SPAIN
The Spanish Civil War was uppermost in the minds of the members of the Young Communist League, and those members of the Labour and Trade Union Movement, who saw the attack on the democratically elected Government of Spain as on attack on democracy and a threat to the peace of the world.
So Spain and aid to the people of Spain took centre stage in the activities of the Cheetham Branch of the Young Communist League. The true figure of volunteers from the area of Greater Manchester is not known as some made their own way to Spain without any help from the organisation that was set up to get the volunteers to Spain in an organised manner. But it is known that around 130 went from the area of whom 35 were killed.
Some 40,000 volunteers made up the International Brigades, over 2,000 of them from Britain. Here at home we collected money, food medical stores etc.
Despite the fact that the Government and the Labour opposition supported the discredited policy of non-intervention, a policy that the German and Italian fascist governments totally ignored, supplying Franco with arms and troops, the collections of money and supplies raised massive amounts.
The British and French Governments both decided to ignore the demands of their people to help the Spanish Republican Government and the Spanish people in their fight against Franco's fascists and the German and Italian interventionists. They worked out a policy of "non-intervention", which whilst appearing to be neutral allowed them to deny all assistance to Spain whilst the Germans and Italians sent arms and troops to fight alongside Franco's rebels.
A non-intervention Committee was set up in London in September 1936 with the declared aim of getting Germany and Italy to sign the treaty of non-intervention. On these grounds the Soviet Union agreed to take part.
It soon became clear that the pact was a fiction behind which the German and Italian Governments were carrying on supplying the Franco forces. After two months of the existence of the pact nothing had been done to stop the supply of material by the German and Italian Governments. On October 4th, the Soviet Deputy Commissar for Foreign Affairs, V. P. Potemkin, wrote to I.M. Maisky, the Soviet representative on the non-intervention Committee as follows; "Both the French and the British do not want and have never wanted to render any genuine assistance whatsoever to Madrid. They instigated the non-intervention Agreement as a sop to public opinion, as a legal façade for them withholding assistance."
On October 7th I.M. Maisky submitted to the Committee detailed evidence of the illegal activities being carried on by the German and Italian interventionists. At the same time he informed the Committee that "if these violations of the non-interference agreement are not terminated immediately, the USSR will consider itself free of all obligations contracted thereunder." On October 23rd, Maisky informed the Committee that he was instructed to say the continuing supply of arms to Franco's forces made the non-interference agreement "a blank and torn scrap of paper, with no further validity." Therefore the Soviet Government had decided to "re-instate the Spanish Government's right and channels for the purchase of arms abroad--rights and channels currently enjoyed by all other governments, and to grant treaty members the right to sell or withhold the sale of arms to Spain at their discretion."
The Tory government, in an attempt to stop volunteers going to Spain, threatened to use the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1875 which they said made enlisting in a foreign army illegal. So, many of those who went found unofficial routes to cross the Channel. A passport was not required for a week-end trip to Paris so many of the volunteers left, ostensibly for a short stay in France, but once on the other side of the English Channel they made contact with French supporters who then showed the way over the Pyrenees Mountains into Spain.
Those who went to Spain came from all walks of life and from all political persuasions. They had one aim, to fight fascism. this was shown by the fact that the entry in their Republican Army Pay Book under the heading 'Political Affiliation' they wrote, 'Anti-fascista'.
The Spanish Prime Minister, Negrín, decided to ask the International Brigades to leave Spain in September 1938, hoping that this would help to change the attitude of the British and French governments. It is obvious that he thought the presence of the Brigades, who, in the eyes of the Western Powers, were all left-wing revolutionaries, was the cause of the antagonism towards his government, and therefore, if he told the Brigades to leave, he would win the support of the West.
Much has been written about the Spanish Civil War and I would advise any reader who wants to learn more about this part of our history to ensure that the local library has books on the subject that will help them understand our support of the Spanish people.