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Islington and the Spanish Civil War

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Islington and the Spanish Civil War ISLINGTON AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR ROZ CURRIE, SUSAN HAHN, MEIRIAN JUMP ISLINGTON AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR By Roz Currie, Susan Hahn, Meirian Jump Islington Heritage Service & Marx Memorial Library 2017 ‘Your efforts were not in vain. Your ideals are part of …our democracy in Spain today’. Carles Casajuana, Spanish Ambassador to Britain 2008-2012 1 ISLINGTON AND THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR Timeline February 1936 The Republican Popular Front win the Spanish elections July 1936 Military coup against the government of the Spanish Republic. Civil war breaks out in Spain August 1936 Non-Intervention Agreement signed by western powers including France and Britain November 1936 Arrival of the International Brigades in Spain February 1937 Battle of Jarama March 1937 Battle of Guadalajara April 1937 Franco’s northern offensive Guernica bombed by Rebels 26 April May 1937 4,000 ‘Basque Children’ refugees arrive in Britain June 1937 Fall of Bilbao to Rebels July 1937 Battle of Brunete April 1938 Republican Spain divided by Rebel advance July-Nov 1938 Battle of the Ebro September 1938 International Brigades disbanded April 1939 Surrender of Republican Army November 1975 Death of General Franco June 1977 Democratic elections held in Spain 2 INTRODUCTION The Spanish Civil War In July 1936 civil war broke out in Spain. Army generals staged a military coup against the elected government of the Spanish Republic. It was a brutal conflict. The Republicans fought hard to defend their Postcard showing the 1936 military coup. centre-left government (From the Press Office of the Regional against the rebels, who Government of Catalonia under the Spanish were led by General Republic) Franco and supported by most of the military, the Catholic Church and Spain’s Fascist Falangist party. Britain, with France and other western powers, decided on a policy of ‘non-intervention’. This meant buying arms was almost impossible for the Spanish Republic. In contrast, despite taking part in the Non-Intervention Committee, Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sent troops, aircraft and arms to support General Franco. Only Mexico and the Soviet Union would sell arms to the Spanish Republic. Franco secured victory in March 1939. Support from Hitler and Mussolini, the German and Italian dictators, had proved crucial in overcoming the Spanish Republic, weakened by the policy of ‘non-intervention’. The Spanish Republic and its supporters had warned that a world war would be inevitable unless the rise of fascism was stopped in Spain. The Second World War began five months after the Republic’s defeat. 3 THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES Fighting for the Spanish Republic Socialists and anti-fascists across the globe were inspired by the cause of the Spanish Republic. The Communist International was the main driving force in recruiting volunteers to fight for the Republic in the International Brigades. A total of 35,000 from over 50 countries went to Spain. ‘The Republic Defends Itself Fighting Under One Command’. (From the Press Office of the Spanish Republic) British International Brigaders return to the front line following convalescence in Benicassim, Spain. 2,500 volunteers came from Britain and Ireland, with over 30 from Islington. They included miners from South Wales, university students, labourers from shipyards on the Clyde and garment workers from Manchester and London’s East End. Doctors, nurses and medical volunteers from Britain also went to Spain to give medical support to the International Brigades. 4 THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES Fighting for the Spanish Republic The threat of fascism at home motivated many to volunteer. The British Union of Fascists, founded in 1932, led marches throughout Britain and clashed with anti-fascists on the streets. The British Battalion of the International Brigades fought in most of the major battles in Spain, including Jarama, Brunete, Belchite, Teruel and the Ebro. Republican-held Spain Rebel-held Spain 5 Islington Story: Bosco Jones Bosco Jones was underage when he volunteered for the International Brigades but persuaded the recruiters that he was older given his involvement in the National Unemployed Workers Movement. He left for Spain on 20 December 1936 and arrived 29 December having walked over the Pyrenees during a ‘terrible dark, cold night’. He remained in Spain until the International Brigades were disbanded in September 1938. Bosco Jones was born in City Road and worked in the fur trade in the East End. He was a member of the Finsbury Young Communist League in the early 1930s and involved in anti-fascist activism including the Battle of Cable Street. He remained active politically for the rest of his life, as a member of the Finsbury Communist Party in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1964 he stood in the council election for the Barnsbury Ward. Above: Bosco Jones in Madrid. Left: A postcard he sent from Spain to a Young Communist League Comrade. 6 Islington Story: David Guest David Guest arrived in Spain in March 1938. Guest was an observer - an advance scout - with the British Battalion. He was killed at the Battle of Ebro on 28 July aged 26. Guest first took part in anti-fascist activism whilst studying in Germany in 1930-1931. He joined the Communist Party at Cambridge University and, when he moved to London in 1933, he became active in the Young Communist League in Battersea. David lectured at the Marx Memorial Library in Clerkenwell in the 1930s and he was the son of Islington North MP Dr Leslie Haden Guest. Guest was teaching mathematics at University College, Southampton when he decided to go to Spain. He explains in a letter to his mother, “It has required an incredible effort to concentrate on pure mathematics when the world seems on fire.” David Guest meets Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, who visited Spain several times during the conflict. 7 THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES Fighting for the Spanish Republic More than 500 British and Irish volunteers were killed, including 11 from Islington. Many more were wounded, half of those fighting for the International Brigade were injured during the war. A flyer advertising a memorial meeting for Alec Leppard, who died in Spain, at Finsbury Town Hall. Programme for a concert held in aid of the wounded and dependants of the International Brigade at Islington Town Hall in 1939. 8 THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES Fighting for the Spanish Republic In September 1938 the Republican government disbanded the International Brigades, hoping to put pressure on Franco to send home the much larger number of Italian and German forces fighting on his side. Dolores Ibárurri, leading Spanish communist politician known as ‘La Pasionaria’, said farewell to the International Brigades in Barcelona in November 1938. “You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of the solidarity and the universality of democracy. Long live the heroes of the International Brigades!” 9 REFUGEES FROM SPAIN Escaping the War General Franco’s rebels and their German and Italian allies sent warplanes to bomb Spanish cities. Ordinary people were targeted in this campaign of terror from the air. Spain became a testing ground for the fascist dictators before the Second World War. The aftermath of the bombing of Guernica in 1937. Most famously, the town of Guernica was razed by Hitler’s Condor Legion on 26 April 1937. It was market day and were killed. This was immortalised in Picasso’s painting ‘Guernica’ which is today on display in Madrid. Basque refugees in Carshalton, London. 10 REFUGEES FROM SPAIN Escaping the War Many Spaniards fled the country. In addition to political exiles, thousands of children were evacuated. As Franco’s rebels advanced northwards in 1937, the Republic appealed to countries across the world to take the refugee children. A co-ordinating committee was established in the UK. It lobbied the government in Britain, which eventually allowed nearly 4,000 child refugees to come to Britain, but only on condition that no public money would be spent on them. Instead, the refugees, known as the ‘Basque children’, were cared for in ‘colonies’ across the country. Funds were raised, volunteers were recruited and many people took the children into their own homes. Basque child refugees in Britain. 11 Islington Story: Leah Manning Leah Manning was MP for Islington East in 1931. Prior to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War Manning had visited Spain on several occasions. During the conflict she took supplies and visited frontline hospitals. She helped establish the Spanish Medical Aid Committee after disagreeing with the official Labour party line of non-intervention in Spain. She witnessed the bombing of Guernica in the spring of 1937, whilst arranging the evacuation of the Basque children to Britain on the SS Habana. She continued to be involved with the Basque children during their time in Britain, visiting different colonies and keeping their story in the spotlight. In 1938 Manning returned to Spain to write a report on the work undertaken by British doctors and nurses in Spain. Medical volunteers carry out a blood transfusion in a battle-field hospital in 1938. Leah Manning is pictured on the left. 12 Islington Story: Other Brigaders Harry (Balfour) Fraser -Tried to enlist in 1936 but was turned away for lack of military, medical or any other relevant experience. He served in the RAF for a year then successfully joined the International Brigades, serving with the machine gun company. Alfred Murrill -Arrived in Spain in February 1938 and was captured by the Italians 31st March. Murrill was held in two Prisoner of War camps where he lived on red beans and macaroni. He related his experience to the Islington Gazette. “Of course, the picture I have given you is toned down. If I told you of the two young prisoners I saw who could not get up owing to weakness through dysentery and for their insubordination were tied to barbed wire for three hours; or of wounded soldiers given double strength iodine injections into their wounds, nobody would believe me.” Ken Stalker and William Webb -Were both killed at Jarama.
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