Working people across Britain are fighting back against austerity, war, repression and exploitation. The challenge now is to unite those struggles, says Communist Party of Britain assistant general secretary JOHNNIE HUNTER
ON October 28 1938, as 300,000 Spaniards crowded the streets of Barcelona to bid farewell to the International Brigade, Major Sam Wild watched from a balcony as George Fletcher led the English-speaking XV Brigade in the farewell parade.
The 57th (British) Battalion marched at the front, followed by the 58th (Lincoln) Battalion, the 59th (Spanish) Battalion and then the 60th (Mackenzie-Papineau) Battalion took up the rear as they were the last battalion to be formed.
The men marched on a carpet of flowers under a shower of paper strips, and women rushed from the crowds lining the route to hug and kiss the marching men. Dolores Ibarruri (La Pasionaria) addressed the International Brigade volunteers, saying: “We shall not forget you; and, when the olive tree of peace is in flower, entwined with the victory laurels of the Republic of Spain — return!”
As the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish civil war is marked, Teesside campaigners will gather to remember the local men and women who stood against fascism, explains TONY FOX
Driven by anti-fascism and anger at Britain’s policy of non-intervention, thousands volunteered to fight in the Spanish civil war. Historian RICHARD BAXELL reflects on their sacrifices and enduring significance
TONY FOX reports from a commemoration of the legendary Battle of Jarama in which four Stockton-on-Tees volunteers fell
TONY FOX invites readers to come and hear the story of the remarkable Liverpudlian International Brigader Alexander Foote


