAX3639; £12 plus p&p from [www. more than 130 Scots who died in Spain, fea - greentrax.com] ture in the poem “Graves of Spain” by Mary ‘China’, a ‘great cause’ like Brooksbank (1897-1980), put to music for this Reviewed by Jim Jump CD by Eileen Penman: “Tread softly señoritas, that of ‘Spain’, instantly o’er their lonely graves / Spaniards mute your recognisable from one ot on the heels voices for our dead / Stars shine steadfast, of the excellent eternal vigil keep.” emotionally charged word.” H“From Blantyre to Another poem, “When The Call Comes” by Barcelona” comes this Alistair Findlay, was specially written for this China in the period 1936-39. For a brief time, superb 17-track collection CD. It has been recorded by Ian McCalman these campaigns were at the forefront of atten - of songs in tribute to the and George Archibald, a member of the group tion among left-wing activists, particularly fol - more than 500 Scottish International Brigade Ragged Glory. lowing the bombing of civilians in both volunteers. Every song is a gem, with more A remarkable poem also closes the album. countries in 1937. The strong links between the than half of them specially recorded for this Broadcaster Iain Anderson reads “Hasta La two causes are evident. Some former Brigaders, new CD. The others are mainly drawn from al - Vista – Madrid”, written by Aberdeen like Patience Darton, went on to work in China, bums that are now out of print or hard to find. Brigader Bob Cooney in 1965 for a reunion of though in her case not until the 1950s. In 1939, These include The McCalmans’ version of the volunteers in London: “It seems but yes - still raw from the defeat Spanish Republic, she “Peatbog Soldiers”, The Laggan performing terday / We left that war torn hill above Gan - had tried to go there with a group of doctors she “Jarama Valley/Bandiera Rossa” and the late desa,” wrote Cooney at the start of a long had met in Spain, but had been unsuccessful. In Jim Brown’s “Salud International Brigade”. poem that ends with a warning to Franco – this period before the outbreak of World War The music ranges across the spectrum of still in power at the time – “We will stroll in Two, she and others who had worked together styles. Alison McMorland and the Puerta del Sol / And the Ramblas of in the Brigades believed that China offered a Geordie McIntyre sing “Viva los Brigadistas” Barcelona / We will cross the Ebro and drink new front in the fight against fascism and the over a mournful bagpipe backing; Gallo Rojo, with our friends in Mora / Friends who will be chance to build a better world. Buchanan’s arti - a group of Edinburgh-based Scottish and free!” cle sets out the context for such a transference Spanish musicians, belt out a rocking “¡No The CD comes with a 22-page booklet for of hope. Pasarán”; and Glasgow’s Celtic punk-folk which historian Daniel Gray, author of Though the conflicts were frequently pre - band The Wakes perform their tribute to “Homage to Caledonia”, provides an intro - sented in similar terms as “fascist assaults” and Brigader James Maley, “These Hands”. duction. There are lyrics and notes for all the “people’s wars”, Buchanan examines why China There are familiar songs such as Ewan songs and photos of several Brigaders. never became “China”, a “great cause” like that MacColl’s “Jamie Foyers”, sung here by Dick Greentrax and all those involved in this pro- of “Spain”, instantly recognisable from one emo - Gaughan, “Si Me Quieres Escribir” by Chris - ject are to be congratulated for producing tionally charged word. His skillful in-depth analy - tine Kydd, and John Kidd’s rendition of John such a fine album, which is an essential addi - sis of the cultural context and the involvement of Wall’s acerbic “Owt for Nowt” – “España you tion to any collection of music about the Inter - key writers and intellectuals of the times give a bled from Bilbao to Seville / And the ghosts national Brigades and the Spanish Civil War. Continued overleaf

International Brigade Memorial Trust 23 BOOKS MUSIC & FILM

STILLS: Im - From previous page Helen Graham, many of the International ages from new and welcome perspective on the intercon - Brigaders were, to use her rather elegant ex - David Leach’s nections between the two campaigns. pression, “the stormy petrels of social “Voices from change”, members of a vanguard fighting for a Mountain ”, Angela Jackson’s latest book is “‘For us it was Heaven’: “cosmopolitan cultural modernity”. The third, including The Passion, Grief and Fortitude of Patience Darton” final section of the book is a passionate essay (top) Welsh on contemporary Spain, the enduring legacy volunteer (Sussex Academic Press, Eastbourne, 2012), a biography of Francoism and the current battles to control Alun Menai of the International Brigade nurse who lived in China Williams. from 1954-58. historical memory. The book provides a trenchant demolition of some of the more enduring myths of the Franco dictatorship. As the author points out, ‘All Sp ain is a priso n’ the Spanish Civil War was the first battle of a war “waged predominantly on civilians” and “The War and Its Shadow: Spain’s Civil War in there is no shortage of evidence that murder Return of ‘Voices Europe’s Long Twentieth Century” by Helen and rape were used deliberately as a weapon Graham (Sussex Academic Press, Eastbourne, to break down resistance. As the leader of the 2012) £22.50 military rebels, General Emilio Mola declared, from a Mountain’ they were determined to eliminate “without By David Leach Reviewed by Richard Baxell scruple or hesitation those who do not think as we do”. This included not just members of thought it was time “Voices from a Mountain”, elen Graham’s the “left” and members of some imaginary my 2001 documentary about British volunteers latest mono - “judeo-masonic conspiracy”, but any repre - Iin the Spanish Civil War, was shared publicly, Hgraph, “The War sentatives of progress and modernity: teach - particularly with my friends in the Terra Alta dis - and its Shadow”, is not ers, trade unionists, homosexuals and trict of Catalonia, many of whom were unaware an introductory text to “modern women” too, as the accounts in their vineyards and olive groves are fertilised with the Spanish Civil War, chapter three of the viciousness visited on the the old bones of young Englishmen. nor is it an easy read. Barayón family make only too clear. The film was originally dedicated to John Rick - While only 150 pages Like Paul Preston’s acclaimed “The Spanish man from Powerstock in Dorset, who was killed long, the text’s richness Holocaust”, Graham’s “The War and its on the Jarama front, and Lance Rogers from Cefn and complexity, the Shadow” reiterates that Franco’s dictatorship Coed in South Wales, who came home safely scope and ambition, the intelligence and was not “softer” than those of Hitler and after his personal Gethsemane at the Ebro. sheer breadth of knowledge contained within Stalin, remarking pointedly on a persisting I now wish to include in my dedication the more it make the book both thought-provoking and lack of awareness of the vast number of “extra than 500 British, Irish, Australian and New challenging. Important and timely too. One of and quasi-judicial” killings enacted by the Zealand volunteers from the British Battalion who the major issues currently facing the IBMT is Franco regime between 1936 and 1975. The died defending Spain’s fragile democracy. how to explain to a contemporary audience chapter on Franco’s prisons is particularly har - In particular, I want to honour Kevin Rebbechi the significance of a war which was fought in rowing. “All Spain is a prison” wrote poet Mar - from Melbourne, who ran away to Queensland at Spain over 70 years ago. This book provides cos Ana, as Franco’s regime set about the age of 15 after his father tried to apprentice detailed evidence of the enduring relevance of “teaching the defeated the meaning of their him to a butcher. His family never saw him again. the Spanish Civil War and the 35 years of defeat”. As evidence of the truly repugnant Kevin appears in George Wheeler’s memoir “To malevolent and vengeful dictatorship which nature of Franco’s Spain, the author reminds Make the People Smile Again” as they travel with followed. us that even Heinrich Himmler was shocked Jack Jones from London to Paris and then over the In structure, the book comprises a number by the extent of judicial murder when he vis - Pyrenees on foot and into Spain. Kevin was of essays, implicitly divided into three main ited Spain in October 1940 (though admitting wounded at the , but almost sections. In the first, the author discusses the that his main concern may have been the made it home to Australia. He succumbed to ty - legacy of the First World War, which saw the wastage of potential slave labour). phus, dying alone in a military hospital in at mortal wounding of many European anciens The book explains how the victimisation the age of 21 on New Year’s Day 1939. régimes but not, as yet, their destruction. Dur - continued within the prisons; “the rape/sex - Watching “Voices from a Mountain” for the first ing what was essentially becoming a Euro - ual assault of women prisoners was systemat - time in five years, I think it still works. As a writer, pean civil war, nationalist movements fought ically perpetrated with impunity by the researcher and interviewer, I learnt that it’s vital to to reassert what they believed to be their nat - servants of the Franco regime”, and children work with a great cameraman, editor and com - ural right to rule. The second section examines were removed from what were considered to poser. After its first screening at London’s Rain - the notion of the volunteers (originally raised be “unfit” mothers. dance documentary film festival, Channel 4 in her inaugural professorial lecture) for the The book concludes with a rather depress - requested a viewing copy. They turned the film Spanish Republic as “border-crossers”. For ing, though no doubt accurate, assessment of down. (It was later bought and broadcast by that nice Rupert Murdoch and his chums at the His - tory Channel.) An insider told me that Channel 4 “The Spanish Civil War was the first battle of a had a concern “the film might be seen as an exer - cise in extreme left-wing propaganda”. I took that war ‘waged predominantly on civilians’ and there as a compliment. In fact it’s an extended love let - ter from me to five old men, now dead, and five is no shortage of evidence that murder and rape young men long since dead. were used deliberately as a weapon to break Here’s the link: [www.youtube.com/watch?v=-iUIIqn8v58] or go to YouTube and search “Voices from a Mountain”. down resistance.”

24 International Brigade Memorial Trust Footprints of the Brigaders in Madrid guide to sites in Madrid as - threatened to overwhelm the capi - Compiled by Ken O’Keefe, an sociated with the Interna - tal’s defences. Singing “The Inter - English-language teacher from Ational Brigades has been nationale” they marched from the US who developed an interest produced by the AABI Spanish In - Atocha railway station along the in the International Brigades ternational Brigades friendship Gran Vía and through cheering while studying and working in group and can be ordered for 5 crowds – with many madridleños Madrid for many years, the guide plus p&p from the AABI websi€te in tears – towards the front line on has been co-written by him and (www.brigadasinternacionales. the western fringes of the city. Severiano Montero of the AABI. org). First published in Spanish in The sites listed include land - They have included archive pho - November last year, an English- marks such as the hospitals tos and anecdotes about the language edition is expected to be where volunteers wounded in the Brigaders and foreign correspon - on sale by mid-February 2013. battles around the capital were dents, as well as extracts from The 80-page guide comes with treated, the headquarters of the their memoirs. an A3 map of Madrid, indicating International Brigades in The aim is that this will be the three walking and Metro routes Velázquez Street and the Bar first in a trilogy of guides. The taking in some 30 sites of interest Miami – now a clothes shop on other two would focus respec - in the centre of the city. the Gran Vía – where John Corn - tively on battle sites in and around One of the routes follows that ford, John Sommerfield and other the University City and on signifi - HANDBOOK: An English-language ver - taken by the International Brigade British volunteers are known to cant places near Madrid, among sion of this new guide to International volunteers who arrived on 8 No - have spent evenings relaxing Brigade sites in Madrid is scheduled for them, for example, the Jarama and vember 1936 as Franco’s forces while bombs fell on the city. publication early this year. Brunete battlefields. the situation in contemporary Spain, which finds CORT ÈGE: Over 300 the conservative Partido Popular in power dur - mourners followed Jack ing a time of severe financial crisis. Attempts to Brent’s body on its way recuperate historical memory are becoming in - to Golders Green Cre - creasingly difficult, as court cases are launched matorium in north Lon - against those – however prominent – involved in don following his death investigating the crimes of the Franco regime. As in 1951. the author explains, while there have been many positive changes in Spain since the death of Franco, “many of its most damaging effects en - dure within the constitutional polity”. Clearly much of Spain remains in shadow and the task of dismantling the Francoist structure has some way to go.

Helen Graham talks about her book on the BBC History Extra podcast of 30 August 2012. See: [www.historyextra. west Scotland. He grew up in great poverty, leav - revealing and always fascinating account of his com/podcasts]. ing school at 13 to work as a farm hand and life and times. butcher’s assistant before joining the Cameron Through a mutual friend in London in the Highlanders at the age of 16. early 1930s, Brent met Chris Maxwell, daughter Army life didn’t suit him and he was twice sen - of Sir Aymer Maxwell and Lady Mary Percy. She Fri ends in high places tenced to detention for breaches of discipline, was a prominent activist in communist circles the second time for 96 days for drinking on duty. in the capital. This new biography hints “Geordie’s Story: The Life of Jack Brent” by John In either 1931 or 1933 (there are conflicting ac - strongly at a romantic liaison between the two, Dickie (Azlan Publications, Northampton, 2012) £5 counts) he deserted and made his way to Lon - and the intimate tone and content of letters don, where he adopted the name of Jack Brent. from Jack that are quoted in the book certainly Reviewed by Jim Jump When a petition campaign was launched in point in that direction. 2005 to stop plans for a memorial plaque to Maxwell was born at the House of Elrig, a panish Civil War vet - Brent in Whithorn, his desertion from the army mansion a few miles away from Whithorn, and eran Jack Brent, who was prominent among the reasons given to op - although she and Jack were poles apart on the Swas the Secretary of pose the project. The plaque was nevertheless social spectrum, in London they were like- the International Brigade As - erected in the following year – and is pictured on minded communists. After Jack’s death in 1951 sociation from 1941-43, was the back cover of this book – but is, as a recent at the age of 39, John Dickie’s family moved from born George (“Geordie”) angry exchange of letters in the Galloway Whithorn to London to share a flat with her. Dickie in Ontario, Canada, in Gazette confirmed, still a cause of controversy in Brent joined the International Brigades early in 1912. His mother was a single the town. 1937. During the Battle of Jarama in February of parent and Geordie and his This new biography by Jack’s nephew, John that year he was part of the Canadian contingent brother were soon taken by their grandmother to Dickie, draws extensively on family archives as of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and was badly the family’s home town of Whithorn in south- well as memoirs of fellow Brigaders to produce a Continued overleaf

International Brigade Memorial Trust 25 BOOKS MUSIC & FILM WHAT’S ON Concert in Spain G Musicians who took part in last year’s IBMT commemoration in London’s Jubilee Gardens are planning to perform again together, this time in Spain. They include Ewan McLennan and Na- mara from Britain and Paco Marín from Spain. The concert is provisionally scheduled for the evening of 30 April in the municipal auditorium in Logroño – Paco’s home city in northern Spain. They will also be invited to perform at May Day events on the following day. Anyone interested in travelling from Britain to attend the concert, which is being sponsored by the local associa - EBRO COMMEMORATION: July 27 tion for the recovery of historical memory, will see a sixth annual reenactment of should contact the IBMT Secretary (details on the crossing of the Ebro (participants page 9) nearer the time. in last year’s event are pictured left), this year with added significance as it GThe IBMT’s 2012 Len Crome Memorial Lec - will mark the 75th anniversary of the ture appears in print in the latest issue (Fall start of the Spanish Republic’s last 2012) of the US magazine The Antioch Review . military offensive. The day-long event The article (and lecture) by Peter N Carroll, histo - is being hosted by the Battle of the Ebro 1938 Exhibition Centre in Fayón. rian of the US volunteers, is titled “The Spanish The centre itself (pictured above) is Civil War in the 21st Century: From Guernica to open daily throughout the year at: Human Rights”. It cannot be browsed online, Paseo de Aragón 22 Bis, 50795 Fayón; but copies of the current issue can be bought for [www.labatalladelebro.com]. $10 plus p&p from [http://antiochcollege.org/ antioch_review]. 20 January GLASGOW: “Scots in the Spanish of Madrid) at the site of a former International Civil War” concert featuring artists from the Brigade hospital; an earlier memorial in the G“The Spanish Crucible: Canadians in the Span - new CD album of the same name (see review town’s cemetery was vandalised and is now ish Civil War”, a two-part documentary produced on page 23) ; part of annual being replaced; if interested in attending, con - by CBC Radio as part of its Living Out Loud series festival; 7.30pm, Mitchell Library Auditorium, tact Mike Arnott; email: [dundeetuc@ymail. can be accessed from: [www.cbc.ca/livingout - 201 North Street, G3 7DN; £13; phone book - com] or tel: 07951-443 656. loud/timeline/index.html]. ings: 0141 353 8000; online bookings: [www. 2 March MANCHESTER: IBMT’s annual Len celticconnections.com/Events/Pages/Event. Crome Memorial Lecture, “George Orwell’s aspx?ev=426&ty=Traditional]. Homage to Catalonia: 75 years on”; chaired 10 February MANCHESTER: Commemoration by Mary Vincent, with talks by Richard Baxell, ‘Geordie’s Story’ of the February 1937 Battle of Jarama at Man - Tom Buchanan, Chris Hall and Paul Preston; From previous page chester Town Hall, Albert Square, M2 5DE; 11am-5pm; Manchester Conference Centre, wounded when a bullet passed through his left 11.30am-12.30pm; more information: Charles Weston Building, Sackville Street, M1 3BB hip and came out to the right of his ribs. His legs Jepson, tel: 01254-51302, email: [clarioncc @ [www.manchesterconferencecentre.co.uk]; were at first completely paralysed and he spent yahoo.co.uk]; further details on page 8. conference fee payable with advance booking the next eight months in hospital and conva - or on the day: £10 (£5 students in advance or lescing in S pain. Some movement was restored £10 on the day); add £15 if lunch and refresh - to his legs and he could eventually walk with ments required; pre-booking for lunch by 31 two sticks, but he suffered crippling pain for January is essential; payments to: IBMT Treas - the rest of his life. urer Charles Jepson, Aysgaard, Beardwood As head of the IBA he was much engaged in Brow, Blackburn BB2 7AT; contact Hilary Jones assisting Brigaders incarcerated across Eu - or Dolores Long for more information: [hilary. rope. Deteriorating health forced [email protected]] tel: 0161-224 1747; him to step down and the last years of his life [[email protected]] tel: 0161-226 2013. before his death in 1951 were spent seeking 1/2 June HAMBURG : Weekend of events or - medical treatment, including a trip to Czecho - ganised by IBMT sister group in Germany, slovakia, and relief from pain. Evidence from 15/16 February MADRID: 6th annual com - KFSR, including harbour tour of sites of anti- his bank papers show that he was receiving memoration of Battle of Jarama; programme fascist resistance and visit to Fuhlsbüttel con - regular payments from Chris Maxwell and fel - includes g uided tour on Friday of British Bat - centration camp and graves of International low wealthy left-wingers Nancy Cunard and talion positions on battlefield south-east of Brigaders; for more information contact Rein - John Platt-Mills. The hearse bearing his coffin Madrid and an evening event in Madrid featur - hardt Silbermann: [reinhardtsilbermann@ was followed to Golders Green Crematorium ing guest speakers and on Saturday a tour of arcor.de]; tel: +49 (0)40-616 484. by over 300 Brigaders and friends of Republi - sites linked to the French and US battalions 6 July LONDON : Annual commemoration at can Spain. followed by lunch at Morata de Tajuña; con - the International Brigade memorial in Jubilee tact Danny Payne [[email protected]] Gardens, SE1 ; assemble 12.30pm for 1pm ; fol - Copies of the book can be ordered from: John Dickie, 2 West - or phone IBMT Secretary, tel: 020-7228 6504. lowed by social from 2.30pm at Camel & Arti - ern View, Black Lion Hill, Northampton NN1 1SN, adding £2 17 February TARANCÓN: Rededication of choke, 121 Lower Marsh St, SE1 7AE ; contact for p&p (£7 in total); email [[email protected]]. memorial to Scottish volunteers killed at Bat - IBMT Secretary (see page 9) for more details; Mention the IBMT when ordering. tle of Jarama in Tarancón (20 miles south east see also notice on back cover.

26 International Brigade Memorial Trust

This year we will be marking the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Ebro

G Saturday 6July 2013 G International Brigade Memorial Jubilee Gardens, South Bank, London SE 1 G Assemble 12.30 pm G Guest performers and speakers G Social gathering from 2.30pm in Camel & Artichoke, 121 Lower Marsh St, London SE1 7AE Commemorat e and celeb rate the anti-fascist INT ERNAT IONAL BRIGA DES SPAIN 1936-39 International Brigade Memorial Trust www.international-brigades.org.uk