“Where Are the Faces We Seek?”
This extract from a contemporary poem gives a flavour of the 1930s. You’ll hear about the Means Test which was, in essence, a vicious attack on the unemployed living on the dole during the Great Depression when unemployment as a national average reached 25%. The extract shows how domestic and foreign policies were intertwined,
‘Where are the faces we seek, the British faces?
Let the living answer the roll call of the dead …
Where are those who tramping on Means Test marches
Knew that the road they had taken against oppression
Led to the front in Spain
The shouts in Trafalgar Square of “No Pasaran!”’
Narration:
The rise of Hitler in 1933 and his aggressive foreign policy led socialists and communists and liberals and men and women of all persuasions that a stand had to be taken when Franco led a fascist revolt against the democratically elected Spanish government in 1936.
There was a belief that if fascism could be stopped in Spain, then that united front would show fascist powers such as Italy and Germany that war would not pay. In short, victory against fascist aggression in Spain could deter further wars.
Working women and men, the unemployed and the intelligentsia began to make their way to Spain in the face of opposition and disapproval from British government. Many without passports walked the Pyrenees and made their way to the universal front that separated freedom from oppression and the rise of European fascism.
The British government refused to heed the warnings from Spain. Ignoring German and Italian aggression in Spain, the British government pursued a policy of non-intervention.
Here this warning that came from the courageous poet Fredrico Garcia Lorca, who was killed by the fascists.
“I will always be on the side of those who have nothing.
All we want is liberty and a better standard of living and culture for all of Spain and for all Spanish People”
The horses are black
The horseshoes are black
On their capes shine stains of ink and wax,
Their skulls are made of lead
Which is why they do not weep
Up the road they come
With their souls of patent leather
Narration:
And so with Spain facing a fascist revolt and with Hitler trying out terror bombing tactics of civilians as they did at Guernica a feeling developed that Spain was a European battlefield for civilization.
On April 26, 1937, Guernica was the scene of devastating bombing by the Condor Legion of Nazi Germany‘s Luftwaffe. Stuka dive-bombers practised the terror-bombing strategy that would be employed in the Blitzkrieg campaigns of 1939-1940.
Narration:
The bombing went on for 3 hours non-stop. The constant shrieking of the stukas dive-bombing and dropping their bombs with hideous accuracy and atrocity.
When the bombing was over the people left the shelters in silence. To find the streets littered with broken bodies No one was crying and only profound shock was written on their faces.
They could not understand the nightmare that had just taken place.
Everywhere flames and thick black smoke, people praying, some stretching their arms to heaven for the mercy that never came.
Men, women and children wandering through the woods in search of their loved ones only to find their broken, bloodied and bullet ridden bodies. When it grew dark the flames of Guernica were reaching to the sky and the clouds took on the colour of blood…’
Narration
The International Brigades were made up of cosmopolitan volunteers from across the world, united in their determination to stop Franco and fascism. Hear the voice of this volunteer:
‘We had tried to help the Baques by attacking Huesca in May 1937.
We fought the fascists west of Madrid in the battle of Brunete.
We sent in 2 divisions including the 15th International Brigade and the British Battalion.
We advanced to bloodshed and defeat, 25,000 casualties including 300 communists taken prisoner.
They were found later with their legs cut off.
In January 1938 we tried once more to deflect Franco from Madrid at Teruel but the aerial and artillery bombardment was relentless.
We froze in the blizzards and knew then that the war was lost
Music and song?
Narration:
Chamberlain’s infamous 1938 Munich agreement with Hitler, selling Czechoslovakia down the river, showed Stalin there was no hope for an alliance with the British government against Hitler, so he stopped propping up the Republican cause and Soviet aid was cut back. The International Brigades were withdrawn in November 1938
We came from Gloucestershire
To free the Spanish heart
The heart of the Spanish people
Betrayed and torn apart
We’ll stay as long as it takes
For the cause of Liberty
To fight for what is right
Till everyone is free.
Frontiers that divide the people
Soon we will tear apart
Though the masses speak a thousand tongues
We only have one heart
Now red with people’s blood
From the bombs of the enemies’ raids
Flags blooming like flowers on Freedom’s barricades
Girl of the people’s army
Do not weep for me
Yes, I may have a British name
But I came to Spain to fight for Liberty
And so, in Madrid, the great struggle between two incompatible beliefs raged. Madrid was fighting for Spain, for justice, for humanity
Now let’s hear from La Passionara
Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez (also known as Pasionaria (“the passionate one” or Passion flower“), Republican and communist. She is renowned for her slogan ¡No Pasarán! (“They shall not pass!”), which she issued during the Battle for Madrid in November 1936.
La Passionara
‘People of Spain, do not turn off your radios.
All around us are lies and rumours.
Death to fascism!
We will die on our feet rather than live on our knees.
Fight with whatever you have, with knives and burning oil if need be.
We must defend the Republic!
Every home a fortress, every street a trench, every neighbourhood a wall of iron.
Women of Madrid, today, look for your men not in the factories but in the trenches.
No Pasaran!’
Song: Viva La quince Brigada
Viva la Quince Brigada, rumba la rumba la rumbaLa
Viva la Quince Brigada, rumba la rumba la rumbaLa
que se ha cubierto de gloria, Ay Manuela ¡Ay Manuela,
que se ha cubierto de gloria, ¡Ay Manuela ¡Ay Manuela
2 Luchamos contra los moros, rumba la rumba la la rumba
mercenarios y fascistas, rumba la rumba la la rumba
Viva la Quince Brigada ay Manuela Ay Manuela
Viva la Quince Brigada, ay Manuela Ay Manuela
- Solo esnuestrodeseo, rumba la rumba la rumba la.
la a cabar con el fascismo, rumba la rumba la rumba la.
Viva la Quince Brigada, ¡Ay Manuela ¡Ay Manuela
Viva la Quince Brigada, ¡Ay Manuela ¡Ay Manuela
- En los frentes de Jarama, rumba la rumba la rumba la.
notenemosniaviones rumba la rumba la rumba,
Ni tanquesnicañones, ay Manuela ay Manuela
Ni tanquesnicañones, ay Manuela ay Manuela
- Yasalimos de España, rumba la rumba la rumba la.
Para luchar en otrosfrentes, rumba la rumba la rumba la.
Viva la Quince Brigada, ay Manuela ay Manuela.
Viva la Quince Brigada, ay Manuela ay Manuela
Narration:
The fascists entered the capital at the end of March 1939 and Britain formally recognized the new fascist government.
Narration: La Passionara
When the years pass by and the wounds of war are staunched…then speak to your children.
Tell them of the International Brigades.
Tell them how coming over seas and mountains, crossing frontiers bristling with bayonets, these men reached our country as crusaders for Freedom.
They gave up everything- love, country, home and fortune – fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, sisters and children.
Your cause, Spain’s cause, is ours.
Today they are going away. Remember them
BUT BEFORE WE HEAR ABOUT THOSE HEROES, let’s remember again how domestic and international politics were intertwined. Oswald Mosley held a meeting of the British Union of Fascists at 10 John Street in Stroud in 1934.SHOW PHOTO He is thought to have stayed at Cainscross House (76 Westward Road). This was the home of Lt.-Colonel Gudman, leader of the West of England branch of the BUF.
Fascism had its supporters in this country after Mussolini’s March on Rome in 1922 (check date). Many were active as strike-breakers during the General Strike in 1926. I wonder if that Gudman was …
He wrote to the local press in 1939 opposing the Kindertransport. But enough of this, let’s hear about the anti-fascists.
A West Country Declamation
We remember Bill Morrissey of Elmore,
Gloucester vehicle builder and keen cyclist,
He crossed the Pyrenees by night,
To fight fascism at Teruel.
We remember Percy Williams of Swindon,
GWR engineer and then the 15th Brigade,
A young man killed at Caspe in machine gun fire.
We remember James Albrighton,
A young student from Wiltshire,
First protecting Madrid, then wounded at Brunete.
We remember Stafford Cottman,
Attacked by Blackshirts in Bristol,
He volunteered straightway at the age of 17,
To join the POUM and sleep in caves,
Then fight on the Aragon Front;
He escaped from Barcelona to pay tribute
To the International Brigade at Jarama.
We remember the Bristol Brigaders,
Who lost their lives:
William G. Boyce, January 1938, Teruel;
John Burton, February 1937, Jarama;
Lesley Huson, May 1938; E. Stephens, July 1938.
We remember Ralph Bates of Swindon,
Out on Barcelona Docks, then defending Madrid.
And then directing mountain troops in the Pyrenees.
We remember Winifred Bates, writing pamphlets
At the Ministry of Information,
Coordinating medical volunteers,
Then working in the French camps.
We also remember Ronald Bates of Swindon,
Fighting with the anti-tank unit at Teruel.
We remember Thomas Duncombe,
Of Wotton-under-Edge,
Killed at Gandesa, April 1938,
Trying to stop Franco reaching the sea.
We also remember Margaret Duncombe,
Gallant nurse,
International Brigade Medical Services.
We remember Laurie Lee,
Writer, poet, labourer and ant-fascist,
Walking out from Slad with his violin,
Crossing the Pyrenees to fight Franco.
We remember Wogan Phillips from Colesbourne,
Driving his Ford to Barcelona,
Helping Stephen Spender;
Ambulance driver in the Segovia Offensive,
Demanding compensation for British ships
Bombed by Franco,
Then organising a refugee ship for Mexico.
We remember Ted Fletcher,
30 Regent Street, Stonehouse,
Ambulance driver;
And Michael Johnston of Great Rissington,
He fought all the way from the Jarama to the Ebro;
Wounded, he then worked as a transport driver.
We remember the Minchinhampton naval rating,
Dive-bombed by Stukas in his frigate off Alicante.
We remember Alfred Brooks of Bream Labour Party,
Cinema manager in the Dean,
Shielding his six Spanish refugee children
From the Pathe newsreels of Spain,
By keeping them busy in the projection room,
Or dancing flamenco in the Dean.
We remember Mrs. Phelps,
Saluted by a Spanish refugee
Saluted by a Spanish guard of honour,
At her wedding at Holy Trinity, Stroud.
We remember Harry Clements,
Nellie and Bert Mardell, Nellie Shaw,
Mary Robert, Marcel Morand and Joy Evans,
All of Whiteway,
Who helped the refugees feel at home and find work.
We remember the Stroud greengrocer,
With his gifts of food to the refugees,
The local fundraisers,
Mr E.G.Hobson,
And the Stroud Committee to help Spanish democracy.
We remember Paul Ruiz,
Rowed by his dad to a waiting ship,
11 years old, bound for Gloucester;
Paul would later marry a local girl,
Not returning to Spain until after the death of Franco.
We remember Lawrence Baxeda of Catalonia,
His children taken by their mother to Mitcheldean,
He stayed with his brother to fight Franco;
Under a death-sentence, they escaped to France,
Surviving the Nazi occupation,
To be reunited with family in 1949
And find work in Cinderford Saw Mills.
Finally, in this eulogy,
We remember once more,
Laurie Lee,
Writer, poet, labourer and ant-fascist,
Walking out from Slad with his violin,
Crossing the Pyrenees to fight Franco.
We shall remember them all:
‘No Pasaran!’
Now finally let’s remember Thomas Duncombe (this is a flash-back to Wotton under Edge at the turn of the century)
Our ceremony here today, commemorating the life and death of Thomas Duncombe, owes its provenance to the serendipitous discovery of his name in IB files, together with the listing of his birth-place as Wotton Under Edge.
Because of this, we thought it right and proper to honour his name and to memorialize his death at Gandesa, fighting the fascist forces of Franco.
Our guest speaker was Dave Goodman, a fellow Brigader, who fought in the same sector as Thomas and who was captured and imprisoned. Dave came down from Stoke and stayed with us for that occasion on Saturday November 21st, 1998. Dave spoke the eulogy.
We planted two mountain oaks from the Pyrenees, held some readings and David John Helvig created a memorial tablet that was housed in Wotton’s tourist information office.
About 70 people attended the ceremony.
DECLAMATION
I would like to conclude with the paragraph I wrote back in 1998. It is still apposite.
The new millennium’s multicultural Gloucestershire needs to be aware of its anti-fascist past. Every year, the people of Wotton gather at their war memorial in November, to remember those who gave their lives from the town and locality. Yet one name has been almost completely forgotten – that of Thomas Duncombe. Until today.
Thomas Duncombe. “No Pasaran!”
Adey’s Lane, leading to the Old London Road. The only gate for the general public on the left as you walk up out of Wotton. You will find the trees there.