Saturday, December 06, 2008

La Pasionaria and the Homecoming

On Wednesday I posted on the 70th anniversary (now tomorrow - Sunday) of the return of the British Battalion, International Brigade. A good comrade has sent me original newspaper accounts and photos of their famous farewell parade in Barcelona and their greeting in Victoria Station.


"THE FAREWELL
On Saturday October 29 1938 the International Brigaders held their farewell parade in Barcelona, an event deeply etched in the memory of all who were present.

In the presence of many thousands, mainly women and children, Dolores Ibarruri,"La Pasionaria", one of the most beloved of the leaders of Spanish democracy, spoke for the Spanish people when she said:

"Comrades of the International Brigades! Political reasons, reasons of state, the welfare of that same 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. We shall not forget you, and when the olive tree of peace puts forth its leaves again, mingled with the laurels of the Spanish Republic's victory comeback!"

THE RETURN OF THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADE
Wednesday 7th December 1938. From News Chronicle, December 8 1938

When it was all over and the station was almost quiet again, the oldest porter to be found was asked if he had ever seen anything like this. "No", he said, "I saw nothing like it even at the end of the last war" Replying to speeches of welcome to the returning Brigaders, Sam Wild, Commander of the British Battalion said:

"We intend to keep the promise we made to the Spanish people before we left — that we would only change our front and continue to fight in Britain for the assistance of Spain "These extracts from "newspapers of the time convey the atmosphere as the Brigaders returned home:

From the Daily Worker, December 8, 1938
At last the train steamed into Victoria Station;, and from its windows there waved the flags of fifty-two nations. Even before it stopped, mothers and sons, wives and husbands were re-united.

As they left the train, headed by Battalion Commander Sam Wild, Political Commissar Bob Cooney and Quartermaster "Hookey" Walker, they were welcomed by Mr Attlee, leader of the Labour Party. With him were Will Lawther of the Miners Federation, Mr William Gallacher, M.P., of the Communist Party, Mr J. R. Squance, Railmen's Union Leader, Sir Norman Angell, Lord Strabolgi, Sir Stafford Cripps and Tom Mann."

From the evening paper Star December 8 1938
Led proudly by their wounded comrades, the men marched into London. With them marched the spirit of Byron, the Tolpuddle Martyrs, the Chartists, Keir Hardie ... Britain's bravest fighters for liberty through the centuries. Behind and around them marched twenty thousand British democrats- Men as well as women wept and cheered alternately; It was no political affair for all parties were represented, both on the platform and in the crowd.

It was British democracy spontaneously expressing its abhorrence of Fascism and its appreciation of bravery.

These men have made history, by forming part of the greatest international democratic army the world has ever known. They have inspired the world by their example.

Something of this seemed to enter into everyone who was at Victoria last night, and the memory of it will never be eradicated".

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

While Churchill supported Franco with regular statements in the London Standard stating Franco was a bulwark against Socialism and communism - The Popular Front Socialist government had been elected.


While Ted Heath supported the Republican cause

Anonymous said...

Good clip on you tube of Maxime Peake reading the farewell speach of La Pasionaria

very moving

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xfm3o45iIE

well worth a link

John Gray said...

Hi Anon
So Heath of all people was the original "Red Ted"!

Yes, the clip is very good – it is well recommended that people “cut and paste” link and watch (and learn).

Anonymous said...

Anon 1..."while Churchill supported Franco"... not to mention Lloyd George who visited and supported Hitler, or Peter Hain and many other memebers of the current Governement who did they best to support the collapse of Rhodesia and the rise of Mugabe. Or Blair who supported the invasion of Iraq. How long did Robin Cook's famous ethical foreign policy last?

Anonymous said...

They did a great job fighting for democracy...what would they think of the fact that you can no longer protest around Parliament, detention for 42 days without charge, House of Commons raids by the police, Speakers put into Office by the Party in Government instead of following hundreds of years of convention?

Anonymous said...

John your tribute to these defenders of democracy is completly hollow given that you support a union leadership that is at present witchhunting good militant UNISON activists for the "crime" of fighting for their members and fighting for democracy within their own union.

Anonymous said...

trade unions are not socialist organisations

in fact at the next election we will be lucky if a majority of members dont vote Tory as they did in NALGO

Page 1 rule 1 of the union states we abide by the Law, (trade unions are not revoluntinary organisations)

expelling those who try to break the Law and jepodise the union are simply "ultra Left" as Lenin would say

Goodbye and form your own union

Anonymous said...

Didnt the Socialist party expel a load of members without even of the right to appeal and as for the recent SWP witchhunt

Anonymous said...

Well the four being witch hunted haven't broken any laws, besides it seems now it is the union leadership who will be in trouble with the law. And yes you are quite right unions are not revolutionary organizations but they should be democratic ones, UNISON at present is clearly behaving in an undemocratic way what else could you say about unelected, over paid bureaucrats harassing elected officers for trying to get the best for their electors (remember those, the people that pay your wages John). We all know that the real crime here is that the 4 members in question showed up the Labour Party and the UNISON bureaucrats for what they are, Tories in disguise. If you still question that this is a politically motivated purge then consider that a fifth member had the same charges trumped up against him and was let off with a slap on the wrist, why? because he's not a member of the Socialist Party. So good bye to you and see you in court.

Anonymous said...

You guys are a million miles from these patriots who fought against fascism. It makes me laugh to see you straining over the respect party or applauding one another for electing yet another comrade into some meaningless low turnout, apathetic uinion or local governemnet position. You have very little in common with these men who went to Spain. You are frankly pathetic. A bit less navel gazing required.

John Gray said...

Hi so-called witch hunt Anon

Well, you are of course entitled to your view but I will not comment on internal union discipline investigations even though I do know who you are going on about.

But what I will say is that I think it is amazing that you compare individuals who allegedly fell foul of some trade union rule book with people who voluntarily went out and who risked their lives to fight fascism. This comparison is toy town armchair revolutionary fantasy at its worse and frankly you should be ashamed at any such comparison.

There is also the point that many of the brigaders were committed CPGB members who thought at the time that such Trotskyites were to blame for the defeat in Spain (even I admit this was somewhat unfair - on the whole) and they would have happily used them for target practice.

Finally anon, I am a lay activist, I am not employed by the union, member’s do not pay my wages. i am elected. If you can’t even get this vital bit of information right then no-one should be surprised at the rest of your nonsense. Ignorance is bliss I suppose.

Hi Proper left wing anon
Nuf said comrade.

Hi Right wing anon
I doubt that many Brigaders would have seen their motivation to fight as being "patriotism"? No doubt some did. It certainly turned out to be so.

By almost definition, it was about internationalism don’t you think?
Not really sure (or all that bothered) about who you are really having a go at in the rest of your rant? Maybe it would be a good idea to chill a little bit comrade?

Anonymous said...

John, I'm not comparing myself or the witch hinted comrades to the brave soldiers who went to fight in Spain, you are quite right to say that would be ridiculous. I'm just saying that you are being hypocritical to pay tribute to people who fought for democracy while backing a leadership who dedicate their lives to suffocating union democracy and turning unions into a mere mouth piece of the Labour Party. About you being a lay activist, sorry i stand corrected. That aside you are still a Labour Party stooge.

John Gray said...

Hi Anon
There is some hope for you I suppose. Since you actually admit and apologise for an error! The central committee will be most upset.

Not a lot of hope of course, since you are still comparing midges with giants.

If you don’t understand the difference between fighting fascists and postulating oppositional politics then you are indeed a worthy recruit to the forgotten Brigade... You do realise you are wasting your entire life on such nonsense?

Anonymous said...

Grief - responding at nearly 1am when regional council -inquorate again( isn't that 3 years in a row for every meeting apart from the agm (!)since Linda Perks came on board) kicked off at 9.30/10am. That is dedication to the cause of blogging!well done for attending.

Anonymous said...

whos side were the Trots on in the fight against fascism anyway ???

Didnt they arguee that WW2 was a capitalist war

say that to the people of occupied Europe

say that to the Jewish people in Dachau

Just whose side are the Trots on ---Not the workers