Relatives, friends, political representatives and supporters of International Brigade volunteers paid tributes with speeches and wreath-laying ceremonies outside Manchester Central Library and then the nearby Peterloo memorial speakers' platform.
The Manchester event was part of a number of commemorations held across the UK by the Communist Party and supported by the International Brigades Memorial Trust and friends on October 17 and 18 to mark the anniversary of the October 1938 passing-out parade of International Brigade volunteer soldiers, doctors and nurses in Barcelona. They were given a ticker-tape send-off by citizens and thanked by the Spanish MP Dolores Ibarruri, known as La Pasionaria.
The International Brigade had military units of volunteers from various countries. It was set up to help the democratically elected Spanish Popular Front government during the Spanish Civil War. They existed for two years from 1936 until 1938. Over 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland volunteered as soldiers, nurses and in other roles, supported by others in the UK.
North-west volunteers included Sam Wild, from Ardwick, Manchester, who became an International Brigade Battalion Commander. Others included Oldham's Clem Beckett, who was a popular speedway cyclist in the 1920s and '30s, and fellow Oldhamers Kenneth Bradbury, Clifford Wolstencroft, Joseph Maynard Lees, Harry Roland Heap, who also served in the First World War, and William Jackson.
Sam Wild's daughter, Dolores Long, spoke at the Manchester commemoration on Saturday. She is a member of the International Brigade Greater Manchester Group and also the national executive of the International Brigade Memorial Trust. Other speakers included Paul Ward of the International Brigade Greater Manchester Group.
Paula Barker, Labour MP for Liverpool Wavertree, was due to speak but had to cancel because of covid lockdown restrictions on movement.
The International Brigade was formed to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, to halt fascism and prevent further, widespread war. The conflict began after Spanish General Franco's military coup against the democratically elected government of Spain.
Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy supported the coup and faced no military opposition from western European governments as they sent troops and weapons to help Franco. They also tested new warfare techniques, such as the aerial bombing of civilians in the Basque town of Guernica.
The Spanish Civil War partly paved the way to the Second World War but International Brigade volunteers held the line for nearly three years and bought precious time for forces opposed to fascism and war to prepare.
Many International Brigade volunteers gave their lives to the cause. Some luckily returned home while were others were captured. Some Spanish republican prisoners were later sent to the Nazi Mathausen concentration camp during the Second World War. Others were used as slave labourers in locations including the Channel Islands.
Around 400,000 Spanish people lost their lives in the civil war and a similar number escaped into exile. One million Spaniards were imprisoned under the Franco regime. Despite supporting Hitler and Mussolini, including sending sending thousands of Spanish troops to fight alongside Hitler's forces, Spain claimed neutrality in the Second World War. Franco remained in power as a dictator until his death in 1975.
The North West District of the Communist Party organised the Manchester commemoration. It was attended by people from Greater Manchester, Merseyside, Lancashire and Cheshire and supported by the IBMT nationally and the local International Brigade Greater Manchester Group.
Other groups present included the Young Communist League, Manchester Connolly Association, the 0161 Group, the Communist Party of Ireland, the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) and Marea Granate, the international organisation of Spanish migrant workers which campaigns on the social and economic crisis that has forced young people to emigrate from Spain.
Speeches took place outside Manchester Central Library followed by wreath laying and displays of banners and flags at the new Peterloo memorial near Manchester Central.
Dolores Long gave the famous 'You Are Legend' farewell speech of gratitude by the Spanish Communist MP La Pasionaria to International Brigade volunteers as they left Barcelona.
Other speakers included Evan Pritchard, Les Docherty and Paul Ward. The International Brigade Greater Manchester Group supports the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT). The trust keeps alive the memory and spirit of the 2,500 men and women from Britain and Ireland who volunteered, along with those who supported the volunteers and the cause of the Spanish Republic at home.
It brings together families, friends and admirers of the International Brigades, along with historians and others who share an interest. It also ensures that the more than 100 memorials in the British Isles to the volunteers – 526 of whom were killed in Spain – are maintained and, where appropriate, new ones are erected.
Greater Manchester memorials to International Brigade volunteers and supporters can be found in locations including Ardwick, Ashton under Lyne, Bolton, Chorlton, Manchester, Moston, Oldham, Stalybridge and Wigan. Others are in Preston, St Helens and at various sites in Liverpool.
Droylsden has a Tameside Borough Council plaque to local man Harry Pollitt, the former leader of the British Communist Party who visited British volunteers in Spain and played a key role supporting the International Brigade during the 1930s.
Oldham Gallery and Library has Spanish Civil War exhibits included a 1938 memorial poster portraying Oldham volunteers who died in Spain.
The Working Class Movement Library in Salford and the People's History Museum in Manchester also has artefacts and information about the International Brigade.
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