¡No Pasaran!: Writings from the Spanish Civil War

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Around the same time as the Spanish Civil War was raging, Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists were marching and holding meetings in predominantly Jewish areas – the Battle of Cable Street happened in 1936 and that actually spurred many people to go and fight in Spain – they saw in Spain the risk of allowing fascism to spread unchecked. In the week leading up to it a deputation of East End mayors applied pressure on the Home Secretary Sir John Simon to ban it, with the Mayor of Stepney claiming that a march ‘…in this large Jewish populated area cannot but be provocative of disturbance and possible riot and danger to persons and property’ (HO 144/21060).

Perhaps Demissie and Iglikowski should have noted Sir Phillip Game’s words (at page 10 of his report reproduced above) ‘there were many cries of “Shame” when it was learned that the march and meetings had been banned’.A fascist coup was launched by Spanish military leaders on 19 th July, leading to an all-out civil war. Eddie begins by talking to Sam about how he is still “in the employ of the Spanish Government”, the heat of the Spanish sun, and the difficulties of corresponding by letter in wartime conditions. Frank Graham was later an important publisher on Tyneside, championing amongst other things the works of Jack Common.

However, they argued that the police would not be able to ban the wearing of ‘an ordinary shirt of black colour with a black tie under an ordinary suit’. In response, tens of thousands of people from across the world volunteered to join the ‘International Brigades’ to defend the Spanish Republic against fascism. Shamefully, the USSR had been the only major power to give any real support to Spain during Franco's coup).

The opening track 'Ghosts and Drunks' is a song I wrote for him and he has made it so beautiful I can't listen without crying. While there were more volunteers for the ILP, they chose to only send unmarried men, sending the initial 25 men, and planning to send more afterwards; but, shortly after the first group left, the British government decided that they would prosecute anyone going to fight in Spain and the ILP backed down from recruiting volunteers. The people up the top of the flats, mainly Irish Catholic women, were throwing rubbish on to the police.

In the letter Eddie notes he was still attached to ‘Transport’, with “plenty of driving and long journeys”, and that some had made “the supreme sacrifice”.

Driving forward with her phenomenal oratory and tireless activism, La Pasionaria soon became a leader of Spanish Communism and an elected member of Congress. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. The most common charges were insulting words and behaviour and obstructing police, with very few charged with the more serious charges of grievous bodily harm and wilful damage. We tell stories that are neglected in the mainstream, investigate and challenge local power structures and explore important issues, from the everyday to the earth-shattering.