THE GALLANT CAUSE This page is intentionally left blank THE GALLANT CAUSE Canadians in the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939 Mark Zuehlke John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. Copyright © 1996, 2007 by Mark Zuehlke All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copyright herein may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means—graphic, electronic or mechanical without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any request for photocopying, recording, taping or information storage and retrieval systems of any part of this book shall be directed in writing to Th e Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For an Access Copyright license, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free 1-800-893-5777. Care has been taken to trace ownership of copyright material contained in this book. Th e publisher will gladly receive any information that will enable them to rectify any reference or credit line in subsequent editions. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data Zuehlke, Mark Th e gallant cause : Canadians in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939 / Mark Zuehlke. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-470-83926-3 1. Spain—History—Civil War, 1936-1939—Participation, Canadian. I. Title. DP269.47.C2Z83 2007 946.081 C2007-903921-9 Production Credits Cover design: Ian Koo Interior text design: Michael Chan Wiley Bicentennial Logo: Richard J. Pacifi co Printer: Tri-Graphic Printing Ltd. John Wiley & Sons Canada, Ltd. 6045 Freemont Blvd. Mississauga, Ontario L5R 4J3 Printed in Canada 1 2 3 4 5 TRI 11 10 09 08 07 For Fiero, who showed the Way. This page is intentionally left blank Contents Spanish Factions & Organizations xi introduction ~ Tangled Webs of Loyalties 1 prologue ~ Th e Bittersweet Farewell 9 one ~ In Solidarity 13 two ~ Th e Cause of All Progressive Mankind 35 three ~ Cruel and Irreversible Decisions 51 four ~ Blood of Spain 67 five ~ First to Fall 89 six ~ For the Cause 109 seven ~ Allegiances 133 eight ~ Th e Door of the Angels 151 nine ~ Birth and Baptism 167 ten ~ Aft ermaths 193 eleven ~ A Frozen Hell 205 twelve ~ Th e Retreats 221 thirteen ~ Betrayals 239 fourteen ~ Th e Last Gamble 249 fifteen ~ No Flags Flew 265 epilogue ~ Th e Cause of the Century 283 bibliography ~ 285 index ~ 291 This page is intentionally left blank Acknowledgements While researching this book, I was assisted by many helpful staff at what is now known as Library and Archives Canada, the Baldwin Room of the Metropolitan Toronto Reference Library (MTRL), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s Radio Archives in To- ronto (special thanks to Debbie Lindsey), the special collections departments of the Uni versity of British Columbia, Vancouver Public Library (VPL), and Univer sity of Victoria, and the British Columbia Archives and Records Service in Victoria. In 1964 and 1965, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation research- er Mac Reynolds travelled across Canada to interview a number of Canada’s Span ish Civil War volunteers. Th ose interviews are preserved at the CBC Radio Archives. Mac kindly consented to my drawing on them for this book. Myron Momryk, then of Library Archives Canada’s Manuscript Division, shared his knowledge and insights into the motivation, ethnicity, and fate of the volunteers. Jolanta Sise approved the opening of Hazen Sise’s personal records, and J. Wendell MacLeod opened his personal collection on Dr. Norman Bethune. I would also like to thank the Canada Council for funding through its then existent Short Term Grant program and the British Columbia Cultural Services Branch for a writing grant. Books always require a long march from inception to conclu- sion. Th roughout this journey, I was fortunate in having Frances Backhouse’s sound counsel, unwavering support, and honest friend- ship. ix This page is intentionally left blank Spanish Factions & Organizations Anarcho Syndicalists: Anarchist union formally known as Con- federación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). Carlists: Staunchly conservative, anti-liberal Catholic faction. Name derived from don Carlos, whose claim to the throne in the early 19th century founded the movement. Philosophically drawn to the beliefs of Tomás de Torquemada, fi rst Spanish Inquisition grand inquisitor. Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT): Anarchist union around which most urban Spanish anarchists rallied. Fascists: Catch-all designation for those aligned with Franco. Federación Anarquista Iberica (FAJ): Militant federation of an- archist groups, aligned and oft en incorporating CNT members. Loyalists: Th ose who remained loyal to the Popular Front gov- ernment. Monarchists: Aligned with Franco. Nationalists: Th ose loyal to the Fascists. Nationals: Th ose loyal to the Popular Front. Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV): Basque nationalist party, pro-Franco. Partido Obrero de Unifi cación Marxista (POUM): Dissident communist party that embraced Trotskyism. Popular Army: Refers to the army formed to defend the Repub- lican government. Popular Front: Democratically elected coalition that formed the Republican government. Republicans: Pro-Popular Front designation. Requetes: A military body comprised of Carlists and fi ghting for Franco. Royalists: Pro-Franco designation. Spanish Communist Party: Formally known as Partido Comunista de Espanõl. Offi cially recognized by the Comintern in the Soviet Union and endorsed by the Canadian Communist Party. Unión General de Trabajadores (UGT): Socialist trade union. Pro-Popular Front. xi introduction Tangled Webs of Loyalties In Toronto’s Queen’s Park, a large rusty-white boulder sits between a huge monument to William Lyon Mackenzie, the rebel who inspired and led the doomed 1837 Upper Canada Rebellion, and a narrow lane that provides vehicles with delivery access to the Ontario legislature. Th ick shrubbery further shrouds the rock from the casual view of passersby. It was shortly aft er midnight on a starry autumn night in 1995 when I fi rst visited this boulder, which is a monument to the Ca- nadians who fought for the Spanish Republic in a bloody civil war that raged from July 1936 to the early months of 1939. Stray threads of light cast by the street lamps and glimmers of starlight caused mineral deposits in the rock to glitter and gently shimmer. Sitting cross-legged on the grass before the stone, I read the offi cial plaque mounted on its face by the National Historic Sites and Monuments Board. It read in part: “Despite their government’s opposition, more than 1,500 Canadians volunteered to fi ght with the Republican forces. … Th ey fought courageously for their ideals, suff ering heavy losses in major battles.” Th e stone was brought to Canada by Canadian veterans of the Spanish Civil War. Th ey had collected it in the early 1990s from 1 the gallant cause a battlefi eld near Gandesa in Aragon province. Here many men and women who volunteered to fi ght in the International Brigades had perished in a vain attempt to defend democracy from fascism during a war that ultimately proved a dress rehearsal for World War II. No one really knows the actual number of Canadians who went to Spain between 1936 and 1939. Most recent calculations put the number at about sixteen hundred, rather than the fi ft een hundred stated on the me morial. Almost half of the volunteers never returned, coming to rest in shallow graves hastily dug into the Spanish earth. For several days I had spent many hours in the CBC Radio Ar- chives listening to the voices of some of the veterans who survived the war. I had heard their incredible war stories and thought perhaps I now understood their reasons for going to another people’s war. Th ose voices echoed soft ly through my thoughts. Th e world sixty years earlier was far diff erent from the twilight years of the twentieth century. So, too, were the people. In the 1930s, Canada, like most of the developed world, was in the throes of the Great Depression. One out of every nine Canadians was receiving federal government relief. Countless others were homeless, drift ing from place to place in search of any kind of work they could fi nd. Th e Prairie provinces were undergoing a terrible drought, the once fertile fi elds reduced to dustbowls. Living in desperate times encouraged many Canadians to seek new roads that might lead to brighter futures. Beside the worn pathways of conservatism and liberalism, both having proved incapable of leading the way out of the depression’s chaos, two new, dramatically diff erent roads were visible. In Canada, as in most industrialized nations, many people chose to explore one or the other. In one direction lay fascism, in the other communism. Th e anti-fascist poet, novelist, and teacher Alexander Maitland Stephen identifi ed eleven fascist organizations operating in Canada during the mid-1930s. Some, like the Canadian Union of Fascists, were overt in advertising their beliefs. Others, like the Chalifoux Labour Club established in Montreal, tried to mask their connection to the world fascist movement. But Chalifoux members showed their true 2 introduction colours when they rallied behind an aldermanic candidate whose election platform advocated hanging a “Socialist and a Jew from every lamp-post” in the city. Unlike in Germany, Italy, and other nations, where right-wing dictators rose to power, most Canadians failed to heed the siren call of fascism. A far larger number of Canadians were drift ing left ward toward the glim mering hope off ered by socialism and communism. Most of the socialists found a home in the Co-opera- tive Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and the communists in the Communist Party (CP) of Canada, which had direct links to the International Comintern based in the Soviet Union. At its peak in the late 1930s, the CP claimed only about twenty thou sand card-carrying members. Th e low number of offi cial mem- bers was hardly surprising considering that during much of its early history the party operated in defi ance of laws intended to suppress left ist elements.