An event commemorating volunteers who fought fascism in Spain in the 1930s
In 1936, with Italy and Germany already under living under fascist rule, the European democratic crisis deepened when Spanish fascists led by Franco declared war on the country’s democratically elected Popular Front government, which comprised socialists, communists and other progressive representatives.
The resulting civil war began with rapid success for Franco, who was supplied with weapons and troops from Germany and Italy. Franco’s nationalist army quickly took control of a swathe of northern Spain, and by March 1937 had extended control down the west of the country.
Many people on the left in other European countries recognised that these developments had made Spain into the battleground between progress and reaction, between democracy and fascism, and between decency and the threat of barbarism. ‘Spain’ quickly became the focus for an impressive movement of international solidarity.
A most important aspect of this solidarity was the mobilisation of international brigades of volunteers to fight in support of the elected Spanish republican government. This was complemented by wider efforts in support of the republican war effort, including cultural initiatives and campaigns against the ‘non-interventionism’ of the British and French governments (this supposedly ‘hands-off’ position – which included an embargo on supplying arms to a legitimately elected government – amounted to objective support for Franco, given that he was being so heavily supported by Mussolini and Hitler).
Dundee was one of the cities which saw working-class volunteers give up their jobs and leave their families to travel to Spain to put themselves on the frontline of the fight against reaction: twenty Dundonians were killed in the Spanish Civil War, and are now honoured by a memorial in Albert Square, next to Burns’ statue.
This Tuesday, 12 December, sees an event organised by the International Brigade Memorial Trust to mark the day, 85 years ago, when the last group of Dundee's International Brigade volunteers returned to the city after their contribution to the struggle against fascism in Spain between 1936-38. There will be a rally on the steps of the Caird Hall from 11 am, followed by a showing at Dundee Contemporary Arts centre of BFI archive film of the return to Victoria Station of the British Battalion of the International Brigade in December 1938 (click here if you would like to book a place for this DCA event).
Mike Arnott, secretary of Dundee Trades Council, said: 'We should recognise the Brigadiers' contribution as part of our history, as part of a generation that did incredible things. These were folk who volunteered to go and fight in a country of which they knew very little, but they just knew they had to go there. This was a generation who’d seen Mussolini become the power in Italy in 1922 and seen Hitler become chancellor of Germany in 1933, so the spread of fascism was a real danger they were aware of.
‘One of the young Dundonians who was killed in Spain said to his mother as he left, “if I don’t go and fight fascism I’ll just have to stay and fight it here”, so in a way they knew what was coming.They knew they were striking an early blow in a battle which was likely to get much worse and that’s effectively what happened. Sadly they didn’t win the battle at that time’.
Mike warned: ‘The danger of fascism is always there. The events down at the cenotaph in London the other week, and in Ireland, in Dublin – and we’ve seen the far right groups organising around refugee hotels in Erskine and Elgin in Scotland in recent months. The fact that the International Brigaders, including many from Scotland, were alert to the danger and took action against it is still a lesson for us today’.
Published 10 December 2023.