Comrades from the Communist Party of Ireland (CPI) recently participated in a series of events in Tarancón, Jarama, Madrid and Co Tyrone organised by Friends of the International Brigades Ireland (FIBI) to commemorate the heroic sacrifices of the International Brigades in the Spanish Anti-Fascist War 1936-1939.
The International Brigades were volunteer soldiers recruited and organised by the Communist International to assist the Popular Front government of the Second Spanish Republic. The Brigades existed from 1936 until 1938. It is estimated that during the entire war, there were some 32,000 Brigadistas from over 50 countries around the world. The headquarters of the brigade was located at the Gran Hotel, Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha. They participated in the battles of Madrid, Jarama, Guadalajara, Brunete, Belchite, Teruel, Aragon and the Ebro.
On 17 October 1936, an open letter by Joseph Stalin to José Díaz was published in Mundo Obrero, arguing that victory for the Spanish Second Republic was a matter not only for Spaniards but also for the whole of “progressive humanity”; in short order, communist activists joined with progressive forces to form anti-fascist “popular front” militias in several countries, most of them under the control of or influenced by the Comintern.
The CPI delegation travelled initially to Tarancón where they joined comrades from the International Brigade Memorial Trust and local Spanish activists from ARMHCuenca at the annual commemoration of the fallen Scottish Brigaders and Spanish anti-fascist resistance. This was followed by a guided visit to the cemetery at Santa Cruz, to see memorials to the 7 Soviet fighter pilots from the USSR who were killed in the early years of the anti-fascist war and 75 Spanish citizens murdered by Franco between 1943 & 1951.
On Saturday, the CPI comrades joined international activists at the annual march in the Jarama Valley organised by La Asociación de Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales (AABI) to commemorate the International Brigaders from around the world who fought valiantly at the Batalla del Jarama to keep the main Madrid to Valencia arterial road open for the Republic. The ‘Memorial March’ is an annual show of solidarity with the International Brigades and Spanish anti-fascist forces who fought the combined armies of Franco, Hitler and Mussolini.
Following the Jarama March, the CPI comrades joined a vigil in Rivas Vaciamadrid for International Brigader Charlie Donnelly and FIBI founder Eddie Ó Néill. The vigil was followed by a solidarity lunch hosted by Izquierda Unida (IU). Comrades are indebted to the hospitality of the Jarama 80 group, Ayuntamiento Rivas, ARMHCuenca, Izquierza Unida and Unión de Juventudes Comunistas de España and the visiting camaradas from the Partido Comunista Português.
The Irish comrades had a number of bilateral meetings with international communists from the aforementioned groups and exchanged contact details between our organisations with a view to developing a number of future political projects together in the future. Comrades from the Partido Comunista Português will visit Ireland in April 2025.
On Sunday, comrades were provided with a compelling tour of the Cementerio de Nuestra Señora de La Almudena – a cemetery in Madrid, which is the largest in Western Europe. The tour was organised by Máximo Molina Gutiérrez President of La Asociación para la Recuperación de la Memoria Histórica de Cuenca
The most significant grave for the FIBI group is obviously that of Communist leader La Pasionaria Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez 1895–1989, renowned for the immortal rallying cry ¡No Pasarán! (“They shall not pass!”), which she issued during the Battle for Madrid in November 1936.
Upon their return to Ireland, the CPI comrades joined with FIBI in Co Tyrone to lay wreaths and flowers at the FIBI memorial carns to Field Commander Charlie Donnelly (Dungannon), Óglach Eddie Ó Néill (Derrytresk) and Communist Party Political Commissar Ben Murray (Moybridge). Speeches were made at the memorials by Communist Party of Ireland comrades Gearóid Ó Machail (NEC) and Barry Murray (Betty Sinclair Branch).
Sources:
Thomas, Hugh (2003) [1961]. The Spanish Civil War. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-101161-5.
Tremlett, Giles (24 August 2021). The International Brigades: Fascism, Freedom and the Spanish Civil War. London Oxford New York New Delhi Sydney: Bloomsbury Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4088-5398-6.
