Kevin Brannigan reports on efforts to maintain the memory of the Irish Brigadistas.
Interest in remembering the Irish men who volunteered to fight on behalf of the Spanish Republic, during the 1936-39 Spanish Anti-Fascist War, is growing. With three memorials recalling Irish members of the International Brigades unveiled on the island during 2013.
In Aughnacloy Co. Tyrone a memorial stone was unveiled at Moy Bridge to honour Benjamin Murray, a native of Armagh, who was killed fighting on the Aragon front in March of 1938. Murray had seen action with the British army in World War 1 and had joined the Communist Party in 1934.
Belfast also saw the unveiling of a mural at the ‘International Wall’ on the Falls Road honouring all the Belfast volunteers who fought against fascism in Spain. This mural depicts the scene from Bodenstown 1934 when left wing Republican Congress members, many from a protestant background, marched under a banner proclaiming ‘Break the Connection with Capitalism’ only to find themselves under attack from sectarian elements within the IRA.
In Dublin a plaque was placed a few short steps from the home of St. Patrick’s Athletic, Richmond Park, on Emmett Road. The plaque commemorates the six men from Inchicore who went to fight in Spain with the International Brigades, three of whom would never return home.
These latest monuments to Irish Brigadistas add to the list of already existing memorials dotted around Ireland. From Dooega, Achill Island, off the coast of Mayo to Kerry and Belfast.
The memorial on Achill to volunteer Thomas Patten, who fell during the defence of Madrid in 1936, was one of the first to be unveiled in Ireland, dating back to October 1984. Thomas was the first of an estimated 74 Irish men to die in Spain and also the first volunteer from an English speaking country, though Irish was his spoken language.
Since that day on Achill in 1984 memorials have sprang up across the island in commemoration of the estimated 320 Irishmen who answered the call to fight against Franco’s forces.
Steve McCann from the Peter Daly Society, which unveiled a memorial at Monageer, Co. Wexford in 2011 to the local Brigadista those name it honours, believes remembering those who died in Spain is not just about the past.
“The socialist republican tradition of which Peter Daly, the International Brigades and the ‘Republican Congress’, of the time stood, for has been systematically airbrushed out of Irish history by the Free State. We feel it is our duty to revive these people’s legacy and promote the socialist republican tradition, building a fitting memorial is part of the campaign.” says McCann.
The attempts to air-brush the Irish International Brigadistas out of history is failing. The yellow – purple and red flag of the Spanish Republic has become a common sight at League of Ireland and GAA matches while there has also been an upsurge on research and books on the subject.
However, in their own era of 1930s Ireland there was little acclamation for the Brigadistas’ bravery.
“When the international brigade was disbanded in 1938 we thought it our duty to welcome home captain Johnny Power, Jackie Hunt and John O’Shea, so about twenty of us met them from the Dublin train. We formed into line, marched across the bridge, along the quay and turned into Henrietta Street to the old Cathal Brugha Sinn Fein hall where about fifty people gave them an enthusiastic reception. A party of tea, cakes and sandwiches had been prepared by ex-members of the Cumann na Mbann and IRA.”
The account by Peter O’Connor, one of the 10 men from Waterford to volunteer, contrasts starkly with crowds and establishment acclamation that greeted the return of former Blueshirt leader Eoin O’Duffy’s ‘Irish Brigade’ to Dublin after serving alongside General Franco’s forces in Spain.
While they may have been seen to have been ‘on the wrong side’ by the Irish public at the time has treated the Irish Brigadistas better than their fascist supporting compatriots. There is one public memorial to O’Duffy’s ‘Irish Brigade’, inside a Dublin church.
