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Eloquent tribute to Welsh volunteers who defended democracy in Spanish civil war
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You Are Legend: The Welsh Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War
by Graham Davies
(Welsh Academic Press, £19.99)
“WHEN the years pass by and the wounds of war are staunched... speak to your children. Tell them of these men of the International Brigades,” Dolores Ibarruri (La Pasionaria) pronounced in her farewell address to the International Brigades in Barcelona in November 1938.
Graham Davies is the latest to speak of those men. Despite a seemingly narrow focus on the Welsh men — and two women — who volunteered, the book gives a full account of the causes of the war and its events, while seamlessly weaving the personal stories of the Welsh volunteers into the general history of the brigades.
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Merseyside’s proud tradition of internationalism is being kept alive through events organised by trade unionists and allies in the region, writes ROBERT MACDONALD
GUTO DAVIES reports on a placing of a third commemorative plaque in Tonypandy in remembrance of left-wing militancy
SUE TURNER recommends a rich and varied selection of the letters, diaries and memoirs of British volunteers
Thousands of remarkable Britons left ordinary lives behind to join the struggle against Franco. Here is a snapshot of those who answered the call