HOW do we commemorate our heroes and heroines?

Should there be a full-on military parade, with national flags flying, uniforms for all, and a cast of royals with medals their mummy gave them?
Or should we simply stand by a grave and weep?

Those who mark the heroic endeavours of the International Brigades do it differently, especially at our annual event around the exquisite memorial at London’s Jubilee Gardens.

First, there is the greeting of comrades; handshakes and hugs, and delight in who’s turned up this year, the stalwarts and the newcomers.

There is music — there is always music; this year, provided by the sweetly polemic Maddy Carty. We sang, too — not half so well as the guest musician, but with heart. Curious tourists and passers-by came to see who were lustily singing the Internationale on a rainy Saturday afternoon.

There were speeches. For those of us who dread speechifying, not to worry. These were personal and passionate, poetic and inspirational.

Gawain Little, general secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU), told the gathering: “I want to pay tribute to those heroes who came, from all over the world to fight fascism in a foreign land.

“They were there to push back the tide of fascism that would soon engulf much of Europe. They were there to defend Spanish democracy and the young republic. But most of all they were there because of an ideal, a grand vision, a belief that the working class, united across borders, could together build something incredible — a society fit for our children and grandchildren.”

In an event which constantly linked the valiant past with the challenging present, Little said: “We have a government now which manages to combine weak and incremental labour law reform with austerity and a crackdown on civil liberties. When we look at how those who stand up to the genocide taking place in Palestine are treated by government, media and our legal system, it does lead me to wonder how those who fought in the International Brigades would be treated by our current government.

“We have a left focused not on a grand alternative vision, but rather on our tactical difference and petty party-building at the expense of movement-building, ever more divided and ever weaker. We have a trade union movement divided over crucial questions of war and peace. There are some in our movement who would put British jobs before Palestinian lives.

“The brigaders’ story teaches us that, even in the darkest of times, possibly precisely in the darkest of times, there is both the possibility and the need for an all-encompassing vision of an alternative society, built on democracy, solidarity, internationalism and holding the earth as a common treasury.

“So let us raise our banners and raise our voices, in struggle and in song and bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old.”

A focus on Palestine was echoed in Maddy Carty’s song, How the Hell Can You Call This a War?, which brought the crowd to silent reflection, as Palestinian flags fluttered alongside those of the International Brigades.

Fellow guest speaker was Meirian Jump, director of the Marx Memorial Library (MML), who said: “I was first brought to this memorial in October 1985 by my parents, Jim and Myra, when I was just six months old, along with my twin sister, Clara.

“That day marked the unveiling of this monument, a day filled with pride and memory. My grandfather Jimmy had been instrumental in its creation.

“And so here I am, almost 40 years later, with my own child, my wonderful four-year-old son, Victor Alan Jump.

“The International Brigades have indeed passed into history, but not into obscurity. Their story, their courage, their resistance to fascism, militarism, and tyranny, remain profoundly relevant. Their stand for democracy and peace continues to inspire.

“We know history is not neutral. It is a battleground, a contested space. The term ‘fascism’ is often cynically deployed today to justify foreign wars, while the legacy of the brigaders is distorted by cold war and anti-communist narratives.

“But this is our history. And we must hold onto it. Understanding the past is essential if we are to change the future. History is a weapon in our hands.”

The MML, she said, held more than 100,000 pages of materials related to the International Brigades, and had an ambitious project under way to digitise the entire collection.

There were also deeply personal items, such as a small bundle of thyme, picked from the battlefield and treasured for a lifetime by Miles Tomalin, the poet and hugely popular brigader.

Jump continued: “These fragments tell us not just what happened, but why it mattered. They help us understand the motivations, the human cost, and the enduring values of those who fought. They let us feel history, and bring it alive.

“Thank you, for remembering, for standing together, and for continuing the struggle for justice and truth.”

Jim Jump, chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT), spoke of the demanding work underway currently: “We applaud what the current Spanish government is doing to help the cause of historical memory, to heal the wounds of repression and to restore dignity to those whose only crime was to support democracy.

“As the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, has said, without memory there can be no democracy. And, of course, we’re delighted that Spain’s latest memory law grants citizenship to the descendants of the brigaders.

“There is, however, unfinished business for us in Spain. There are still up to 500 bodies of British and Irish International Brigaders in unknown and unmarked graves across the country.

“I’m happy to say we’re working well with the Catalan government in their efforts to locate and identify, with the help of family DNA, all those International Brigaders who fell in the Battle of the Ebro, more than 90 of them from the British Battalion.

“That should be a model for the rest of Spain. Sadly, it isn’t.

“We have a continuing stand-off with Madrid city council over plans to build a waste facility on or near a mass grave of 450 International Brigaders, several of them British, at Fuencarral cemetery.

“In other regions of Spain, under the influence of the ultra right-wing Vox party, Francoism is being excused and rehabilitated, and memory laws are being torn up.

“The men and women we are remembering here today would no doubt be appalled.”

Again linking the past to the present, Jump senior said: “We might not be seeing out-and-out fascism, but we see many of its sinister trappings: racism, ethno-nationalism, bans and censorship, militarism, the slaughter of civilians, genocide.

“In our own way we’ll play our part in fighting back. We’ll do it, with your help, by keeping alive the inspirational story of the International Brigades, a story of anti-fascism, a story of international solidarity, a story of men and women whose blood, in the words of Spanish poet Rafael Alberti, could sing across frontiers.”

As the IBMT-organised commemoration came to an end, with wreaths and flowers laid at the memorial, three little moments signified the success of this day.

My comrade Stuart Walsh and I are no relation to one another, nor to the brigader we remember, both here and on the Jarama battlefield. James Walsh of Liverpool seemed to have no family to remember him, so we posthumously “adopted” him as a comrade brother. There will always be flowers for him, and we will always say his name.

Second, a young woman at the pub gathering later, though not part of the event, told me: “I’ve heard the best conversations ever! Who are you all — can I join your group?”

And Marlene Sidaway, IBMT president, whose late partner David Marshall fought in Spain, told me she was overjoyed that so many had turned out for the event.

“They just keep coming — and more of them! It’s wonderful.”

It is, and it’s vital. We can take just a drop of these heroes’ and heroines’ dedication and carry on the fight. Next year will see 90 years since the start of the war against fascism in Spain. Put that in your diaries. Write “fight fascism.”

In fact, let’s write that for every day, from now until we have not one fascist left on this Earth.