Catalonian Comrades

Catalonian Comrades

- Kenny Macaskill

THE recent troubles in Catalonia have conjured up both romantic and tragic memories of the Spanish Civil War. Writings from Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls and Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia have been mentioned.

Reminiscences made about the International Brigade with songs from Christy Moore’s La Quinta Brigada to Woody Guthrie’s Jarama Valley.

Less well known though is that Scots made up just under a quarter of the British Battalion of the International Brigade or that the song penned by Guthrie was based on a poem written by a Scot, Alex McDade, who fought at Jarama and died in a subsequent battle at Brunete.

Some indication of Scotland’s links with the Spanish Civil War are provided by the statue to La Pasionaria standing on the Broomielaw in Glasgow or through the Banner to the Scottish Contingent of the International Brigade that hangs in the People’s Palace.

The statue to Dolores Ibarruri, the Spanish Communist, known as La Pasionaria, famed for her phrase, “No Pasaran” during the defence of Madrid, commemorates 65 men from the city who died in the conflict. The banner that hangs in the museum a few miles away records the battles they fought in not just Jarama and Brunete, but Ebro and Teruel among others.

When the International Brigade required to leave Spain in October 1938, thousands of people lined the streets of Barcelona, including the Spanish Prime Minister, to say thanks and bid them farewell.

La Pasionaria said to them, “Comrades of the International Brigade!