Nestled behind the London Eye in Jubilee Gardens stands the International Brigades memorial statue, sculpted by Ian Walters, dedicated to the 526 brigadiers who travelled from Britain and Ireland killed in the Spanish Civil War. The memorial was erected and unveiled on 5th October 1985 following campaigning by the International Brigades Association, many British veterans being leaders of the campaign.
The sculpture depicts four figures supporting a fifth, who is injured.
Politics was a major factor in why many volunteered to fight fascism in Spain. The Comintern established the International Brigades to help defend the Spanish Republic with 35,000 international volunteers coming to the republicans’ aid. 2,500 of them travelled from Britain and Ireland, with an estimate of 80% of them being Communist Party or Young Communist League members. The average age of volunteers was 29 but the most common age was 23.
Most of the volunteers came from working class backgrounds, notably from London, Liverpool, Glasgow and Manchester.
Many of the comrades from London were inspired after the Battle of Cable Street, which saw over 20,000 Jews, Irish dockers, communists, trade unionists and other antifascists defeat Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists from marching through the streets of London’s East End. Wally Togwell, a member of the YCL, said, “Wherever the fascists were, our group of the YCL was there also. I was thrown out of the Albert Hall, I took part in anti-Mosley demos at Olympia and Hyde Park, I was at Cable Street helping to erect barricades.”
Training was of a very rudimentary nature once volunteers arrived in Spain. Very few rifles were available with often only 6 available between 700 men.
George Green was a member of the Communist Party who died in action in Spain. Before his death he wrote this to his mother, “Mother dear, we’re not militarists, nor adventurers nor professional soldiers. But a few days ago on the hills on the other side of the Ebro, I’ve seen a few unemployed lads from the Clyde, and frightened clerks from Willesden stand up (without fortified positions) against an artillery barrage that professional soldiers could not stand up to. And they did it because to hold the line here and now means that we can prevent this battle being fought again on Hampstead Heath or the hills of Derbyshire.”
Volunteering for the Brigades was made illegal in February 1937 through the implementation of the Foreign Enlistment Act and the extension of the Non-Intervention Agreement, an agreement signed by Britain and France amongst 20 other European governments. This didn’t stop Britons from volunteering to go to Spain. Volunteers had to take long and arduous journeys starting in London Victoria through to France and then climbing the Pyrenees mountains to enter Spain. This convoluted journey was required due to the Non-Intervention Agreement all the while Mussolini and Hitler were economically, politically and militarily supporting Franco.
In 1937, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Great Britain reported to the 14th National Congress, “Elsewhere will be found the toll that Fascism has taken in Spain. Here we record with grief and pride our appreciation of all those comrades of the British Battalion who have fallen fighting. We lower our Party Banners before their scattered graves, and we swear that in the spirit of their deathless example we will try and prove worthy of their sublime self-sacrifice, devotion and courage, to the cause that will in our time yet triumph and take full revenge on the class enemy.”
The democratic Republic of Spain, on 17th October 1938, agreed to disband the International Brigades in the hopes that it would force the governments of Britain, France and the US to abandon their spurious agreement of non-intervention. A farewell parade was organised in Barcelona to wish the brigadiers goodbye. Here, Dolores Ibarruri, also known as La Pasionara, orated, “Comrades of the International Brigades: Political reasons, reasons of state, the welfare of that very cause for which you offered your blood with boundless generosity, are sending you back, some to your own countries and others to forced exile. You can go proudly. You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy’s solidarity and universality in the face of the vile and accommodating spirit of those who interpret democratic principles with their eyes on hoards of wealth or corporate shares which they want to safeguard from all risk.”
Ten of thousands of well-wishers welcomed the British veterans back to Britain on December 7th 1938 at London Victoria. The veterans waved banners depicting the great battles they had fought in and 20 veterans soon started working on a national International Brigades convoy around Britain, raising the equivalent of £300,000 in today’s money for medical aid for the Republic.
Unfortunately, the Republic fell and the fascists won only a few months later. However, Bob Cooney reflected that Spain was “where the defeat of Hitler started.” The Spanish Civil War politicised and motivated thousands of workers across Britain and Europe and the defeat of fascism was eventually borne out in 1945.
As stated previously, 526 brigadiers from Britain and Ireland were killed in the Spanish Civil war, at least 63 of them YCL members. Of those who survived, many returned with life-altering injuries and some were held in prisoner of war camps until after the war where they were subject to appalling conditions and treatment. Fascists would force antifascist prisoners to chant “Franco! Franco!” and humorously, the Brits would chant “Fuck you! Fuck you!” instead.
All known casualties from Britain and Ireland have no known graves. Across Spain there are many plaques, makeshift or otherwise, dedicated to fallen antifascists but fascists continue to this day to attack and damage them.
The history of the International Brigades and the Spanish Civil War are not taught in schools in Britain, yet it is a symbol of antifascism that is needed to inspire and educate the working class against the rise of far-right populism and fascist forces across Britain and Europe. The last brigadier from Britain and Ireland died in 2019, so it is our duty to not let the names and deeds of any volunteer be forgotten.
Young communists must continue to fight the rise of fascism and militarisation in Britain and Europe, therefore let us uphold the proudest pages in our history books by building the struggle for peace, jobs and socialism in our lifetime.
Georgina Andrews is General Secretary of the Young Communist League
