Vol. MADRID, NOV.

U ••R t, tUf

The VOLUNTEER
FOR LIBERTY
All The Peoples Of The World Are On Tbe Side
Of The International Brigades And The Spanish
Repuhlican Government
1IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIInlIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIII nllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllnllnllnllllll"1

To 60n Manuel Azana,

President of the Re-
public
The ortker s and r ~ Jln 's t'lIf ; lf;\I ' S of
the Garriso n of :\) h ;u-eh ' , n w t ! tI~ l'tht.'r

unde r the Presidt"ury o f tht· I Olld"T-St'-

(·.r e ta ry of " Oa r,
Li~u te mlllt ( 'olon.-1 Ho-

lanos. to oele hratf" the first ;'UlOh t ' r ~a r~:

o f th e- arriYa l of thf~ \'"oll1nt f>f.>T '" u f thl'
~nt.. rna.tional Rrigadf>8 in Spa i.n, '-1'11(1
to t.hf> iIIus trioufS P resid.' nt (If all tlu"
S pu,niards thf> {>x pn 's~ i o n o f t.ht"il' a tlmir -
at-i on andr eaffirm 1ht' ir uflshu lwble
suppo rt "for the ('auS(' of the Lilll'rty
and

\

A VI";\\' of the parljde of tho trooJIS.
A GlL\TEt'r 14 trlbutt· to our dputl.
~""'H"""''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''"''''''''''''"H''''"'''''''''''''''''' .. H........ II .• I......," .... ,..... IIIII..........._ .. I~
:
I N AI~i~~~::r~ ~
!
: . . . 111 •• 111'"11 . . . . ,11 . . . . .
Lowered In
111."", .... ,11 . . . . ' . . . . ' . . . . ' " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ,,' ....
Albacete was be,Jecked with Magnific~ntly equipped, the dif-
banners, posters and placards. The ferent units of the Intcrnation o.1
whole population was celebrating Brigades paraded in impreb:"vc
O'ctober 17th the anniversary of ol'der. It was a great demoIlBtra-
the arrival in Spain of the first liun of strength, unity and disci-
Volunteers for Liberty with a pline. The sight was breath-
magificent and enthus;ast;c fpte. taking.
The Park, filled with many-c'.,].;u-
red triumphal archeR, rt,ng frnm
Tile Prll'k apPcrlred !feomclrical-
early morning with tne cheers of
/1/ di,.idcd by rifles.
the crowd. All the rentrps of t'le
parties and organisa til 'ns . we're
adorned with banners and strea- The Republican fi:lgs fluated in
mers and slogans affirming' soli- the breeze and the bugles gleamed
darity with the Internatiunal Bri- in the light. The various section~
gades. The balconies of the offi- parade: infantry, artillery, as-
cial buildings were ablaze with sault battalions, services of the
cololJr. .{. rear .. "he people~s emotion cannot
The whole town lined the ~ described. There was a cease-
streets and the great ave'lU, ,... h:- less storm of applause. Our volun'
re the troops were to para,Je, This teers did not hide their enthusiasm
vast mass f"rmed a living wall of as Pw,," passed before the Spanish
people who cheered themselvep, flag.
hoarse greeting the in""C~"'atio:'a1 At the end of the military pa-
fit~hters, a river of tirelcps handfl racle Lieutenant Colonel 1/\olancs,
from which roEe great burst;; of UnJer-Commissar Pretel, 'the Mi-
ppplausc.. - litary Governor Cazo;la, Lieute-
The military review began at nant-Colonel Mang'lda, and the
11 a. m. The troops were inspected Inspectur of the International BrL
by the Under-Secretary for Defen- glldeE, Comrade Gallo, spoke tl)
ce, Lieutenant Colen:l Bolan"s, the pe;)ple. With deep feeling they
representing the Government; the grC4itcd the anniversary-of .!he In-
Under-Commissar General of War, ternational Brigades. They sp"1<,,
Comrade Pretel; the Military Go- of the meanint of the sCllid'lril.y
vernor of Albacete, Lieutenant of the peeples and they cxpresse<l
Colonel Mangada; the Civil Go- th"ir unshakable confidence in
vernor, Comrade Cazorla; the victory. In the name of the Inter-
Commissar-Inspector of our Inter- national Brigades Comrade Gallo
llational Brigades, ('"mrade, Gallo; made a moving spee::h whICh We'
and the \-C;cHIlmander of the~se, print on another PGgc. He ended
Comrade Bielov. The Madrid Peo- by ... dressing stirrim; "vivas" to
r:le's Front. had sent a JelegatiolJ the Preple's Front Government, to
consisting of its Secretary and the Army of the Republic anJ to
Comrade Ovidio Salcedo of the So- the Inte',national Brigades, which
cialist Party. were taken up by th,' crowd with
The C. N. T. had sent a tele- lcng applau"',
gram expressing its -y..'arm sup- A banquet follcwed at which all
port of the commemoration and the leading perscnalities were pre-
apologising for being unable to be /sent, tcgether with the officers
represented at the ceremony. The who had come from all the diffe-
Delegation of the Spanish Com- lent Units. Lieutenant Colonel Bo-
munist Party consisted of Comra- lanos 'made a brief spee~h of gre-
lies "Pasionaria", Delicado and eting on behalf of tile Government
Shoca. and its Army and expressed his
_ ....................................... " ..................... , ....................................... 11111111,., •••• ,1 ••• ,11 ••••• 11 •• ,.,.1 .......... , ............ "1.111 ...... 11 •• 111 ........ ,1 •• 11,111,11 ........................... , .............. 11 ............. 11 ....... 1.11 .... 1 ........... .

hole People Fervently Celebrate The An-

The International Brigades; Banners
Honor Of Our Dead. ~
... " ........ 111111 ................... 11 ••• 11.11 ........ ""11'.111 ••• 1.111 •• ' ......... 1',11"" ........ ' .. '"1.1.11.' ...... ,.".' ... ".'".11,.".'11"' ••••• 1".' ........ ,,, ............ ''' ... 111 ........ 11 ........ " . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I1 ........................ IIII ......... H ... :

great satisfaction of being among

comrades all inspired with the
same spirit and the same deter-
mination. Then Lieutenant Colonel
Bielov addressed the Government,
ti>e parties anj organisations of
the People's Front, and the Repu-
blican Army. He showed that the
organisation of victory demanded
the ceaaeless creation of reserves
and the maintenance of enthu-
si>lsm and discipline. His en-
tire speech was a demonstration of
confidence in thc leaders of Repu-
blican Spain whom he prcsented
as men capable of inspiring the
fInal struggic against fascism. The

THE H\ll\IA~ tide pours through the .t..et •...

Under-Commissar Pretel thcn paid their faith and their enthusiasm,

a tribute to "Pasionaria", thc together with a handful of offi-
symbol of the glorious struggle of cers who had rl'mained faithful.
the Asturian fighters. and when in their need thcy hau
He concluded with an appcal for made a.n anguished appeal to the
the rapid realisation of ul"ty and democratic governments.
proposed the sending of the tele-
grams which wc puhlish on the "Only III(; /J("01'lr: ill !Ill the C"I'-
first page. lias of thc CIIl'tl! hC"l'd thllt caU".
"Pa.sionaria" greeted the Ir!ter- she said. "But Spllill w1/i ,."i8(" ill

national BrigaJes in the name of her henrt un ('terH('" 116(1UU1Unlf '0

the Spanish wives and mothers them!"
who cannot express their gratitu-
de to those who have come to de- The afternoon was occupied by
fend the liberties of the world on a magnificent meeting which took
Spanish soil. She paid a tribute place in the Bull-ring, and was
to the loyal military men who un- preccdej by a splendid parade of
reservedly supported the Repuhli- the Intcrnationr.1 Brigades. The
can cause, who joined with peo- Secreta"J of the Madrid People's
ple's fighters and mingled with Front greeted the International
them whole-heartedly. She recal- Brig-ades in the name of all Anti-
led the first days of the struggle, fascists, and pointed to the Bri-
1.''';'"Tt;XAST C'OL()SI';I. n()I.A.S()~. rf'l)rf'sI'n1ing thl' ~linish'r of :\"atiullul
'h·tfOn('t'". ()n hl~ right Is comradt'" "rt'"tf'l, Cndt'f-Cummlss.ur (;t'nt'ru.J. when the Antifascists had only Continu«'11 UII JI .. ~e 1;;.)
J THE VOLUNTEEr FOR LIBERTY

.-
II!

Left: Comrade Pretel, Com-

missar for War.

Left center: Crowd salutes as

Notional Anthem is played,

Right center: The Medical

service is well represented.

left bottom: A view of the

endless demostration.

Right bottom: Workers.

peasants, soldiers cheer as
Internationals parade,

" , § , i , 'TI r
- .-:':-'~. ..;.cJ: _.

"The International Brigades Will Be Worthy Of The
Glorious Epic Of The Spanish People"
The Under-Secretary of State
for National Defence.
Political and military leaders of
the Spanish Republic.
Comrades and Volunteers.
A year ago the first volunteers
of our glorious Interna tional Bri-
gades arrived in Albacete.
They came from all corners of
th e globe, from all sections of po-
litical opinion, inspired with th e'
same en thusiasm, with the same
determinatiun: to fight at the side
of their brave Spanish comratles
who had already made immortal
history.
They had only one aim: to put
themselves at the disposition of
t he People 's Front Government , to
fight under the orders of its Ge-
neral Staff.
They knew that the cause of the
libe rty and the independence of
Spain was their own cause, the
cause of all advanced and pro-
. gressive humanity.
A year has gone by.
A year of battles, victories and
sac rifice.
A year in the course of which
the Spanish people, under the le-
adership of its Government, closely
united around its glorious Army,
has written epic pages in the an-
nals of the peoples.
A year during which internatio-
nal solidarity has expressed itaelf
in the su blime sacrifice and he-
roism of thousands of our volun-
t eers.
In the trenches of Madrid and
Jarama, in the battlefields of Gua-
dalajara and P ozo blanc('. in the
irresistible offensives of Brunete
and Belchite, the Spanish People's
A rmy has barred the way to fas-
cism, has inflicted sharp defeats
lin Hitl er and Mussolini.
Jt is our pride and our honour
to have been able to play our part,
shoulder to shoulder wi th our Spa-
nish comrades. in such great bal. -
U"s: to have been able . in the
tn'nches of liberty, to save the ho-
nour of our countries betrayed by
fascist dictators or by hesitant
and fe eble Govern ments.
In the struggle and in battlc we
have bee n able t o learn g reat les-
sons from our contact with our
~panish comrades lessons which
will help us and our peoples in the
THE VOLUNTEER FOR LiBERTV
Declares Comrade GALLO In Moving Speech
struggle in our own countri,' s. We thank you for all that y ou
We have been able to learn the are teaching the' world in th e
great political lessQn which all the struggle against fascism.
Spanish people, which all its lea- We shall know how to profit by
de rs have given to the whol~ your lessons.
world: Comrades, Volunteers for Li-
--In face of reaction it is ne: ",,- berty.
eary to unite in a block of steel Delegations from our five glo-
all the forces of the people who, rious Brigades.
al one, can defeat reaction and fo- Raise high your banners of bat-
r eign invasion. tle and victory!
We have learned how it has They are the banners of the glo_
been possible, thanks to the sa- ri ous r"sist.ance at University City
crifice of the people and th~ abili- and Las Rozas.
ty of the leaders, to call up, al- They are the banners of Terue l
most from nothing, a new Army anj Lopera, of the Almeria and
able to defeat the best Divisions Jarama Fronts.
of Spanish and International Fas - Raise high your banners, which
cism. saw the enemy in flight at Pozo-
We have learnt that in the fight blanco and Guadalajara.
to the death between reaction and Raise your banners of the glo-
progress, between slavery and li- rious offensives of Gu ada rrrama
berty, there is no sacrifice, no he- a nd Belchite.
roism which is beyond a people Your banners are fann ed with
ready, lik e the Spanish people, to tlle breath of our fall en heroes,
conquer or die. of Beimler and , Lucasz, Parovic
Spanish comrades, R epresenta- and Pic elIi, >Ralph Fox and De
tives of the Government -and Mili- Brougeres.
tary Commanders. Your banners arc the hope and
We thank you for th e imm en~e the pride of our peoplec. They arc
h elp which you a re giving to the the symbols of the heroic epic
cause of the liberty and ilJtlepen- through which we have li ved h ere
dence of all peoples. in Spain.
() l ' l(. ('0". ;\11 .. . ; ...;:\ It 1 .':--; PI':C'rHU tlf tI,,· Intl' rllaliuflal nr il{ad4'!"I, CUlUratlt'
"1('lo\'. ( 'oIBmaIHI.'r Hi" OW Ita "it-,
'"
;)
What do they say, our banners,
waving in the breeze of g-Iory and
vict·ory:
-People of Spain.
The International VolUnteers.
your adopt('d sons, will be w()rth~'
of you and of you!' magnific en t
('pic.
They h a ve only one ambition -
t o he able to count always among
the bravest and most disciplinl'd
s( ~ ldiers in your great Army.
We want to act so that our wi-
ves and OUr children can be proud
of u s , as every Spanis!>. wife and
child can be proud of husband and
fath er fighting on the fronts ,,{
fre ed<lm.
F orward. Spanish comra{k ,
fighters of all lands !
Forward, alway", united as ,,, :'
man, to defeat fascism and inau -
gurate an era of peace and hI' '''
therhood among all peoples.
Long live our gloriou" PenpJ.. · ~
Army!
Long live the People's Fl'!," t
Government!
L ong live its representatives an -i
delegates a t the a nnivt' fsal'Y ' ..
OlJr glorious Intel'nati ona l Brig ;l -
des!
(; :111.. . Un hi.. If'ff l.;f' ull'II :11I1 ( 'ulo .... '
 . . . . . . . . . " . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . , . , •••• " . . . . . . . . . . . . . " ........" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .• . . . . . . . . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ." . . . . ._ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ._ _ . " _

T~e International FigMers For FrBe~om 8~ow

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , " " , . , . . . . . . . . . . 11' . . . . . . . . . . . , " ' . . . . . " •• 1 •• ' ..... , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . , , .... , . . . . . . . . . . . 111." ••• , ' . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . " . . . . . . . . . . . . " . . . . . . " , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _

"Thl'Y lllalThl'd
Old ~uns wl'lg-hing- clown on thC'ir
Passing ri\'t.'l's and hills.
\OVilhullt ."l'St, without SIt'l'P , J'agg't~ct and hlllll-:l'Y,
Tlwy 'W t'nt jnyuus and proud ...
Anll a g-lorioHs J'1't'I'(lorH bm'nt'd hl'ig-ht
Such were the soldie rs of thc
Ycar IT of the great French Re-
volution. Such were the Voluntee rs
reI' Liberty in the past twelV<'
months Volunteers who ha(1
hastened to Republican Spain frol11
an counll'ies in the w orld.
A year has passed .. alrt'ady~ S.·
many g-I'cat events have filled
these twelve months. October 14th.
Railwayml'n . workmen anu COUll'
try p eople in u little t own which
was exposed to all the inclem(' nc-
iM of the weather saw the arrival
of some hundreds of men. talldng
French. Gcrman. Italian. Polish
and Bulgarian. The first Volunt e-
ers ... Ninet~1\ uays.1ater a (;I':npl-
ete Brigade starte'd for 1'1 adr·iu.
and fi VI' days afterwards a second
took the same re ad. The Inter-
national Brigades were entering
the Spanish people's gn·at war 01
emancipation ...
to\\"anls SlI ll,",St' and s\ll\ sd, to
sho\11t. It ·I'~.
th;-oll~h
(;.ml? down through th("
wards Madrid. Theil fn'sh e nthu-
siasm; the battalions of militia·
'"~Il. all v .. luntl'l" 's . hastily fon1l-
,,11 an<l has tily annp.l. wC"e b<~ rr · ,
ing the road agaillst the fanatical
r( 'CltH'/('s, Ah't)ady
"Jililary and political lea<ler.< W(-"
re rising from the mass. Th .. Ii,yal
Republican officer and the \vol'her
had both beconw commander.•· of
militia of battalions. Then' wen'
"Campesino··. Riqu('lme. the Ga-
'Ian's. Ortega and . many othe,'';
baITing the way :.gainst the cri-
minal gen(,"als an.1 their P"f)fl'~'-
By ANDF
~ltllth and 10 French and British C(,ver·nments.
I nurth. on the pretext of holidays - - which
t hOSt' 1H'I'(WS \\"('nl
are still proceeding - - carried ('ut
I r"'·lh.
a de facto withdrawal of their
ambassadors from Spain. A moral
hie", which would have been very
tlu'i! ' thollghts,"
heavy for the fighting antifasciAt
pl'oplc and their Government if
the great and powerful ~ovid
Union had not then declared be·
Si~)'l'a to- fore the world its entire solidaMty
with Ma.<.Irid . While the Hasque
Country was being atta~kcd by a
rebel army which daily rcceived
mOI'e arms, planes. tanks. Italian
and German officer." and then
il')Zt'ilS of bl'avt" whole military units. the democr-
atic Gove"nments of France and
i\;o.; Ullt: " ...\11'1"\'
Hr itain were Ol'ganislng the boy-
catt of the lawful Government
hawl <:/fiCl'l"S. Then ther·~ wa.~
und<>r the name of non-intervent-
stupefactioll and rage. While fight-
ion. and the United States Go-
ing' plalll's or lh(' Italian airJ;;rce
vernment was declaring itself
camp <lownln the Mediterranean
neutral ...i1S between the murderer
anu in Or-an. l elTiblc proofs of one
nf thf' gTl'at\'st acts of hl'iganda~" " and his victim! -It was clear that
that hisl",·.,· has l<lloWIl. the the most reactionary elements of

1.

The re were millions of worl,ers

whf). fro m the first day of the
fascist rebellion in Spain. f elt a
lump in their throats and a stab
in their hearts . In Paris and in
New York. in Brussels and Pra-
gue. from the Arctic Ocean t o the
Rio de la Pla ta. over the w;'o'e
surface of the immense Soviet
Union, thc w orkers, and all who
valued ' freedom. w ere living
through the anguish of t¥ July
day". They greeted the raBid vic-
tory of the workers and ~'asants
of Spain, who within a week had
freed a ll the big towns and most
of the village.. from the bloody
fascist horde and the traitrous.
perjured generals.
There was painful anxiety again
when M'lla's Al'my was going to ·... fE '~T}:RSATIOSAI ." """ ,,,1\\' th,· "Ilnllish JIPople's hrDtherw.
T~at T~e Pat~ To Victor~ Lies In Antifascist Unit~
_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . '"11111 •• 11 •••••••••••••••• " . , ••• 11'" •• 11 •••••••• , ••• 1 •••• "" ••••• " . . . . . . . . . . . . . , '
E MARTY -----------------~
finance capital in France, Britain
and America want.ed the defeat
of the Spanish peoplc and th eir
Government. Some individuals we-
re explaining that it was necessa-
ry t o avoid 'provcking' th ::se in
Bel'Un and Rome who werc pulling
the stl;ngs of the Bu"g-os puppet~ ,
and th!'sE' same individu a ls were
c laiming' that this was the only
p ossibl e a ttitu de to adopt to de-
fend peace.
But the work e,·s at least hatl
ntJt forgotten Mussolini and hi s
biood thirsty gangs, and still less
had they forgotten Hitler anti F e-
bru ary, 193~ . They knew that the
fascist wolves were untamable
and th a t wh :leve ,' offered them
h is hand would leave th e m his
a,·m . If the brutes' t eeth haLl bet'l',
!.>,'oken at th e time of Abyssinia .
it would not have been t earing at
, ;,pain ·tc day. Capitulation in the
face of the fascists had let loose
the war in Spain.. while waiting
:01' the next t o foll ow. Ami Sli Wt'
came t o August 14th anLl th e l1Ias-
£acre of Uadajoz. Already taught
hy February, 1934, Fren c h work -
e rs - ex-soldie rs - . haste npd to
ll'un and Catalonia. Late r they
f ormed the Paris Centmia. The
Gast one Sozzi Centuria - Italians
and Poles _ .. was fo rmed at Ma-
drid and the Ge rman Antifascists
grouped themselves in the· Thael-
mann Centuria in Catalonia.
Il'Un fell for the lack of the
trucl<s of munitions from Barce-
lona, which were he ld up by Fran-
ce. Then the r e was San Sebastian,
Tal(o'ora.' Non-intervention was
victol'ious; fOI
pouring its forces into the valley
uf the Tagus . That magnificent
people, suffering fr esh re ve rses
e very w ee k , did not capitulate.
They did not wan t fascism. With
each [re.,h retreat , fresh batta-
lion s of v olunteNs set out s ing-
ing. Their rifles were old and they
had ve ry i e w bullets. T oo often it
was with their own be ,dies that
th~y barred tht~
l' llcmy daily hette!' armed . But
a ll'{:ady a gn'at J11ilital'Y f Ul'Ce is
rising-; the Fifth R eg'ill1l'nt uf Peo-
plc's ?~l i liti a . N e\ ...· If:'a<iers arc
int; furward: Cas tr,), Li st e r, M o-
destu, Carl os, Carton . sometimes
offic e rs, sometimes commissar s.
They are both commanders and
agitator.s. In this way 80.000 com-
battants with milita ry orgar.isation
were given to the R epub lic in five
months . Throughout the whole
wcrld ' thousand s of workers, and
hundreds of free spirited m en un-
derst uod what the democratic Go-
vernm e nts, in complete opposition
to the peoples they cla im ed to re-
present, did not want to know.
Franco's victury meant a new illl-
)ztus to fascism all ovcr the world.
and ,,!.>ove all in Fran ce. l<'ranco's
victor)" because of decisive eco-
nomic a nd strategic pcsiti ons
meant a fearful war speedily
launched by Hitler and Mussolini,
brought to hay by economic bank-
ruptcy . It meant war devastating
the kveliest coun tri es in Europe.
eig-n invasion was machine gunning,
gassing millions uf human beings
from the c radle to the grave
Th use worl{ers, thos e exil es
fr um fascism hunt ~ d down in all
countri es, realised that what was
at s,a kc in th e Spanish struggl('
was the liberty of thei r own c oun-
tries and of the wh"l e world.
Tol edo fell Septe mbe r ~5th .
There was only a swa rm of nlili·
way against an tiamen bef"re Madrid . The block·
ade of Repuhlican Spain. against
all t he principles of human jus ti·
ce, after hantling over [run to
<.,:1lJ11- the blood th isly J esu it Mola. was
going" to thruw
••• , •••••••••••• I I •••••••••••• I.~ . . . . . . ,
magnificent ,people and its art
treasures, into the hands of the
fascist bandi ts, cirunk with blood
-- and the Madrid w omen were al-
r eady promised as the spoils of
war to the sadistic mercenaries of
Quie pu LIt! Llano.
Then in all countries ordinary
werl<ers rose In thousands. Thc;\'
left thei r wives, their c hildren and
th"ir parents. \Vell-known surge-
ons and famous writers left "goOd
jobs" F orced in the past by ca-
pitalism t o become experienced
soldi ers, t o defend its interQsts,
they at all even ts unde rstood what
the people of Spain needed to de-
fend their interests, to defeat a
rebel army whicll was already
being' transformed into an army
of invasio n. It was not heroism;
it was arms, military equipme nt,
and the men who knew how to use
burning and them and unde rstood the very
compli cated tecllnique of modern
warfare. That is why tlley hasten·
ed to offer their lives together
with their m ilitary knowledge. The
highest example of what intel'llat-
ional solidarity can be ...
Blackshirt a nd army divisions
under o rde r s , Capronis, Henkels
and thei r crews were arriving
ceasselessly on Fra nco's side.
Then the Spanish Republic, which
would have crushed the rebels in
a few w~) : s if the latt e r had r e-
lied on their own resources, accep-
t ed the.o;e "Inte rnatio nals", work-
l\iadrid , with its I' rs, peasa nts and intellectuals.
. . , . . . . I . . . . . . . '" •• . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It armed them with difficulty
with rifles of fifteen different ty-
pes and with a few old machine
guns lJf about ten different types .
The Paris Commune had its
s mall International battalion a nLl
so did Dombrowski. The little
"International Legion" tought un-
der the banners of the Russ ian-
Revolution. From the worl< er~
of all countries tile Spanish' Re·
volution rece ived Int E' ~nati o nal
Brigades with all thei r services,
including aviation. A s mall, a
very small military force . But
a heroic living proof of the real
soldarity with the Spanish peopl e
who were being treated like pa-
riahs by the democratic Govern·
ments which were g oing against
the will of the ir peoples. Thus
the m ere presence of the Inter -
national Brigades was a most po-
werful moral factor: so powerful
that thousands of brave Spanish
women wept with emotion as the
Volunteers passed throug h many
of the villages in the' Peninsula.
2.
THOl;SANDS, UNITED ,\8 OSt:
The International Brigades h a-
Ve given valuable h e lp in the ma-
g nificent antifascist s truggle of
the Spanis h people , Madrid on
Nuv"mber 7th, Cerro de los .An -
geles, Teruel on November 13th ,
at Lopera on the Cordova I:<~ront,
at Jarama -- each of theSe nam es
marks the date when one of the
international forces moved into
the line, not to mention the dif-
f erent units sent to various deci -
sive poi nts every we~k for fou r
months. Ceaselessly ,mited in com-
radeship with the new Span ish
Brigades, they broke the despe·
rate atac ks of the fasci sts or do.!-
live red heavy counter - attacks
against them . Day by day, with
great organisational effo rt, tI",
international uni ts w (~ re being'
constituted unde r the a ttentive,
benevole nt and fatherly direction
of the Preside nt of the Cortes,
Martinez Barrios, who was char·
ged by the Government with fo r·
ming th e Brigades --- those basic
units of the new R"publican ·Ar-
a THE VOLtJN'rEm FOB LIBERTY
my. All the complicated organl-
satl9nal structure of modem war-
fare was coming Into being and
developing - from a road trans·
port eervlce with Its workshops
and a 'modern medical service to
radio and antl-alrcraft defence
transmissions. In line with all
this, great modern hospitals were
being formed and the political
eection was growing up with its
press, communique and literature
services in twelve languages and
its network of politicaly conscious
soldiers.
The heroism of the Internatio-
nal Volunteers. We have said
litUe about it. How can one
speak of it after having seen Ma·
drid? Madrid in October, when
Getafe and Carabanchel fell - -
which meant that from one mo-
ment to another the enemy might
burst into the heart of the capi-
tal. Madrid, which all the mili·
tary attaches of the capitalist
world declared to be lost. Ma-
drid, whose last hours the reac-
tionary journalists; in the pay of
Hitler and Mussolinl, were intend-
Ing to describe. But Madrid,
whose working men and women
took up the challenge and barred
their streets with the famous
streamers: "Madrid shall be
the grave of Fascism." Madrid,
whose people .rose in one mass at
the appeal of the "Junta de De-
tensa", uniting all the parties and
trade unions. There was Miaja,
the old general loyal to the Re-
public - and Ant6n, the young
Commissar, a revolutionary wor-
ker - at the helm night and day,
never weakening.
The decimated battalions were
reorganised. New ones were
formed. They were all there, the
young and old commanders and
commissars of the Fifth Regi-
""1<: SI·;('f(t:T.,\Hl" Ht" tht· 'l'ulricl ..... up ... •... Frnllt 'Iwaking at th., I1wl'Hug
in th" Hull-rillC' . • tn hi .. richl ' ( 'ulllr:tll" L.:IIHIH', I .,,"t: ('umralle " ',,II,-r.
ment. The building workers we-
re digging trenches. Women we-
re making bombs and cartridge
pouches. The streets were ba-
rricaded. Tank trap.s were dug.
Children plied up paving stones
and stretched out barbed wire.
They worked at night in the da~­
kness and during the day under
fascist bombing planes. When
the Moroccans appeared at the
Manzanares between two bursts
of shrapnel, the "No pasaran" of
the old and the new soldiers of
the people rang out. "No pasa-
ran". They have not passed,
and Hitler's snout still bleeds for
it And for 2 months the mag-
nificent people of that city which
numbers its dead in thousands
old and young, women and chil-
dren have worked and fought.
trained and organised under the
bombs and the shrapnel. They
have cleard away the ruins of their
houses and begun to build the
new Madrid. After that, how is
one to speak of the heroism of
the International Volunteers, when
however great it was _ .. and it
was great - we have seen every
day so many magnificent actions
and when we have seen this mag-
nificent people of Spain who for
the last fifteen months have pre-
ferred "deatll .• t(lIIdiny to life
knee/illY". a noble appeal to the
world struggle against faSCism.
And so we have forgotten to ma-
ke known the innumerable exam-
ples of the heroism of internatio-
nal soldiers - old revolutionaries
and young antifascist fighters.
Today it will be enough to say:
from the Casa del Campo to An-
dujar, from Guadalajara to Bel-
chite, from Almeria to Jarama.
there is not a battle in which the
Internationals have not taken
part.
Nevertheless it is not
the heroism which the
International ·Brigades
ha~e taught the Spa-
nish people. That has
not been necessary.
The Spanish people ha-
ve enough and to spa-
re, and in fighting a
fascist army better ar-
med, and o.rganised in
Italy and Germany, he-
roism is not enough.
The Spanish Repu-
blic would have been
crushed long ago if it
had not put a great
P~ople's Army into the
field, firmly disciplined
and led by a unified
command. The Interna-
tional Brigades have
been one of the founda-
tions of this new army,
thanks to ~ .: ~ir high
technical qualifications
an:! their firm diSCipli-
ne. That is one of the
essential services which
the international Vo-
lunteers have .rendered
the Spanish Republic.
On the fascist side
there is a mass of pic-
ked foreign troops - ..
blackshirts and regular
Italian divisions, tank divisions country, there followed first the
and · aviation squadrons from the implacable checks de livered by
German and Italian armies, regi- the new army in November and
ments of legionaries Moroccans - December at Madrid, at Lopera in
all these have invaded that coun- December. and at Jarama in Fe-
try, and without their help Franco bruary. Meanwhile new Briga-
and Gil Robles would be Power- des ' of the People's Army were
les~ to hold it under their dicta- being organised behind this impe-
torship. They make up for the netrable shield. For the first
defficiencies of an army which time there was victory at Guada-
Franco cannot raise in Spain be- lajara-Caporetto. Henceforward
cause the majority of the people not only was a stop put to the
are against him. heavy weekly defeats of the Sum-
On the other hand the Interna- . mer and Autum and the retreat
tional Brigades have simply been which followed, but the Republi-
units in the new Republican Ar- can Army, sure of itself. was beg-
my. They have fought under the inning to recover the initiative in
single command of the Republi- operations. It now sees the fi ..
can Government, whereas Hitler nal victory drawing nearer. The
and Mussolini dictate from Ber- strict discipline, freely consented
lin and Rome, even to the point to and maintained by the Inter-
of giving orders for the conduct- nationals in their un"its, is also
ing of operations. The comman- the discipline of the People's Ar-
ders of the Army to which the In- my and opens the way to victo-
ternational Brigades belong are ry. Thus the International Bri·
not called Von Faupel, Teruzzi or gades both fought and organi3~tI
Bergonzzoli, but Miaja, Pozas and without respite - for until APlil
Rojo. In this army, to the sound only one Brigade had spent twelve
of the songs of freedom of all days in the rear. This solid mi·
countries, the Brigades have been Iitary wall formed by each of the
the first modern military forces International Brigades has been
of the Spanish Republic. And so one of the greatest services they
after the disasters of August, have rendered to the antifascist
September and October, when tho- cause. The International Brig'a
se heroic militia batallons which des - . together with many other
had done marvels in the street Brigades of the new Army - ha-
fighting in the early days of the VI' bl'cn a living example of what
rebellion. wore defeaLL'd i:1 ', per. must be <lone to conquer.

3.
THE VOICE OF rNITY
The International Briga des havc
given another cxample which i:;
even greater.
They came from 25 different
nationalities. They r epresen-
ted all kinds of different political
trends: Socialist, Communist, Re-
publican, Anarchist, Liberal even ..
Together with the worke rs, who
formed the overwhe lm ing majo-
rily of the fighters, the re were
mingled intellectuals and someti-
mes some ex-officers. And in
spite of the differences of politi-
cal views and language, antifas-
mist unity was immediately and
oermanently maintained. The
'epublican Commander, his Socia-
st Adjutant, the Communist
Commissar, each coming from dif-
ferent countri es is a frequent
combination. Yet political con-
fli cts have never broken out on
the G€neral Staffs or in the mi-
litary units .
A hundred times, French and
German Volunteers have made
the discovery tbat somewhere in
the Great War they were face to
face. Today they are in the sa-
me antifascist People's Army, and
thei'r only rivalry is in vying with
one another in the fight, A for-
m er British sailor, a leader in the
Invergordon, mutiny, was the su-
TIlE VOLUNTEER FOB LIBERTY
perior . offic~r of a
British AdmiFal's son.
French ex-sailors, who
had taken part in the
Black Sea Mutiny or
who had come from the
Calvi military prison
are section lead~rs who
are models of discipli-
ne under the comman d
of ex-soldiers who
fought in the Great
War. The hatred for
barbarous fascism, the
g-reat ideal of P"ac ~
and Freedom, have soL
de red into one impene-
lrable force these fear -
less men who have co-
me from all the diffc -
rent pOliti cal horizon s.
Moreover they are daily
fusing more and morc
with the Spanish pco-
pIc. Between two bat-
ties, cleaning the ir
arms, with their woun :!,
just dressed, they arc
to be found bcnding
down over the village
children whose fathers
are at the fron t and
who r emind them of
their own little ones.
Hundreds of times, af-
ter distributing toys
an d swcet~ levied from their
meagre pay. they have found time
to organise happy Hites for the
children.
Finn unity of action - that
was the SEcond example they ga-
ve, the most important at this ti-
me. The International Volun-
teers have -"hown that the secret
of victory lies in a ntifascist uni-
ty, a unity without political or
n:itional distinctions.
Today the rs are no Inte rna tio -
nal Brigades in the sense in which
we understood them a few months
ago. These Brigades with th eir
glorious ba nners no longer con-
tain more than a small proporti on
of Internationals. They have been
definitely fused in the young P eo-
ple's Army to which they havC'
brought more than their military
experien ce. Italians, Germans,
Frenchmen, Belgians, Poles, Brl-
tishers, Americans, and others
have all seen the fascists at worl'
with their violence and demogogy.
They know that t o break antifas-
cist unity is death and defeat, and
they have treasured this precious
weapon, unity of action, as they
treasure their own eyes. The es-
s ential strength which they have
brought the new Republican Ar-
my lies in t his antifascist unity,
n ot only maintained, but str('ngt-
h(' nerl after ('very hattlC'.
This is so true that th~ enemy,
being unable to .destroy the In-
ternational Brigades by milit3.ry
means, has done everything pos-
sible to break that antifascistuni-
ty. In the first place they have
tried to set certain sections of the
Spanish people against the In-
ternationals.
"Anarchist com~ades", they ha-
ve printed. "Beware of the Bri-
gades of the Communist Interna-
tional who are fighting by our
side to defeat fascism, They
will constitute the army corps
which the Catalonian and Spanish
Communi s ts will send against
you, as they did against the Anar-
chits in the Russian Revolution".
This was written in Spain, and
in France, Engl3.nd and other
countries. It w as not s igned
" Fra nco" but "P. O. U. M." In-
ternationalist Communi st Party-
i. e. Trotskyist. An unspeak eble
action on the part of th e scum
,-,ho stealing the arms needed at
the front. An insult to the he-
r oes who had fallen in the s trug-
gle such for example as one of th e
commanders of the H enri Bar-
busse Battalion, who was an Anar-
chist and a model of discipline,
and who died as a result of
wounds received at the Jarama.
TI! ~ re is not a single son of the
noble Spanish people who does
not know how comradely and mo-
ving the relationahip has always
.been between the Volunteers of
the international forces and the
military commanders of the Re-
publican Army, with the different
officials of the Republican Go-
vernment, with the municipal aut-
horities, the Peopl e's Front Com-
r:littees and with all the politi cal
and trade union organisations
without exception.
But the wretches have done
more than that. Th ey have sought
to break the military unity, the
'1'''1': ( 'III1 .IJ I:ES art' tlwrf',
9
antifascist unity of the Interna-
tionals. Against the organisation
in Brigades constituted in accor-
dance with the plans of the Wa.r
Minister and directed by a single
responaible body, the Commonder
assisted by the Commissar and
the Chief of Staff (or Adjutant
Commander) - they have suppor-
ted the system of isolated militia
battalions directed by irresponsi-
ble committees! In other words,
they support the system which
has been irrevokably condemn ed
by the defeats of the Summer of
1936 against the military organi-
sation which has given the first
victories. Whom do they expect
to se rve in tha t way, unle-"s it is
Franco and Hitler? What a me-
lan choly sight it is to s ee French
Socialism upholding the same
deadly theory in the official or-
gan of the Socialist Party, and
using this argument to maintain
that one ought n ot to send the
Republican Army the arms it has
b een prevented from receiving
during the last fifteen months!
The efforts of those fascist agents
had no success. Then they turned
to open crime. And not merely
to sabotage in an automobile
workshop or in loading grenades,
Two Frenchmen - a Trotskyist
and a' pOlice provocateur, ex, elled
as such from the French Com-
munist Party - tried to break up
a battery at the moment 'when
it was setting out fOr the front
by taking from it all its gun-layers
and all its, sergeant-gunners. Un-
der the command of a French -So-
cialist ex-officer, who had fought
in the Great · War, this battery
has subSequently revealed itself
as one of the best in the Spanish
Army, Who a re these men work-
ing for? It is a French Trotskyist
too who, together with the fasc-
ist French Con suls of Valencia,
tUII . .

th.' 1)("111,14' at
Har('t'lona and Ali c :.tntl..'. und l. ' l' ('0-
Y~r of their diplomatic immuni-
ty. ha.. b:x-n trying to organi,,,,
tht' break- up of the Intern:ltional
Brigades as a whole. HI' ha s been
defended by the Hitlerite Doriot.
If this had succ eedl'd the Repu-
blican Army would hay!' bt.'cn
w t' akenE'd as a reault. Ma gnani-
mously the Republican Govern-
ment has limited itself to expell-
Ing these people, whom a ll the
evidence sllows to be agents of
Franco a-nd Hitler. The working-
clas:! in t~ir country will not for-
ge t their foul crimes, despite even
a Fenner Brockwa y's protection.
Th e working-class will nail them
and their infamy to the pillory for
spies and provocateurs in the pay
of the bloodthirsty torture rs of
the people, in the pay of German
and Italy, in the pay of th e worst
enemies of the working-class.
But the most remarkable thing
is that their efforts were in vain.
Tllere is no Military Pulir e ill tli "
Int enlatjuna/ Bdyades. In spite of
that, the efforts of these criminals
have fail ed . The attack m a de by
the Fifth Column an:! carriPd
through above all by the Trots-
kyists has done everything' possi-
ble to breal, up and demoralise
the International Brigades. In De-
cember. at the Base, in Januar)
at Teruel, in February in the hos-
pitals of Valencia, in April o n all
th" fronts and in a ll the se rvices.
The attack was supported sil!)ul-
taneously by a viol ent ca mpaign
by the Hitlerite Doriot ill Fran2c.
by Dt:grelle in Bel g ium ami by th e
most reactionary of the British
Conservatives, but it brok e likp
glass, not against a poli ce barra-
ge, but against the firm aintifasc -
ist determination of th e Volun-
teers. Th Lt is the great iesson
which !:tands out after th e Inter-
t IH' ('UIIIIlH'II1Urat iUII.
national Brig"ades' year of strug-
gle . That is the gr<'at example
which the Spani,h pe(lple have
I ecci vetl from them these Bri-
g ades in which one might have
feared that the enemy would be
a blc t o devel op fatal differences
between political trends ami na-
tionalities, hav e remained firmly
united in face of the enemy of the
human race.
II is t o be r egretted deeply that
in many countries a few reactio-
nary labour leaders persist in n ot
wanting to understand the less-
sons of the Spanish epic -· -just as
earlier they refused to understa nd
the German tragedy.
It is highly dange rous when
these same reactionary leaders of
the Soc ialist International and the
Int<'rnational Federation of Trade
COLO:-;EL
Unions persist in ign ~ ring the ap-
peal for unity from 'hose whose
bond.<! of brotherhood have been
made fast in blood and suffering
Spaniards and Inte rnationals. It
is madness for them -- -afte r these
last 15 months -- still to refuse that
int ernational united front which
wc uld raise an irresistable wave
against the intervention of Hitler
and Mussolini in Spain. It would
tak c them by the throat through
th e boycott of dockers, sailors and
railwaymen throughout the world.
It would break the steel circle of
the democratic states which is
stiffling the Spanish Republic mo-
re than Franco's bombs, "Made in
Ge rmany" are slaughtering it.
It is tragic that they refuse to
listen to the voice of the old So-
cialist h'arif! r Dl' Brouckere. who
is appealing for the rapid and
immediate realisation of interna-
tie nal unity of action. It is nut
words that will stop tho.' metal
rain of shells , shrapnel anoi bombs
which is torturing' a brave people
and the best sons of the Intern-
ational and Spanish working-class.
Only deeds will do that. This is
the urgent demand of those who
have sealed that unity among the
dead bodies of those of OUI' dearest
friends and ccmrades. Unity will
ensure the antifascist victory in
Spain and in the world. There is
still just time enough to h ear.
4.
AX IRRESISTA8LE FOR(,E
However, the time has come to
tell what that f orce is which
)I.\XGAD.~
among a chaos of men, unable t o
understand one anothe r , has gi-
ven rise to and has led in battle
that little modern army which
was constituted by the Internat-
ional Brigades and has defended
them agaillst the stab in the back.
The moment has come to say
what that irresistable force is
which is rising among the n'JtJil>
Spanish people and will give th ,' m
victory .
That ferce is the antifascist I'>l'i -
I'it and the will to unity of th"
workers. gathe ring toget her a ~ld
urging forward the whole of th e
people.
The International Brigades hn v,'
never been non-pOlitical. Far fnl m
that. Not a unit has gone to th,'
front without the Political C"nl
missal'S being appOinted by til<'
side of the Brigade Battalioll.
Co mpany. Battery and Squadron
Commanders. These Ccm l:l:cosUI·.,
have relied on the workers who
formed the majority in the units .
and among the m on the mass Of
Socialists and Communists who
now in reality form one united bo-
dy. It is here that the essential
strength lies.
Amon g a thousand exampl es,
who can fail to remember that of
the XIIth Briga de when, all the
morning of N ovember 9th, the or-
de r came for it t o be sent to Ma -
dlid at the latest on the 10th.
What a condition it was in! The
first-comers among its Volunteers
had been at the Base ten days .
The latest arrivals had been there
for 24 hours. Only the Garibaldi
Battalion was formed, but it w _ . ~
armed with 25 rifles and one ma-
chine-gun. No' equipment. Half
the other Volunteers w e re in ci-
vilian clothes. N ot r e of them
had his equipment. The litles we-
re of four different types. The
Brigade had three types of ma-
chine g uns. The artillery had not
even . a quarte r of the trucks t1wy
needed . They could ntJt carry o ut
Inanoeuvres with the guns be~auA
se the lack of matelial. It wa .'
impossible to w ork at night: tht'
light had been cut off because of
the dangel' from the aLT. To form
the Brigade in 36 hours seemed an
impossibility. N evertheless, Lu-
kacs and the int ernational GenCl'al
Staff military and political
accepted without hesitation, for
they knew they did n ot have til
I'ely only on a military leadership
howeve r highly qualified - which
was sCaI'cely formed! They could
rE'ly on the antifascist spirit (If
the Bligade. on the rank and fik
of the worker-SOldiers, th(' grl·at.
majority Socialists and Commu-

nists, on the Commissars who
would be equal to all difficulties
and would prove on the s pot, the
nec.;ssity for solving them , a t
whatever cost, in order to defeat
fascism. By marvels of initiative
they succeeded. There was not a
mistake made in the distribution
of the diffe r'ent rifles. A lack of
trouseT-suspenders - they used
canvass. A lack of cartridge pou-
ches they cut up sacks. The
carpenters prepared support s for
the cannon. The section leaders
formed fighting groups while 3Up-
piles were being distributed. The
a.rtillery cfficers were studying'
firing tables with dictionaries in
their hMOS. The horses were being
shod while the saddles were still
missing. While the doctors and
surgeons were hastily collecting
the indispensable medical instru-
ments and supplies, carpenters
werc preparing stretchers. And in
the midst of an enthuaiastic and
unheard of hubbub of the frantic
preparations two Renault assem-
bJerli- were testillg. tbe engines of
tMlCks of every make in the world,
as calmly as if th~y were in a m o-
del workshop . Before the final re-
view and the departure there was
still time to call together a big
meeting to commemorate the glo-
riollS nineteenth anniversary of the
great Socialist October Revolution
and to present to the whole Bri-
gade their Commander, Lukac9
their Commissar, and the Com-
manders and Adjutants at the
General Staff. And what the bour-
geoisie w culd call a miracle wa~
performed: at 8 p. m . on Novem-
ber 10th, the XIIth 'Brigade, fully
organised and equipped, provided
with artillery, cavalry, motor-cy-
clists, a political section, mp.di cal
and supply services, set out for
Madrid, singing the Intc )'natinnnl
in Spanish, Italian. German anu
French.
The antifascist. spirit of the pro-
letarian soldiers had overcome all
difficulties.
Many, many times, in the most
difficult and sometimes in the
most tragic moments, this, high
antifascist political consciousness ,
always maintained and increased ,
TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR UBERTY
he" been the creative and organi-
sing m otive force that worked
real miracles. Today the great joy
of the f ighters is t o see that in
all countrieS and throughout the
Spanish Army this force of the
united workers is growing grea-
ter drawing closer together, and
is ensuring the victory.
Their greatest happiness would
be to see it develop faster. much
faster throughout the whole worlu.
All have worked well. But none
the less a fundamental truth must
be stated: the Communi sts can
be proud that in these tragic ma-
ments, they, who have constitu-
ted the majority of the workin.;·-
class group in each unit---and they
would have been happy t o have
been put in a minority by more
Socialist comraues .. - they have
been equal t o the great historic
task which faces them.
In these twelve months of he-
roism they have been worthy
members of that revolutionary
workers' Party of a new type, the
world Party of the Bols heviks.
They are worthy sons of tha t Par-
ty, which formed and led by the
greatest minds of our times, Le-
nin and Stalin, has ove rthrown
the old world and is about t o cele-
brate with joy 20 years of real
liberation for a whole people. All
are worthy of that great Antifas-
cist and Co,!,munist fighter, Geor-
ge Dimitro v, whose magnificent
exampl e of proletarian finnness
and visio,l, of political realism
and antifascist hatred in face of
deat!), put in check the butchers
of the German people, and has .Franco by his masters in B,'l'ii n
been and remains their guide at
each stage in the struggle.
FOR PEACI'; AND FREF.DOM
The workers of the whole world,
all men of unfettereu spirit. will
always pay a tribute of infinite
gratitude t o those who have gi-
ven their health, their blood and
their lives for the antifascist cause cOllnt on ITore than half a million
in Spain which. as StJl.lin said, "i" fighters, has ail eVen g reater need
the cause of all advanced a nd .p ro- of leading forces than it had a
gressive humanity.'
Lukacs, the great Hungarian re-
volutionary Vlriter, Commander of
the XIIth Brigade; Hans Beimler.
the steeled German revolutionary .
Commissar ef the XIth Brigade;
Alfred Brugere, a Paris building
worker, Ccmmander of the Ma-
chine Gun Ccmpany af the Paris
Commune Dattalicn; Ralph Fox,
the English writer and soldier,
Company Commissar in the Bar-
busse Batta lion; Parovil' the Ju-
gcslavian Commissar of the XVth
Brigade, and so many others who
have left us forever , killed facing
the enemy. But their example will
live a lways in the hearts of the
great and noble Spanish people
and the international working·
class.
W e salute their courage and we
£wear to avenge them . We shall
only do this, we shall only honour
our dead as they deserVe by )'a;-
s 'ng eve r hiyher th e i>anner of the
caus e lor which they h(1ve fallen,
the banner of struggle against
fascism without .rest or truce. the
bann er of trade uni on unity. the
tanner of the political unity of the
workers of all countries.
The fight is not finished. Eve-
ry day fresh reinforcements, fresh
er,gin es of death are ceing sent to
and Rome. Every uay warld peace
is threatened with greater danger.
Now the Chinese people in their
tUI'll are resisting the brutal and
savage aggression of Japaneoe im-
perialism. "'Iready there a re two
fires ablaze in the wo.rld. We must
hasten the victory.
The Spanish Republican Army,
prc'cisely bpcause it can now
year .1go. And ,ince eac h rneerna-
tional Vulunteer is in himself a
centre of organisati on anu unity,
he is more valuable than ever.
F.ranco is only m a in ta ineu by
the injections c f Italia n an:! Nazi
reinforcements. His collapse is
inevita ble. But in the ueath ago-
ny the corne red beast can kill.
Consequently the Volunteers in
the International Brigades who to-
gether wi ~ h their Spanish comra-
des ha.-e deaIt many a hard blow
in conditions as difficult as thosf'
at the end of 1936 and the begin-
ning of 1937 will r emai n the true
fri ends of the Spanish people in
the future even mare than in the
past. They know that the fate of
the European peoples, the fate of
peace and freeC: om is being deci -
ded on Spanish soil. For this rea-
son the antifascist front mllst
conq uer a:1u will conquer. The dc,
f ea t in Spain of th ~ most bestial
r eg ime the world has ever· seen
will not only bring freedom ami
peace to the Spanish poople. It
will bring a new hope to the
people who are still crUshed be-
neath the , fascis t heel. And when
the multitudes of the working-
class and the people greec the tru-
ly democratic Republic, henceforth
fr ee , there is not on e of the' figh-
ters in Spain today who will not
be proud to tell his chilurcn 1Il :h"
happy future: "I was one of the
VolUnteers in Spain."
Greater effort shOUld be made
in Spain anj throughout the world,
in the future more than in the
past, to achieve this triumph of
the antifascist struggle. More still
shou ld be done to overcome the
r esistance to unity, to sweep away
those who fight against it and
those who sabotage it, so that in
thi s way a more rapid vict"ry
Iro.y be assured over the mode rn
bar·barians with their black shirl>!
and their swastikas.
And so, /any IUe to the hU(J.'s
of th e yrent R ep Ill!iic an Ar",y!
F orward to the lil/rtl victory of
Ih e DC/IIor.ratir SpnniRh RCPllhli,.1
: o} ward to tlli8 v ictory. the
prelude to fl S"urer pe.ttee in th e
wfld~1 nnd to the hl)('I'otion oj 1111'
}){ 'o}Jles still cU·"ila ri't! /)./1 jflS('/StJI!
October 10, ][)~7 .
 UUIIIIIMI
OUR
IIIIIIIIIUIII"'''IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII,111...... ,11111.
CO~IRAD)<; RICHARJ), Brigade Commander says " . few words 01 greeting.
ComllUlnder :Raimondi can be reco,nl~ed at the back.
The,Units constituted by Spanish
and foreign volunteers were or-
ganised by the decree of August.
31st, 1920 ("Diarlo Oficlal" num-
ber 195) developed I~ the circula r
order of September 4th of the sa-
me year. Neither of these orders
is however fully applicable to the
forces simUary recruited which
are at present fighting heroically
as part of the Republican Anny.
Even though the Units now
existing under the name of In-
ternational Brigades are legally
. those which the Spanish State,
using its sovereign ,r ights, has
constituted to take the place of
the Units which revolted in July
1936, and are analogous to those
which under different names
exist in the Armies of almost all
countries, it is necessary to lay
down fresh norms which should
regulate their recruitment, orga-
nisation, administration, etc. To
meet with this necessity I have
determined:
1. To take ' the place of the
Tercio de Extranjeros (Foreign
Legion), formed under the decree
of -August 31st, 1920 ("Diario
Oficial" n° 195) the International
Brigades are formed as Units in
the Spanish Army. At the present
time five of the above-mention-
ed Brigades should be constituted
on the basis of those formed
spontaneously in the course of the
present war, adapting their const-
...Mhfill ..... UlIUU.. lIl11IU1I1 ...... UIIIlIIlIIIlI ... ,IUIU ... i.......... IIHlllliIlU .......IIIIfIIllIIlIIllIllIIfIU .. UIlUilll ............ MUIflIllIIlIlIllHIIII ..,U ..UllliUUIllHUIIU _ _ _ ."'1I
INTERNATJ,'
AN INTEGRAL PART
OUR RIGHTS
We are publishing the Decree litical significance that the Deere:, I
which laYB down the position of determines that all the Volunteeu .'
the International' Brigades in the for Liberty should wear as their
Spanish People's Army and the distinguishing mark the three-
rights and duties of all the Volun- pointed stal' which is the symbol
teers for Liberty. of the World People's Front.
This Is the first document which The Decree also lays it down
determines in an official manr,'e r that our Brigades form an integral
which this position and these part of the Spa~iosh People's Army.
rights and duties. . We have always asked for thia
It determines these in a way and have always a.1firm~ it. We
which is completely satisfactory have come here with one single
to our soldiers. purpose: to defend the :liberty and
It is clearly empbasised in the independence of Spaln. We have
Decree that our brave Brigades always obeyed the orders of tbe
itution to the norms indicated in
have nothing to do with the "Ter- Government and its General Std.
the present order.
cio" Which revolted against the We only ask for the honour of
2. Tactically the International
Republic in 1936 and is composed serving the common cause of U·
Brigadlls will be used as front
'of the ' dregs of all countries. berty on the same terms as the
line troops and in all the services
In our Brigades are gathered Spanlsh fighters.
of peace and war, with no restrict-
together the ,b est sons of all the A regldar army and a uni/iet
ion other than that of their mi-
peoples. The Brigades are the command: theSe are the essential
litary utility.
World People's Front fighting by conditions for victory in the anuetl
3. Their organisation will fol-
the side of Spaln to defend the struggle against fascism.
16w the model assigned to the
people's liberty and independence. Because of this we receive witt
Mixed Brigades In the Spar:.ish
It is to ex;press this highly po- enthusiasm all those measures It
Army. The troops forming these
Brigades will be subject to the
Code of MIlItary Justice and to
the Army S-t atutes, in the same
way as Spanish soldiers. ves to swell the ranks of the Bri- b) Petitions for leave abroad
4. The training of the IIitern- gades, to train them and send will be noted by the Brigade Com-
ational Brigades will be adjusted lhem to the Brigades as circums- manders and forwarded to the
to the same Regulations and Ins- tances demand. Once 'the recruits Base. In no case will the applicant
tructions as those which are in are incorporated In the Brigades be authorised to absent himseff
force in the other Units of the they will cease to be subordinate from the ranks of his unit before
Army. to the Base whenever the Brigades the leave has -b een granted.
5. The uniforms and equipment ~re tactically subordinate to the c) All 'proposals for promotion
will be the same as those of the correspooding militarY commands to whatever rank, beginning with
other forces in the Spanish Army ~.nd will constitute administrative promotion from corporal to ser-
with no difference other than that units in an analogous manner to geant, will be forwarded to the
of wearing on the right side of the the other Mixed Brigades in the Base by the Brigade Commanders:
shirt or jacket, two centimetres Army. d) When: any Brigade has a
above the pocket, the emblem Nevertheless the International soldier who, after previous med-
which will be published in the Brigades will depend on tbelr Base icai examination in the Unit, is
DIARIO OFICIAL and wbich only for the following : declared to be presumed unfit,
those incorporated in these Units, a) In addition to their reports the Brigade, without removing
whatever their military rank, will tp their own military commanders, him from its list of effectives, will
be entitled to use. the Brigades will report to the send him, to the Base 'where his
6. In Albacete the Internat- Base all their movements from case will receive final medical
ional Brigades will have their one place to another, their ·I osses, examination. When his Uifltness
.Base, the fundamental mission of leaves granted for the interior of is cO!lfir:med this will be commun-
which will be to receive the vol- Spain and In general all that sup- icated to the Brigade so that the
unteers, both Spanis~ subjects and poses a change of any Importance latter can remove him from the
foreigners who present themsel- in the life of tbe Brigades. list of effectives, In cases were
ONAL BRIGADES
~PANISH
, PEOPLE'S ARMY 11111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111,lfIlllllllllltll"IIUtlUUUI

ve their families abroad, and who the International Brigades who

have no residence here, can spend are in need of lengthy hospital
their leavE' in Spain. treatment. Entrance to the said
8. In no case will the Base in- hospitals will be regulated at all

~D OUR DUTIES tervene in the functioning of the

c Decree which tend to make
~r Brigades more and more in-
gral parts of the Spanish Peo-
Ie's Army.
The needs of the first days, the
ck of organisation which still
ptisted at that time, made it ne·
~ssary to have a rather special
ganisation of our services.
Now our army has developed.
II our services function remar·
!ably well and all the services of
~e International Brigades shculd
~ organised on the basis of the
cers and the International Volun-
teer's right to 13 days' leave ab-
road for every 6 months' service
at the front.
The last point in the Decree,
which lays it down that all the
volunte2rs enroll until the end of
the war, emphasises even mol".!
I3trongly that our Brigades are
not formed of mercenaries, but of
volunteers ready to fight to the
finish to secure the defeat of Spa-
nish and international fascism.
They are fighters who know all
Supply and Medical Services relat-
times by the General Medical Ins-
pectorate.
ing to the International Brigad- 9. The relation between this
es. The Brigades will make use Ministry and the Base of the In-
of the general services of the Ar- ternational Brigades will be effect-
my in the same way as the other ed through the Foreigner's Bu-
Mixed Brigades. Nevertheless on reau, attached to the Section of
the basis of a proposition which Services of the Undersecretariat
the Base will make to this Mi- of the Army.
nistry, the General Medical Ins- 10.' The International Brigades
pectorate will be able to organise, will be formed of Spanish anci
under the Inspectorate's control, foreign volunteers. Nevertheless
the installation of special hcspit- this M~nistry reserves the right
als with the qualified staff and to send ciirectly to the Brigades
assitants necessary for the wound- the soldiers, non-commissioned
ed and convalescent members of and commissioned officers, and

_..
~rvices of the Regular Spanbh the hardships of the struggle and
rmy. who never flinch and never will
Our postal, supply and medical flinch before the fascist butchers,
rvices should therefore fOl'm an either in their own couTltries 01'
tegral part of the respecti VI'
~anish services.
in the trenches of freedom.
Victory or death is their slo·
.........
~. BRIGAD£ Mc?p
As a token of the services rell- gan,. just as it is thc slogan of all :~--;~'Ic"
~red by the Brigades the Decree the Spaniards.
p'ants the rcccgnition of "orne ad- OMJliQ, i.;".W .u~ o.-m_ J
JO.... }I! JOYP't . . . lop",....
iantages to the combattants. Thi . l
the significance of the point~ Commi:.;~ar Ill~pcctor of the
·hcerning the nomination of offi- International El'ig:JuC':i.

unfitness is not ccnfirmed the C) To forward to this Ministry,

person concerned will return to
his Unit.
e I The Brigades should send
to the Base all particulare state-
ments and reports for which t.hev
are asked.
7. In addition to the organs
necessary to execute the above
functions, the Base of the Intern-
ational Brigades will have the or-
gans corresponding to the follo-
wing:
a I To collecting and distribut-
ing among the Brigpdes all the
gifts which international solidarity
may send expressly to the Briga-
des.
b I To take the first steps in
after investigating them, the peti-
tions for permission to lea,:,e Spa-
nish territory made by members
of the International Brigades
of whatever rank.
d) To report to the Ministry
on the incorporation of recruits
and their departure for the Bri-
gades.
e) To keep a file which will
contain all the relevant particulars
con\'~rning the member!! of the
Brigades,
f I To propose the formation,
and when necessary to ur:dertake
the direction of centres for r2-
education necessary for members
of the Brigades who stand in need
...
.

matters of pensions for death or ef this as a result of injuries reo •

incapaci ty, collccting the docu-
ments and antecedents demanded
by the legislation in forc2 and
then forwarding them to this Mi-
niotry for decision.
ceiVed on war service.
gl To propose t!'>e form[ltion, I
and when necessary to undertake J
the direction of rest homes in
.-\S IlISTnu'J(' dCH'umt'nt, whi«'h l.rO,",·s thRt front the heJ,flnnin&' our Hrl-
which those combattants who ha- at"allt·s nlw'Yf"d the ord('rs ut' tlU' SIJuniKh (io'·trnment.
 I~ TIm votIJNTF~F:R FOR LIRER1'Y

ted will recei ve the correspond- Th e comm"nders, officers amI

ing rank of scrg('ant, officer or
commander of the 1. tern :itiollH I
Brigadcs, and whe n the pr('sent
campaign is ended they will cons-
titute the permanent command-
jng cadre, in the said Unit s.
Th e sergeants, officers and com-
manders of thl' Inte rnational Bri-
gades cannot be sent outside tlH'-
se Units. They can be isolated, ex-
pellrd or r educ ed ill rank for ob-
vious incompetence or impropriety
in the execution of their duty, af-
ter a report has b ee n made by th e
Command e r' of the corresponding
Brigade and by the Comm'lnder
of th l' B1Se,
13. The other 50 I ;' of the va-
canci es of ~crgcants, office rs and
comnlamh'rs will be fill ed with
men ",'nt di r cctJy by th e Minis-
try of Defence, from among' those
who arc already recognised in
\ hose p,,,ts in the Army. Thes "
men will remain subject as far
as promotions are concerned to
the general e xisting norms in th,.:
matter of rcco:TI!' enses.
sergcants who desire to be sent
into the International Brigade"
should ,end in the appropriatc ap ·
plication to the Personnel Section
of the Undersecre tariat of th"
Army.
14. Soldiers, non-corh'\lission~d
and commissioned officers and
commanders, both Spanish and
foreign, belonging to thc Interna-
tional Brigades will in cases of
incn.pacity or dcath have thc same
right;; as tho,!'e in the rest of th,'
Army.
15. All members of the Bri-
gade, will have the right to thir-
teen days leaVe for every six
months at the front, always pro-
viding that the necessities of ser-
vice permit it and providing that
the conduct of the soldiers con-
cerned make them deserving of
this in the Commander's opinion.
For this purpose the correspond-
ing turns, two a month, will be
fixed in each Brigade, so that
each month leaves can be begun
once they have been passe,1I in re-

I 11'1H,\"E~IIII' ill tht' tn·lle·h ...·•. ( 'I,mlllaJIIII'r )le' .. :\. .\nal't·hi~t, wi~h ('41111 ·

Jllalllh'." "( ':\ IUlu.'sino" , ('umIHlInh.t.

III'tIHil ' !' s wilolll it fil't'IllS <i('. national Brigades and his illlnl l' -
l l) te. The personnel at thl' di~ Le pnrolnwnt in the Brigades
wi II cqnsist preferably or 12. Th., Spanish or forcgn sol ·
,',lIwrs of the Brigade, who arc diprs of th e Int ernati onal Briga-
t for >;crvice at the front. de' will fill by prolllotion 50 'I'
in any e a>;(' it will be incli.~­ of the v',can e ies in the Brigade s
P' I I' ibl(' for the mC'rnbpr.c:.; of thl' for ~j('rgcallt:-;, ufficers and com~
I ' ',.: (lnnel to havl' bel'n at tilt' manders. \Vith this object th.'
1rl):. t for th e nlinilTIUln p e riod 1)£ Priga dps , wh e n r <' porting to the
UI! " ' (~ 11lonths whi c h i!' Jay cd do'.',,'n e 1St' that sueh posts arc vaeant,
III deen' l' of June Hlth of this
t I", w;JI propos!' thosl' members in th e
:,'P M "/)iario Oficial" No. J.1 S , .
f P"jgaues whom they rega rd a !:
Th ' personneJ of till' F"()r(>ignel" ~ dese rving of promotion, To pass
I,,,,.,'a u will be appointe(; by the tn ' lll onl' post to a noth pr it will
.\1 "!lstry. be n cel'"sa ry to have held thc 10-
I I TIll' foreign personnel ,,1 \\'('1" pOBt for a mini::nunl perio ' l

" ".' drigades will consis t of those
: , of their o\·vn al'cord pres('n l
Ull~ nls('lves al thp [<,'(,reigne r's Bu-
rcall or before it.' dl'legatl''' and
who, after n dlll i.'sslp n , will h(' ~('nt
of two '!lonths, If till' Brig,,:1e
doe,; n r: t possess sufficient 11I'r"'1ll-
nel to tjll the vaca ncies, thcy will
b(' filled h~' the nominee,s of othel
Inl l' rn ~ ti o nal B!"'i gadps. and in th e

to the Bet se .1 '01' rcg"istration. even t d there bein~ nOlle they

Th e Spani:;h pers,mnl'l will cons-
ist of those who apply for aol'ni s -
sion to the ' Brigades to thi." 1\1 i-
ni5try, dtlwr dire ctly if t1wy an'
noL ~ubjcct. to military service,
thruug'h thc regulation channels if
they ~rL' in the Army. The Pl' -
tit ions will be dealt wiLh as a nnt·
will be filled by lh ,' Mini s try hy
:J i rc c t nominatio llf' of mijitary
personnel. A vacancy will not
be c onside red to have been en',,-
0' ted except in C:1 S CS of death 01
when the Base' cOJnnlllnica tl~ S th''! t
the jl()st is vacant through un-
fitn\ '~3.", a change in post or r c ~

ler of urgency and in thc ev(,nt rnoval from lht' Army. Absen-
of their being answered in th e Ce'S due to \v()uncif-' , iIlne:-:.c; or' lea -

affirmative by this Ministry thc \,f" w ill not be cflnsidert~d as v:-t·

order will bc g'ivcn for the per- cancies, and when l1C~l'ssary the
son concerned to be removed from posts con c ('rn~J will be rill ~ d t e lll-
l h e list of the effectives of the pOl'arily by men fr em !o\',T r post.,.
Unit from which h e proceeds. his without this supposing any 1'1'0-
entry at thc Base of the lnter- nlotion" 'Those who arc promo-

('O)IR.-\D]<; AIAARF.Z DF.L "AVO,
General Commissar of \Var.
view by the Commissar. Those
who wi.sh to spend their leave
outside Spain should apply in ad-
vance, abiding by the decision
which is taken. Thc Comman-
der of the Base of the Interna-
tional Brigades will communicate
to each of the Brigades the num-
ber of places at their dispo-
sal in the Rc , t Homes which may
be installed in virtue of the pro-
viaions of secticn (g) of thc se-
venth article of this order.
16. The measures laid down in
this order will be put rapidly intu
operation by the soldi"rs and of-
ficers now constituting the In-
ternational Brigades and th eir
Base as they receive the appro-
priate instructions from the For-
eigner's Bureau of the Under se-
cretariat of the Army.
17. The Comma nders of the
International Brigades will sene!
to the Base of the Brigades with
TIlE VOt.UNTEEB }4'OR LlUERTY
all possible speed a statement of
the leading forces, 's pecifying their
nationality, date of birtil, date of
entry into the International Bri-
gades and date at which they we-
re given their present posts, so
that the Ministry can proceed to
confirm them in those posts when
i1:- considers this fitting.
18. The necess.arily variable
condition of the organisation of
the pers onnel constituting the Ba-
se of. the International Brigades
makes it impossible, at least for
the moment, to assign to it a fi-
xed organisation. For the pur-
polle of the review by the Com-
missar the numerical account will
be sent monthly to the FO'r eigners
Bureau and in relation to this the r ~ " ... ;; ~ " \ .
" ! . -~ •
, ' , :;.:.; d ' ·
, ,, ~ .• ~
, ~ .,.
review should be made. , ,~ ;,.. .... .:: ;
: •. . : ... .. ..... ;i. "
-- ' , .. :.
.' _ 1 < ..
19. To those foreigners who
~ ,, /
have served for more than a year
in the Army with a clear record .~~
'.:. ,
and very deserving conduct a cer-
tificate will be forwarded which
will serve as the basis for accord-
ing them Spanish nationality
should they' so desire .
: '!
20. All those who voluntarily
ente r the International Brigades
undertake to r e main in them un-
til ' the end of the present cam-
paign. When this campaign is
fini8h cd the norms will be Inyed
down in accordance with which
these Units should b e organised
in the future .
I communicate this to Your Ex-
I
cellency for your information and ~/
fcor application.
l'lut;'rn
ONE O}o~ the (iO\'('rIlIllPnt's fir~t urti('rs.
ValenCia, i:;epteml>er 23rd , 1937.
I. B. CELEBRATION IN The r e presentatives of the A 1-
bacete P eople' s Front and of the
ALBACETE Youth Allian: e also spoke.
At the end of the day, after thiD
gades as the living expression of moving commemoration, one con-
clusion was engraved in the minds
the World People's Frottt. Comra-
of the people:
de Lampe, Political C ommissar of
the Albacete Base m<tintained that Antifuscist unity in Spain is t h.o
Spain was fighting f o r the liberty stl"Ollgest weapun' for ' vic tory.
of all countries and the volunteers
Anti fa scist 11)lity th>·uu.'lh-uut tile.
of all lands who had answered her
world will be the untve>·."11 U''{1vtJ
appeal had not come to fight M
of fascism.
adventurers, but simply with the
firm intention of crushing inter- And beneath the tricolor flag uf
national faSCism finally and ut- the Spanish People's Front an'd its
t.erly. Govermnent, the International Bri-
.gades are in fact the purest, the
"To win th e vict01'Y", he s aid,
most advanced, the most living
" W e need the closest Imity Of all and the most burning expression
Atlti/a.scists!" of the World People's Front.
16 THE VOUJNTEI!:B FOR LIBERTY

A TRUE PICTURE OF THE VOLUNTEERS

FOR LIBERTY
The I. B. Political Commissa-
riat to forma home for the
orphaned Spanish
children I

-~'i·\:·
On the first anniversary of the Inh~rnatiollal BrI-
gades the Polltiml Commissariat of Madrid has taken
", - --
an Important decision which rannot fail to have the .... , . ..'. .
happiest repercussions. In a gay and sunny spot we 'f ..-....- .. .

are going to make a home to receive the children of . .~"i~y ~;~':.. >
the Spmisb comrades who have fought in our Units
and have fallen in battle against fascism. We, the
Volunteers for Liberty, should bring a little joy and
happiness into the lives of those poor little children
whom the war bas orphaned and plunged into the
crueUest suffering. We must bring back a little life
and hope to those children whom we want to stle
healthy and happy, for they are the Spain of tom-
orrow. There are hundreds and hundreds of them
asking for our care and affection, and for whose sake
we should carry out as soon as possible the most mo-
dest of the duties of human solidarity. It is to carry
out this splendid work that we are again approaching
aU the soldiers of peace and freedom, and once again
making an appeal to their genero;;ity.
We know that our appeal will be answered. It must
be. Begin collections at once for all the tiny urphans
who are a little, as it were, our OWII. Help us to make
ready without delay that fine building in which we
shall be able to calm so much grief and distress.
Our home will be worthy of the glorious past of
the International Brigade!;, a living symbol of human
solidarity.
ANDR!; GRf:GOIRE

DIAN A ttl . G , T . l.-Le. ..... . . Madrid

 The VOLUNTEER
FOR LIBERTY
Yo I. N.' 22 Madrid, November 8 1937

r"';';~;'N"HI~A;'L'SIllIllS'o'v'i'~'~I01I11~'N'ilo'N"~"S""'~'N'N'i'v~'~'S~'~'~""'~O"~'~~""J
"IIIII.IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIU.1II1I1II1II1I1II1I1II11II1II11II1I1I1II1: :ltllllllllllllllllft1lllllll1lmlllllllllllllllflJJIIIIIIIIIII"~
a §
225 MURDERED i 20 Years of Workers' Victory ~
By FASCIST BOMBS ; Nov. 7, 1917 Nov. 7, 1937 § F LAS H
Lerida Children Killed in ! Today we celebrate the twenty years of progress oC
Socialism in the Union of Soviet Socialist Repuhl"'s. LaGuardia Reelected
School By Air Raid During these years, we have witnessed the transformat.-
An: official Government re- ion of old, backward, Czarist JtuS"Kia into t.ht' I:"rcal, Mayor of New York;
port informs us that new fa- Soviet land It is today - taking its pla(,., among the
fort'most ad,'aneed nations of t.he world. Frmn a land
Crushes Mahoney
scist trilnotors continue to at-
tack civH populations in cities of indw;trial backwardness it has bec.(Ime one or UIt" By 450,000 Votes
and towns distant from any great modern industrial nations. In a!:'riculturt" Ihe
battIe fronts , Last week 9 fa- age-old m e thods ofl,ulth'ation and Jlroduetion han'
eciat bombers flew over the city been rt'lplaeed hy tradors allli thl' most mode rn farm
of Lerida, locate< I more than machinery. 1'he old mud roads have heen (IlWI-d :uld As this issue goes to press,
150 kilometres away from the IIp-to-date highw:lJs no\\' t'o,'er th,- natilln . Endll"s>i the news has just heen flas-
Aragon front and bombed a nd milils of railroad'~ ('ross thl' hn-adlh and width uf hed in that May"r Fiorello
machine-gunned the civil po- So\'ie t soil. {' nity and lratl'rnil~' arl~ f'stahlisl ... (1 for H, laOuardia, hacl<cd hy a
pulation, Among the buildings all times between the (I1'0I.h-s of thl' "" ri .. "s m.liolla 1-
powerfullahor and progrcs-
demolished was a school housc ities, ,"omllrising the great {'nion III' S(,,'il'l Sodali,; t
where children were at ses- R"puhlic,s. Edul'atioll allli (·"l\lIrl' han. tal{<'11 I he plaiT sive " virtually a People's
s io n. After the air raid, the bo- of ignorance and superstition. Fronl - vote, has hcv-n swept
dies of fifty children were ex- Tw~.nty years ill whic h Ihe work"rs and 1",,,slIlIls into officc for <~nothcr te rm
(:'lVate(\ from the ruin s of t h e ba\'e cons talltly ",," n tn·mentlous imprO\'I'IIIt'llts in Ib 'ii' ilS chief executive of the ci-
school. The numbe r of c ivi !ia nli working and liying ("nnditioll", !,,\f'ryl h in/:' IIlIlit' rlalll' lI
ty of New York. The labor
dearl t otal about 225, The au- __ nobly and honorahly l'a rrll'II IHit. Full"will/:' Ihl' kat!
t horiti es have not a il ye t com- uf I,he SIa.khallo\'itil's - Ihnllsamls fir ", .. I,,'rs a"ti and progressive vote swept
pkted the tota ling of tho~c in- ,.easants, day hy tlay, ill('rt'aSI' I,rolllll"l ioll ill illlluslr," tile Mayol' bacl, into office
jured. and agrieulturc - hplping 10 ('rpa tf' So";"lisl "rflsJlI'rit ,' " with alm()~1 a half million
TWI'IIt.y .n'ars IIf ,'FII/:"'I'S" ill Ih!' fight In llIaintain votes to spare, swampin!:
world l'l'a('(' - whill' lousily "II!:,agl'd ill Sudalist ('011-
Ih,! Tammany candidate,
SABOTAGE IN FASCIST strnc tion - Ih:lt is Ihe rI'I'OI'U of IIIP SII,'h't. Ilt'np'" allli
Milllone y. und er d vote of
PLANE FACTORY ils !:,oVl'rnmelit.
'Ye ill SJlaill ('"It'hratl' Oil' hn'lItil'th :llIlIh ,'r~"r," "I' 1,30 ,I,Oi6 !u SIN,f)')!.
In the Italian Avia tion fa c- t.h!' great. Odnl)l'l' J{.,," .. lllt ion in 1114' millst. of :IIII' g-rr 'ar,
t ory, Kl'ggio ,EmHia , 20 wor-
stru!:'gl.. against wur!d fasc·isllI. " '" 'trl' ri/:'hUII g'
kers, all members of the Fa- agaillst Ih!' efforls nf illtl'r~lali"lIal laseislII I .. implallt
Re ist Party, w e re arrested hy
I he Mu~solini govcrr.mcnt fo r
in !Spain its hlomly r('l{illll' .. I' I,,'stial 1" 1'1'01' '11111 "a 1'"
We dr.: s till wrliting- an·
barism, " 'I' fil{ht ill II... I'anli~ Ill' th .. hl'l'oit' Spalli"h
ads of sabotage, it has be cn l'('upl('s )\FIll,Y - I,'ith Ihl' full l<IIo",It'tlg., Ihal II ... xioll :; ly for ncwo; of the e1ee-
nmfirmed , tilln s iii otil<:r lar~c Ameri-
lIeff.'llt of fa sl"ism lin S"alli" h s .. il will I .. , Ih.· do,tury
The " Voce <.legli Italian i",
oI pl'al'I' and pro!:,r!'ss thrlllll{hullt t1w " .... ". can cities, nntahly Detroit,
Paris antifa-sc. is t Italian new-
The SII"it' t p!'opl .. han' lalll 'II sid .. s ill this slrllg g ll' , wilcre it i s \ ' jr!\ldlly certain
s p a per carries the news that
They haH' .wen th .. lr ships, latiNI with I'" rg''''s lOr 1'"",1
16 airpla..'les h e aded f or Spa in thdt " ever;]! lallor candida-
w e re f ureed d own beca usc of 1<:'" "Ii i il l! etect ed to the
fa ulty m", h i!lc ry.
""11"1111111111111111111'""'111""""""""111"'""""""""11"""'""'""""'1"",111"", .. ,, """'" C ir', ' " i l 'I I ICil .
2 THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
LETTERS
from
HOME
FROM THE SOUTH
WALES MINERS'
FEDERATION
Dear Friend (Mr. Bill Morris·
sey): Your message of salu·
tation from the WeLsh comra·
des of the International BrI·
gade to the miners of South
Wales was read to my Execut·
ive Council. and I am instruct-
ed to reciprocate and wlsh the
International Brigade every
SUCCe68 and a final victory for
the democratic forces in Spa.in.
Wish all good wishes.
Yours sincerely.
OLIVER HARRI"
Uene-ral Secrc tR.ry South
Wales Miner'!'! Federation
CardiCC. Oct. 14 , . 1937.
..
CHICA(;O J'OST 0 ... •
neE CLERKS SI'::N J)
GREETINGS
Gl'ertings f" OIlI Chica);,,, to
the heroic d"renders of de mo·
c racy. We in lhc s lRtcs ...ppre·
eiatE" what Y"u arr doing. Car·
r y on , and we wiil ass ist you
all \I'e can.
A ( ; /C()I ' r " .. ( ' 1111'''( ;(1
PU"T Ot' Flet; , ' It:RK'"
s<pt. 28. 1~3i .
..\ND SOME ('()~"''';T\'I
FOR THE , 'Ol.l 'NTEt;lt
Dcar Comrades : Cllng-ralu-
iations 011 lhe splendid 'pc.ciaJ
allniv"r.,ary numher. F;vPrybo-
dy al ··· wa~ lrcm"ndollsly im-
pressed with the ma!<e-u)l and
the contents. Many CopieR an'
being sent hom e by the paliE-nUt
and p~r"i)llilel , w h o fed that
the VULII NTt;t:1\ is one (lr the
finest pu~licali o ns in Spain .
With anti-fascis t !;TPelings,
I/C\INO III ' """
Ctl ll' l n~ndantf'
H o~pital~ in
Get . Zfl. H~:H .
What do y o" think of Tilt;
VUI.lINTEt;R? Write in when you
.rn the Name of 400,000 Auto Workers
dni6{,nAl"'n./. 'l(1fIM
llnileJ O/ulomobil£ OYor~ 01 Gftne'llca
...
GENERAL OP'P'ICCRS
_MOlT"" . , .... ' r... vv.c:_
HOMfII_, • . • • , • . • • • · .........
GENERAL OFFICES
......UN.'IIfl1S • • • • • • • •
GW.F._ • • . • • , .• •
_
_VIoo-_
...........
(D. HAll; • • • .• • • • • • • s-.I
s..-T_
801·5 HOFMANN BLDG.
DETROIT. MICH.
'
~1106-1""
September 14, 1931
Mr. JC'hn Rossen
c/o Socorro Rojo 1273
Plaza del Altozano
Albacete, Spain
Dear Brother Rossen:
Your letter ot August ~3 has pleased me very much indeed.
I am
your
delighted to know that you are enough interested in
union, although in distant Spain, to remember the
date ot the Convention and to send these greetIngs.
It was a great Convention. You would haVe been impressed
by the militant spirit and the progressive attitude of the
delegates. I am sure that we have established a more
effective way ot dealing with our problems and a more
efficient strudural set-up since the Milwaukee Convention.
I know we will be able to stabilize our relationship with
General Motors, Chryslers and other corporations in a
satisfactory way as a result of the Convention, At the
same time, we are ready tor a vigorous campaign to organize
Ford Motor Company.
We have not forgotten the fight that is beinp, waged by
our fellow-unionists against Fascism aod we waot you to
know that we are lOO~ behind you in your struggle.
Witb every good wish, I am
Fraternally yours,
&1<;7J.r~
Gener81 President
hm/ab
uopwa #26
c i 0
.\T I.I'; A~T ·Ut8,flftO i\ ... prh '.a n workC"n. h .. lulI~ tn till' II. /\ , \\". 1\ . , whtl~C" pre.!lOldlP"t'lii '"Uf'r
tu urlt" Hf uur ,' umrnfh' N I,. hf'rf" "'Ilrutillc'. ' d . :\IUUIlIt" (h,' AIU.·rh"ct"~ in Sitsln art'l man.\' Rah,
wor&.. .. rN '''''HI will h ... ,'ht'rrf'd tn knnw t.hat .in",t aN ,,'f', In th~ thoU"Hnd!'i, arlO flg-httn, fa .. dem
nn th,- hafth'fie ld", art' th;'y . in th.' hUlldr("cl .. of thou~llnd ... ft,htlng to make '."citml Itnd
lhi untla lllC"d but h.nown SlmlHmrf!i imllOS,s lhl <: lit hunu' .
AnH' rit.:a n join the Peoples Army fwhich
h11.ve lhe ch'lncc. n nrl let us "ur varicd pape r supVly, or
~ IJa in .
know . Evcrythin~' go,," s ug- shlJltage f,f zinc f o r th e m(fk· happened recently) - .. - we'll mao
ing' .cf cuts. or a shelling that kl' fullest tLSe ~ your confetti
~ c.qtions , criticisnu::. Cf Intri but·
ions . so long a.s the ai m i~ put~ ou r I'lintshop's ('Iectric or your b.ick bats. Addre.<lS all
con.tructive and meant to bet- pO\\"cr out of com mission, or com munications to TilE Vo-
ter our paper. A nd , whe never lhe s udden decision of our best LUNTt; ER , S . R. I . PI32A del Al-
posaible - barling shortage of engraver to ehuck his job and t ozano, 63 E, Albacete,

WILll,A M DOBBIE, BRITISH LABOUR M. P., AND FORMER
RAILWAY WORKER, SPEAKS OVER MADRID RADIO
I am speaking from. Madrid
atter an experience in SpaiD
wbicb I-..n Dever forget.
I atteDded the opening of the
Cortes in VaIeDci& last Friday
ADd, ba view of the internatio-
nal IIltuatfoD, it was indeed a
historic _Ung. I. with Ernest
Thurtle. was attending the
Auembly to convey to the G0-
vernment of SpaID a DIIe88IIgI!
of good will from the Labour
movement of Great Britain.
Dr. Negrin, the Prime Mi-
nister, welcomed us to the Cor-
tea. We extended our greetings
to him and delivered our mes-
ll&ire, which was received by
the Prime Minister with much
satlsfaction and has been re-
ceived everywhere in the spirit
in which it was sent.
The speech of the Prime Mi-
llli.!lter in which he emphasised
that the Government wanted
peace and order to develop the
cOWltry according to the de-
mocratic decision of the nation,
while on the other hand they
would re.list faeclst aggre88ion
to tbe last man, was received
enthua1&Dtically. A vote of con-
fidence in the Government was
moved 10 which conservatives,
anarchists, socialists, liberals,
commWlisb, in fact all sections
of the Houee, expre8lled their
agreement and was carried
una.nimously.
In tbe eveni.lig Mr. Thurtle
and myself had the privilege ot
meeting the Prime Minister in
his private reSidence. He con-
firmed the prospect opened out
to me that all time went on
slowly but surt:ly the Govetn-
ment wou'.d get better lD orga-
nl~atlon from a military stand-
point and that the indust.rial
population were playing their
part by applying themselves to
an intensive organisation of
supJles, by the opening of new
factories aod ,b y the extension
of exjsting works. It Is very
true to say that in. the minds
ot the ordinary man and wo-
man in Spain there is a great
wondering as to why the demo-
cratic cOlUltrie.s of the world
who are members of the Lea-
gut- of Nations deny to the
Spanish Government, which is
aIao a member 01" the League,
TIlE VOLUNTEER FOB U-.an
the right of application of In- fairly probable that the rebels this struggle and wb&t. pas-
tel'lllltional Law to buy the would capture it. Today I am sions stir theirbreaats.
things that are needed to de- confident the city is impregna- I _w men and women tied
fend the democratically elected ble. togetber lying dead in circwns-
Government of tbe country, I have seen C!t1 the way from tances which made ODe shUd-
wblle th~ nations stand idly Valencia a change in the per- der. This has not terrorised the
by and watch the violation of sonnel and morale of the sol- youth of the Spanish Govern-
all international principles by dielY. While in 1936 I _wlID- ment farces, but has made them
the fascist states wbo are . . tmlned, unarmed men aud wo- say more determinedly than
aisting the .rebela. This ques- men defending the b&rrlcadee, ever, the aggre.tIion shall Dot
tion haa been put to me by I now see well trained young pus this way.
many reprueotative people in men, well equipped with arms, I finlab my survey at 2 A. M.
Spain. and enthuslasm for their co- on the morning of the 6th. To-
The Government are confi- untry and their cause, ready to day by 7 A. JoI. I am again
dent they win win, and they liefend it to the last. looking roWld and today I have
only want to win because they 1 p&88 through the streets 01 seeo the work of making and
represent the will of the peo- Madrid and on through the preparing armoured cars. 1
ple. section of the area which hal! have seen and talked to the
On Saturday the House been bombed and shened so railwaymen who are operating
again met and, after a speech often, and I see people stin liv- the armoured train.
by Pasionaria, who is a depu- ing in this district. I p88II I have seen a:Lso the educa-
ty for the Asturias, and who through the gates of the C&sa tional work which Is being car-
is the wife of a m-iner as well de campo. This is the immedia- ried on In the training schools
as the daughter of a miner, te Madrid front, a wonderful of the various battalions. This
and who reapresents a district park, part of which the rebels last year hWldreds of young
which has made wonderful 's a- still hold. I meet the Major, a men have learned to read and
crlfices for the ideals of the young man, like most of the write In the army and are pre-
Government, the House ad- officers and I am impressed by paring for a: nobler citlzenahlp
journed. the demonstration of comra- when the war is over, under a
On Sunday, there was a ter- deship and trust exhibited by democratic Government, than
rific bombardment from the air everyone toward him. ever has been known in Spain
at Valencia. I wa:\ked along with the of- before. As I leave the ,raHway-
ficer into some territory lately men in their armoured trail)
As I stood in that scene of
captured from the rebels and they shout: "S&Jud! Long live
death and desolation, and later
which the Government troops the Spanish Republic!"
on watched the clearing of tbe
were clearing. This spit·!t can never be bro-
debris, and the taking away
I saw some gruesome sight.!! ken. The Government of Spain
of dead and wounded civilian
which make one wonder what has the people behind it
population, I wond~red If there
kind of people are engaged in I am conljdent they will win.
is no force' In our great world
civilization that can put an end
to acts of barbarism liIte thIB,
In contrast to this I visit 8
wa.r prisoners' camp where the-
re are 1,168 prisoners. A num-
ber of them speak English and
they all look pretty good phy-
sically, they all agree thM they
are treated well, and that their
rations are as good as they
were while in the rebels' army,
There are no luxuries to be
obtained in the way of food in
Valencia IWd the Government
have very wisely decided to
ration early, so that they may
be able to meet the exigency
of the winter, no one is starv-
ing, but every oile is rigidly
held to his ration.
On Monday ! p!"oceed to Ma-
drid.
A year age and then later I .'\. <aUll ' l'» of WORlen ,Und chllcJrc.on len"h,&, their "refuJ{lo" after an
air r ,H iti . SIH~ h wonu'n aulf ehlldren WAre bombed, and 22:; klllt"t.., Ilt
was in this city when It seemed Lujdn II w.,...I, .. ,,0 (0."•• Lory 00 pare 1).

"
MADRID POPULAR FRONT GOVERNMENT
HONORS THE INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES
At " hllge meeting arrang-
"d hy the Popular Front Go-
vernment in honor of the vol-
IInte...... of the Inten.atiollal
Brigades, 011 Sunday, Octo-
ber SI, an enthu~lastlc crowd
j'~mmed the Calderon, one of
~ladrld'!I largest theutel'!!, to
.. x press th"lr gratHude toward
the antlfasdsts who have com..
frolll e"t'·r), part of the world
to join thf'rn ill their fight
against fa,~ci"m. Ge",'ral Mia-
ja, (,hler of the unny of the
'I'IIB VOLUNTEER FOR LlBERTY
center· and the people's belo\,-
~ defender of Madrid, presld-
. ed over tile meeUng. He pre-
Nented banners to the delegates
of' tbe \'arl0U8 units of the In-
ternational Brlgadt'!l.
A large ha.nd embroidered
Milk blumer, In the colors of
the Spanish Republican flag
with the Madrid antifascist
cmblem (,laced In the center
wns presented to en('h of the
fh'e IntematJonal Brigades.

1'H ..: UTI! IUtf(.i ..\Ut; h:UII ... r. adn'lI hy 'ht" l'opular "~ ront of ~lat1rid
t.H ,tht" AIIKh,-Allwrh·.an ttJ,:"ht,· r". 11I'1f1 nlult by IJf'utenant Harry Poll .
tllf' It'udC''r ttf t.hr UriJ,:';ul p· ... d"I",::ltlou to )ladrld. ~t rlK'ht·, center ,
th,.. entir.' th·If"K·.. Uon i~ KnlUpt'd arounll lh.· 8ri«.. d," banntor And tht'
",1Il.all .. r Jlu.tt-allull hanllt' r"" :\t ri~ht . top, (~ .. n(":ral l\llaja ... lut.f'~ nt
th .. 1..4('ruo.tI(IIu&1 Itrl1{ :uh· ',. c·f>'t"hrut.iun . l'art of th(' l"ldh'n~e ~AII be
Ht'f'1t rat rl"ht buttQm,

MMrld'. _deDt emblem con-
Illata of a erown wltlalD which
' - a bear OD I .. llaUDehea
faebtc a bee. A tbree-polDteti
.tar . . tile lower ed&'e of tloe
_ _ .......... the world'.
utlluela& - - . . - . I!lack a.u.
aIIon In Meh BrIpde _ p-
ve. a ' ~~11ke ' - -
",MdI _ . .. euefIIIIy &ad . .
~ . . . . . . tile Jaraer
ODe. In IIMItIoD,
118 with IIBi!OrdII, .. .....0, ...
.. cr-pho-
_ . . . . were dWribuW to
~ IIII&Me *'Iep-.
At tile 10DIr faille OR u.e
plaUorm with GftIerai lllaJa
were _ted F'raaIl Ryall. _
-.ler of &lie IriIIII ~
III 8pala. wIlo .... been wltIa
, • 0 IDtornationai BrIpdM
from almoIIt their Inception and
Anor Dorl. flnIt (.'ommllllUtr
., the fln& Intematlonal Batt-
alion widell went Into battle- on
the Madrid front during tM
.....k day. of last No,'ember.
Among othel'll at the table
WIUI tho General Seeretary 01
Madrid'. Popular Froat 00-
vernmeDt.
The program opoDOCl with
the presentation by General
MlaJa of the bannel'll and gilt..
t ' RO"'UED }~"CES In the balcony of the Cu.ld~ron Thf'atre form thr IMll'k,round lor ontO
,01 the Dumeroua pod... r. aad .,ll'n8 whh-h df'cora.ted t.he lar .. ~ h ..,U. "The Popular l'ront of
Madrid 10 tbe Peop ... •• FroDt eI doe World!"
TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR UBERTY 5
to the deleptes of the varioua FASCIST PLOT
Brigades aDd Battalions. Eacb
delegate filed pallt and sa a TO GRAB FRENCH
young girl prt'"ented him with
a ...... he wu received
MOROCCO FOILED
wit. a warm band-.hake by
-tile f _ Gene ...... News from the French Mo-
V_veldallle tnIDaportaUolI roccan zone Indicates that fa-
dIfIk!uIt1ea lutpt • replar scist elements have provoked a
15tIa Bdp4Io ~UOll from cenersl rebelUon with Inten-
arrt...c ID . . . , . . III time &0
receive Ita _n .-1
from General MIaJa. In its
banners
tions of wreatlng control of
this, territory from France and
eatablishina' another faactat
alJMoee. the regular ADglo- State iD Africa.
AmerIcaA deJecatloll at Madrid The situation in the city 'of
~pted tbe gil" ID the name Fez was so serious as to have
of tile 15th Brlpde. Both
"nnel'S and &if" are now on
thrir _y _ell &0 tile Brlpde.
In tho rapabIe IIaIMIII of the
delel'aUon of ten headed by
Ueuteaant Harry Poll,
There . . . tittle IIpPeCh-mak-
Inl'. In ItII place tbe pnuoUli
Madrilefl08 prepared a prol'l'Snl
of entertaIDmt'nt. TIlt' muslr
hand.. of the 112t... 40th. und
?lIth Brlll'ude!l rontrlbut ..d th .. lr
""rvir.. ~ to the fe!lth"ul. Ther.. made it necessary for the Go-
were humor sklt8 and atage vernment troops to march In-
dancing. Pretty glrla "ullg thr to the center of the city where
"F1umenro" 118 the ulldlelll'" they batUed with several hun-
joined In at Inten'allI with th., dred fucists who cocupied the
dra\'l'JI-out traditional "Ole!" Karuylne University. using It
as a fort. The fascists were
finally subdued by an encir-
cling movement of the Go-
vernment troops. Gov~rnment
plant's were also called into ac-
tion,
MILITARY Rlll.E
The city of Medina is now
under strict military rule fol-
lowing the defeat of the (0-
scist uprising, Dllring the fray
30 were wounded and many
nationalist Arahs arresll-d,
The nativcR of C:lRablanca :rp.
pnlsPll thl' Casci"t llgitl1lt)rR
from Port -Lyaut .. y. Purlng
th~ fight f Ullr wer~ reporlt'<l
killed and 22 Injured , Eig'hty
fagcists ha\'c iken d.-tnlned i.u
connection with the rel>elllon ,
Government authorities hav..
taken specia.i measures to In-
!'tltute order once agaIn. Ar-
rests have been made la Ra-
bat and Marraques.
 6 THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
BRITISH YOUTH AID SPAIN
BY D. BURKE
(Member of EXE'cutive Com-
mittee, Scottish Youth Peace
Council.)
Comrades in Spain are alrea-
dy very well acquainted with
the character of the aid ren-
tiered to the Spanish people by
the British Youth in the Inter-
national Brigades. The inten-
tion of this article is to deal
with the activities of the young
people's organisations in Bri-
tain.
A Youth Foodship Commit-
te£' for Spain was formed in
October, 1936, and represented
in it were the University La-
bour Federation, Young Com-
munist League, Labour League
c.f Youth, League of Nations
youth groups and an organisa-
tion called the Popular Youth
Group. This committee organi-
sed three campaigns.
The results of these cam-
paigns were-the first realised
£ 1.500 in cash and about
£ 1.000 in food; the second
£ 700 in cash and £ 1.000 in
food, while £ 500 In cash and
£ 200 in food was realised in
the third campaign.
The character of the activity
indulged in called for great pa-
tience and energy on the part
of the members of the youth
organisations. It was customa-
ry to issue leaflets appea.ling
Cc,r donations. to distribute
them carefully round the wor-
kers hOIl8ell and then to con-
duct a house to house .canvass
on a later evening to collect
the donations. As examples of
what this meant, during the
second campaign 100.000 and
GO.OOO leatlets were distributed
ir. this fashion in Glasgow and
Edinburgh respectively.
Another form of work was
the organising of sociaLs and
dances where. lnstead of a cash
payment for admiSSion, all at-
tending brought gifts of food.
A t such functions .souvenirs
from Spaln were auctioned
and I have seen young wor-
kers pay as high aa ten shU-
lings for a souvenir, an indica-
tion of their high feeling as
they could ill afford 80 much.
Short ten to fifteen minute
&peeehes on eventa in Spain
were also made at these func-
tions.
Film Shows mass rallies we-
re also organised and collec-
tl OI1B in food and cash taken
at them. The.se activities con-
tinued until July 1937 when, as
a result of the International
Youth meeting at Paris, the
youth organisations in Britain
conducted a much more serious
and wider discussion on how
to aid the Spanish people.
It was considered that the
main task confronting youth
was to increase the number of
youth organisatiol1B actively
conducting aid for Spain, and
that the Foodship Committee
was too much confined to the
"left" organisations.
The movement to broaden
out was facilitated by a deci-
sion of the British Youth Peace
Assembly against non - inter-
vention and supporting the
cla.l.ms of the People's Govern-
ment of Spaln. After a discus-
sion between the organlso.tlons
concerned it was agreed that
the Foodahlp Committee should
become a special sub-commit-
tee of the B. Y. P. A. and that
all the organisations affiliated
to the B. Y. P. A. should be
encouraged to participate in
the work of the sub-committee.
Under the leadership of the
B. Y. P . A. the movement to
aid Spain has been much broa-
der and more successful. Sup-
port is now being given to the
activity by new organisations
such as the Nations.l Council
of Girls Clubs, Congregatio-
nal Church Union, Methodist
Church youth (both the latter
being Christian youth organi-
sations) and many others.
The B. Y. P . A . initiated a
campaign for 100.000 tins of
milk (Fit for Babies) and the
Archbishop of York, Bishop of
Bristol, Sir Walter Layton, Sir
A. Salter, Lord Cecil, Sir Staf-
ford Cripps M. P., Duchess of
Athol, and many others have
donated cases of milk to the
fund.
A loud-speaker van toured
Great Britain organising mass
rallies and street collections of lections were sealed in Spedal
money and tins of milk. The
lOth. to the 17th. October was
declared a special Self Denial
Week In aid of the children of
Defense of Madrid
Madrid, heart of Spa1n,
throbbing with. fevered pullle8.
How fiercely your blood mounts,
from heat to heat.
Now you will never be able to Bleep,
for, If Madrid sleeps,
she will wBnt. to wake up ODe day,
ADd there will be no dawn.
Don't forget !he war, Madrid;
never forget that abead
the eyes of the enemy
cast on you gla.nces of death.
Hawks hover In your lIky
and aim to swoop about
your red Wed roofs,
your streets, your brave people.
Guard, Madrid, agamst
the word, the thought, the whisper
that In t.he heart of SpaiD.
one drop of blood dare tum to anow.
Fountalnll of courage and manllneea
are yOW'8 88 alwa)'IL
Boundless rivets of wonder
have to stream Uu-ougb tb~ fountalna.
Let each quarter at 118 hour,
If that evU hour should come
-hour that IIhaIl not come-
stand firmer tba.n
the strongest fortified place.
Men like castles;
the battlements their brows;
huge ramparts their arm.&,
gates that nobody penetrates.
Whoever carel! to look into
the heart of Spain, Jet him come BOon•.
Madrid Is a long Journey.
Madrid knows how to defend henelf
with hands, with feet and elbows,
Madrid can jostle and bite,
the wrath of Madrid stands .up
straight and hard,
by the green water of the Ta~
in Navalperal, in SlgUenza.,
where whine bullets, bullets
that seek to change warm blood t.o lee.
Madrid, heart of Spain,
of soil witbln which there ..,
if you search for it, a great hole,
deep, huge, overwhelming,
like a vast gorge waiting ...
Only to give them death.
BAFAEL ALBERTI
Spain and during thl" week confident that they will reach
the youth throughout Britain th( objective set.
dEnied themselves little luxu- Attention is now being di-
ries and organised collections rected to organising the work
among their friends. The col- on more re~lar and consilltent
lines 80 as to eJJoS'lre regular
envelopes and handed over to aid to the Spanish people. At
the B. Y. P. A . Tbe figures for some future date I hope to be
this campaign are not yet on able to give a further report of
hand but the organisers are our succ_ in this respect.
rT'H"Em""III"SfllO"V"IIIIE"T"III"""U"N"IIIIO"N"""'"-III:~"::~::'~~:"::":'~~"::'::"::::"~~":::~~::'~~:'''11011
~
:
20 YEA R5 0 l.D TO DAY fll8cl8m. But still their aid continues unabated. The
solldarlty of the Soviet people and their represntath·e8,
who championed our cause at Geneva, wiII newr be

I (Continuf:d (rom page 1.)

'"ltlnlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll,111I11I1I1I1I1I1I1I1I111I1I1I11I1I1I11I1 Inlllllllllllllllllllllll'IIIIIIIIIIIIII:~:::1
forgotten. The Soviet people have shown by their actH
of solidarity' and support to Spain tJtat they justify

.1"----: - _. ---_.. the claim qf Stalin who dedared that "the Soviet
people are the greatest bulwark of world JWaoe".
~ Today, In payil\g homaKe to the Union of Soviet
~ Socialhlt Republics, We must learn from their successes.
~ The best tribute we can offer to the Sovl"t Union is

~:
~::: the building of an unbreakable anti-fascist unity. The
unity which Is expre8Ht,d in the Peoples Front - the
weapon which guarantees our coming victory. A year
ago today Madrid was sa,·ed from th., [ .."cist i"vad.. rN
because the people were united. ThiH unity must now
be made stronger than ever. Unity 'amonK th., armed
forces, unity in the rearguard. United support of thr
Peoples Front government. This is the road whJtoh will
lead t. great triumphs of the Peoples. Front In all of
Spain.
Long live the great Soviet lleople and their kader,
Stalin:
Long live the heroic Spanish lIeol.le and the l'coph'~
Front which is leading us to \'idory:
THE SOVIET ARMY PARADES IN THE RED SQUAR};

11111 1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111;

A }'J.OAT AT O:o.'E OF THE sOyIt;T F"':"'T!\".\I.'"

.\ Ht,..",\S WORKt:R. 1,\ TilE 1..\'\" OF .)01<,.. 1··01( .\J.J.

WHERE THE U, S, 8. R. BUILDS DEFENSE WEAPONS SOVIET WORKERS LISTENING TO A TALK ON SP.U!\
8 TIlE VOLUN'1'EEB FOB LlBEBTY
FASCISTS CLOSE DOWN MORE SCHOOLS
AS LOYAL SPAIN OPE NS NEW ONES
The so-called "Bulletin of
Slah~" , publisht'd In Burg<X!l, on
St'l'll'mber 5th, contained a de-
cr('e by \'irtut' of which the fo-
llowing I\atitlllai and elemt'nta-
ry schools were to be closed
as from October 1st, ; Astorga,
La Toja, La Estrada, Bujeda,
<;"ria, Pliego, Tud., Trujillo,
Cal'mona, Cazalla. Cervera del
ltio Alhama, Olivas, Fregenal
d(' la Sierra, Guernica, Hare,
Cinca, La RobIa, Medina del
Campo, Medina de Rioseco, Mi-
randa de Ebro, Nerva, Pefla-
randa, Portugalete, Reln068.,
Sanltkar de Barrameda, San-
tona, Tafalla, Toro, Utrera,
Vtll('z Malaga, and Villanueva
de Lugo,
The closing was ordered of
th(' School Institutes of Sevi-
lle and Malaga,
JiJI)~ 1..1 lit: TIIJ':St: arc'
Go,· t'rnnu~nt Spain. ~o nr,'tI to ,1t'!'tc'riIH' what fase'isnt dot'" to tht'sr
atmiles. You','c ",e~n t.hc shrHJ.ncl-torn faces ...
In thc preamble of the de-
cree it is stated that 88 the
war is costing a lot of money
and 'that as expenses of a ci-
vil nature must therefore be
reduced, it was thought advi-
sable to t'nforce these cuts in
the department of. education,
EUl'CATlON ON TIDS SID};
Almost on the same day the-
re appeared in the "Gaceta de
la Republica" a decree calling
for the establishment in Barce-
lona, Valencia, and Madrid of
six-monthly courses of intensi-
ve ,p reparation in subjects of
general education,
In the same number of "Ga-
ceta" there were two oth('r
decrt'M of an analagous ten-
dency,
attc'ndirtJ,:' tIll' 1lI'wly - nlWIH'cl
IlIA,-" (t '. <: T .) 1.0,.,. .6. T.1.
II MIMORIAM
----.
In the mtdst of a civil and
International struggle, at a U-
me when it is defending its
territory inch by inch against
international traitors ~d fo-
reign Invaders, the RepUblic
. does not for a moment neglect
educational problems, Schools
81'e run for the 80ldiers 011 all
the fronts, The moment a new
village is captured, teachers are
sent and school buildings are
restored . Not one single edu-
cational establishment has been
closed; on the contrary, many HARRY HYIfES
new ones have been opened. C-pa.y Political Conlall_r
in (he
For the Republic knows that
l::;1.ttIes are won not only by for- George lrashlngtDD
ce of arms, but equally by awa- Battalion
kcning ideas and sowing kno- Killed in .ction A' Uruncte
wledge in the brains of the yo- 'JULY-1'~~
ung and the illiterate. The new
generation, whose initiation to
life has been aooompanied by Original Goya Plates
the roar of battles and the 110-
\::Id cf bombs, will be grave Being Reprinted
a nd firm . They will look at li- The Calcogra.phic Depart-
fe not as a sport, but as a ment of the Ministry of Edu-
mission of obligations. They ca tion and Fine Arts in M!'-
·.vill know the full meaning of drill is engaged in reprlnttng
the words "duty" and "res- two of Goya's series of plates.
ponsibility" , which the frivoli- They have collected the origi-
~y of the later days of the mo- nal plates of the 'Desastres de
narchy and of the dictatorship la Guerra' (Disasters of War"
had deprived of all their va- and of ·'Tauromaquia' (Bull
lue .. , Fighting). The plates arc
steel.faced, An edition is being
made of fivc prints on Anti-
J";\:-;CI:-;'1' CVLTl' lm quc Japanese paper, fifteen on
imperial Ja·pant'B1.l }lapel' and
130 on arches paper. These 150
On tlh' 12th of October ,.f
prints will be for sale, It is
last year, the day lwown a:;
probably the last edition which
the "Fes tival of the Race", Ge -
will be taken off the originAl
neral Millan Astray s Lood 011
plates. They have not been re-
Lhe steps of the University of
printed for a long time. The
Sa.lama nca and cried : "Down
first complete~ edition of th~
'.\"ith lntelligenee!" Yes. 'l'h('
Disasters of War was printl'd
Fa.:;cist,~ ha te inLclll' ct, They
in 11163, and Goy». ui('01 in 1 R2X,
hate buukll and ~ci(,l1c(,. They
};() lhl'rc was never a cnmplrt'l
hate the univl·I'sities ami the
cdili('n printed in his lif~-li",(, .
l(indl' rgnrtenf\, \vhr·r e the tiny
children hcin~' tu lll)(il-,'sLand
the things around them . They NEXT WEEK:
hate evr,'yhing connectl', l with
j·l'flectiol1, meditation, criti- "NO AXE TO GRIND"
cism, h'~i c. Th('ir idl'al is a By
p.coplc h('lll ill ignClmllcc and
s la.very, downtrodden ami S ll-
DOROTHY PARKER
Read What One of Ame-
l'(!rsti t inus.
rica ' 5 Outstanding Sati-
They cluse institutes. They rists Has to Say About
suppress schools. And the nUIll- Spain Aft erA Recent
",dlool s in
bel' of gaming-houses and ta- Stay Here,
verns is greater than ever" ,
..
41105 . -~1.driu ~
 The VOLUNTEER
FOR LIBERTY
Yo I. N.· 23 Madrid, November 15 1937

MADRID CELEBRATES DOUBLE ANNIVERSARY

For the past two weeks the red streamers that are strung paseos wave Republican flags In both sides of the three
population of M:adrid has been across the main streets, In- and Red flags with the ham - arches 0If the huge arched
celebrating a double annivers- scribed in large white letters. mer a,pd sickle in white. Pi c- structure that stands on the
ary: that of its own year of are slogans of honor and grat- tures of the people's leaders square of the Plaza de la In-
the glorioUB defense of Madrid, itude to the heroic antifascist - Negrin, General Miaja, Aza- deper.-dencia, the loyal Madrl-
and the 20th year of the suc- fighters of Madrid, of Spain, fia, Dlaz, "Pll.'!ionaria", Lister, len os have conspicuoUBly ar-
cesses of Socialism in the So- and of the world united anti- "Campesino", and others - - are ranged large portraits of So-
viet Union. fascist front as represented by seen between the two flags . A viet leaders. On one side facing
A year ago November 7, the International Brigades. large red star is often the the Puerta del Sol are the pic-
Franco was waiting on his From almost all the poles background of these pictures. tures of Stalin, Voroshiiov and
white horse at the gates of Ma- along the borders of the side- Children can be seen with red Litvinov. On the opposite side
drid to gallop into the city, walk, in the centers of the star emblems on their lapel. are the portraits of Lenin. Ka-
and, as he boasted, Wll.'! prepar- main streets, and along the The emblems bear a salutation linin and Molotov.
ed to "drink coffee and cognac sides of the broad Madrid t o the Soviet people. ;, Continued nil pn~l ' 11.\
In the Puerta del Sol".
November 7, 1917, 20 years
ago, the masses of oppressed
Russian people rose up and
once and for all seized the
reins of power. The coincidence
that these two dates of the
Spanish and Russian people's
historic battles in defense of
their liberties is considered
Vtry Significant to all organiz-
ations of political, trade union,
military, or social importanc e
irr Madrid. Each have contri-
buted in one way or another
to the wideRpread enthUBiasm
in the celebration of the halt-
Ing of fascism at Madrid's
doorsteps a nd to the general
tribute paid to the Soviet
Union. Many festivities were
conducted by these organiz-
ations, including dancing, meet-
In'gs, parties and the showing
of Soviet films such Il.'! "Cha-
payev", etc.

IN FESTIVE MOOD

The thousands of banDers

and decorations that adorn tht>
buildings and streets have gI-
yen Madrld'an unusally color-
ful appe,ranee. On the huge
MADRID'S FA-MOL! ARCH 00 .lte Plazft de '•• Independf'!nciR, once a galf'! fo Madrid, erected in 1778, "hich .till bean the
lean of Napaleo.-. cannoD-fire of the ,'0(\. de M.yo·· or 1803. Here it i. A' i ~ appeared on November 7, when .n ot Loya.
Spain celebrated the 20th aaaiveniary of the RUMlaa nevolution.
1 TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
IRISH VOLUNTEERS IN SPAIN
The story at the Irlab In thlll
War antedates the internatio-
nal Brigades. To Bill Scott,
whose father soldiered in Ja-
m~s C,'nnolly's Citizen Army
in the Irish Rising of 1916,
falls the honor of being the
first Irish fighter in Spain. He
was with a Catalan column on
the Aragon F.ront. some weeks
before the International Briga-
des were forn:oCd. Incidentally,
he never reached the Irish
Unit. From the Thaelmann
Battalion he went to Manga-
da's Brigadee and was even-
tually invalided home. woun-
"cd. Other Irishmen fought in
the Dumont and Thaelmann
Battalions. Tommy Patton of
~!ayo and Bill Barry, iate of
:lk l bourn~ and formerly of
Dublin, fell in action at Boa-
.lill;t riel Monte . early in De-
('C'mbe r .
The first large contingent of
Irish arriv<.>d at the Base in the
middle of December, and were
in action a week later with the
XIV Brigade at Cordoba, and
later at Madrid. At the end of
January t he survivors of all
these formations were drafted
THL I HI ... II;POSF fur" Vidurt'. Abovr. h' If.
IhC'ir loog Irf'nch ' \'igil 011 Ihe JaraUia front . .-\ llulllb~r uC Ih~flle lrillh romrllllt,,, ar~ now dead.
into the XV Brigade which had
just been tormed.
The Irish Unit was repre-
sentative ot all lreland. Belfast
and Derry sent their BOns as
we)) as Dublin and Cork, for
the antifascist cause bridge.1
Partition. All parties and pro-
fessions were represented. Com-
munist, Sociali91 Labour Par-
ty members and Republicans;
dock-workers and teachers,
farm-labourers and city-clerks.
Their COIIllI'allder Wall Frank
Ryan. Irish Republican Army
veteran, and a leader of the
Left Wing Republican and La-
bour movement in Ireland.
They came primarily to fight
Fagcism . enemy not mer;ely of
the peopie of Spain but of li-
berty anj progress the world
over. They had added incentive
in that a careerist ex-General,
discredited in Ireland, had in-
duced a body of Irishman to
go to fight for the traitor Ge-
nerals, "in defence of Chris-
tianity". Irish honor thus bes-
mirched they would redeem.
Irish sympathy thus misrepre-
sented they would expres.s
aright. S o th~y threw their bo-
"rllU,. ur Irifth lightt'r.j in Ih~ Lint'olll ti;tllalit)u. 1;I &wn while l.incoln" wert" holrlill,c
dies lUI battle-gages into the
conflict in Spain.
The Unit fought in two Sec-
tions. and at one period there
was a 'l'hird Section. While the
First Section was on the Ma-
drid Front in January a Se-
coml Section which was being
formed at the Base was draf-
ted to reinforce the Lincoln"
not yet at that time at Bat-
talion strength. Subsequently.
a Third Section was for three
months on the Cordoha Front
with the 86th Brigade.
Contrary to opinioll8 held by
narrow nationalists, it was
easy and natural for Irish and
British workers to unite in the
common struggle against Fas-
cism. The unity ;orged between
th em on the battIe-fields of
Spain will have far-reaching
r esults in their respective
countries, in days to come. It
was fortunate and fitting too
that military exigencies should
have brought the Second Irum
S ection to serve with the Lin-
coln Battlllion. The Irish have
played an important part in
the history of America. and
ha ... ~ contr'i buted mnch to the
advancement of the American
Jabor movement. And, there
were already a number of
Irish exiles, and IriBh-Ameri-
cans and lrish-Canadiams with
the Lincoln Battalion. Paul
Burns, Boston ._bor journalist
and Irish Republican Congress
leader, afterwards twice w()IJn-
ded in action; Michael Blaser,
better known in New York as
Mickey Brown (subsequently
killed at Jarama); Patrick R.
McLoughIln, formerly of the
Clan na Gael in New York;
Stuart IParldy) O'Neill of Van-
co uver Ikilled at Brunete). and
veteran Joe Kelly.
Of the original members ot
that Second Irish Section
which went into action with
the Lincolns at Jarama, the
survi vors include the three Po-
wer brothers of Waterford ,
and th e three Flaherty bro-
thers of Boston, gallant figh-
t ers all. Peter O'Connor holds
the record for the Irishman
who came unhurt through the
most engagements. Dinny Hol-
den , 56 year old soldier from
Carlow who "deserted" so of-
ten from the rear to the front
Jines, that he was eventually
allowed to remain there; "Du-
blin." Haye.s, the canny vete-
ran whom every Section Com-
mander wanted to have with
him - all these and. a few
others survive.
Charley Donnelly, University
student from Tyrone, young
revolutionary poet and wor-
king-class militant, fell a few
yards from the Fascist tren-
ches in that terrible charge of
the Llncolns on February 27.
Hugh Bonar, rugged Doneg&1
fighter, and Liam TumJI80n
who stowed awll!Y trom Bel-
fast, and hitoo-hiked acrON
Britain to "be with the boys
in Spain"; Bill Henry, Belfast
Sociali8t, a Company Com-
mander - these and ¢her
Irish died in actioo at Jarama.
Outstanding among the Irish
was "Kit" Conway, 38 year oM
Tipperary fighter. He had
fought in the I. R. Jr.. in the
Anglo-lrish War of 1920-21,
and subsequently joined the
Irish Free State Army to carry
out revolutionary work there.
He had attained the rank of
Battalion Commander before

hill attivities were discovered
and his resignation demanded .
Afte'r a )lrief period in emigra-
tion in the' United States, he
returned to become one of the
militants in the Communist
Party of Ireland. He was in
command of the First Irish
Section at Cordoba in Decem-
ber, at Majada.honda in Janua-
ry, at Ja.rama in February. He
was a competent leader, coura-
geous almO/lt to the point of
reckle!!snes.s. More tkan once,
he exposed himself unduly in
action to encourage some
youngster whose nerve was
wilting under a baptism of nre.
The Irish suffered their grea-
test '1088 when "Kit" died of
wOtlDods received while direct-
Ing the· defence of PiDgarron
Hili on February 12.
Among other Irishmen who
died there in those first days
of the Fascist offensive was
RAlv. R. M. Hilliard, the "Bo-
xing PMaon" from Killarney
who handled 'I. rifle in the
ranks until the gunners of a
F88CiBt. tank hit him at polnt-
blaDk range.
Frank Edwards, scftool-tea-
cher dismiSSed by the Catholic
Bishop of Waterford for wor-
king-class activities, waswoun-
ded in the side by shrapnel at
Las Rozas in January. He wal-
ked two hundred yards back,
('.alled tor a stretcher for ano-
ther wounded comorade, and
collapsed from loss of blood.
Two months later, he was one
of the Third Irish Section on
the Cordoba Front. Here on
one occasion, he and Joe
Monks of Dublin remained
alone in a position to face and
break a charge of Mioors by
slinging g.renades into their
ranks. Jack Nalty, Dublin rank
and file leader and noted athle-
te, had one arm smashed and
was wounded . in the other and
In the chest at Lopt\ra in De-
cember. He walkect unaided
three kilos back to a dressing
ltatlon, and recovered to fight
again through the Jarama
campaign.
The Irish also pllliyed their
pa.rt In the great Brunete of-
fensive in July_ Among the
prominent comrades who fell
durlog this month' were MI-
chael Kelly, young Lon<lon-
Irlah leader, and William Beat-
tie and William Laughlin, two
workers, of different creeds,
who at one time had been In
oppoaln, 8ectarian factioOl In
TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR UBERTY
LETTER FROM SPAIN
ADDRESSED TO ALABAMA
LIIMlOIn Battalion,
Inte.....UoDal Brlpde.,
Novembflr Semf'lthlnc. 1937.
Dear Brother at home:
We captured a wounded Moor today.
He WIUI just lUI dark a8 me.
I said, Boy, what you been doln' here
Fightin' agaln8t the free!
He answered something In a language
I coaIdn't understand.
But 1I0mebody told me he was 8ayln'
They nabbed him In hI8 land
And made him join the faaciat army
And come acr08S to Spain.
And he said be had a teelln'
He'd never get bock home aJraln.
He said he had a leelin'
Thls whole thlng wa8n't right.
He 8Ilid he didn't know
The_folks he had to fight.
And as he lay there dying
In a village we had taken,
I looked across to Africa.
And seed foundations sbakln'.
CaU8e If a free Spain wins thll war,
The colonl68, too, are free-
Then something wonderful'll happen
To them Moors lUI dark 88 me.
I 88ld, I guess that·s why old England
And I reckon Italy, too,
18 afraid to let a workers' Spain
Be too good to me IUId you-
CaUlle they got slaves In Afrlca.-
And they don't want' em to be free.
LIsten, Moorl8h prl80ner, hell!
Here, shake hand8 with mel
I knelt down there '-Ide him,
And I took hl8 hand-
But the wounded Moor w. . dyla'
And he didn't understand.
Salud,
Johnny
LANGSTON JlUGHE8
their native Belfast, until the Villanueva de la Cailada.
common exploitatiOD ot the Paddy Duff of Dublin, Ma-·
working-class showed them chine-gun Commander, saved
the road to working class-uni- his own life and that of stret-
ty, and eventually to the front cher·beare~ at Brunete, when
lines of the fight agaInst Fas- - wounded In the leg-he rol·
clam. Here too died Bill Davis led into a shell-hole, and y&-
whoae clenched flat shot up in lied the First Aid men back
salute ... a machine-gun rid- out of the zone of hurtling
dled him at the stormln, at steel. Not even Tom JODe. of
Wexford, devil-darc leader ot
the First Aid Section, who
ever Insisted on dressing a
wounded mam where he fell,
dared disobey Duff's command!
At Villanueva, too Paddy Mur-
phy's chivalry almost cost him
his life, when he tried to save
women and children whom the
Fascists were driving before
them as cover in a sortie.
Death took its toll again in
the victorious Aragon offensi-
ve in August. Among those
who feU at Belchite was Jim
Woulff of Limerick, killed by
a grenade at the very moment
the town was captured. Peter '
Daly, I. R. A. veteran from
Wexford, wounded in the An·
glo·Irlsh war, wounded at Ja-
rama in 'February, wounded
agaln at CordOba in April, rase
from the ranks, promoted for
bravery in the field, until he
attaIned the '1'IIIIlk of Battalion
Commander. He was the ideal
working-class officer whose
comradeship with his men did
not lessen his command over
them. He fell at the head of
his Battalion at the starming
of Purburell Hill, on the Ara-
gon Front, on August 26. Not
since the death of "Kit" Con-
way, who was of the same
Btamp, did the Irish Unit suf-
fer suah a heavy blow. Peter
Daly's comrade, Paddy O'Dai-
re of Donegal, still with us,
has also won successive pro-
motions for bravery and lea-
dership in battle. He is now 'a
Battalion Commander. With
him ' others of the original Irish
Unit survive. Thus, after al-
lIlIOSt a year's war in Spain
"The Irish still rellliLin". And
the gaps are being filled. New
recruits arrive - veterans and
youths, men of different, and
differing parties - here uni-
ted In the co=on struggle.
Irish Fascist intervention in
Spain ignomiillously collapsed
when the duped catholic tank
8IIld rue reVolted on discover-·
Ing that they were fighting not
for Christianity but for F'as-
clsm. The Iriab. In the Inter-
national Brigades.remaln- for
they fight for the same cause
for wilich they fought at home,
for the overthrow of the enemy
which is attempting to ensla-
ve not only the people of Spain
but the whole human race. And
so while there Is an Interna-
tional Brigade there will be
Irish fi,hten in Sp&an.
C. Q .

SHELl-SCARREDI A photoICraph taken of the world · rl'nouned Cyb('les Kfa ... e
iD ~Madrid , jUlit aCler falleill' .helhl had Dlutilalr,! .hf: ja~' " 01 onr. of .he
gU .... illll lioulj.
I want to say first that I
came to Spain without my axe
to grind. I didn't bring mes-
sages from anybody, nor greet-
ings to anybody. I am not a
member of any political par-
ty. The only group I have ever
been affiliated with is that not
especia.lly brave little band
that hid Its nakedneBB of heart
and mind under the out of
date garment of a sense of
humour. I heard someone say,
and so I said it too, that ri-
dicule 18 the most effective
weapon. I don't suppose I ever
rea.lly believed it, but it was
easy and comforting, and so
I said it. Well , now J know.
I know that there are thir.:'s
that never have been funny,
and never will be. And I know
that ridicule may be a shield,
but It is not a weapon.
I was puzzled, as you may
have been, about Spain. I read
!n our larger newRpapers that
here was a civil war, with the
cp;J(lsing factions nea tly divi-
ded into reds and whites-re-
ther as If they were chessmf';J..
EYen I could figure out that
there is something not quile
right when Moors are emplo-
yed to defend ChrlBtianily.
Since I have been here, I have
heard what the people In the
streets say. Not many of them
call It the "war". They speak
of it as the "invasion". Theirs
is the better word.
There cannot be, in a.ll the
world, any place like the cit,}-
of Madrid today. It has b'!.:n
under siege for nearly a year.
You read about besieged citie~
in medieval days and you S'lY,
how awful things must hav~
been, thank goodness they
don't happen now. It has hap-
pened In Madrid and it goes
on happenlng. In a city as
big and as beautiful and as
modern 8.8 Wsshlngton, :po C,
S!!lIl11lHlfllIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIHIIIIIIIUfllllmIllHIIIHIIRntIIlllmm._IIIRRIIIL
~.
I NO AXE
~
;nlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllfllllfllllfllllfllfllllf
The dispatches say that the-
re is nDt much doing on the
DOROTHY
Madrid front now- there Is ve- =
ry little activity. It is what Is
called a lull. But all day long
you hear the guns, the dull he wants to come home to see
boom of the big guns and the her and the children ... She, and ~
irritable cackle of machine- each one of the seven, are calm ;
guns. And you know that and strong and smiling. It II .
gunners no longer need to sho- a typical Madrid family.
ot just for practice. When there There are fifty thoU88Jld ba-
i~ firing, that mean II there Is bies still here. All food Is /lC8l'- .
blood and blindness and death. ce, and dairy products are al.- 1
And the stl'eets are crowded, mo.st memories. But the Repu- '
and the shops are open, and blican Government, a.ll over ; ,
the people go about their dai- tne city, has stations where a i
ly living. It isn·t tense and it mother may get milk and egg.
isn't hysterical. What they ha- and cereals for her baby, re-
ve is not m orale, which is some- gularly without delay. If she
thing created and bolstered and has any money, she may buy
directed. It is the sure steady them at cost. If she hasn't any
spirit of those who know what she is given them. Doctors say
the fight is about and who that the liti.ie children of Ma-
know that they must win. (hid are better nourished than
In spite of all the evacuat- . they ever were in the old days.
ion, there are still nea:tly a mill- The bigger children play In
ion people here. Some of them the streets, just as happily and
- -. you may be like that, your- just as nOisily as the children
self - won't leave their homes in America. That is, they play
and theil' possc.ssions, all the after school hours. For during
things they have gathered to- siege and under shell fire, edu-
gether through the years. They cation in Republican Spain
are not at all dramatic about goes on. I do not know where
it. It 1s simply that anythlng you can see a finer thing.
else than the life they have Six years ago, when the r ' -
made for themselves 18 incon- yal romp, Alphonso, left his
ceivableto them.
Yesterday I
saw a woman
who lives in the
poorest quarter
of Madrid. It
h8.8 been bom-
bed twice by the
Fascists ; her
hoWle iB one of
the few left
standing. She
has seven chil-
dren. It has of-
ten been sug-
gested to her
that she and
the children
leave Madrid
for a safer pla-
ce. She dl8miB-
se.9 such ideas
easUy and firm-
ly. Every six
weeks, she says,
her husband
has 48 hours lea-
ve from the
tront, Naturally,
_ _ _ 1IIII"'IIIIIUIIllIIlIlIllIIllIlIlIllIUlIlIUUHIIIHIIIII"hllnllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllH~
TO GRINDI
PARKER
= but not a conege where rich
racing cars IUld his racing stab-
les and also left, by popular
request, his country, there re-
mained twenty - eight million
people. Of them, twelve million
were completely illiterate. It
Is said that Alphonso himself
had been taught to read anu
"II'ite, but he had not troubled
to bend the accomplishments
to the reading of statistics nor
the signing of approplations
for schools.
Six years ago, almost half
the population of this country
was illiterate. The first thing
that the Republican Governm-
ent did was to recognise this
hunger, the starvation of the
people for education. Now the-
re are schools even in the tini-
est, poorest villages; more
schools in a year than ever
were in all the years of the
reigning kings. And still more
are being established every
day. I have seen a city bombed
by night, and the next morning
the people rose and went on
with . the completion of their
schools. Here in Madrid, as well
~ .. wurker', how~ 00 the out.kirh. uf the
I
IUtnllIlUHlIlIllIlIlIIllIRllIIIllllIHlHllUllUllllllllllllllllliii
as in Valencia, a workers' In-
stitute is open. It is a college,
young men may go to make
friends ~th other rich young
men who may be valuable to
them in business ~th them
later. It is a college where
workers, forced to start 8.8
children in fields and factories,
may study to be teachers or
doctors or lawyers or ecient-
ists, according to their gifts.
Their intensive university cour-
se takes two years. And whi-
le tbey are studying, the Go-
vernment pays their families
the money they would have
been earning.
In the schools for young
children, there is none of the
.dread thing you ha ve heard so
much about -- depersonalisat-
ion. Each child has, at the Go-
vernment's expelUie, an educat-
ion as modern and persona.! a's
a privileged American school
child has at an accredited pro-
greSSive school. What the Span-
ish Republican Government has
done for education would be
a magnificent achievem~nt,
even in days of peace, when
money is easy and supplies are STAYING CI.OSE to 'he rr-(ugiu. theMe women and child""" ore fto.rful ~o , ·enh,rf"'
ba~k Co their homes ugain Itt.st unother (aflcbt air-raid brill@: lhf'Ul the "amt' Ct"rror
endless. But these people are and dt'lllh and de8~tu("UOll fhut 1hr.~· hB,'e just vtitneeeed and t'l"caped.
doing it under fire ...
The Govern-
ment takes ca- of the colonies. There is no smoke coming out of the chim-
re, too, of the dreadful orphan asylum qua- neys. They are well children
unfortunates of lity about them. I never saw now.
war. There are finer children - - free and grow- And in Valencia, a few mi-
a million refu- ing and happy. One colony was les away, the Fascist planes
gee children in in a seaside resort, neal' Va- come over and the bombs drop,
Spain. A mil_ lencia. There were sixty chil- and so there ~Il b e more chil-
lion is an easy dren, from four to f ou;teen, dren who will draw planes and
number to say. who had b('en going to a school flames and fragments of bod-
But how can in Madrid. And the Fascist plll- ies blown in the ail'. That is
you grasv nes had bombed the school... if there are any children left .. .
what it means? It was amazing to see how
Three hundred many of these children could
NO FUNNY STORIF.S
thousand of draw and draw well - and it
them are in the was heartening tu see how
homes of fami- their talent was encouraged by I can't get any pleasing va-
lies and seven the teachers. "'':hen they fi1'6t riety into this talk . I can't tell
hundred thous- came to the colony, the chil- you amusing anecdotes of the
and are in chil- dren drew the things that we-
boys in the trenches. I don't
dren's, colonies. re nearest and deepest to them
think there are any such stor-
When it can, - . they drew planes and burst-
ies. The men who fight for R e-
the Guvernmellt ing bombs and houses in fla-
publican Spain, the men , who
wall t s tu ha- mes. You could see by the
in less than a year have come
ve all In colo· dl'La dful perfection of detail, from a mob wearing overalls
nies. I hope tha how well they knew their sub-
and carr)-ing sticks to a .f or-
will happen, be· jects. Now they are drawing
midable disciplined army, are
cause 1 ha· flowers and apples ..md sail
cUYt ju.t .ttrr •
ve seen sumt' boats and little houses with (Coillinulot.l 011 1.4Sf" 80)
6 THE VOLUNTEER ·FOB UBERTY
BREAKING THE BACK OF REACTION IN NEVADA
Dear Comrade Edltor: as a laborer about June 1, get-
ting fifty cents an bour for a
Enclosed is a copy of part of forty-hour week. A cheap .oot-
a letter from home, which I fit trom Omaha, the Geo. Con-
think might be of intere.9t to don Construction Co., was in
the readers of the "Volunteer" charge and there to make all
In explanation, the thing they could. no matter bow.
which is of importance is that They docked us time when
this territory has always been they moved the shovels , etc.;
particularly difficult for labor 10 minutes here, 15 m inutes
organizations of any kind . Ne- there, and when Saturday af-
vada has long been the last ternoon rolled round they ca-
stand of the rugged individua- me to you and said, "Say, you
lists, having a mining industry have three hours and 40 minu-
which tluctuated wildly bet- tes yet to go before you have
wee.n bankruptcy and booms, a yoor 40 hours in. Do yoo want
cattle and sheep-raising indus- to put it in tomorrow?" W ell,
try which depended as much on what the hell could you say?
the vagaries of the marke t as You want to get paid t or 40
on the vagaries of the wea- hours, even if you have to put
ther, and finally, a pride in the in 45 hours over a Beven-day
maintenance of the "wide-open spread.
West" tradition. While Boca Is We stayed at the company's
near the California state-Ilne, barraclui and cookhouse, which
the action described in this let- cost $1,25 a day, because the-
ter proved an opening wedge re was no place else to stay,
for the CIO and militant white- and the company made plenty
collar union~ in Nevada. on that too. Some of us boys
got tired of all this, so hear-
1\(. M . ing that some of the miners
who were drilling a diversion
DEAR M. tunnel on the job were CIO
men, we contacted them. They
I'm starting to school on a were thinking of starting a lo-
shoestring. I worked part of cal, so we said we would help
the summer but didn't make get the ball rolling. We talked
any dough to speak of, whIch to almost ·all the men on the
I shall explain. job privately, and they ·were
A new dam Is being built willing to join up with us and
at Boc~, where the Little get a local started. The inevi-
Truckee River meets the Tru- table fly il). the oilitment, the
ckee aboot 28 miles west of superintendent of the job, told
Reno. I went ttl work up there us if we organized be would
SPANISH SOLDIBRS e~l f! br.'iD8 the double aDDivenary of tile nUN_
ae"oJutlOD aDd the ...cce .. tu' "clease of Madrhl.
sllut the job down. We organ-
ized just the same.
We sent down to Frisco and
got an organizer up, and in
five hours we had 90 % of the'
men 011 the job signed up: The-
superintendent heard· of It, ca-
me over to see and when we
told him we hllid 90 % of the
men signed up he didll't say
a word. The next day at tWel-
ve noon we were intonned by
our respective bosses that we
were all done, to get our mo-
ney. We did, but we stayed in
the. bunkhous.es. They tried to
have us thrown out, but we
wouldn't be thrown. They tried
to scare us with the law, but
we WOuldn't scare. We were
orderly and well behaved, so
the law didn't have a thing they
could pin 011 us.
Then the blow-oft. They ma-
de a ~ontract with the A. F .
of L ., dated it back, and ship-
ped 67 men into the job, wi-
thout telling them ot the con-
dition that existed. The men
came up from Sacramento all
prepared to work, and we were
waiting tor them. We had re-
ceived news of their coming
by one of the fellows that had
heard of it at the quarantine
station at Truckee. There were
only 22 ot us, but boy! we had
the courage ot 122. We all
agreed to tight until we were
carried away. When they arri-
ved they had the sheriff and
17 deputies as bodyguards. We
had a ,picket-line which was
our first line of defense, a~t
10 guys, and then the second
line which was composed of ·the
re.t of the fellows.
The organtzer bad .,. new Foro
which he drove at about 00 in-
to the tine of ODComiDg cars
bringing the new mell. They
all had to swerve and stop, and
he very effectively tied them
in knots. Then Red Adams, the
president of our local, climbed
on the top oL a car and told
the men of the condition that
existed and bow detennined we
were that they nor no one el88
was going to take our jobll,
and If they wanted to try· It,
we · were ready. We were ar-
med with pick ha.zldielJ, pieces
of pipe, horseshoes or anyth-
ing elae we cooldpiCk up, and
we meant buain_.
After Red's speech, a big
fellow blwrted out, ~Wbo's
going to stop me?" and cbar-
ged the flrat line. One of oor
fellows smacked hiin oil · tlie
chin with his fist: another · hit
him on the back of the head,
s; third kicked his feet out
from under him - and he
didn't come to· for an hour. I
thougbt sure this would start
it, but not one of the faker~
stepped up to give him a band.
The deputies all ran aDd got
behind cars, deSpite ·the fact
that they were armed, because
the A. F. of 1.. fakel'll were
too scattered to put up a good
tight. The fakers JIll drew back
and had a conference, and de-
cided to go back to Sacramen-
to Immedlately. Of course we
were relieved an4 happy that
they had elected to do the right
thing by 'lIB and we th~ked
them. They wished us luck and
left.
On Aug. 10 the company
started negotiations with us ·to
open the jobagaln. We finally
came to terms and got a con-
·tract for the duration of the
job. The only catch for me w ...
that I didn't get back to work
soon enough before school star-
ted, but I couldn't walk out
on the guys and fin!l another
job.
I don't know how much you
know of the CIO, but here'.
why I'm for It. In the flrBt
place, the men as a body run
the local, not the officers that
you elect. No agreement can
be signed wlthoot the cQnsent
of the body as a whole. In the
A. F. of L. tbe officers call
sign any agreement for the
men without putting It to a
vote ; consequently the officel'll
can and do sell out thelr own
men - the rats! In the CIO
the initIation fee is $ 1.25 aad.
the dues are $1.25 a mOllth, DO
matter wha~ you are, · laborer,
dragline operator, miner, etc.
The falters charge all the way
up to $1000, according to wbo
you are, and the due. per
month ruJ1. from $2 011 up -
what a racket!
We're accused of being Reds,
radle&l., Communist., Uid eve-
rything elae you caA .thlnk of,
but by God. If ~ong\Ilg t~

LETTERS
from
HOME
"-And That Deruocracy
Will Reign Aptn."
The following letter ill from
the Secretary of the Cardiff
and Dis t ric t Unemployed
Workers' ABsoclation, affilia-
ted with the Cardiff Tradea
Council and Labour Party, to
one of the members of the
British Batta.iion of the 15th
International Brigade.
"Dear Comrade: Let me
thank you most sincerely for
the greetings you send from
the e&rdltf comrades in the
International Brigades and
yourself, and let me send you
the best willhes of the mem-
bers of our Association in re-
turn.
"We all realize what depends
on the result of the war in
which you are engaged, and
we are all very hopeful that
you will be successful. We rea-
Jize that should your opponents
be victorious it would mean
the end of the present British
Government's oppOBiUon, and
the weapon in their hands
with which to beat u.s down.
They would then be in the po-
sition to force us to do the
very things we are at present
opposed to doing, by forcing
us to fight to save their in-
terests at home and abroad.
"We also realize that uruty
among all working clas.9 orga-
nizations is required to defeat
the National Govt's present
policy. Ab we are at present
- divided, ununited - we arc
only defeating ourselvC8 anJ
giving the Government the
chances they have been want-
ing. Were pll organization..,
united We .should be in a po-
sition to do something in re-
gards to the present cost of
living, which is IIOIU'Ing .. ky-
high- -Ui per cent increase in
three months.
"The question of unity has
again been brought up at the
Labour Party conference but
was, I am .sorry to say, hea-
vily defeated; and Mao one of
the champ:ons of the United
front threatened with expul-
.ion from the Labour Party.
That ill the kind of thing we
THE VOLUNTEER FOR UBERTV 7
the Archbishop of Canterbury
will be George VI.
The wether In F.ngland hll8
BARCELONA NERVES bean fairly bad it has bean
wet and misrabul the last few
Neither fool. nor rhlldren any longer, days. All houses and streets
ThOllf' way" . tr .. lt., gone 8I1d away
That on,'. mad .. life a lUCk-game, deatll a atranl'er,
and horses are tri med up for
coronation day the 12th of May
We'~ goul-': QA.
remember It you do come bark
your King will be King Geor-
Dynamo-driven city waiting bomben,
ge VI , and I can swim.
RoadWays barricade-unpaved, fear
Slnded. -PETER.
In the wrn minds, the mind re.aembe.,.
What It''ll all for .. .
Death means the girl's corpae wann-aUve when hurled;
Death means the retching brothels, where On black
Death-tide, death-fear, an army of boys Is carried June 23rd, 1937.
To a pox-wreck.
Dear Dad. I am very sorry
And IIfe'8 a matter of beating thl8, of breaking you have got wounded rigt
By own hardnes8, and a held band, out through tile calfe of your left
From fury, fl1llltratlon, fear, the waiting, the shouting, leg. Well here is some more
The hate of fate, good news to tell you th..lt I
can ride my bike>. I learnt In
Neither fools nor children, we who are Joining five minuteB, uncle Jack taught
(Twenty yeai'll ago I knew war'a face) me how to ride.
We'D make what wrecks th_ othel'll Into our gaining, r think I have told you I am
Into our cbolce_ In the boy's brigade and I am
T. R. WINTBISOHAM to camp August week we g o
september, 1. . .
to wales it ill only seVl' n shill-
ings and four pcnce to go it
would cost more if mom took
here are faced with, and until fighting here, over a period of me.
the rank and 1I.Ie change tho. almost a year. When you read Sind.- - PE',T ER.
Personnel, this state of aftain these notes try to imagine the
will continue. lop-slded, uncertain scrawl of
i<
"On the question of non- a child, with all the curious
intervention the opinion of the misapellings, and the comical
members Is tllat the policy is halts. "Peter writes", his father September 25th, 1937.
& farce, done to assist the explains, "very much the way
fascists' plaD8. a three-day-old colt Walks." Dear dad. I swam in a gala
"Had it been a Fascist go- on Sept 24 and cam e th ird in
vernment, and the people fight- a race. I saw Charlie Talor di-
ing for control, there would ve and h is divi ng ha s g one of
have been no talk of non-in- a lot. And IlLSt week I saw
tervention, but help would ha- Pete at a gal a and spok e t o
ve been sent quickly. him and he said yo.! bette r
"Well, Comrade, we are very hurry up and rome back. I
glad to have heard from you have something to tell you .
and to know that you are al- I can s wim 1G lengths and
right an', that Comrade M. is jump of top boad and I recei -
on the road to recovery. Re- ved you badgt).
member, we are all with you Signged . - PETER.
in your declaration that you
are going to win and that de -
mocracy will reign again.
"With sincere good wishes,
TE.\LIIF.R. "90.000 ~uldi~rM pili!! 2.'),00(1
I remain, for and on behalt of Octobe r J ilh, 19 37.
trt'lIDlri .. n • . Ito\\' nlftuy Hnlian !lulflirr"
the members of the ABBocia- due8 th., a,.Le}' ''
tion, C:IIICU, "40.000 '"olunterr:. :" Dear dad. You may know
Youra fraternally, F . J. R. UlCre was a spanish flag day in
GOLES. England mom and m e sold in it.
Now mom said she would lI ke
!
May 11th, 1937.
A Nlne- Vear-Q1d
Write. to his Father.
Dear father, Evry Body il?
England will be happy after 12
to come to Spane for a h oliday
after the war is over and I
ageed.
j
o'clock an May the 11th it will Will you please send m ' a
I
The following' four letters be coronation day. For before SpuJlish pence.
are typical of a dozen or more you ' left England Edward VIII Mo m sa.ir! you are very bra · J
written by a nlne-year-old left. the ex King. The king V e to go .
Blnnlngham boy to hill father, who Is going to be crown by . Singed.~-PETf~!{ to dad .
8 THE VOLUNTEER 'FOB LIBERTY
Madrid Celebrates
Double Anniversary
(t:"nlinut'd rrom ' rase 1.)
Elaborate and painstakingiy-
decorated floats ride all around
the city all day long. Every
trolley hM five small Repu-
blican !Iags waving from the
rods that connect the trolley
pole with the street electric
wires. MostpubUc aJ;1d many
private buildings have been
decorated with flags, banners,
pictures, and large signs with
antifascist and Popular Front
slogans. Along the iron fence-
work of the famous Madrid
park "E! Retiro" has been
strung a huge red streamer
almost half a ·b lock long, greet~
ing the Soviet Union on Its
20th Anniversary. It pledges
to carryon the fight against
fascism. Among the buildings
most attractively dressed up
is the Bank of Bilbao, near the
Puerta del Sol. Story-high
paintings demonstrate the dif-
ferenc~ between the militiaman
of the early days of the war
and the People's Army soldier
of today. On one side are poor-
ly dressed militlamj!n with
rifles in their h!mds behind a
sand-bag parapet waiting to
stop the fascists. On the other
are shown the new uniformed
People's Army soldiers charg-
ing with tanks, artillery, and
aviation support.
Additional homage was paid
the Soviet Union by an offic~
ial change in tht> name of one
of Madrid's streets, frem "Ave-
nida de P efialver" t o "A venlda
de Ill. Uniqn Sovietica".
All of the Madrid daily pa-
pt>rs devoted extra pages, and
~eve!"al put out special Anni-
versary numbers, in comme-
moration of the double Anni-
versary.
Americans all over Spain
have also celebrated. Among
one group of American., in the
afternoon of Sunday, Novem-
ber 7th, there ·was a 'baseball
al1d football game. After that
they had a potato and a sack
race. Packages of Lucky ~tri­
kes were distributed to the
winners. After a good dinner in
the evening, they planned a
singing festival around a.
blaz-
ing camp-tire.
J . T.
NO AXE
BY DOROTHY PARKER
no gangling lambs, endearing-
ly bewildered as to what is
which front and who is on who-
se side. These are thinking
men, knowing what tbey do,
and what they must go on
doing.
They are fighting for more
than their lives. They are fight-
Ing for the chance to liv.e them,
for a chance f or their children
for the decency and peace o~
the future.
Their fight is the biggest
thing, 'c ertainly, that we shall
see in our time, but it is not
a good show. This is no gay
and handsome war, with brass
bands and streaming banners.
These men do not need such
assurances. They arc not mad
glamorous adventurers, they
are not reckless young people,
plunged into a chaOs. I don't
think there will be any lost
generation after this war.
But, I, as an onlooker, am
bewildered. While I WM in Va-
lencia the Fascists raided it
four times. If you are going to
be in an air raid at all, it is
better f or you·- if it h!l.ppens
at night. Then it is unreal, it
is almost beautiful, it is like
a ballet with the scurrying fi-
gures and the great white
shafts 'If the searchlights. But
when a raid comes in the day-
time, then you see the fat cs
of the people, and it isn't unre-
al any. longer. You see the ter-
rible resignation on the faces
of old women , and you see little
children wiid with terror ...
In Valencia, la.st Sunday
morning, a pretty, l?right .Sun-
day morning, five Gennan plan-
es came over and bombed the
quarter down by the pert. It
is a poor quarter, the place
where the men woo work on
the docks live, and It is. like .
DIANA (U, C, .T.) IArrl, 6. Tel. 411OS. -M.-Irid.
TO GRIND IN MEMORIAM
all poor quarters, congested.
After the planes had dropped
their bombs, there wa.sn't much
left of the places ·where so ma-
ny famili~ had been living.
There Wall aI\ old, old man ,
who, went up to every one he
saw and asked, pleMe, had
they seen his wife, please
woUld they teU ·him -where his ~
wife WM . .'fhere were two litt- ilA'lJ~
le girls who saw their father
ki:.led in front . of them, and
were trying to get past the MILTON HERNDON
guards, back to the still Machine Gun Section
crumbling,. crashing houses t~ Commander
In the
find their ·mother. There was a
great pile of rubble , and on the
Mackenzie-Papineau
top of it a broken doll and a
dead kitten. It WM a ' good job Battalion
to get those. They. :wer~' ruthl~
Killed In Action
ess enemies to Filsdsin.
at Fuente. de Ebro
I have seen the far·ins outsi-
OCTOBER -1937
de of Valencia - the lovely
green quiet fanns. There is soil
3 0 fertil e, since the Governm-
ent has irrigated it, that it Breaking the Back of
yields three harvests a year.
So h08pitable that oranges and Reaction in Nevada
beans and potatoes and corn
and pomegranates all grow in
the CIa is communistic, I'm
one field. I have seen tne .peop-
the reddest, radicalest Commu-
Ie in the country and in the
nist you ever saw! We're just
cities, wanting only to go about
as American as the flag, and
their lives, only to secure the
a hell of a lot more so than
future of their cbildren. They
the fakers. We're ten times as
ask only as much as you have,
democratic -- maybe thal's
because they a re ;people like
you, they want to get up fro~ why Willie Green froths at the
their tables and .go to their mouth and calls ·u s Conunu-
beds, to wake to a ·quiet morn- nists. We're showing the coun-
ing, and the sending of their try a thing or two, d.nd the
children off to school. They men like it when they find oul
don't think of accumulated lhe facts.
m oney. They want to do their When you get back I'll tell
own work in self respect and you more. This writing busi-
peace. They want the same ness isn' t what you'd call down
thing that· you have - they my alley; I can tell you Infor-
want to live in a democracy. mally much better.
And they will fight for it, and
lhey will win.
But in the ' mean time it Dla·
kes you sick to think of it.
That these -people who 'Pulled
themselves up from centuries
NEXT WEEK:
of Opprt;ssion · anI;! ,exploitation
cannot go on to decent- livingj SPANISH STUDENTS
to peace and progress and ci- AND THE WAR
vilization, without the mu!'der
of their chi1dr~ ; and· th~. block­ An account of the role of
iug of their ' way beca.uae two Spanish University stu-
men - two men - want. more dents (f. U. E.) in the
pOwer: It 18incredlble.. 1t ill;.fan- Spanish struggles from
tastic, it is absolutely 1:leyond 1922 to the present day.
all belief.. ; except · that. it· .is
true.
 The VOLUNTEER
FOR LIBERTY
Vol. I - N. 24 Madrid, November 17 1937

SPANISH 'STUDENTS AND THE WAR

not count on the ~sistance of the
Spain has always had two types Student Leader Recounts for the VOLUNTEER the
of student: those whose studies Spanish people. the peasants and
Role of Spanish University Students in the Spanish the workers. All good Spaniards
were pursu~ in order to acquire
a title which would serve them Struggles from 1922 to the Present Day rose against these self-styled "na-
as an adornment, a title general- tionalists" to smash fascism In
ly secured through the influence The organization of students ing the course. But the battle was Spain. In thill crisis the stUdents
who w~re hard-working and se- WOll. In a short time the Dlcta- could not fail to take part. They.
rlous. On the other hand. acquired torsilip had to repress aU of who had always fought against
the character of a student Union Spain. In two years the Monar- oppression, promptly placed them·
from the moment it took upon chy also fell. after the April 12th selves alongside of their brothers
itself the job of bettering itself elections in which the Spanish froni. the fields and the factories.
and the opportunities of real stu- people unmistakably made known The F. U. E. immediately de-
dents in the universities. Cultural their real desires and aspirations. creed a mobilization of students
and sport activities wert:' an inte~ for the Peoples Army. Despite the
gral part of the latter organiza- J.l YEARS LATER occurrence of the rebellion at that
tion. known as the F.,deracion season of the ye~r v:hen there
Universitaria Eseolur (F. U. E.) On the 18th of July. 1936. the were no classes. 90 per cent' of
the Federation of University Stu- traitoro"s gene.rals rose against its members respo'lded to the call.
the government. attempting to There were. 1,200 students who
dents.
place it in the hands of Hitler and volunteered, with the place of mo-
FOUGHT DE RIVERA
Mussolini. who were not content bilization only in Madrid.
Thl' F. U. E. was organized with having emlaved their own
FRAS('IS('O TAR.-\SC'OS in 1922. and it fought unstintingly countries. but wished to do the
same with a people which has al- MANY ADVEl'IiT(;RO{::~
00(11 of t.hp first silulpnt ... to f'nlifolt agaillst the Dictatorship of Primo
in the popular "I,rislng' against ways fought savagely for its in-
the (aNf'ists. ThcnlKh hi t b,' J.t (it.: Rivera. It WR!i nne of the O~lt­
tlMf'ist buIl .. t" and h~", a ~om­ dependence. These generals did Thill mobilization took into u('-
plt'wly tlls.abi(l\(l ri&,ht arm as :t standing' liberal urgnnizat ions of
result of the wounc1 ... , ht' has in- rount the knowledge of each stu-
stilted on rpsumlng hi ... (,tilt ural that period in Spain's ili,tory.
&rth'iUes lLi)(ong tht' YUlit h. dent. age and sex. And the fol-
un,'\ that cuntributed nllH:h to till'
lowing sections were formed: ar-
of their father~: and those son8 ('ollHps~l of that l:ictator:-;lIip. It'::'
tillery. infantry. sanitary service.
of petit bourgeois people alld of ilCtivit.if'~ i:1Cluu('u a IlluniJPl' nf
shoemakers supply' department
workers, who understood th" sa- :-;tudent RtriJ.;:c~. which clllnlinntcd
technical and auxiliary services.
crifices of their parents, and wilt) in t ht' strike' :lg'aillst tllt' Fnl lllly
There \\'~re many stndents who
studied in order to learn. to be- of Madrilt, during' \'Vhil'11 t Ilt~ .stu-
\ver(" so adventurous that thl.~Y
come useful to their country and d('nt~ foug'ht against till' po~kt
could not for long 11., content with
to hUD:,3.nity. fo), sC\'t'l'al hour;..:. Dn .... w·'J ing t~H'
nne type nf wt)rk. tlll'\';:l' uriftt',l
These two types of students cops' pistol fil,\' hy thl'owiilg'
frt)nl n:lr' ,slTtioll tt) anothl...'r. 'sl'\;:'-
were represent.ed by two organi- bricks and iron bars from I he r('u-
king pla('\~s whert' t heLl' k!ltla-lt' 1-
zations. The first. whose princi- tiled roofs of the Unh'Nsi,y huil-
g-t..~ and nbil!ti('~ Wt)111d bt" of ~.la­
pal diversion was in having good dings. The then Director Genc·ml
tp~t USl'. Ot h('r~ joined HI' dl'~p~te
times. had a aGrt of fascist cha- of Security. General Mola now
pan'lltt',l Oppo~ltlon H.J)lt many
racter. This organization was fo- dead - enforced a cruel repres'
oth.,r ·)b,tacJcs.
rever putting obstacles in the path sion against the studenb. arres- ~r.-\XI·.;I. IUI ....\:<;OS
Ont.'" ynung' Fltutk'nt, ('Ol.·e ....
of learning for the working peo- ting many and closing tile Uni- l·r"~'nt. (.PIU'ral 1'oit'('rf't.ltry of t hf'
.'". t'. E. ()f ;\J,a,drtd ("'NI.-roUnn
ples' sons and daughters. versity. impedir.g and thue end- of l'nh'eorAity JoiiCudruta).
2 TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR 1.lBEKl'l·
CHINESE GENERAL SEES WORLD
THREATENED; SPEAKS OVER MADRID
"The Chinese people for a long
tim e .h"ve wllnt.ed a United Chi -
na in order to fight against th~
Japanese invaders" , stated th e
Chinese General, Yang Hu Cheng.
Gove.-nor (.f Sh«nshi Province,
when, recently, he was in .Ma-
drid. In the uomb-proof studio of
Madrid's EAR, t\-,o stories below
the street, the Genera] «ns wered
questions over t.he radio on Chi-
na and -Spain. H e agreed to do so
because, he said. he r p.alized th«t
in these countries is being se ttle·,j
the immediate future of the
world- peace or war.
General Yang, it will be re mom -
bered, played an important rolt~
in the Sian Fu Moveme nt Inst
Dece mber '12th w hich :H'ce le l':lte u
the movem l'nt for an All-China
uni t (~ <l frnnt for the struggl e
inst Japanese aggressi 0n in Chi-
na. The Gen('ral. , him&,::~'lf, h as flJf
a number of y ears been i n th o.-
furefront of th e Chin('se P ..:'o pl "-
dem a nd f or intl.' rn.t1 unity.
.~ :'"; E p t l!( ; ~ ~ ;I < "; ': l n ' h
,I"f"n.,.dl':'", ilJe' :Hi1! ;" In~· ,
u,nJ Ol(t f. , rt' i ~p • .a
The General said, "The motive
of the ptlB.ce movement on Decem-
b-! r 12th last year at Sian Pu
was in hannony with the wishes
of the Chinese people to make
China united. And the result of
this movement was a united Chi-
na"
He the n added, "It was the cry
of the Chinese people which was
re~ ponsible for Sian Fu lLl.()Ve-
ment. Though this accident met
many new obstacles. in the end
it succeeded with its first deai.re
to stop the Civil War in China..
lL was not only a' strong move-
m r nt for an internal peace front
to oppose Japan in China, but it
aho was a m ovement to streng-
th e n the Veace forces of the
w' ; rid. Afterwards the Kuomin-
agq,~
tang and th e Chinese Communist
P a l-: y m a de their peace and wor-
k ed tog"ther fo.r an All-China uni-
t ,,:! front .
"The first .step In the move-
oi I hln p.;(, "old il"" . flrl'lH'cI with
'i r..anl"h Pf!"Ul'I.t·'" ,\rlllY
go-gr.·: ~:;) I . and 1a~('INt In\ a"lolI ,
ment for a Chinese united front
was for the Kuomintang and the
Communist . Party of China to re-
lIolve their differences and to adopt
a common program against the
Japanese. And I wish to emphasize
the importance of the necessity of
resolving those differences and
the adoption of a common p.ro-
gram against the Japanese if our
united front was to be success-
ful."
In answering the questions as
to his purposes in coming to
Spain. and as to whether he
thought there was any connec-
tion between the Japanese inva-
sion of China and the It«lo-Ger-
man invasion of Spain, General
Yang told his radio listeners that
his .p urpose in coming to Spain is
a twofold one. "First of aU", he
said, I'the war in China is so si-
milar to the war in Spain; both
nations have been Invaded by fas-
cism.
"It is my intention to learn
from the experiences of the Spa-
nish people in their war «gainst
fascism and to apply these expe-
riences to our own struggle
against Japanese fasci sm. And
because Spain and China have the
same en~mies. There is a defini te
connection betWeen the war in
both of these countries. I am here
in order to' further cooperation
be tween them, so that we may
hasten the day of our ultimate
victory. For the Victory of China
is a guarantee of peace in the
Far East. The victory of Spain
i~ a gua rantee of peace in Euro-
pe. And one of the guarantees of
a Chinese victory is the victory of
Spain and Iikewi.qe one of the
guarantees for a Spani sh victory
is the victory of C h ina."
Asked in what way the Un ited
States was concerned in the S ino-
Japanese '>Var, and as to wh ether
there is a poss ihility that the Uni-
t ed States will be eventually in-
vo lved in the fray. General Yang
said. "Tod«y fascis t East and fas-
cist We"t have madly invaded
Spain and China. Here We are al-
ready faced with a very serious
threat to world p eace by these
invasions.
" But it is an even more dang-e-
rous threat to world pea ce it the
d err.t:lCratic nations isolate them-
" elves from these conflicts and
permi: th.- aggre.'iSor nations to
hand-
",o-ld 1.' 1'/0; , continue their invasions unmoles-
ted. For in.,tance, for the Uni-
PEACE
RADIO
ted States aloofness trom the Si-
no-J apane.se conflict will result
not only in a threat to her lead-
ership in the Pacific, but also in
the loss Of her interests and in-
vestments in China and in the
Pacific. In the end the United
States will find it imp08lllhle to
stay out of a- greater war which
will occur as a result of Japan's
present policy of expansion."
"Therefore, In orde.r for the
peace-loving American people to
prevent. this threat of becoming
involved in a world war, they must
not isolate themselves from thi'
events wbich are happening in
China. The majority of the Ame-
rican people have energetically
exp.ressed their opposition to fas-
cism. Recently, President Roose-
velt pointed out that it was im-
posslblll to localize any conflict,
no matter in which part of tho
world it began, and he stated, co-
rrectly, that the United State.!!
cannot Stand aloof from any of
these conflicts. From this Speech
we can see that America' is trying
to take a further step and an ac-
tive attitude in connection with
the Sino-Japanese War. It IJI not
definitely necessary for America
to aid China hy the useaf mili·
tary forc e. The way for America
to help China is to exert pressu-
I f on Japan through an economic
be,ycott of Japanese goods. This
will deal a severe blow to Japan's
hopes of continuing her invasion
in China."
"All Six Footers,
Tough Mountaineers'
A significant highlight on our
rearguard activities a;gaillSt the
fascist invaders is revealed in a
letter written by an American
now active 011 the Extremaduran
front.
"The other day", he writes, "I
spoke with - m emibers of a band
of guerrille ros who had just come
out of the mountai~ on a: short
mission. They carry OIl cODBlant
partisan warfare behind the E:ne-
my's lines. With the band was a
very husiness-like and attractive
young partisan girl. She carried
a big gat on her hip.
"The entire band was the fi-
nest-looking group I've seen in all
of Spain. All Six-footers, tough
mountaineers."

EDEN PREPARES A FURTHER BETRAYAL
On the night of NoveIl"" " 12,
fascist broadcasting stat · - all
over tbe world were jubilam. The
stations at Berlin and Rome
broadcast f or more than an hour
in English. The station.s at T o-
ledo, Seville, SalaII:anca, Gijon
hoarse with joy.
And what was the cause of this
triumphant chorus? Have the fas-
cists taken Madrid? Have they,
with the help of German and Ita-
lian troops and arms won some
reaounding victory on one of th e
fronts? No, they have n ot taken
Madrid, ant the small gains they
made in the Aragon a f ew days
ago , were lost to them a couple
• f days afterwards when the Go-
vernment forces cotmter-attacked.
Are Germany and Italy sending
more men and more guns to the
fasCists in Spain? They are, but
this is not the cause of fascist ju-
bilation. German and Italian ,,:ons-
cripts have met defeat before n ow ,
at the hands of the Government
forces, and will again.
EDEN IS CAllSE
Mr. Eden and his Foreign Offi-
ce have provided a ... eason for the
fascist rejoicings.
It is more than a year now sin-
ce the German and Italian go-
vernments, anticipating the fall of
Madrid, hastened to recognise the
Burgos "government". It was the
dearest wish of the British Tory
government to do likewise, but
the fear of a similar demonstra-
tion to that which greeted the
Hoare-Laval Pact, when they had
decided to betray Abysainla, cau-
sed the reactionaries to hold thei r
hand for the time being; but the
tortuous, twisted course of Bri-
tish forelgy: politics for the past
year has been directed to one end
- - the achieving by subterfuge
that which could not be don'~
openly.
FIRST BRITISH !\(;J<;NT
There has arrived in Salaman -
ca a represe ntative from Britain
to the rebel "government". Thi s
is to be the first of a number of
British "agents" who will be sta-
tioned in the most important
towns in r ebel territory "to watch
over British interests". The Bri-
tish Government will not eall the-
se "agents" consuls, whi ch in ef-
fe c t and intention, they are, as
this would involve open r ecvgni-
tion which the British p~·jJlk
would be in no te mper to tolerate.
THE VOLUN'I'I!'.EB FOB UBERTY
What doe, British Imperialism
hUi>e to gain by thi.~ move? 'r.,
Britons enrolled in the Spanish
People's A"my th~ expectatioM "f
the Tories will be plain. F.rom thl'
beginning the British Government
has hope<i for, and worked for, in
its own way, a Franco victor)'
The large scale interve ntion on the
part uf fascist Italy and Germa-
ny has pl~. t ei the Government in
a dikmn:a, for the entrenchment
of 1!;esc two countries in Spail!
would threaten its communir.tI.-
tinns hoth with Africa and In-
dia, its two main 80urees of 1m·
perihl trihute. By its new move,
and th0H whleh will follow it, it
hopes, wbile endeavouring t o se- •
cure a victory for Franco, to ~e·
parate. h'm f ) om his allies, par-
ticularly Italy, which it regard~ II..i!
the p rincipal mpnace to its Im-
per ia l trHde routcs
BRITAIN'S PLANS TODAY
What crances has this plan 01
nlecting with ~ucce ss?
It is certain that Portugal, whi-
le it has lent 'itself to the de signs
of fascist Italy, vi ews with. n·1
great plea.sure thl' installation at
'fh., .. nlith-al !'H'lwnwr nnd
pnlntur (';r ~IH' Int~r"",b ot' Bri-
tish Turlf"!oI. . 1I:t\'in~ dl'( ~f· h(·11
I·' ran,' j' and jUI;J;"If"d ~hr Spa ni",h
war (11H'~Uutl with IIltI.' r and
.:\lu!'! -ollnl, h (' i~ IIUW Jlluttln~ 'f l r
R "'ranl'o \"tdorv wl1.h th(' \ "j.' W
nl "Ktllill~ f'HrH';'~!4IH'H' uf m i nt'S
:, nll n1h"r Spanish
l't'Hnom i ('
~ourf· (' S.
a ra gi ng an~t fiver mon' gTl"',ly
I i g PI' nn it ." d"n.rsl-c p. anrt would
wC}c '(\ n\(' ~ h.,' inter\'e ntion
c'ld "a.lIy" ('; n'at Brital:1.
If It ' \' r \\'ho ~t.' d l ti r(' po li e .\.' h ,t;-
h'(,11 \l i f"!'ctt'd lt lward.'l thf" !
rati nn f" r ~I g reat ~ ';ar
GRANEN
Britisl> Hospital, Aragon lront, Beptemb"" 1936.
Too many peopte are in love with death
AM he walks thigh-proud, neveT s/etJ)a alone:
Consider him neighbour ana llftemy, both
Hated aM usual, best avoided when
Best known .
Weep, weep, weep! say machine-gun bullet8, statiflg
Mosquito-like a ail/erent note c!o"e-by;
Hold st eady the lamp, the black, the tom flesh "UhtlflU
And th e searching knife; enl'l-y the "treteher; wait,
Eyes dry .
OUT enemies can praise death and adore death;
For us endurance, the sun; and now in this night
The electric torek, feeble, waning, but close-"et,
Follows tlie surgeon's fingers. We are alliea wit,.
Th.." light .
T_ H, WINTRINGHA,JI
quest, has re peat edly staled th _tt nism to it grows in the Labour
In su ch a war Ge.rmany could not P a rty and in the masses of peo-
hope to be su ece3sfui, without pl e not yet allied to any pollticai
the aid, or at least the ben e";)· party. An (1 the Brltsh Govern-
lent neutrality , of the Br", ish Bnl- m ent is presuming when it assu-
Fire. Th ere is, thprefore, good r ea- rr, ~ s that Franco is going to win
son to believe Ulat it lie thollg.!'. t hiR war . We who are here In
then! was a ch :lnce I) f run :dn g a ~'; p" in have every rea "on to doubt
deal w ith Br i t ain, h ~_ \vuuj(i not that he can, even with the aid of
hEsitate to j e ttison his Ha'LIIl Ita lian ('onscripts and German
confedera tes. arms. Anr! even the rno.ral support
It goes wit hout aayin,; lilat of the Briti sh Gove rnment will not
Franco would lend himself to th~ avail him much against the gro-
design of giving himself ,OUl0 wing P OWN of the Spanish Peo-
semblanee of II:r3.stery in the tc- p ic's Army.
rritory it is h oped may be won 'rhe British G(w.' ,nme r t wilt not
for him. a c hieve it!'i (' bj e(~\ ~ in ':;pain, hut
So far, so g ood . itR policy is frau g ht with dC1n :;~ r
for the p eace of the world. Th e
Brit ish Tory Gove rnment, li l<:r
MVSSOUNI'S II01't:8
th at of H itler and Mussoli"i, ie a
But what of Italy? Will Mu s - Gover nment of war, an d mual hl.l
solini be wj1 ' in - to meekly s u - quickly r emove d if w"rld p~ are
rrender all th on which he has i ~ to he preserved.
[o. taked so JHU ( II '! T he Balcar! c .~, n, t fo .
m .~ni­
Ihe pOSition" com mandi ng Gillral -
tar, the naval and submarine l;",.
ses on the Spanish coasts ? Will he
s urrender witholtt figh t the mint'-
rals h e has. and thos e he hopI'S
Spanish Government
t o g e t? Mr. F:dl' n is c razy if h e Invites Lloyd George
thinks he will .
Furth c nl1ore, thrn'" are at k .lh t
two othe r factot" whi c h F;rl,'n has
df jl~ jp ft out o~· a c(' nl mt UU' Hriti.sh Hril.i:..;h J', i llW Ministf'r , Ll uyd
lW(jp!(' ::lnd th e Sp~ini ' ! h p{'i'r1e. A~;!
C; t... · . I·~·. '· . t: ','. :"".' t lo yal ~(' I ri\.( ,ry ill
t h.' Iilh' o f ! h I: H l"i t , . .·Ii C; .j ·,,'er n-
t'j i ;! mi'!) · h :con1! '.'i l'1) n sL.;,.ntl.,· l U : lf"{'
tl f : '0:,' o l le nl -: !.. 10 f ~1SciRt, ;:;0 \. hl' ;\Il t;J ~ {)-

COPIC, COMMANDER OF OUR 15th BRIGADE
( 'omnlund.'r ('ot" 1('
Although tht:' m ('n in the batta-
lions which comprise the 15th Bri-
gade look upl'n Brig'ade Comman-
d er Copie as ali Anglo-American
by adoption, little is known among
us lIf his ex: iting and varied life.
His long' connec tion with our brl-
g-ade ··-from Jarama , through the
Bl'unt:'te and I'l'~l'nt Aragon offen-
sive~ .. has naturally malie this
slc'cl, y lE'adt' r a familiar figure
a:11 t: ng li S. \\'t.' have seen lliJn in
",any aSl'c('ts; aJl(I it is always a
ntrp r h:e ttl n cwconl(' TS in the bat-
talions to se,' h is square-jaweli,
serious fnct', sel in severt! li nes (If
ccncentratio n, break suddenly inl.)
lhe most friendly and jovial of
~miks. And man y of us know him
in another moc)d : we have heard
h,m sin):,. at Iwadquarh'rs and in
thl' tn·nc hl's alii,e, He himself Is
quit,' Ir~' nk arn:ut this. "I love to
~'; lIl ;'.( ' . h(· says; a nd he adds; HI
,c:: ! tlg' t,'\' l ' t) at Ule front" . He inva-
r ia h ly leaves to his a!'iHociah\s the
j( ~ h t If' reminding h i m that uuring
br i g'ad t: (leth.Jtls h(' is too inte nt
lqAlfl tilt:., t a sk of ('lIordillati ng thr
ifft'c lh'l' firc of eve ry unit a.ga.inst
:ht , e:nl" l!l y to thinl{ of any o ther
deJlllld J,t:t ~l1at of artille ry , nlachi -
n('· ~!" un ,dld riOl' fin"'"
\\' .1. Uiat's a lflng intr.. du cti( lIl.
b! : t. it dt*:.:;n't eVt,'Jl beg"ill t o r en ,'al
:llr clOnlJnandcr in all o f his many
qualities. !II'Js t of u s will, if we
TIlE "OL11NTZER FOR UBERTY
havc not already done so, find
these out f lit' ourselves. Ml'anwhi-
Ie, perh:lp" a \Jare l'l'cital or th~
facts of his life will hplp.
VlatliJnir Cl' pie was uorn in Jl'\91
into farnily of a smnl1 tt'adt~~ll1an,
in tht· t t l "'lt fir SC'nj i ll C roatia
Iprevicn.J.ly in ,\u,tli<1, now i\1 Yu-
goslavia I . The fa ntily was poor .
His faPter , the own ~ r of a small
tailor s hop, coul.ill't feed his f a·
mily of lhll'teP Il ch ih lr('n <lut ,, 1'
hi~ meagr~ enrninl~". Ail (If till'S "
children. thereflll'c, ha.i t . . .t a rt
w orking" nt '\'(' ry l'nrly ngc:::. an ~ ~
ail of thl' m \\'orkl'd hard .
Thank s Ii' a "cholarship. which
h e rt'eeivl'\l whil;' he was sti ll in
grade school, Vladimir Copie wall
enabled to atterld 'hlgh s chool and
eventually to register for a college
course of study. H (' \\'as the only
one of all 'his brotht' r ~ all<l sister"
who was able to tin lh is.
E.\RJ,Y.\CTIHTIJo:S
"As a student" , h e s~ys , "my
recC'rd was varied - $ lm cl!rllC's my
g rades ""l'rc (>xcellr nt. S()nletif'1e~:
vcry poor" .
As a stu1ent, too, he t onk an
active part in thl' r evo lutionary
student mon' ment, whi r. h hatl a"
its princ ipal task the fight fo !' na ·
tional independence of the Croa-
tian people oppressed by the Aus -
tro·Hungarian Empire . In conn£'c-
tion with his participation in the
student movement ht:' \Vas arrested
in Zagreb for the fi r st timl' in
1!)12.
Thc r.utbrca.l< of tltc \\'o l'ld War
found him in till' r a lll", a "<lldit'r
in thf.' Austriull AnllY.
only a yea r later, in 191:,. that he
was taken pri sol1er in RlIs,~ia .
\\-"hil£, a prisoner in r{ussia 1111 hc -
canu' familiar with Marxian Hl t' -
l'aturp. Ann ft'tlll1 1!117 0 11 l h' worlt._
ed for th e H p Vt ' ! lI lHUl, which h ~ ' r c -
CO~"Tl i7.e d 1 hrl' ;lg" ' . ::: Ilf'\\'ly - r ~ llItJ;l
:\11 Iflh· rvi .. w 1)I"w('c' l1 ~ hl '
"u llknu\\,n" :1;{~r'·S,.urs,
knowledge to be the gateway to time" , he explains, "sillee I learn-
frl'~dl'm rur the Russian people, ed It mysE'1f, from a book, I do
n nlollg' tht' war pri ~o n er:i, not understand It as well' lUI I
might when it i8 spoke!!, particul-
arly when it is spoken rapidly",
.U .... ER 1917 Because of his w ork in Spaln with
English an.:l Amerlca.n and Cana-
And n ow we y,i11 h' t Commander
dian co mrades, he feels that hi.!J
Copic t ell a pll rt of his story him-
knowledge of the English langua-
' l'if:
g e has increased consldpra.bly·
"Tl'\\'ard" th e end of 1918 I went
In additi<m to hi ~ native tongue,
to YlIg-nsla\' ia, wht:'re , took an
Croatian , he speaks RUSSian, Ger-
nctiq· part. in the labor mo\'C' m"'
"Ill. .. lIec,wse of m,v p;\rticipati on
in 0 ' ,' labo r m,) Vt ' nl p. llt, I was fre-
(l' le ntly sl l1Jj£'rll'(' to pt' rR('~ uti"n .
In Hll!l r \\'a~ o n tri nl for organiz-
ing; a ca mpai g n nf solidarity with
the HlInlrn rian Commun{'. I n No-
\'{'mbcr, 1920, I was elected to the
Parliament, but six m o nths later
I was ('xpellcd and plac ed on trial.
T ..... o yl'RrS in jaii was the sen-
h'nce .
" L "ter, in 1925, as the secretary
of the Ind c' pendent Labur Party
in Croatia. and as th e editor of the
lah(;r pap,·r. The Strugg le, I was man and Czech well. He CliO read
again ,cnte nced _ .. this tim e to a ll Slavic langu age~. In addition
thret' and a halt years in prison. to English , but, he adds, "not 90
T h is t ime, ho\\'eve r , I was able t o well", he speaks Spanish, French
eEcape from prison. But since then and Italian.
1 have had to live in e migration
Back home we would call thl.. ,
from my native land."
SUppo.9t!, a thUmbnail r!Keti!il.,
Wlt~t"v.'1' it. ;$ ealied, it is the es-
..\H1tI\' .\J. 1;-.' ~l' . \JN P-I'ntial r ecord of a man who has
been with our Brigade longer than
VIa .Iimir C('pic "ame to Spain any of u s, who has led and direct-
in Janll a l'Y. 1937. t o joi n the Peo- cd it through on~ great ddt'nsive
ph's Army. Towards the beginning
period and two grl'a.t off~ns l'vt's,
of F e bruary h,' reached the ,rara-
antI whn j, huw preparing us for
Ilta front, as Political Commis..qar
whatever li~s in store. The Ame-
of thc F iftcenth Bri!!ane; and
ricans ill the Brigade call him
an,·}' a cnllple of rlH y~ of ve ry
"an Ame rican by adoption". If
!lpuvy fighting' a r (llind th e ,la-
rama. Iw took 0\'('1' thl' command any of th(' other nationalities in
It wa~
{i f lh t' Brig:a<.!c , our briga(\" mak" similar c1aht1s
OUI'iolg' thc .July off£'nsive (If the on him; if \\'ill h~ an inter-brigade
Peeples .t\. rilly aro nnd Bnuwtc, hl' batt\(' for hl~ adherence. aut thro-
\': a ~ WPlillth ·,'t by shrapnel from nil \I1/'h it ail , you may be 5urt', des-
;,""i l rl:JJ1I' hl1mh. pite his plt'aslIn' at I.he Various
T his i ~i f :\I" fronl n sati sfac t ory adopti ons , h., 'll br working away
bing"raphy flf C(lnlnln.nder Copic. a t those thin!:,,, which. in o r out
It i.... meJ'I'ly t ht' ~ lil'le ton of r. hill- of hattie, are the things which
g"rarhy . tltl' l l llti irH' (If a n ac tivt.~ bring vic tory to the Brig-arlc, to
and prr:dud;,·,· caree r , the >tuff the Peoples A r my, and to the go-
of whi ch biographie s can be w rit- \'erltn1l'nt of th~ Spanish people,
t ell. But I hesp fl'w n oh's, with
\'cry Iittl,' oI l'tail to m und thell1 of(
and fill th (,1Il in . an' ample indi-
cation uf th e kin,l of lif,' UHr Co m -
mandel' h ~s livt:'d . Japanese Ambassador
He has ne\'('r ceased t" learn, to
satisfy that cons uming- hunger l o r
Gets Hot Reception
knowlC'(! g l' whh..' h i!'\ mo.!'t often
1\ alllct an:o,, :'~ pl'flpl {' who h avC"
Whcn thc Ja.panese Ambassa-
l;;nowl1 hi tler )lov('rly. pl.'opl(" who anived in a New York port
<10 1'
have had to fi g ht Hnd toil and on thl' oeean liner "Europe of
,,\\'.~a I for their edu ration. He Okura" last wpek , he was greet-
learned Eng"lish whill' h e was a ed hy a hug-e sto rm of anti-Japan·
f\\:1
prisoner in Hus~ire. "At the sam e e:-;c den1f'l ll strat(H'S,
 mE VOLU!fi'Da FOR LIBERTY 5

FROM ,MADRID TO World Anti-Fascist

AMERICA
It Radio Address on Spain and
Its Peopl.
t am happy t o greet the peo-
ple of America, particularly tbe
Negro people. tonight from
this center of h eroic struggl"
against fascism . It lTlight seem
odd that 1 should thtJa chara.c-
tl!rize this fight, but .one's first
and last impreS8lon h~re is just
that. It 18 not only a civil wa.r
_.. not only a war against
Franco - but a fight to keep
fascism from engulfing Il p"o-
pie tor whoill democracy is
dearer than life itself.
I came t'l Spain to try t o
understand the significance of
this war to the minority peo-
plell of thE' world wllo hAy!! sui.
ferect 80 severely already from
fll8cist brutality and propa-
ganda. I cannot tell y ou much,
for I have been .in Spain but
a week and there aJ"Q othp-rl;
IRIIND~ 01
MACKENZIE -PAPINEAU
IHl
Women Delegation
'''ITAl/ON IN SPAIN
,. . . . . O:OLU; Ullc .". r . Visit Spain
"One of the m08t in8plrins: ex-
Oetober 26, 1~37. perience!! in our visit to Spain 'bu
been our reception by the Inter-
TO ALL CANADrAN COMRADES
n'aUonal Brigades ", a spokesman
IN SPAIN
for the delega,tion representing
!!aiud; Comrades ! the Womcn's World Committee
Against War and Fascism said in
Greetings from your "rearguard" organization and all
Madrid.
elGpression of the great pride we feel in the record you have
The delegation, con8isting of
made in Spain upholding the traditions of Democracy against
Bernadette Cattaneo, secretary of
the ruthless FaSCist attempt to bind the world into chains
of slavery. the World Committe e, Marcelle
Lerey, secretary of the Belgian
eomradt;s , w e have a tc4uest t o lnake of you in the
Front - one that. will greately assist liS in 1hl' work here committCi.', Marla Rebate, secre-
It Ul. a matter of establishing communication between com-
tary of the French committee,
rade" over there and ourselves. HHda - Vernon, British secretary
You can hardly vision the demand which comes to US for and Miriam Arceri of the IWiall
firAt hand infonnation from you. The people of Canada from Committee, visited various Bat-
coast · to coast wiUlt to khow daily what you oro! doing. May taliollB of· the I. B. after attending
we suggest to you the following: womens' anti-fasci~t CongrellSes
in Valencia and Barcelona.
1. That you keep in constant touch with relatives and
friends. Echoes of rumors which you know so weH in Spain
are heard here and oft-times are the cause of mAlch unne-
INTENSIFY WORK
~ary worry.

hl!rl! tonight who will speak
more authoritatively. But a new
comer's reactions may have s o-
me value.
Reactions tremble over one
another.- they come ~o thick
and fast . In these minutes I
can only tell you a f ew. I 'feel
at home he re though one is in
the midst of the s train of a war
ridden country. Though my
Spanish Is mi$erably inade-
quate, I am able to t a lk t o
the people. We have a com-
mon language. They arc
fighting oppreRsion a nd
come from a pe" ple whose op-
. ~. That you wtite to thi1> office as of ten as you can
".We promise to Inten8ify our
find time and material, telling experiences and mentioning
work to assure the opening of the
other Canadians who may be in hospital with you. Also we
frontiers and respect for Internat-
would like pictures (especiaHy of Canadians) , buHetins, a·rti-
ional Law, and win: ever greater
eles of publication, etc. which can be used in publicity.
support for Republican Spain",
3, W.rite the newspapers in the locality you come from .
Miss Cattaneo said.
They I1re interested and .glad to get material. Experience has
"Nothing but the devotion of
proven that invariably donations are sent in foH owing su ch
the I. B. men could be more Ins-
publication. Don't forget to write your union local and other
piring than the Womens' Congress
organizations to which you belonged.
in Barcelona", explained Miss
Comrades, if you can do this it will assist us tremendously.
Vernon, member of the group.
And lnay we assure you that we will do ou.r best t o see that
"There a real united front of all
you do not lack of the comforts which it is possibl e to send
the important women's organizat-
over. Organization is being enlarged and a Dominion-wide
ions in Catalonia, was formed
tou r is beginning soon. If we can do but half as good a job
behind the policy of the govern-
as you a N doing over there it will be a tr('mendous s uccess.
ment" . She intends to return to
Ca nada is prOUd of you . Carryon! We are with you.
England to tell women there also
Salud, Camaradas.
of the important role I . B. men
Jlt; ,\TIU( ' " (·OI . I. E played in the Aragon: <luring re-
8 l'c r dary . cent campaigns.
The ahov!' Ictt('.•' wa s Sf'"t 1.0 I. 13. wilh lh" rcqlll'st tha t it
be tra nsmit ted to all Canadian comrad es in Spain.
10,000,000 !\lI'lMBt;RS

" For Peace a nd Freedom", is

presBion i ~ centurif's (lIrt , 1 anI
R part of thei r fc<,lin g against
th~ Italia n fa sci sm which has
participated in the d evastation
of their country. bccause we in
America f{'lt kff nly the de va-
station by the sa m,' fmces o (
B thiopia. I s ~ n.'1' thl'i l' dete r-
mination 10 maintain democra-
cy in Spain. because in Ame-
.1ca w e Negroes hll.ve bec n
nation..- I Hr;gad ps a re loved hy
the Spanish people. Ont' cn-
c(;untel's none of the racial pre-
judice so characteristic of onc" s
own country. A victory f or fa-
, cis m in Spain would chRngl'
an thi H. Thc conclll Hion ca n Oll-
Iy h I.' thcrcf" I'(,. tha t all nf us
who as minority peoples a re
victimi7.('o by fasc ism, a.ll of
us who beli eve in the prinCip-
one of the main slogans of the
World Committ ~e which the dele-
gH.ti on represents, an orga nization
with 10,000,000 w omen as m em-
bers and 20 popular illustrated
pcrlodicals being issued in its na-
me . "For defense of Mother and
child" is a n'O thc r.
"The fight for democracy In
Spain is certainly a fight for pea-
ceI' and freedom" Miss Vernon,
Bril.i~h representative said. "And

TWENTY l't;AIIS AGO Uus-iall
,wompn 'Hore prrplpxpd hy tlu' ill·
'rica('it'~ of ma("hlnpr~· : toda~,'
fhf' )" an" ~hf" mK,drTS Hf tlwm.
stri ving' fill' dem ocratic rig hts
~incc th(' day, of slavery.
Though the Moors are t oda y
a part of Franco's fighting f or-
ces , I finrl no racial propagan-
da in Spa in . Our Negro boys
who arp fighting in the Inte r-
les o f d,' moc racyhav!' thl' duty after ~r('ing the manne r in whic'h
ef supportin g- this f ight of till' the fasci:;t wag(' ruthlcss war
Spani s h pCllple with all that we aga inst t.he peaceful civilian po-
have. It is nUl' comm on pula tion, can anyone doubt that
the fight of Spain iR one for the
sll'ug'g')c.
deCe ns!' of Mothl'r and child
I.Ot' I~t; 1'IIIHII'''II:> throughout civiliza tion !"
6 '11IE VOLUNTEER FOB LlBERTV
SPANISH STUDENTS IN THE WAR FOR CULTURE
(Continued from p_l::e 1.)
W&8 fifteen years old when he joi-
ned the IIrst fightere on the front.
He Wa.tI called bacl< by bls father .
H~ h.d claimed to be seventeen
yeara of age when the IIrst F.U.F..
call was I&ued. After his recall.
be was assigned to thl' shoemak-
IDg servlc .... when: it was thought
he would be sate; but he found.
wltb hla ... xtr('ml' youth and en-
thuaiaam. that this brancH of the
aervice was intolerable to him .
Finally it was agrf'ed that h(' go
Into the infantry ; here lie remai-
ned until his tathl'r aga in decided
to call him back for not being of
age to do front line duty.
SANDBA(lS f'OR "ILLUWS
After two week.s. this young
student ran away from his fath er's
home and joined a shock briga-
de. He went with the Campesl-
nos, where he remained until his
father again located him . Once
again In Madrid, he ~ought to re-
turn to front line duty. To wind
up thla story without describing
a dozen addition re<:alls and es-
capes to the front in which he
participated, let it"be known that
today this young student-fighter
can be found in an artillery in-
formation service of the Army of
the Cente r. The re is much dou!:>t
;\ -.;t1uJf'nt Itt ~h(' SC'I"IIC '('S , ,,' hc'll
ttlf' war ht"gan, hi' Inunf'lliatf'l.v
Hrj{nnl:tl'd .a U ltttalillll l 'a Uf'd tltp.
.... un· " f.uarcHa " ( "uutll (.u : ~rcls)
whi,' h fnut:'ht. un ttl ,· r-: , tr l' !H ,III'l p
rlBu and ~it'rr" frHut :-- . ·'" .. t h,,-
(ore hi .. cI"lIth hp wa ... 'lIad.~ ( ' UIH -
man,tf'r ill ('hlt· , IIf 01U'rutiuns tlr
,tH' I · ir'" .\ rill,\" ("lIrp.
l · NI'~ Ji;R,sITl· . ltea-Kant, Indultrial, and whlt.t'-I'ollltr , 'outh -
bf"hlntl the HHme mile,. of Hand·ba« pa.ra(Wt~ raiNf""" In defhln(:e
of the taad"t·R.
about his being recalled again
now, a year and a half after the
war first began. His father has
given him up as· "impossible".
Cases like this could be multiplied
by the dozens.
Another curious Incident occu-
rred in the shoemaklng branch on
the very first day It went out.
The section's destination was Po-
zu elo, where the men were quar-
tered In small tents where there
was very slight comfort: These
tents were pitched . in an open
fi eld, behind a fair to middling
s andbag construction. Things
went well until it occurred to one
of the stUdents to use a sandbag
as a pillow ; for this purpose, he
appropriated one of the sand-bags
on the par&lpets. Immediately we
all made haste (i had the honor
of fighting In thlB section) to imi-
tate them . You can figure out for
yourself the surprise and despe-
ration of the technicians when
they checked up on fortifications
early the next morning and dis-
covered the students all peace-
fully asleep on their sand-bag pi-
llows and the sector completely
in the open, unptotected. The fas-
a ll
eists must have been sleeping too
or there would have been no stud-
ents to ball out. As It was, the re-
marks of the technicians to the
stUdents were far ,rom flattering.
We worked all day to repair the
damage and oorrect our slight
lax . That night however, instead
of sleeping on sand-bags in a tent,
we discovered a hoWle which ga-
ve us better protection without
exposing us to enemy fire or the
foolish temptation to which we
had succumbed the previous night.
YOUTH FRONT
All of these sections later for-
med the Battalion of the Youth
Front. Together with most of the
other youth organization:; these
battalions today fonn the 68th
Mixed Brigade. If one asks how
the students In thlB battalion
conducted themselves In battle it
is enough to say that a company
composed of members of F . U. E.
when placed in defense positions
at Usera prompted the comman-
der to state that their presence
was a guarantee that their posi-
tions would be well defended.
Among these student companies
a petition was composed and ad-
,dressed to the National Minister
of nefence requesting that the
comrades in command be given
the rank of Lieutenant without
having to go through the Popu-
lar War School. It IB testimony to
their abilities that thlB request
was Immediately granted. Fw:ther
proof of the students' excellent
mili tary conduct is the statement
comple tely borne out by all ob-
servers, that seventy-five percent
of the students who volunteered
as militiamen during the first days
of the war have made outstand-
ing names for themselves in tbe
Popular Army, holding down nu-
merous ranking pOSitions from
that of Lieutenant upward.
U~AIJING POSITIONS
There are Political Commlssal"ll,
heads of brigades and divisions,
ll.viators, doctors, etc. Other stud-
cnts, unable to bear anns becau80
of extreme youth or physical In-
fermity or disability, have direct-
ed activities of a cultural nature
among the peasants, in the facto-
ries. and in the barracks. There
is a student in the Popular Uni-
versIty in Madrid who is General-
Secretary of the F . U. E . Three
thouqand workers attend this unl-
Stlldf"nt of J'hIlH"Oph~' .nnd onr . f
thf" fuundf'rH of th(~ t ' . J.l. E . of
:\ftldrld . Hf" WR." Pn'~ldt"nf of the
l ~ . 1'.... E. H . and a I·ulltl('.al Com~
mi,,"ar In the f.tlnwn.~ F . tth Rr.-
ttlment hf"tuff" hf" waM klllt'd In
battle h\!'ft ~· ~lr .
 THE VOLUNTEER FOB UBERTY 7

Irish Fighters Back Home Call

For Support of Loyal Spain
Thirteen Irl.sh volunteers in the no 'Red mob" in Republican
Spanish Peoples Army, repatria- Spain; that all parties have u..ted
ted after having been wounded in to defend th e Republic , so that the
Spain, have Issued a vigorou.s sta- Spanish people may freely deter-
tement calling for the complete mine their own diBtinies in the
support of Republican Spain by future .. .
the Irish Free State ·Government.
ONLY ONE SIDE
The thirteen are William Scott,
Terence Flanaga.n, James Pren-
"There can be only one side for
del'K'ast, Joseph Monks, Patrick
the Irish peoP'!e! And it is the side
Smith, Sean Gotf, Patrick Duff,
Frank Edwards, William Bower; that has been shamefully tradu-
Peter O'COIIIlor, James O'Beirne ced. As yesterday. so it Is to-day.
Donal O'Reilly and Jack Nalty. The lordlings and generals, with
WHEN THE STUDENTS of Madrid temporarily <irDpped their book. aDd
~D. to ruell to the mountains and to the pte.s of the city fltnClne their UD- ''We ... wounded members of the the wealth and might ones of the
anned bodlw. against the 8urctnc Moors . and ltaJian t.asci8ts many of earth behind them. have made the
their moot notable leader. fell. To \lite left I. the photo of N~rlo Cuar- Irish Unit serving .. . with the Spa-
&ero. former _leader of tbe RiCht wiD&, etudent. movement of t.he "Old nish Republican Army feel that world ring with new "Scullabo-
Guard- durlnl' Primo RiveN'.. dictatorship. He was e-xp~lIed from the gues" and "Wexford Bridges"; the
reaetiOllary student orl'&nlzatlon because of bis Vll'oroU8 antt-faaciam.. After it Is now necesary to raise our
fI~htID~ on many fronk, he fell on the Eacorl.n.l front the first day of men in frieze-coats and dungarees,
!U.'Yelllber. ltI.8t year. To tohe rJ,ht t8 ah&wn the pict.ure of Joan Marco. voices", the statement dec lares,
~ o' the prlnclpal organizer. of the F. U. E. In Ca.teUon. He wail "in a direct appeal to the Irish the poor tea.chers and schloars,
• b'lIJltant member of the Union of Communist Youth and took active cannot be heard, though every fact
p~ In the pre-war clandeKtine revolutionary move.meDt~; he performed nation. In the name of our fifty
1e6dlDC' .enlce. In the Ociiober Rebellion of 19M. He 'Waa commandioc
comrades whose graves dot the attests the justice of their cause.
LIe.wnant of a Battalion ot MUlttamen before he teU on the Teruel front
.at )"ear. The BattaHon In the 13th International Bri&.ade which bearA his Spanish battefields, in the name "We call on the Irish people,
DUlle bal a brilliant record of battles at Teruel and the Southern fronts. then, to rise up against the Preas
of our comrades stili m action, we
speak in behalf of their cause." lards and unscrupulous poli ticians
verslty at a time, receiving Ins- age. He was among the first to who are misleading us now as they
tructiOJl which is invaluable in otJr go out to fight fa.sciam at the misled lUI before. W" call on the
~f!liht'a.i&inst fascltnn. JU8t lIB in beginning of the rebellion in the CITE EXPERIENCES Government of the Free State to
de8Jlng with students in milltary Sierras. It WIIB there that he fell, The statement goes on to descri- end its subservience to this power-
be the extensive pro-fascist pro· ful and noisy group, and to grant
positions, I do not think it neces- pierced by fourteen 'bullets fight-
paganda which flooded Ireland at the Spanish Republic the full re-
sary to mention names, because Ing agaln.st the mercenary troops
the outbreak of the treasonable
all of those who have pla.ced all that came from Burgos, Valladolid
revolt against RepUblican Spain,
01 their knowledge and enthu- and Segovia. Today, comrade Ta- and how, despite this baragc f'f
siasm to the job of combating rancon's right arm is useless. Des_ lies, so many young Irishmen left
fascism have done a job of enligh- pite this he insisted many times their native land to fight with the
tenment which will live beyond on returning to the front. After people of Spain against the trai-
torous generals. cognition it had before the con-
theil' Bingle individual efforts. continuolUl refuools, he insisted on
"Our experience in Spain", they flict .
During the year and a half in being given a teaching ,post just continue, "has convinced us that "We demand this in the name
which we have fought, many stud- behind the trenches. At present we were right jn taking the step of our comrades who have died to
ente have fallen, all pm'suing their this comrade is President of the we did. We saw for ourselves that redeem thls nation's h onour, in
duties as Spaniards. Many have Union Profesion.al de EstudLantes the propaganda still being circu- the name of our comrades who are
de B&chlilerato. lated here (in Ireland) was a gro- ready yet to die, am in the name
had responsibilities which they
tesque misrep.resentation. We sa.y of the traditions handed down by
have held with honor until death. The girl students have known
to the Irish peopll! that there i~ our National Fathers."
Among the Wlenare the names how to help their comrades.
of many of the leading members Among the girls so many ha\'e
of our organization. Among these been outstanding as to make It
we can cite the names of C8.rra.sco impossible to mention their names
Cuartero, Lopez, Loma, Pedro Es- in a short article. They have work- Was The Chairman's Face Red?
cudero, Lapiana. Not only have ed in fadories, directing themsel-
YOU veprobably heard this one "It has not?"
we suffered the final cIIBualties of ves the production of cloth and (or read it) before, but we think "No."
warfare; many of us have been clothes for the fighters. Among It's good enough to hand down to "Then", said Mr. Burke, "wlIl
made cripples in extreme youth, them are many nurses at work posterity, It happened one night, you tell m e just what the connec-
jUBt behind the lines. Others, like at an inveatlgation of the Com- tion is between the Communist
defending that which WIIB theirs,
munist Party in Massachusetts: Party and the Boogawahzles?"
living examples of courage and their fellow students, go into the
"The what .. . ?'.
factories and the fields, giviJll' AmOllg others called upon to
self abnegation for those who Btlll "The Boog awahzies", said the
give evidence before the Commis-
oontlzwed to answer the call to classes to tlle workaN and the senator.
iliOn was Earl Browder, and during
be6r arms in the defell&e of our peasants. "Weve neve.r heard of the BOO-
the evidence the following occur·
country. The Spanlah students have inde- kawA.hzies ", said Mr. Browder.
red: "Why", said the senator, "eve-
ed shown that they can exhange A certaJin senator IIBked: "Mr. ryone of your writings refers to
OOMRADE TARANCON the pen for the sword, their books Browder, does the Communi.t them, but we haven't been able to
for rifles. Party have any secret. organiza- locate the Boogawahzles."
We can menUon the name of tion within its ranks?" "He means". put in the chair-
comrade Tarancon, 17 years of JOSE-LlfIS FERNANDEZ "It has not." man, "the bourgeoisie!"
8 THE VOLUNTEER FOR UBERTY
Greek - Americans
Pledge Fight to a
Finish
A. correspondent calls attention
to the Tole of the Greek comra-
des, and especially Greek-Ameri-
cans, in a letter to THE VOLUN-
TEER, the full text of which fol-
lows:
"Dear. comrade: I have never
missed an issue of your paper ane
am well pleased with the layout
and contents, but samething ha,'
been missing, and it isn't too late
to make amends.
HIGHEST IUOltALE
"Being a representative for the
American anti-fascist Greek news-
paper, Em-pros, it has been my
pleasure and duty to go from front
to front and to various hospitals
to interview the Greek comrades;
and I have found, wherever I have
gone, the highest n:orale possible
exisUl among my countrymen,
"There are more than 200
Greeks in Spain tuJay, Many have
fallen, many are wuumkd, And
they who still !ive are at the
f.ront, defying the dirty faseis's
to try and get past them. To
point out hel'Oic deeds of a few
would not be fair to the others,
who are on the job to wipl' ,Hlt
fascism.
END F,\SClST HOl'l<~S
"Most of theel' comrades have
wives, children and real friends
who are watChing the neWS an-
xiously, waiting for a chance to
hea.r how the Greeks a.r(~ pro-
p'regsing.
'The Greeks in Spain all send
their friends and comrades at
hi,mE' their anti-fascist grel'tings,
We are going to stay hel e upl, il
Frnnco, M.useolini and Hitler art'
uetealed and their dream of Spa-
rush conque.qt buried forever."
(" 111.
LINES BEFORE WINTER
All summer the soldiers have
been fighting stripped to thoe
waist. They are burned bronze by
the sun. The other day a Divi-
sion doctor appeared and recom-
mended that from now on the of-
ficers must forbid this exposure.
The autumn winds bring on bad
colds. All of the warm clothing
from last year has heen desinfec-
ted, cleaned, and distributed.
The 'men must also be well
nourished to keep fit through the
winter, The Government has al-
loted an additional 55 centimes a
uay for each soldier, Used to the
best advantage, these centimes
will be "nultiplied a hundred times.
Some of the land behind the lin-s
is good for growing vegetables or
other purposes, Goats, pigs, and
cows, have been added to the li-
vestock at the front for the use
of the troops.
A commission from one briga-
de has gune to Barcelona to buy
4,(100 pairs of boots and another
III b~l('he for waterproofs, This has
1\1.\ .Jlun "Chi<'o~" painting t.he town roo wlt.h <,_olorful :fiagM and
(':Inn('rfil: In thf" rN'f'nt douJ:tlte anniv ....rsary ('elf';bration of a yea,r
of fa-~wi~t. l"ef4tsten('t' in Spain and tl\·pnty yf'l&rs of workel"R powf"r
In the Sovif"t \lelon.
DIANA (U. G. T,) Larn., tI. Tel. UlOl5.-,KadrId.
been done without touching the
soldiers' pay.
At an officers' post, Angel Se-
rrano, a soldier-scutptor of the
unit, has raised a monument five
metres high on which he has en-
graved the brigade motto; "We
go to war neither loving life nor
fearing death."
All along the line in Guadarra-
ma the soldiers are digging in for
the winter. The chiefs and officers
are carrying wood along with the
men and taking part in the general
preparations. It is already winter
OIl thc peaks of the Sierra,
American Hospital
Unit Leaves the
Southern Front
After six months on the Cordo-
ba front, the American Hospital
Unit under Dr. A.' I. Friedman
(of Hackensack, N. J.) is DOW at
Villa Paz for a short period of
reo.rganization before, leaving for
the Fifteenth Brigade. The Ame-
rican Hospital of the South a:nd
its full complement of nurses,
doctors and ambulance drivel'll
has served with the 86th Mixed
Brigade since Aptil 23, when It
arrived at Pozoblanco with Dr.
Edward Barsky.
This unit, consisting of an auto-
chiI' (portable operating room)
and iUl accompanying 20 bed
field bospital, seven ambulan-
ces, and a lOO-bed base hospital,
served its "apprenticeship" with
the 86th Mixed Brigade on the
Los Blanquez sector, Following its
short stay at the American me-
dical base, it will be transferred
to the 15th Brigade as an expe-
rienced and seasoned mobile mi-
litary hospital,
The doctors, Commandante A. I.
Friedman and Captain No.rman
Rintz, leave the Cordoba front
with the highest of praise from
Division Commander Morandi,
bringing with them nurses and
doctors to whom shell fire and
aviation is no new.tale.
Dr. Irving Busch, commander
of the American Hospitals in
Spain, is supe,rvising the reorga-
nization of the unit..
Tri pi e Harvest
Plan to Increase
Production
The Ministry of Agriculture in
order to increase production in
the Eastern provinces (Castellon,
ValenCia, Alicante, Murcia, Alme-
ria) has worked out what is call-
ed the Triple Harvest Plan, that
is, obtaining three different crops
in the same agricultural year. The
crops will be wneat, beans and
potatoelj. The wheat (Mentano, an
early variety) is to be sown in
October and harvested in April.
The beans are to be sown right
after the wheat harvest and ga-
thered in July, when the potatoes
are IiIOwn.

Vol. I N.· 25
"I JOINED 'THE ARMY" by
This book is the second issued
by the l"ACT publishing h ouse and
it has, already met with a boycott
from the powers that- be. The
printers suddenly r efused to print
the book and on the second day
of issue the publishing firm which
was to distribute it, refused to
further handle it despite three le-
gal authorities having declared it
to b e perfectly within the law.
This incident proves once a gain
that whilst there is no official cen-
sorship, the British ruling class
:h a ve ways and means of stifling
criticism which is directed against
the pre s~nt state of thin g~ .
Certainly X. Y . Z. says some ve-
ry hard things about the British
Army system - 30 hard that h e
has already ·s tarted a big contro-
versy.
His bona fides are unquestioned.
His record shows that he is not
one of those unfortunates who are
incapable of fitting in with the
Army system. He completed six
years service with the Tank Corps,
was never "crimed", passed three
tests in dil/e-ren t trades, passed
a first and part of a "SpeciaJ"
in education and finished with an
exemplary character as a COl"po-
raJ.
Much of what he says may be
disputed by contrast with perso-
~ ex.periences in other sections
and pla.ces in the British Army,
but his experiences, exceedingly
well written, reaffirm clearly the
claBs chaI'IIcler of the British Ar-
my.
He expoaes the basis of ,the 80-
callM volunteer system of re-
cruitbtg in his f'.rat' sectence when
he aya "I enlisted - after being
.unemployed three monthll. There
_ nothing else for me to do -
where I lived baIf the adult po-
I!'llatlan were, out ot work".
The VOLUNTEER
FOR LIBERTY
His story of the r e ception into
thc barracks, squar es with the ex-
periences of most others. After
thirty h ours travel without fo od
and sleep h e is met by a bullying
corporal who gives him a "fati-
gue" for e nquiring about the
possibilities of a cou ple of hours
sleep. "You're in the bloody Army
now". The firs t corponti he meets,
lives up to ~. h e worst traditions of
ignorance and s pite for which the
N. C. O.'s have become notori,)us.
His slig htest orders a re bellowed
in tones of hatred. The new re-
c nlits a re persecuted until most
of them are terrified. A fClIrt de-
velops betw e ~n the corporal and
a r ec ruit \vhich lasts over years.
H ep es of promotion which had
begun to fad e, brighten w hen th~y
draw their ki ts and are attached
BRITISH ANTI-TANK unit at re.t In Am:blte.
'·olunt;ee-rs fl'om many p~t8 of Britain , are acquaiDt.ed with the RelU.-
dalous condltioDs th&t exlds In their Gove.r~nt'A army uthotne .1 :revNJ.-
ed 1.0 the "X. Y. Z.- '. _k. They are In .. cUffe.....t ancI' better army, It
People'. Army, wlUeh 10 tlchUnl' q-alnat Hitlu ...d~u .....I1nI'. 1...d.~
aCre50AOn.
Madrid, December 6 1931
"x. Y. Z."
t r. a squad out of the corporal's this soul-dest:oymg r egimentation
way. has a purpose: that of smashing
But new t,errors lie in store tor down any individuality that the
them; the vicious corporal U! not r ecru its night possess and to
the only one of his kidney. Their mould them into unthinking units
Army service begins with intensi- in an oppressive war m achine.
ty. Out of bed at six, a free fight The Army p ay U! n otoriously
low . What little the soldiers get
t o get washed and shaved ..0th i n-
sufficient bowls, buttons cleaned, is rapidly swallowed in the army
canteen to augmel1t the insuffi-
beds made, hut duty betore bre ak-
c ien cy of the army rations.
taRt. After bl'eakfas! a leclur e,
The slightest f a ults on parade
f oot drill. P. T.'s, an hour's educlj,;
or misdemeanors are punished \
t ion followed by more d rill unt il
,,;th a severity far beyond "he
dinner time. After dinner m o re
extent of the Clime. A slight n ,o-
drilling and m ore lectures. Atte r
vement during an inspecti on di-
t ea. p olishing equipment and g re-
r ectR the unwelcome attention. of
ns y boots unti l they s hine like
t he office r t owards you. "He prods
patent lea ther. This pel'iod beco-
y uu with his cane.. "Hair", says
mes a nightn1arc of exhausti on l or
the o/ficer. "Dirty mess tin.
th e Tl~ cruits.
Pa cks no! rig llt. Puttees n ot
\ Vher e X. Y. Z. fail s howe ver,
r ig ht., Take his na.me, ser geant !"
is in not showing clearr y that a ll
When tile s ergeant comes to take
your name you try to teU him
that you had a h aircut two days
ago. "Stop talking in the ranks " ,
h e r oars . Another off~nce. Five
m a j or offences' What did you do ?
You moved.
According to the ail thor , deser-
tion is atte mpted on a far wider
scale than is generally admitted.
Attempts at desertion are not lis-
ted in offkial figures. Recruits
mostly desert from petty restric-
tions on liberty, bullying, poor
food and Jack of money: the trai-
nE'<! soldiers because of poverty ab
h ome and offers of employment
and the desire tu settle down In a
normal married life. In X. Y. Z .'s
opinion every Briti~h recruit "con-
templates desertion, a.dmires de-
serters, and envies the few who
get away".
These m_. antl-fa.c1ot The author gi....es an interesting
example of the stupid lengths :0
which bureaucracy carrie.<! the Bri-
tish Staff Officer. SIx.teen rnediw n
 2 THE VOLUNTEER FOB LIBERTY
Strengthening of People' s Front Emphasised At Valencia
Plenum of C. C. of the Communist Party
A Plenum of the Central Com-
mittee of the Spanish Communist
Party is an event which is bound
t o awaken the liveliest interest
of every conscious Anti-Fascl~t in
Spain. The Plenum which began
in Valenci a on November 13th
made important decisions which
cover the whole field of the Spa-
nish p eople's struggle to win the
war and th e revolution.
LESSONS OF THE NORTH
The Plenum decla red that the
present situation is serious. Th e
loss of the North confronts us
wit h a g rave military situation .
At t he same time J ose Diaz spo-
ke strongly against the opinion of
th ose who regard t he loss of the
North as having been inevitable
because of its isolation. H e drew
a sharp contrast between the po-
licy which saved Madrid and the
policy which lost the North, bet-
ween the policy of a great polit-
ical mobilisation of the masses and
the policy of forbidding meetings
and propaganda and political work
in the Army.
THREE GOVERNMENTS
As against the loss of the Narth
the Plenum could point to positive
progre.sa. It tr~ the advance
shown in the three Govermnents
which have been in power since
the beginning of tbe war: the Gi-
rl/J Government, wpAk, with no
link with the masses; the Caballe-
ro Government wblch bad the
support of all the mass organisa-
JOSE DIAZ
tians in the country but failed to
take advantag-e of its opportuni-
ties, showed a tremendous delay
in solving vilatl problems, and a
complete failure to to deI/J ener-
getically with the Trotskyist trai-
tors and the Fifth Column. The
present Government, which ·receiv-
ed an inheritance heavily m ort-
gaged by the two previous Go-
New recrulte brougbt Into the SpanJab People'& Anny Jut alter the
new N...,.tD Go.".......,Dt _
vernments, has important achie-
vements to its credit. The Com-
munist Party greets the energy
and authority dWlpl1l.yed by the
Government, pointing out at the
lI8IIlle time that they must always
be directed against the real enem-
ies of the people.
REGULAB PEOPLE' S ARMY
The Plenum noted the great
progre» which baa been made in
the military field: the formation
of the Regular Army, the unified
command, leaders who have pro-
ved theLr 10yI/Jty to the people.
The Plenum emphasised that the
Army's patriotism and its hatred
of Fascism are one, and declared
Itself absolutely oppalled to any
tendencies towards a non-politicilli
Army. The task of the Army is to
win the war and the anti-Fascist
people's revolution. The Plenum in-
dicated certain weaknesses in the
Army - in some places an absen-
ce of the organisation and disci-
pline which MOuld characterige a
regular modern army, an insulti-
cient mastery at military techni-
que, and the fact that Il thorough
purge of all disloyal elements has
still not been carried out. The
Communist Party calls for the
building of a vast force of reset-
ves; the fortifications needed to
withstand the enemy's attacka and
t o convert those attacks into hea-
vy defeats; intensive and thoroug h
training in military technique for
the soldiers and, above all, the of-
ficers; a thorough purge of the
"ftl~.
Army to remove the last enemy
agent. While indicating certain
weakn_ in the work of the
Political CommiMari&t the Plenum
declared t.ha.t the Commiesars are
the soul of our ,Army and their
role is an indispensable one which
cannot be diminished .
In the organisation of the war
industry some progress has been
made but It is still far frollII ade-
quate and is proceeding too slo-
wly. The Plenum declared that
there is no obstacle to carrying
out the Immediate nationalisation
of the basic industry which i.I! aB-
sential If the needs of the Army
are to be met.
"On the day the Im'asion of·
Spa.ni8h territory began, on that
same day began the war of In-
temational Fascism agalnst
France", said Jose Dlaz. He sho-
wed that a rebel victory in Spain
would bring, not peace, but a
world war. Two forces have aided
the Spanish Republic from tr ~ be-
ginning : the Soviet Union and the
most advanced section of the wor-
king class. Dlaz stated that the
aid which international solidarity
bll.~ so far given the Spanish peo-
ple had not yet been adequate be-
cause of the fat8.! policy of some
Social-Democratic leaders which
had led to defeat in Austria and
Germany and is now leading to
world war. He called far direct
action for the Republic witb con-
crl)te objectives - above all the
prevention of traMport of supplies
of any sort to rebel Spain.
NO C03fPRO:\IISE
The Plenum appealed to the
people of Spain to be on guard
against all talk of compromise.
Compromi se with Fascism in
S pain would be a victory for Fa-
sci"m all over Europe "To drlv("
out the invader;-..to smash Franco,
to destroy Fascism forever - !.hat
i8 the only compromise p08sible."
The Plenum held out the per-
spective of a possible great impro-
vem.ent in the R epublic's position
8.'1 a r€.'lult of internatiODlll! unity.
Dlaz summarised the contrast
between the semi-colonial Spain
of Franco w:d the democratic
Spain of the Republic. The Ple-
num paced a new question on the
order of the day: the question of
elections. Several arguments we-
re advanced for this. The Cortes
does not correspond to the present
state of political forces in tbe
country. The Provincial and Local
Councils were appointed by Go-
vernment decree. Elections woll1d
be the occasion for a great poli-
ticad campaign to mobiliae the
people for the winning of the war
and should oocasion no internal
struggle in the People's Front
between the anti-Fascist Parties
LA "PASHINARIA"

lLnd organisation. On the contrary
it would se!'V'e to strengthen unity.
In the French and Russian Revo-
lutions we have examples of the
effectivene.ss of elections in a per-
iod of war and revolution. The elec-
tions would show the world that
while in rebel te.rritory the people
are terrorised by the Fascists and
the Civil Guards . in the Republic
the masses participate In the elec-
tion of the organs of Government.
This contrast could not fail to
have consid erable repercussions in
the international s phere and in
the .re bel zone .
FIHM UNITY POLICY
Dlaz emphasised the importan-
ce of t he Communi st· s Party rela-
tions wit h the Socialist Party. He
presented th e Uniled Party as a
Parly which whi ch did not want
to a bl30rb or displace anyone. The
C,)mmuni st P arty's desire for clo-
ser co-opei'ation with the C. N. T.
did not mean any cooling in its
desire to achieve fusion with the
Socialists . The changes in the out-
look and .p ulicy of the C. N. T .
and the Anarchists made it pos-
sible to- put on the immediate
agenda of the day the definite
partiCipation of the C. N. T. in
the People's Front and the con-
clusion of a pact between the U.
G. T. and the C. N. T. on the ba-
sis of a concrete programme.
The Plenum called for absolute
respect for the liberties and aspi-
ration!! of all the peoples of Spain,
and, in particular, of the Catalans.
A warning was issued against
lmpiLtience and n ervous reactions
which might endange.r working-
class unity and the development
of the People's Front ,p olicy - no
other policy was possible at the
present time. Wbile the Commu-
nist Party did not agree with
everyone of the decisions of the
, 'eoplo's Fr<mt GOVJ}rnment v,,-
thout exception, none of the Go-
v ernment's decisions had made 'it
impossible for the Communists to
work to strengthen the Army, to
develop the war industry and
reinforce anti-Fascist unity within
the People's Front. The People 's
Front should become a magnifi-
cent instrun;.ent for actiVe and ·ef-
fective mass co-operation with
the Government. At the Plenum
the Communist Party solemnl:,'
pledged itself to do all in its po-
,"cr to str0ngthcn ar,d ~roade.n
the P 00ple's Front.
A . )1. 1:: .
T . . VOUlNTIlD FOR UBERTY
"I JOINED THE ARMY" by "X. Y. Z."
tanks were to demonstrate their
capabilities to a select body of of-
ficials from a higher command.
They were assigned, weeks in ad-
vance, the task of crOSSing a mile
of treacherous moorland. Press re-
porters were Invited to boost the
show. "The [ank crews were not
In fa vour of the scheme - there
was too much treacherous bog -
evcn on foot one sank to the an-
~I es in the slime. But higher
authority was undisturbed. Three
days prior to the event it ral·n eJ.
The drive rs were on the verge of
ml/tiny".
H owever the show commenced,
"but not al1 the Staft officers
ravi ngs could get a tank across
that s trIp of land. No one but a
Staff Officer would have expec-
ted to do so". One tank comple-
tely disappeared from sight be-
neath the moor. "Ten thoWland
pounds of public money had been
sacrificed" .
"x. Y. Z." writes feelingly of
the attitude of civiJ!a.na towards
the soldiers. The soldier he says
is looked down apon. Parents 01;>-
ject to their daughters marrying
a soldier. They are refused aumit-
tance to cafes, dance halls and
other public places: he quotes an
instance where the soldiers and
sailors in one town, after a num-
ber of examples of this social os·
tracism, organised a party of
which he was one, and wrecker!
the cafes and dance halls where
they had been refused entry.
He makes a strong app~al to
the British working class "to al-
ter its attitude to the troop!! -- to
win their absolute trust and con-
fidence".
"Intimidation and fear of the
military machine prev ent the sol-
dier from tak ing any active part
in politics and at the same time
r ob him of political freedom. Ho-
wever, the soldJer despite his
handicaps is loyal to his olaas."
This fact is sharply brought home
to him as a result of the pay cuts
which came into effect in 1925.
When the soldiers failed to get the
cuts returned under the Labour
Government In 1929 there was
great disappointment and disgust
with the Labour leaders. "The dis-
appointment of the soldiers spread
to their relatives whom they
maintained: anti-labour propa-
ganda was spread mainly by the
hi gllr, r ranl1 ed N. C . 0 .'5 and of-
fin ' r> who s(}metimes lent an ear
t e, th e pri'la te's complain~s ,,\,out.
10w 1.lay. Controvcrsi (~s , 11.:1d in ;'
(Cootlnued from paie 1.)
from the e ars of authority, either
bitterly ~ondemned , or violently
supported, Labom' Rule".
These general experiences of
"X. Y. Z." bear out the 'experlen-
ces of the majority of people who
have served in the J,3ritish Army.
The whole attitude of the Army
authorities to the men is seen
in striking contrast when compa-
red with our own experiences In
the International Brigades and the
Republican Army. Real volunteers
for military service can be secu-
red, without economic compulsion
when people can be assured that
their efforts will be used to cham-
pion democracy and the interests
of the people. " class r estrictions that it increas-
The volunteers of the Interna-
tional Brigades sacrificed jobs and
home cheerfully and they were re-
ceived by the Spanish P eople and
the Republican Army authorities
as comrades in the anti-fascist
fight . Di.scipline Is not enforced
to bludgeon the mind of the indi-
vidual but In a comradely manner
with the purpose of raisin g the
efficiency of the Peoples Army.
No effort is too great for the
Government in ameliorating the
inevitable hardships of war. "x.
Y. Z." writes of an army in peace
British \'olunteer!t at Fu~ncarral
time; whe rc:1.s here one meets
with general satisfaction with the
conditions, the food and the stan-
dards r,f pay in thp course of th"
\"'tar.
The polilh.;d ,asgoc i:1.tions of the
men are rt~sL ·· 'f; t t ..j hy tbOS 2 in uu·
thori t y . 'v\'(, h: , ',' " ". Trench \ Vall-
Pa.per.: ; I i'; !" :' 1: " :-15. and our
Brig.· dv r·· ' "'i ' :": . Igh whi eh to
(, : \bove all we
:s
have our political delegates and
Commissars from the sect ions up
throughout lhe whole Army to
safeguard Ollr Interests, imprOVe
oflr social life and help develop
our political connections.
Penalties for breaches of disci-
pline are not brutal and decisions
of the mIlitary courts are taken
by the men. Promoti on In our
Army Is open to all men o f abil!ty
and good record without re" trlc-
tion and ·n ot confined as In other
armies, to the people of the up-
per and middle classes.
It is because the Peopl es Army
has abolished the old bourgeois
Ingly wins new support from tho
people, becomes m ore and more a
part of their life, held in the grea-
test respect and free from the old
bureaucratic traditi0ns, rapidly
develops its striking forc e.
One is compelled to agree with
the proposals of "x. Y. Z. " for n
public campaign in Britain for
higher pay in the Service", m OT<'
holidays, better pe n~ions, better
Jiving accommodation, le ss severe
punishments, shorter t erms of ser-
vice and plentiful and decent food.
Where he makes the greatest
In XO"'!lllh«'r 4.f la ... t ~· (:ar.
error, is in kaving tn t he baCK -
ground the dl'nu tn t! i.)f~h \.' me n i l ,
all branchc:.; of UH' Se rv :t:t:' ff,1 L I:,
righ t s o f t'j t ; z ('n~
dl sc u s:-.; POJi :'icfl l t:· \'·~ nl.:~; t~. · ; r '~~ ;t
to attt:n d p,l!iLtc -:: l ml' € t ; .'(~ ~,~ , 1: "
ri ght i v ' ~. r'_':1\ .t( ,-,,-!!. . t . , .'
ti oD frUJi I ~h;~ r ·, \1: I," l'
u nd t.ak e a ~n lld . !1 ~ .~ ' t,
ve rnnI en ~ ,
 4 TJI'E VOLUNTEm FOR LIBERTI"

dlsclpllne. The main task is to

crush F&8CIBm, to defend Spalfl. "
Those were the slogans under
which he participated In the or-
ganisation of the armed f or ces of
the Republ ic.
In a radio appeal he made to
the Cat.alonian workers sh ortl y
before his death, he said: " We
must set our ' united strength
against fascist tyranny; there
l:1!lSl he a Sin!ile Oryr:ni8a fi o'Yl
,,;il/I a Siny le Disci"I; .. '· ...
A c(,:u:nn of 12.000 well-discipli-
ned men operated under his lea-
dership. When Ule fasc is t bands
\,'e re nearing ::"Iadrid, l)urruti has-
tened there with a strong column
f~ l 5. 0[)O. H e showed his wiltingness
t o lll &ce himself unresen'ed1y un-
der the orders af the un! teJ cen-
tral command in the figh t t o de-
fe nd MadrId.
Military Leaders
Take Part in I. B.
Beimler Meeting
The anninrsRry of the deat.h
of H311S Bci :~~Jc r, G~rman an ti ·
fa sci~t fighter w ho fell in bntt k
on the Mallrid frc-ut Con I';c cembcr
1st of last year, was com l:1emOra-
ted by the genetal !>h:lrid pres:;,
by \'ario~s p Oli tical and military
organi zationR , and by the diffe-
reItt units cf the InternatlOnJ'
Brigades, last wee k.
At the Int",'n at ional Brigader.
Commissaria t headqunrter" ::1
:'.1a drid a special t rioute waa p:o;J
to the me4rlOry !)f B eim lcr at 1.1
meet! ng h eld in IDS honor, .. WIDcll
a n!lm ber vf well known military
leaders attended. among whom
wt.'re: Anton, C ommissar f or War
of the A'1"Y of the Center:
Captain J ase Es trugo, repre-
senting General Miaja; Luig i
Gallo, Commissar In.spector of the
International Brigades; and Heinz
Roth, P olitical COllullissar of the
"Hans Bei mler" Ba,ttaiion of thf'
11th Brigade. Each made a sbol':
"pee~h in praise of Beimle r. !b-
fael Henc he, Mayor of Madrid,

Buenaventura Durruti
On Nuvember 20th, 1936, the
Spanish Republic loet an irrecQll-
cilab!e and self-sacrificing enemy
of Fascism - -- Buenav,;ntura Du-
rruti . Durruti was in th e outskirts
of Madrid in front o f the bu ilding
·..:here he had his Staff Hea,jquart-
C'~:;. \":h:cn a rase:s:.. hUllet woun-
ded him mortally In Ule c hest ju,t
as he was leaving a car to go up
te, th e front hnes.
A Barcelona worker, he was
l; ," " on Jul)' 14th, 1896. His
[ath er was a railwayman . In
; PZO Durruti Joined the Anar-
('l isL" The bourgeoisie hated tile
\"'_'ry w ,und of his nan1.e and on
f ,;ur c:.::c- asions he \vas condemned
to dE3.th. H e was c.nc of the tea·
d('!".~ p!" · . ~il' Spanish Anarchist or-
gani s<,: IO n. th e so-called Iberian
Ana r : hi s t F ederatiun (F. A . 1 ..1
At the' end of 1932 the F. A. I.
f)llcceed t~ d i:l winning decisive in-
Hue!~e e jl1 ~h c' trade _union organl-
s:ltion of t"'· Spamsh Anarch o-
Syndica lLJts, th e Nati onal Confc -
'k:·.1.ti c'n of Labour Ie. N . T.) in
\', Ilich the Syn,jicalists had pr<.'-
\'kusly held the majority. From
,hat tim.: on Durruti was one of
th," If:<v !~rs ( ,f tlu! C. N. T ,
T he military faseist rebelli on
fU:l!">: LilT:. in Catal(:;li!l. He shn·
·. ·:,~d LH~ courage, uet<:' rminati on
.J l.J.;! t,~\ ~p: ,t..; fA ::i.n organi:;{' !' and
a leader. The setting up of the
United Peopt.!'s Government In
Catalonia with the Anarchist's
partic ipation was In a. large
m easure due to him. He spared no
effort in forming battalions of ar-
med workers. In the beginning
thp.se battalions took up an atti-
tude of opposi tion to all power, an'
attitude of "organised indlsclpli-
ne ". The devEllopment of events,
the difficulties of the struggle, the
Fascist rebels' advance in Madrid,
showed Durruti, and la ter the ma-
jor ity of the Spanish Anarch!3t
wvrkers, the nece»sity for orga-
nisation and dl.scipllne.
DUrruti took to heart the hard
le2.%n.s of the anti-fascist strug-
gle. "We mU!!t create a R e gular
Army. We sh:ul establish an iron
spoke in the name of the People' "
Front.
Represe.nting the 15th Brigade
Durruti's letter to the workers
w as Dave D oran.
of the U. S. S . R. Is full of the
The Political Commissar of the
deepest love for the organtsed
w orking-class and faith In its
strength.
On DurruU's death Jose Diaz,
in the name of the Central Com-
mittee of the SpariJ:sh Communist
Party, sent a telegram to the
O. N. T. leader, Garcia Oliver:
"We have learned of the heroic
death of our comrade Durruti
with feelings of deepest sorrow.
He was a son of the working--dass
and a brave defender of proleta-
rian liberty. The criminal billlet of
a fascist bandit has ended a young
life , full of sacrifice. Let U ,'; draw
clo.ser together until we destroy
the fascist hordes who have s pat-
tered our land with blood. Let us
fight on all the fr onts of Spain to
avenge our hero's death . Long live
the victory of the Spanish Peo-
p I,,:"
To the r vll of honour of the brave
Spanish fighters and the volun-
t eers In the Internationai Briga-
<les who have fallen In the strug- ASTON
gle against the fascist rebels and
against fascist intervention there 14th Brigade, F. Vittorl, acted ''''
\\'as added the name of Durruti. chairman of the meeting.
The workers of ail lands, all Th<! firs t to speak was Comra-
anL-;'a..o.;cists lower their ba.nner~ de Roth. In his brief talk he said:
in memory of that brave figh.er "Today completes a year that the
for th e fr ~-€d om and independence generolUl heart of Beimler has
of heroic Spain . ceased to beat - he sacrificed
 TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR LIDERTY

HANS BEIMLER,
DEFENDER OF MADRID
Rell Front! - said th~ h'·ro.
)\.• :\ Han~ B<': IllII'r t"'l tf) the <,arth.
Th~ Spanhlrd, h,·" rd it ;
h.1:-. (;f'!rnMl.n f 'fHl~ r"df ' " ;'w.)rd tt.
th(' FN.' IIC'fJ Htld thf' Hi!H :: n ... .
.M'a4it\d hntrd U; ,h., a.lf h :'!lrci it;
t ~. U1hlln~. i!... oulkl horl'
to 11111 him. h .."rd it. I
~m,·
H,.d F,..JlIt: - anll on h .... a!
t 'II"(11 1" " "\fill f .. 11 .
who ''''H. ' fro". 'Tr\' ffir
I
to "'pill h! s bko(l tiC'I',' , .
HA'd J·'ront! H"UT hifr f.
,
(i t·rman.v of prbollS,
t.h" ","<)('utlonl'r \\'ho I1ft~
hb dry-blo()(kd ax lhat dro/.,. I~
I ===~;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;=;;;;;;;;;;;;;;J-i
(III the n<,ck, ot thoso
who refuse to stoop.
I!.>'d Front! - rlng8. \Vhl~tle~,
(' rI',slng Ilk" .. bulkt. cra('.klln"
through ""n. Hky and loud,
tlJr(t\l~h ht·a,vcns - every pIU(I(I , Il:;;;;;;l

thl" (·ry JIIoving- rapIdly.

n..·d t'rolll! - until It 18 nall"d,

HANS BEIMLER
deep Into th " h"arts
ot tbo8(> wbo want It . who 10\'1' It,
let them shout It - Red Front! _
like Bans Belml"r I4bouted It.
lladrld, that h"" a mcmorv, A year ,,;<({ one of th , best of t h e intcrn',tional fighters fell ill
will Mout It until the mo~ths the defen ce (If Madrid.
'Of ber rlne8 go dry Hans Belmlc r w as borll in Ii very poor Germa n family. H,' we n~
Irom 110 mneh '''louting.
to w ork at an early age as an app r entice m e tal-wo rker in the ~.!1I1lj ,~ h
Red Front: - whIstleR th" train
whizzl.g throug" the lIeldH 01 ~(Jaln . factories . He soon e xperienc('d the injustices of tbe s oc ial s y."[" m il!
Roaring through the villages, whi ch he was living. He j oined the Soci alis t Tra de Union P.1 o\'e nwnt
the tooW1ls, and the cIties.
Among orchards and garden~, and w~ mobilised In the first days of th e World War f or anti-milita-
llags aad orangery, rism . The war. in which he fought as a sailo r. made him an arr!·?nt
Valencia salute~ the body - . champion of peace and a bitter e nemy of tbe G e rman Monarc hy. In
Red Front! - of Han~ Belmler.
The abundunoo 01 Catalonia, Nove mber. 1918. he t ook part in the first act of the German r evol lJtion.
her vine yards. Ioer 011 ..., groves. When th e Gennan Republic Wl!.S c rushed by Fascism and by Ib
the .......dy 1te" .. llea of Barcelona.
own weakness and wrong policy. Beimler. as one of the bes t-known
Red Front! - to ~ee him the peo!,'" go.
Paris! Yoor workc~ , fighters for peace and treedom In South Gennany. was h unted ..ures-
singing, carry hi .. Oil t.he lr shoulders, ted and tortured together with so m.any of Germany's best . H e ex-
marching 101m tOWltord the bo.8tH p erienced tbe heU on earth of the Daehau concentration camp. whe re
that they may tak" Hans Belmier,
"iDee 1118 German fathe rland they put hi m in the cell In whi ch his fne n:! Dre.'l8c! h :ld tr -e n llJ"" ·
refuse" to gh.e 101m a 1I""sage. dered. Belm le r was 3pared the /lame f 'lte by his esca pe from (;··crrr.:croy.
Red Front: Tbrough J\1oseow. H e at on ce re.!lumed political activi ty and became one of t ht~ .~t, · rr.." 't
through the Red Square, great and most powerful accusers of Hitier Fascism.
pageantry, and multItudes -
When the rebellion of the Generals and Fascist tral torR hrokc· C '11
IIlnglng they marcb to bury him.
Red Front! . AloDg~lde ot I.enin. in Spain, H a ns Beimle r came here to m ee t bis e n e mies. the e ne u '; ".,
there, tranquil, he re8ts. of the Gennan and Spanish peoples , in the armed st ruggle. H e a rrivcd
in the first days; and at Barcelon a. Alba cete and Madrid h e showed
I~AFAl;L ,\I.Bt;RTI
h!mselC a tireless orga n iser of the "Thael mann Centuria" a nti of the
first Interna ti onal Brigades. Simultaneously with this military wr.rk.
h e carried on a magnificent struggle for unity.
himself for liberty. W ith him we won. We shall carry it to Burg os H e was' appOint ed Political Comm!8I!ar Rnd came to Ma,l r id in
honor all of our brothers wbo f ell and to Salamanca." thOlle difficult Noyc mber da ys of 1936. when tr.e M ill tla, ..dlO'e h (,l'oi!;rlt
for the s ame cause. He wasbed Tbe popular Spanish poet. Ra- ", as some times ot no avail bec!l.lJ.!e of ther dlso r glinlsatlon and tho>
witb bis blood tbe stain that fael Alberti . recited three of h is demoralisation which resulted from theIr con~tlUlt r etr .. at~ . were ~ tand­
Hitler bas flung ove r the German poems. the firs t entitled "To The ing a t bay against t he rebel Armks. and ",ben the bourgeois journallst~
people. H e demonstrated that the International Brigades" , t he ~e ­ were prepa r ing to write up the f nll of t he cllpitaJ. The mlrael ..· occu -
"FUhrer" is not Germany, and cond _ called "Hans Belmler" rred, the miracle whi c!', .'!U! the moblU "'ltion of a bravo; people pre -
that the best of Germany Is found (which is translated and printed
pared to give life il.'J(·lf ratber than Itvc 8.' th;: sllives of F ,,-~cls m .
here in Spain flghUng for free- above). and the third was the
dom. The battalion that bears his At the head of tbe first rllt .. rnati ~n l'.l Brl ~:a<l". wbich se t ar. cxampk
"Defense of Madrid". After a
name took his banner of the union storm of applause. he reci t ed ano- In discipline, organisa tion =d milita'y {'CHelene),. Beimlcr played his
against fascism . W e pledge to ther dedicated to tbe fallen youth part. On December 1;,; l . 1931\. 01< the Madrid Front a Faseist b ullet
carry it ahead C1f lLq till victory is of the war. r obbed us of this great leader.
 #~MERICAN HOSPIT
There is a Honnal alnoun t of ac- such a ch a llenge to the fascists
"
tivity going on a t the Ame rican , before. SIn ::e whe n do they spare
Base Hospital when a call cr,mcs hospitals ? Whelt do c, U: is defian-
to proceed imm ediately to th,' ce mean? Is it p o ~ ~ jb le that WI.!

front. As y ou recall, the Ame rican
hospItal b<lse is about fifty miles
from Madrid, and this a c ti on is
to take pI act' on U,e
fron t. W e must be preparcd to sc t
up a field hospital of sC \'enty-
fiv e beds with a complete staff of
thirty pe rsonnel. This
doctors, nur"es. and varle<1 types
of help s o that a complete hospi-
tal unit c a n be established in a
building as close as pOSSible to
fr,")nt. ready to receive patients
and ready to operate within twel-
ve hours afte r the selection of a
sit e.
As many of the personnel as
can pile into a station wagon do
so, and this vehiclc becom es the
vangua'pd. This is f ollowed by an
am bui.d!ce, tben three trucks. One
of the trucks contalns all tbe kit-
chen supplies and tbe food . The
other two carry beds, mattresses
and otber n ecessaries . The auto-
chir, which is the slowest m oving.
takes up the rear. The autochir.
if you do n (.t reme mber. is a com-
A ragan
Includes
th~
T\VO IntA'rnaflonnJ DriKltdf"N t~ldln~ «ftUZ(' at t.he i\mcrlean HaH.' Ifm'l)ilal.
pletely equipped operating room
on wheels. in wWch any major
operation can be performed. It is
a complete autonomous unit. Whe-
re and whenever possible we pre-
fer t o have the contents of this
unit transferred into a building
about whic h can be built a com-
plete seventy-five bed hospital. At
the Madrid and Aragon fronts
t hi" has been the practice. On the
Soutbern front. because of the
unavailability of houses near the
have blunde r ed t!lroug h th e line s '!
Is there time to Lu rE l>;lel\ ';
We qui c kly h: turn to t he ca mp,
a s k about the h usp;tal we hav e
gl'en, and are t old th" t it was se t
up hy the International R ed Cross,
Actually we learned later that
h ospital was put into use during
the offensive, but only after re-
ceiving a good camouflaging.
The next morning with a guide,
front, s urgical operations are and the final orders having been
done directly in the autochir. given, our group moves out. We
are moving to another section of
HK,\ VY TRAFFIC
It is a two-day trip t o the front
and the nearer we get to our dest-
ination the thick e r the traffic b e-
comes. All are bound f or the same
place. There appears to be an end-
less traln of troop convoys, fooel
c onvoys . ambulances. trucks full
of various materials - and we a rc
caught in the line. The travelling
slows down considerably. This is
no dull line. The soldiers are cons-
tantly singing or shouting, excited
In antiCipation of the battle that DR. IRVING HI :SCH, Commandanl
of aU American ho!tpjtu.l~ in Spain.
is only a few days off. All lan-
guages are heard. These are the
the line, and reach our fie ld hos-
Internationals on the move.
pital just before mid-day. Two
As we near our destination.
Spanish surgical teams already
different sectioIll! of this convoy
tum off the road to seek their have arrived, and the s etting up

camp Sites. and we turn off to of a field hospital is under way.

ours. This is a ~ctlon of ploughed At lunch time six planes are
ground bordering upon a small seeD" overhead proceeding in the
stream. the latter the only plea- airection of the lines. "Whose pla-
sant sign in tbe set-up. The sca r- nes are those?" I ask the Spanish
.l

,, - .: ~ •••
.. .....
~
city of water in this section dur-
Ing the late IIU=er is notorious.
and a scarcity of trees goes hand-
surgeon who is standing beside
me.
"Nuestros" (OUl"') , he says be-
in-hand with the lack of water. amlngly.
It Is a bare arid country. "How do you know?" I ask.
We comea.cross three large And he replies. "Beca use they
barracks painted in bright blue. are headed in the direction of the
and on the roof a large red cross front lines".
set in a white circle. A white ena- With the conclusion of his re-
mel ambulance with a COIl8picuous tort the planes sudcle nly bank and
red cross on its top stands all ab- head threateningly toward our
laze In the sun in frvnt of the hospital. and in a few moments we
>buildings. Wh8Jt a target for are all lying face downward on
INSIDE VIEW of an Autochlr. bombs from the air! I never saw the ground. Then comes a crash
AL U'N IT
and an explosion... and every-
th ing- and everybody is terrifically
Ehak en up.
We keep our heads and eyes
glued to the earth. A few mo-
ments and a similar explosion is
hea rd. ""hc anticipation of, another
f:; IIi ,,:;: l"!lnb fills us with drea.d-
Ill ; apprehen.sion .
Then comes a third crash. but
no exphJRion. Sti ll we wail. .When
we feel the enemy have passed on.
we investigate. Two bombs have
exploded; anothe r unexploded pre-
sents a f earful sight iying fifty
meters from the hospital. With
trepidat ion we approach the bom~
and examine the German stamp
on it. Well. that is the fascists '
welcome to the Americans. But
this is only an incident of field
haspital life.
By late afternoon We are ready.
A II are assigned to -duties.
It is eveni ng and there is one
of those big dark brown Ameri-
can ambulances coming slowly up
the road. It appears a little un-
Iteady on these Spanish country
roads. Good · that they are sturdy
and· are equipped with the latest
American mechanical devicea.
WOUNDED ARRIVE
In front cof the hospital the am-
bulance slop.... an American 1llIJ.-
bula.nce driver alights . with his
assistn nt. and they pass to the
rear. Th e first wounded a re re -
moved to the front room , or tria-
ge, as it is called. Here they are
examined, a diagnosis is made,
and a treatment is decided upon.
This one for the operating room.
Anothe.r to be ·p ut to bed to await
his turn for a later operation.
Another to be Bent f or treatment
to a hospital in the rear. AU get
a hypo of tetanus anti-toxin. The
dreaded disease of lockjaw is '"
rarity in thi s war. In the n ospital
aU is a-bustle now. The place
seems full of doctors, nurses and
helpe.rs.
Some of these patients will re-
quire blood transfusioD.9. Others
are to receive shock treatment.
Some cases will have plaster-of-
Paris casts applied, others airpla-
ne ·· splints, and then be sent on
after a little rest to a hospita.! In
IN
THI': ISTI':.IOK of one of die wards In the American Ba." Ho.pltal.
the rear. The triage Is a busy
place.
The American operating team
works at one table, and a Spanish
t eam at a table along aide. When
the operation is completed we step
Into the triage. Lying on stret-
chers, covering every available
space on the fl oo r. are the woun-
ded. Many ambulances have di-
Scharged wounded while we wor-
ked. It looks like an all night ses-
Sion. something that Is not un-
common when doing front line
work. The third operating tcam
fills in , and this gives each group
a chance to recuperat e. for there
will be a full we ek of concentra -
ted activity.
NO RE~ AT Fl~ONT
The number of cases in the
triage has dwindled down to bul
a few, &od w. expect a tempora-
ry lull. But w. peek in a.tter fi-
nishing an ope.ration and the tria-
ge is full again.
Dawn breaks and we still are
hard at work . Wonder how the
nurses are getting on in the
wards? The .• e are all very sick
cases and require lots of care. But
the nurses a.re wQrking unhaltlng-
Iy. There is no eight hour day at
the front for them. The teMeness
and tempo of front work sorr.ehow
dl.9pels fatigue.
During the early morning hours
one hears the cannons pounding
with discomfiting regula.rity. Du-
.ring th·e course of time one beco-
mes unaware of the disturbing de-
tonations aDd only notices the
ACTION
tern porary cessations of the firing.
The tension we w{)rk under lB
h ~ ightened by the regular appea-
rance of the fascist bombers mor-
ning and afternoon. We see many
dog fights over our hoapital. The
visits of the fascist planes are not
very stimulating to our work.
VILLAGE BOMBED
On the third morn ing there is a
lull in the surgical work, and we
receive an accustomed unfri-endly
visit from six tasclBt bombers.
They arc directly overhead, but
we are not their objective. They
AlIlEBICAN ....d Brrtl>lh nurses. This photo w .... take .. at Quinto after
the }'uentes de ,Ebro attack.
head towaru- the l;:l" s flyJ!' ,,;
six a:breast and paSs over a vilia-
ge situated one kilomctc.1' in front
of us. As if pulling the same
string, each drops a bomb on : hc
toWJ}. W'e hear the t errific expl o-
sions, and see the ascent of blac k
smoke into the skies~a direct
hit. One-half hour -late r we are
busy again. treating women and
children that our ambulances
bring in from the village we ha-
ve jWlt aeen bombed.
When later I .rcari President
Roosevelt 's speech delivered at
Chicago on October 5th, I recalled
most vividly tbis incident when I
came to this pasgage, "and with-
out warning or justification of
any kind, civilians, including wo-
men and children, are being ruth-
lessly murdered wilh bombs from
the air" . F a!' this town was not a
military objective and had not,
8.!l a matter of fact. so much as
a gasoline pump in it.
Our work cont inl\e~ feverishly
for a week. We sleep in ~..nta,
and never bother to undress, for
an ambulan ce load of wounded
may come in at any hour. It is
a really primitive camp lite with-
out conveniences.
Fascist bombe.rs frequently
(Continu ed on page 9. )
n THE VOLUNTEER FOB LIBERTY
('
PRESENT DAY DICTATORS AND THOSE OF THE PAST
The fascist Governments do not
recognise the suppasltl{)us"red"
Governments. They only tolerate
the democratic Governments with
great difficulty. Furthermore,
they consider themselves to be
the only competent authorities to
decide the true colour of another
Government; they clalm the right
to be the supreme judges .as to
the m~ner In which the nations
must have themaelves governed,
and they arrogate to themselves
the right to correct these n,atlons
when they see tit.
ThlB phenomenon Is very cu-
rious; It Is the first time that a
Government which ' Is a new-co-
mer and is thereupon legitimate,
bas permitted Itself to lay down
the law on the right to ey..i3tence of
other Governments older than it-
self. Until now the exact contra-
ry was the case. The new Go-
,-ernments whJch came into being
through revolution, a coup d't!tat
or sha,rty machinations were ne-
ver recognised In a hurry by
Europe at a time when Europe
maintained a , certain coherence
In her Ideas and institutions. They
bad to produce proofs of {)rder
IUId Internationa.! morality; atter
which the recently created empe-
ror or the dictator who showed a
judicious readiness to fall in with
the conventicru;. tinally had thl!
probability ot being coosecrated
by his betters as a lawful sove-
reign.
Then this n;an, who was po-
werful on his own account but
with who~e shady arrival the
other powers would not temp{)-
rise for II. lcngthy ,p eriod, onr-
flowed with pride ~d joy. Tbis
is to be seen In that old and mo-
ving photograph which shows
NapolC{)n m ' and Queen Victoria
In the imperial tl'ltin travelling
among padded "Uk. They haven't
much to say to ODe another, but
what an expression of content-
ment there is on the face of the
former usurper! He has been le-
galised, and a.tter being forced to
walt he is none the 1_ recei-
ved into the baeom of tile univer-
sal IDcmarchy ,
Att.er cJ<'lUnlning ,this idyll, 'we
Immediately remember that, after
all. the dictator was no lUll ' ven-
tureeome than the dktato~ 'now
~rta1nIy he malntalJled bls autho- '
rity by a 80rt of "Ge8tapo" and
his warlike enterprises never ca-
me to an end Nevertheless' the
dlftel'e!lce between him and an
11Idlvtdual of Hitler's type Is clear
b, HEll RI:CHIIA,.I
enough.- In the 'fl.nt place Napo-
leon m waa not In the habit o~
laying waste countries in whlcb
he had no bwlmesa for tIie plea-
S\1l'f! of ' ~ !dB d-ma.
upon them,' 8B Is the cue in sPatn
at present_ On the cOntrary ' be
was pass~sed with the mania of,
bringing to foreign ' peoples the 11,
berty which he denied to his own_
In his battles he even went .,a ,tar
as to e~pQSe hJs own person, a
practice which i8 qul~e unknown
to the new lords ,and masters who
prefer to obselve the deeds of
their bombing squadrons from 'a
very respectful distance.
It is as well t{) add that far-
merly, politics, even the imperial
PQlltics, did not necessarily lIlva-
d~ the sphere of spirlt~l civilisa-
tion. The mind kept its sovereignty
despite the omnipotence of the
system. If Victor Hugo wen~ into
exile it was In or~r to maintain
hia pQlitl~ independence, and not
for literary reasons. His books
were not burned; and, on the con-
trary, : the current of opposition
brought them greater success. Un-
der a dictatorship the' greatei!lt In-
novators of the century were able
to expe.rlment with a ' Ulerature
and painting which were , both
beIlutiful and daring. Thus scien-
tists and artists did not feel them-
selves unde~ any necell8ity for get-
ting at logger-heads with. 'the
Court. .
These facts ' mDSt be borne In
mind if we are. to appreciate the
tull extent of the decadence of the
new crop of dictators. UDder other
circWll6tBnces politica.l violence did
ohaDgeJs sap': NEurope shall III
f88clst:~ The other decl&res at Nu-
remblll'i': "F.Joaace &lid 'Great JIll..
I!ot I¥event Ii. country'e liplritu~ taIJl are ,cOlleerned because SpaIa
life ~rom develop!ilg freely . and may be ,conquered by WI. Out COIl--
even)rom ~njoyinga ceitatD airy cern, OR the otber hand, iar 't illt
'1 Ie.-' .............. - - . tile ~ lie ClllDJl-MId _ ......
.. alit Ja tMIt _Iel 0veI' iIIt1er .tam."
Germany the da.rkness Is ~ And this iDM. Hld61'. is tloWl-
mlng more and more oppresatiie. derlng in tbemldst of inextrl~
Thls- ,Is , ail ',u navoIdable oo~on ble Internal difficulties. such . .
under ' a dictato.rsl:lip which cOl'lld the everiasting trials for high
not ~i-vtvethe grimtiiirg of' free- trea.son, the oppoaitioo of the
dcimOf ' oPlnion :'or sincere .,anI1 churches which has been tranafot-
creative. thought. .Quite the rever- med Into politics. the demontra-
S?," In order. to la!!~. ~e dictator-
tlons against war in a Berlin plW1-
Ship finds 'Itself obliged to carry
ged in darkness, thll refUSiIJ at the
darkness into other places. It Is
nece88&ry for the Unlverse to ac- yoUIIg men to enlist In the infan-
cept Its Idea of culture, whlchla try, the Impoverishment of the
the negation of culture, and to ms.sses and the .ruined econmny. I
become cont.amiD.ated also. There have , Otmitted some of the diffi-
is ~o sectirlty for this system of culties, and not the least Im~r·
government. even If It Is victo- tanto The Pe9p1e's Froi1~ Iii In
rious 'In the political sphere, unW stence there. and l.s rleilig up
.xi.
It has eucceeded In ,p roviding the agalnst the system. But that does
peoples who are still tree with not matter, .. That "&dmir&1/le",
that slavery of the mind' which It character, tar from. minding h~
calls Its "philosophy". own business, only concenlll blDl~
A map of Europe recen.tIy pu- self with ..the weltare ot thi8 poor
blished in Berlin ' has as Its title: Europe which 16 decrepit e~
"Europe and Bolshevism. The dif- to allow ltself to be tempteq b1
ferent forms of Bolshcvik penetra-
Bolshevillm; and Bolsbevlsm: .....
tion." According to this map three-
, the eyoe.e of this "admirable" indi~
quarters of the continent aTe al-
vidual, Is equivalent to human U-
Teady "bolshevised". In o.rder to
arrive at this conclusi{)D they do berty and justice.
not let themselves be disturbed by He does not "reco(lllse" ' the G0-
the fact that omy one state b3.l! vernments ot liberty lind soct.l
taken the means of production jUatice.. But If w. . . . . . . . . .
completely into Ita baDdIo. ~ the mat... ~: . . . . . eft!' " -
"'II the map the eoUDUy ga\lt)' ot recognised? He has beeD admit-
this is covered with the blackest ted, despite his coup d'~t&t whlcll
of blacks. They then proce -d to wall disreputable" iotrlgue, and ha-
colour the countries which have ving heen admitted he Is eDdu~.
signed military pacts with the So- Whether he ahould be "recogni-
net Union, such as those where a sed" or not has atill Dot been di-
People's Front Government is in scussed. We are still free to c,lo so.
power, with a dull black falotly
striped With a lighter colour. The
Scandinavian countries where the
Socialifits are In power are, for
that reason, scarcely less dark Prehistoric Discovery
than the U, S. S. R. itself.
One ~e muddy tint covers
Made by Soviet Scien-
Republican Spain, France, Czecbo- tists
slovakia, Rumania, Turkey and
the small countries on the frontiers LENINGRAD, Dec. 4.-An ex-
of Russia, with the exception of pedition commi!l8ioned by the
Finland. C~'1)Sequently the map Academy of Sciences has disco-
becomes really sinister. There on- yered in the valley of the Rlver
ly remain two shining white ar- Don, near the little town ot Xos-
cbangels to save this continent tensky. a ,piece of ground belong-
which has fallen In the mire; who Ing either to the Glacla.\ Epocb
they aTe can 'be guessed. We know or to the era before the begin-
$Iso that they do all they can In ning of civilization. In variOUI
this direction. Thanks to them sections of thJs ground peat
halt Spain has just regained a pre- qUjllltities ofprehlatoric object..
sentable colour. One ot tbe ar- were found.

PERSO!ll!llEL of
AMERICAN HOSPITAL UNIT
IN ACTION
(Continued fr om pa:e I.)
threat en. and our own ~lanes cau-
se us const~rnation until ~. co-
me close enough t o be r ecogni-
zed lUI ours. The droning of an
airplane motor at the front i~ no
com'. ~ to the surgeon in the
u:idsl ..t an operation.
There Is no satety against the
deadly missiles dropped from ~bo­
ve. One place is as daage.rous lUI
another. and Under the most pe-
rtlous circumstances the nurses
continue to .taod by the woun-
ded. Heroism is the usual thing,
and only contrary II.cts would be
noticeable.
BACK TO BASE
During the second week the
num,ber ot wout;ded decreases and
,t here is a let-up in ' the co~ccn­
trated strain of the work. The
doctt\rs, nurses and ambulance
drivers are quite wClrn out by this
time and welcome the temporary
reprieve. The decrease In the num-
ber ot wounded coming in mea.ns
that we can anticipate a call ~ a
few days to move out.
On the night ot the twelfth day
t\f our stay ' at the front rumors
are lIPreading that our division !a
to move. The next day atterluncb
we receive our orders. All the pa~
tients wbo are tit I:> be ,evacuated
are sent in ambulances to hospi-
tals in the rear. One lIurgicaJ team
w!ll' r emain Qehlnd to take care
of the remaining patients unUI
they are fit to be transported, a
matter of perhaps another week .
Everything is gathered and pac-
ked into our trucks aDd autochir.
The dismantling of tlie ' field
hospital , proceeds much 8l0wer
thai1 pid the setting up. We are
going back to the base ; we need '
4'& relit. However, we' 'have the feel-
9
GIRLS WHO WAR ON MICROBES
I.n the Institute of BIology and "Our wt\rk haa '-.n tremend<Ju.
Serumtherapy at Madrtd there .Iy Incre&lled during , the War,;'
are· coll ections of 'r abbits and whi- Doctor Alday declared. "We have
te rats for expe.rimental purposes. llrepared as many as 2000 . anti-
Here in different departments typhoid injections at ' a time and
about forty g:rls, chattering and once we had an order for a mil-
laughing in their wh i t~ overalls, lion."
handle deadly microbes against "What Is the rat serum uaect
whicn they have been immunized. for?"
It is owing to , them and to thlll
"Against pneumooia."
laborato ry that Madrid has been
free of epidemics. They have pre- In two large ,rooms 20 or 30
girl8 are seated at tables prepar-
pared thousands of tubes of se-
rum for Injections. And they ba- ing tubes of calciWlll which 13 ad-
ve also saved from tetanUs and ministered to t~ose wounded who
gangr ~ l!e hundreds of wounded.
are suffering from fracture•. Cal-
Doctor Alday, 'p rofessor of the cium helps the bones to form
the .u.a.., Hoopltal. faculty of medicine at the Uni- again. The . girls here are even
versity of Madrid, Is in charge of prettier and livel!er than In other
ing that we are leaving a place tile laboratory which Is managed paJ-14 of the building. Here !a Fe-
where sufficient e vents to f!ll a, by Doctt\r Rulz Falco and he told lisa, a petite Madrid girl. She be.
lIeves firmly in the Popular FNn,
life time have tran1!pired in the me that in spite of the most me-
space of two weeks. Early tbe ticulous precautions there Is some Government. Unlike moat of the
next morning the caravan begins risk . attached to the work. He otber girls who have fiance. at ~e
its jcurney to the base. " W e are said ; - "The son at the scientiBt front, she 18 Ullattached but ~e
going home", Is our way of ex- and Nobel prize winner, don San- writes to a. lot of Boldier boys to
pressing It. tiago RamOn y Cajal, caught Mal- amuse aDd encourage them, and '
ta- fever bere aa did aJso another they reply. Concba alma &nd 'Car-
BOMBED AGAIN
worker, Vincente Hernandez; but men Jiminez write long letters
At mid-day we enter a quiet there are very "few such cases." every day to their beroea. Pepita
sleepy little village, and look Gustamente lnDoculates agaiDllt Palomares is on the eve of mo-
about for ' 8. place to buy 80me tetanus; AzU&l' llpinst Malta fe-
therhood. Her busband ' Is iI,' p"st-
food . Suddenly we bear the fami- ver and P.artearroyo against bu-
man in Carabanchel. Mat lf<l&, d e
liar shriek at sirens warning of
bonic plll&'Ue. All of these pretty Gutierrez is envied by evel"y'one
the coming of enemy planes. girls that, you see, Fe1Iaa, Pepita, becaI,Iae her fiance is an aviator.
The whole v!llage becomes tran-
Matilde, Concepc16n, Pilar.,. .. Ito- Ca.rmen Bemabeu 13 a Valencian
IIformed. From the doorways rush
cialiBts, communists, ' n;pUh!IC&DII,
women and children. Many a mo- girl. TIlese girlll work nine hoars
&n.arehl.sts, Uve dali!y wlUI theae
ther has a babe ' ln arms, and so- a day aod do It gladlJ(.
microbes.
me drag other 'chUdren behind Pilar Dia.z works in the' Bection
There Is one gtrlwbo deals with
them. Here, and there one _8 fill of CI /" ur_ and' !a the, dauchter of
old woman being hurried along by wterinary lilfeetiODS and there are a doctor, Her two brothers are
a younger penon, or a fear-atrtc- serums agalnat ~e, tetaDua, despatch riders on the Vatenei,a
ken - mother running throUj'h ' the J!DI8l1pox. typhoid and dlptberla.
streets calling, frantically ' for , a The rat. · came oriclDaDy from the .rOad. She deftly and fe&r.lesaly
manipulates the imprIBoned "no-
child Bh~ 1,1- unable to find. Pasteur lnatltute In Paria. They
The streets are cleared. All ,1U'e are ,now bred, here. . . . . t\f eWl" ot ·tb6 deadly fevers.
pIacU
waiting 8.IIldoU!lly ' In tlIe '
,of refuge.
1t comes - that famiHar crash- .
int ~lo810n.
Tbls time the bomb dest roys
the hospital in the village - a fa-
eciat farewell to oUr group.
Without further incident we
reac~ ' our base. get down to rou-
tine &j"ain, ,and have, time to re-
tlect ,under comp..:ratively safe
circumstances upon the ~~rien­
ces we have been th1'Ougtl. Up Ul!-
W now our ,p artlclpaUon' !n an ail-
absorbing purposefUl work has
btmited our llWarene!!8 to the dan-
gerS encoUDtered at the front.
Away from the front we become
increa!llDgly . more consc1oua of
how' grave .they have ~ - but
give us a litUe rest IID4. the- -cI&~
mar ' to -return totront daty bei-
Ins . over again.
Dr. ~VmG .• U8CR AXERleAN c1....... at work.
 10 '.l'IIE VOLlJNTIlI!:I& FOO UBERTY

Phil Detro --- "Long-Legged" Texan Commander of our

Lincoln-Washington Battalion
H e crossed into Spain on April to Spain to aid the fight against made a section ,leader in the Was-
I, coming to fly in th e Loyalist fascism. All this time he had been hington Battalion. Then Company
air for ce. H~ speak s in a quie t. un- developing co~victions, shedding Adjutant under Hans Amlie.
hesita ti ng, off- hand way. His soft, old prejudices. But h e h adn't done That·.. the way things s tood , mo-
T exan drawl fits in perfectly with anything about it. This worried ving int o Brunete.
his la nky, big-boned six feet and him. Villanueva de la Cafiada taken
four inches. H e r e was something. He started from the, fascists. There are always
For six years he was a member in search of a way t <' v llunteer. changes in an a ction. Things ha,p-
of ,tile T exas National Guar d. A 11 He had no conneci; c"" w hich pen to men and others step up
of the m uneve ntfu'l yea r s. might m a k e it easy. Nobody w ho t o take their places.
H e s ta rted out to fin· . adventure. might he lp, knew him. It w"-" dif- Phil Detro t ook over command
H e wanted to see things. He ship- ficult. of a Company. H e knew his stuff.
ped out on a boat h eaded fo r Eu- Finally he foun d someone. He He had the confidence and the na
rope. Once in Berlin h e h eard Hit- volunteered. Then h e went to his tu ral leadership of the sold iers. He
ler speak. This was in 1932, dur- r oom and waited. H e waited a long had courage.
ing the tense days. There was a time, was im~1.ti ent. H e almost War is the g r eatest of a ll tests
c lash . When h e came out of it he gave up hope. Then he received of a man 's convictions. The fas-
had lost one good shirt sleeve. word. ci"t g uns pound ed Phi l Detro's
H e h a d gained a view of fas- Could he be r eady to leave the con victi ons deeper . His anti-fag·
cism- in action, headed f or power. n ext day? c;,sm was forged stronge r in b~ tic.
H e h ad begun to think about the- H e could. He did.
se t.'lings. wor; NDED
He wQl'ked on s hips rWUling to PLENTY OF STUFF
the Far East. In China there were Shra pnel laid him up at Mos-
the o ppressIon and extreme po- Spain. by this time , didn' t n eed quit o Hidge. L ater there was ma-
verty of the coolies and the brutal more aviators. Spain needed a larla. The effects s till lill' :r. In
callou s ness of the w a r -lords and greater , stronger, better trained the States he w eiged 190. Today
the f or eigners who w ere in China and m ore disciplined army. th e scales tip at 168 pounds.
as agents for imperialist interests. Ok eh . Train then. Take your H e WaB back again w ith the
CAJ'TA!:> PHll_ IlETIlO
The r e was a sort of a job, after training seriously. Remember w hat Te-organized LincoJn-W aBhington
thi s, writing for a synlli cate in you learned in the Nationa l Guard at Belchite. Immedia t ely, he pit-
You ask him w h y h e eame to
New Yu rk. It paid less than not back h om e. Use that knowledge. ched into that battle of grenades.
Spain, how he came t o hate fas-
so good, but he wanted to write. Spain needed men ·." ho could do The fascists erected a barrica-
cism. You as k because his back-
At the a ge of nine, he wrot e his thi ngs this way. Pml Detro did. de in the streets. They comman-
ground is Mississippi and Texas,
first novel. It was al so hi s last. Men liked him. They liked the ded the Bector. Phil can throw.
where r eaction is strong in the
Someone mentioned one night quick smile that showe d widely Together with Major Merrij11an,
ru ling class. His f olks were plan-
that American fe llows we re g'oing spaced but even t e eth. H e wa:; he crawled out onto the rooftops,
t ers in Mississ ippi. If you trace
loaded with grenades. One after
the f a mi ly yo u can go ba , o{ to
anothe r he slung them.
the Rcvolationary ,Var One was
In the street fighting, the long-
a Gen eral in the Confedcratp Ar-
legged Texan was in the lead. La-
my during the Ci-;il V/ il r, defeIiLl-
t er, he was cited for bravery. He
ing s laver y. There fir e it whole
was m a de Battalion Adjutant.
s tring of s lave holders .
"I just happened to be around
T oday in S pain Captain Philip
every time they needed someone,"
Detro j ~ commanding th e Lincoln-
is his explanation of his steady
V.' ashington Battalion of Ameri-
advance to positions of responsi-
can volunteers, figh ting slav ery
bility.
and slaveh olde rs.
You ask him why be came to
In Conroe, T exas, his home
Spain. The al1Bwer seems so sim-
t own, they a re am ong those old
ple, so right, to him that the
families t o w hom Spain is too far
question Is superfluol1B. He Is
a way t o care about unles~ it
fighting slavery. H e is adding his
affec ts the price of cotton_ At
for ce and knowledge in a tangi·
Rice Institute, then at Missouri
ble way to a struggle for things
where h e studied journalism, but
he believes right and decent.
spent more of his time learning
"I'm getting re-paid a hundred
to fly, he kne w little a nd cared
times for anything I can do. I'm
less about any s truggle ~ ., tween
learning things.
classes.
"I' ll make mistakes, " he says.
The struggle between cla sses -
"I've made them. I only want
at Rice lru>.:itute - that is the
men to believe that I'm honest,
sort of play on words Phil likes.
that I'm trying the best way I
You a s k his middle name. It's
know how. That's what's Impor-
L eight on. h Le igh to~:?" you inqui-
tant".
r e ... fjO[l·t l ay it on", he will most
Men do believe that about Cap-
Ii kcl,\' p op back running the words
tain Philip Detro, American anti-
to.s;'(,ther so you cH.n't rn iss the
fascist volunteer_ B.O,
l'"n on Leighton. LINC()I_N-WASHINGTON C&mrad". UJlder the shower macllIne.

... .,.. ' ..~ . .-2'
.. .. !~~ .. """
' / _ -;,: :"".' ._~ ·,:·t~. :.~. '.: ,,-'
: .. " ' <. - -- --
MACKE:SZIF.·)-APIXE;\.( ' machine gunners deanlng up after the
. de Ehro battle~.
"They Seemed
Delighted"
Another story from G~I'many:
Hitler and Goebbels were touring
the countryside doing propaganda
work among the peasants. They
were dashing along at 60 m. P. h.
in a fine car, and eve.rythlng was
going beautifully.
Suddenly their chauffeur hat!
the misfortune to nUl over and
kru a pig.
The situation was n~ too good.
Hitler didn't like it at all. That
the FUehrer should kill a pea-
sant's pig was going a bit too far.
So he sent 0ft' Goebbels to the
near~t farm to explain matters,
and, with bribes or th.rea.ts If ne-
cessary to set the matter right.
Ten minutes later, back came
Goebbels loaded up '!Vith fruit, ve-
getables, chickens and egp.
"I suppose you gave a fabulous
price ·for those things" , said Hit-
ler.
"No," replied Goebbels, In a
puzzled voice. "They gave them
to me."
"G&~ tnem to you? Do you
mean .to say they weren't anno-
yed?"
"Not a bit of it," replied Goeb-
bels, "they seemed delighted."
"But what did- you say," 'asked
Hitler, .Ito ar.range it aU so ni-
cely?"
"Hardly anything," said uoeb-
beLs. "I just said "Heil Hitler!" 1
b&ve the swine rIlll.over. Jl.Ddkil-
led,"
THE 'VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
HOLLYWOOD MISSES
, BIG CHANCE
h~lIf'nte s
Mysterious Explosion
In Munitions Plant
LONDON.-In the muntion fa-
ctory of Waetham Abbey, which
is under government control, a
violent explosion occurred. The
accident was mysterious and has
raised great suspicion. The go-
vernment has ordered an imme-
diate investigation, There were no
'victims, ;,ilt the damage done to
the plant is considerable.
It is believed that the enemies
of govemm"nt control are respon-
sible for the expl08i.on.
The. attack on Quinto went O'lt
across a flat stretch of grouncl
bare of cover. We could see the
Ebro valley beyond the village, as
green and rich as the rocky taole-
land was barren. It lay beyond
the enemy's lines li ke th e Pro-
mised Land.
That attack was faultle ss:y
planned. We ~re in Quinto the
next day. Only a h a n df ul of fas -
cists were left in the c hurch, and
we pounded them out of tha t in
time. But 'It took us two days m ore
to captute Per be rei Hill. The pl a -
ce wa.q a natu ral fortress , Bu r-
rounded .b y a s~ee p ravine, briel-
ged in one place only by a narrow
neck of land.' We were kept off
t hat by barbed wire and tani<
traps.
If anything could have in'duced
a big Hollywood producer to come
out to Spa in and watch that hill
being taken, he would have wan-
ted to buy up the battle, lock ,
stock and barrel. Had his inclina-
tions taken him Into the fascist
lines rather than our own, 80 much
the worse for him. Our artillery
and gun-fire turned that place
into somethi·n g worse than hell.
But what a spectacle! Attempts
were made to assault the bill be-
fore it was ready to give in. The
Twenty-Fourth Battailorl, attack-
ing on One end, reached the bot-
tom of the slope and were driveD
11
back by hand grenades. There was
work f or the artillery to do ye t;
German defences take a bit at
smashing.
Guns of all calibres pounded
away until evening of the next
day. At length we saw two figu-
r es jump out on the opposing pa-
rapet and run down the hill , wav-
ing white handkerchiefs. Chee ring
brok e out in our lines, and m en
climbed on the sandbags, waving
their arms and shouting "Venga!
Venga! "
Not a ll the fasCI st s were of one
mind. Machine gun fire broke ou t
from the s pur of the hill, and the
cheering R epublicans climbed h","-
tily back. But the thing hud sttc l'-
ted. More men came running out,
in twos and threes.
Then against the sky-line at the
other end of the ridge we saw our
own troops going up to the assault
and dropping into the t!Wclst
trenches. The battle was aver.
Soon the prisone rs were being
marshalled on the crest a.nd mar-
ched down to the valley belew.
It see~ed from th<,;r expres-
sions that this was no di~point­
moot to the fascist rank and file.
Not surprising - they had endu-
r~d two days of hell for a number
of airy ,p ramise8and a few centi-
mos a day in hard cash. As for
thf~ future, st-me of th~Ul Ind..,'
have guessed th&t even a few cen-
timos was nn .r..fe bet.
12
LETTERS
from
HOME
Brltillh Labour M. P.'.
Write to I. B. Flghters.
Dear Comrade M.:
Thank you for your letter and
the Souvenir Card, which Is most
Impressive.
We shall certainly do our utmost
In this country to try to . get as-
sistance for our Spanish comra-
des, but the difficulties with the
present National Government are
very great. We are putting all
the pressure that we can to bear
on the Government in order to
get the policy of Non-intervention
brought to an end and shall con-
tinue to do this in the hope that
It will enable the Spanish wor-
kers to gain an ultimate victory.
We all look with immense ad-
miration on the work being done ·
by the International Brigade and
wish you all the very best of
luck.
Yours sincerely,
Signed:
STAFFORD CRIPPS
Dear Comrade:
Very many thanks for your let-
ter to hand today.
Let me assure you and your
Comrades of the I. B. tllat we are
fully conscious of the urgency
and the gravity of the eltuation
"''&)118& GlaL . . . . .uIWIe .... IIMrW ........ ,.....,..
'DIE VOLmtHIEB 1108 I . . - i i
and will do our best to mobilise
the people of Britain behind the
people of Spaln. And . In par-
ticular do we recognlse the need
of ending the farce of Non-inter-
vention.
With the best of .1QOd wishes.
Yours fraternally, -
Biped:
,JIM GBIFFTH. .
AntlfMClat sentiment
Growing Stronger In Austria.
Dear Oliver:
. My time is pretty full up theae
days and I have a special routine,
though this iavaried at times. In
the summer, I spent some week-
ends over at Elford Hall (where
theB3sque kiddiee are staying)
and acted as Electrician's Mate.
My chief job was to cut up hun-
dreds (or were they thousands) of
lengths of conduit and screw the
ends, but I filled In ·t he time crawl-
ing among spiders' webs In the
rafters, and by fitting 'Rawlplugs
In inaccessible positions.
Jack and I spent our holiday in
Austria th18 year, htt.<1 a very
good time and learned that the
socialist Idea is by no means dead
there.
There Is quite a lot of anti-fas-
cist feeling and we were pleased
to see that wbere some bright lad
had scrawled Nazi Swastikas on
the staircase of our digs In Vien-
na, they had been scrawled over
and replaced by hammers and
sickles.
Here's the best o~ luck and a
victorious peace.
CHICK
:t'be dictator, Presldenf Vargas,
baa ordered the dI.I8olutioD of all
pollUcal parUea In Uae country,
wDouta~
....-)-....J.Mra.--6:-.--M~A-::O-::R=1J)
D--'A-"-A-(U-.-Q-.-T
GHOST HOUSES
What's In a house?
Everybody likes to know, at
one ~e or another. A house,
UIlder DOrma.l circumstances, cant·
alns the ~ckground of a man'.
life. Get a look Ins1de, and you
canhav6 a good guess at what
sort of a man your neighboUr is.
Under circumstances of war,
houses attain a new significance.
They are liable to contain the
background of a man's death.
The soldier who 18 tlgbting with
a bouse In front pi blm has a
better re&IIOIl than curloelty to
know what Ja In it
Most Spanish hoU8ell are white.
WhIte houses are stock properties
. of the Civil War. Time and
again our troops have had to
abelte. from a sn1pet's alm or a
stream of machine gun bullet.
cOming from the windows of a
white house. Tbey 8tand, still
and bleached 11 k e skeletons.
Nothing looks 80 dead.
Waiting In a hastily dug hole,
eometimes for nours, a soldier
may have little else to look at
ezeept one of these ghost houses.
It gathers a gloomy significance.
Later, when the action is over and
the Brigade pulls out to the J'eIU',
the sight of houses with .smoking
chimneys, linen on the line and
life In and about them seems ·al-
most as strange as it 18 welcome.
Queipo de Llano
Hurt in AI)to
Smash-Up
~ minute news inform us
that the fascist General, Quelpo
de Llano, met ·with an automobile
accident on the highway between
Va1ladolid and Burgos. The traitor
General suffered a fractured arm.
All Political Parties
Dissolved in Brazil
RIO 'DE JANlIlmO, Dee. 3.-
When the Brigade is at rest,
and large numbers of men have
to be quartered together, the big
hOU8e8 that once belonged to rlcb
landowners or industrial proprie-
tors prove very serviceable.
There were many vacated at the
outbreak of the war by men who
left hurriedly with what they
could ooIlect, feeling that life on
the fuclst alde would suit them
better than Btaylng wbere they
were.
Over the tracks of the old life,
a new life riets In. There 18
no one there io take offence but
the family portraits, who may be
abocked at so much husky vita·
lity. By the looks of them, they
would be shocked at anything.
There are no ghost houses tor
troops 'at rest-not, at least, to Ul
army that is fighting, like oun.
for more life. The old bones, the
weary remnants of the rich de-
parted, are et.acked away In c0r-
ners and attics. Books, d0cu-
ments, photographs, title deeds
pile up In dusty store-rooms, aD
almost everlasting banquet for
moths and the other Insects that
share with their former ownerll
a taste tor such things. Tbey
lie unnoticed. The house is ahak·
ing with life.
M. T.
1IIIIIIIJlIlIlIlIlIllIlIUUIIIIIUIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIJlIIIIIIUU.
NOT ICE
~. ' '' '.
All American aDd CanadlaD ·
comradee are urged to write
In and ten of their experlen.
ces in the various services of
the Army: their experience.
at the front and In the rear; .
their reacU0Il8 to what Is going
on In Spain today: etc. We
WaDt the truth. It is n~cea.­
aary that we get all this in.
formation 80 that In nightly
abort wave broadcaats to North
AJnerica we caD give CauadiaD
aDd Americana an aeeurate
picture of what "Our Boy."
are doing In Spain. eo.......
elM, whenever you have an:r
Intereltlng experiences, write
them dawn aDd send them ..
to TIlE VOLUNTEEB Jl'(}B
LI8EaTY, 8. II. L, PLAZA
AL'l'OZANA, an:, ALBAOIlTII
 The VOLUNTEER
FOR LIBERTY
• Vol.;1 - ;~•• 26

BRITISH LABOUR VISITS

, Major C. R. AtUee, leader of LABOUR GROUP IN TAU< TO THE ENGLISH SPEAKING aar, Daft Dan.n, 1IaIl· the entire
the ParHameDtary Labour Parly deleptioD.
OF THE 15~ 8R1.GAOE EXPRESS DETERMINATION .TO LieutellMlt-Colouel OoJiie, form-
and 01. the OppollWon in the Roue
of Commons, Noel Baker K. P., CARRY ON FIGHT FOR SPANISH ;CAUSE IN BRITAIN. er' member of the Yuco-Slavtan
and Ellen Wilkln80n K. P., both MAJOR ATTLEE CONDEMNS "NON-INTERVENTtON" AS parliament, 8poke at the ceremony
members of the ExecuUye Com- bl the name aI. the Brlpde.
mittee of the Labour Party, tog- "FARCE" , lfajor AWee, h1mIIelf an expel'-
IeDeed aoIdIer,8poire to the _
ether with Mr. :Dugdale, private
_retary . to Major AttIee -and clally to Madrid to invite them to. ed along the walla and balConies, sembled Battalions.
"Wean proud", he aa1d;-aI. the
parliamentary candidate for Blrm- Vialt the Brlpde to which ale. proClpted one of the speakers to
attached theb' countrymen. comp&re It with .cen.. during the deeds of the-. who have died'lU¥I
1Dgbam, formed an official Labour
Chartist movemeld: In England of tho8e who 1Iti:I live. Wit; ~
DelegatiOn whch baa jUst COD.clud..
seen and know the apiritli;·:the
ad a
Vialt to Spain. 1MPU881V1l lIIICI:P1'ION The ~ fip.tIng for suffra-
ge and other democratic rights Spani8h people and, like you~ are
The DelegaUon had been invited
Their reception, at the BrJgisde over a hundred years ago had sure of their victory."
to come to Spain by Dr. .Juan Ne-
crtn, President of the Council, and climax to their whirlwind tour. demolllltrated by t~rchlight for
the {ollowlng ~ waa afltting In re(errlng to "non-intervent-
Ion" he stated "It is ti'uly a farce.
they made the utmost use of their Wh.en they .reached the town in their demant&!
The First COmpany of the Brit- 1t should have' been over long- ago.
stay here to find out for thems- which the Brigade 1a quartel'ed Everybody knows It is a farce".
elves the' real condltic:l~s of the they were met by the Brillilh Bat- lab Battalion reCeived the honor- He promised, in the name of the
country. 'At ~elona.· Valencia, talion and ~ Uncoln·WashIngton ary DJUJie of ."Major Attlee Com~
entire delegation, to take the truth
IIDd Madrid they had varioua in~ . American BattaHou. drawn up at pany" . In the presence of Dlvillion of the tll:ruggle back to Britain
..mews with prominent Gove~­ attention, with the scene Ughted General CarIOll Walter, IDspector &lid to do everything In their p0-
ent and Military officials, and they by gasoline torches held' by the of W.ar for the International Bri. wer "to try to bring prell~ure to
utWaed their Ume to the full~ SOldiers. The Deven, yellow glare gade, Luigi Gfano; Commander aI. bear to' change this policy 80 fra-
est.ent In order to get in contact outitnlng the
trim llnes- of aoIdiera the Brigade, Lieutenant-colonel ught \1Irith danger to Democracy".
with
the civil population and the and the people of the tOW'II, cro,,-d_ Cople; Brigade Pol1Ucai CommiB-
soldiers to d1scover the feeUJip
and the 8Plrit of the Spanish
~ple. .Noel Baker in his speech refer-
While' bl Madrid they paid a. red to Britlah tradition In relation
Y1aIt to the trenches In the Centre to Spain during the Civil War of
Fnmt, Bl!elng with their own eyes 1837 against the monarchy and
the batUefront of Democracy. Lat... oppression. "England sent 10,000
er they had an Interview with a.- volunteers to aid the Spamsa pe-
Dera! M1a.jIi., Comml988P Anton of ople in the struggle for Liberty
the Centre Army, and Jesus Her- and opened her armouries to send
nAndez, Minister of Education. ar!ll.9".
On December 5th they were He was greeted with cheers
received by Comrade LuIgi Gallo, when he declared, "I wish we were
IDspector of War for the Interna- doing the same todayi'.
tional Brigade, at the War Com- "I am not very proud of the
missariat where tb"ey had explain- part our British Government has
ed to them the role and some of played towards democratic Spain N
,

the achievements of the Brigade. he said, cheered by Major Attlee.

Here also they were met by Lieut-
enant-Colonel Coplc and Dave Do_
ran, Commander and Political
Commlasar 1'e8P8Ctively of the
15th Brigade, and Captain Fred
Copeman, Commander of the Brit-
Ish Battalion who had come spe-
Major AttIee led the assembly
in a loyalist aalute when Captain
lI'red Copeman called for a one
minute silence in honour of the
members of the British Battalion
MAIOR 4TTLEE. at· the forefront, on the balcony of Madrid'. War 1111- who had fallen fighting for De-
nl.try. General MIAJA (CeDter) I. talklOIr to ANTON, Comml.sar of
War of $lie Army of the Center. (COnd....ed 00 page 12.)

World Trade Union Unity Scores
In n~cent weeks th(' caUSt' of
wllrkiIlg" C'~a~~ unity ha~ ad\'an
l't.'\1 t owards o ne dl"ci.s iVl' vic tl, ry
Frvm !';owmber 23ro to thl' 26th
lht" dl'lt'g-atiClns of the Inte r-
national r\!deration of Tral\C'
Vnions and of th~ Central COUIl-
cil of thl' Soviet Trade Un in n.
met together ill !-h).'tCow to dis-
cuSs the funds.mental principles
on which. trade union unity C!ln
be established on the basis of th~
anti-war, anti-Fucist struggle.
Th" agreement arrived at has to
be submitted for approval to the
Bureau and' the General Council
of the I. F. T. It on the one hand
and the Central Council of the
Soviet unions on the other, but
this agreement lays the founda-
tion8 for the entry of the Soviet
Trade Unions into the I. F. T. U.
REAOTION DISPLEASED
The reactionary press hM re-
ceived the news with grinding of
teeth and howls of rage - the
1. F. T. U. will be delivered Over
to the "Stalinl.8t dictators", etc.
In 19211, when the General Coun-
cil of the British Trade Union
Congress waa 8upporting unity.
between the I. F. T. U. and the
Ruaaiaa _emeDt,the reaction-
ary ·pre.&S ran a 8ustaIned camp-
aign, which tor virulence and
misrepresentation has rarely been
paralleled.' The General Council
were told that their proceedings
were "gravely mutinous ", and the
"Dally Telegraph" informed the
world that their endeavours wee
re "a matter of national humilia-
tion". There have been many chan-
ges in the array of forces since
1925 - those leaders of German
Social Democracy who were then
TIlE VOLUNTl-:ER FOIt
in the forefront of tbe fight aga-
inst unity have t ested their po-
licy to its bitter end. while the
Crt'neral Council of the British
T . U. C. is not quit<> the same
champion of unity as it was in
thoo,· days. But one thing r emains
unChanged - the words "interna-
tional working-class unity" sound
no more melodious to reactionary
ears in 1937 than they did in
1925. The depth of the reactio-
naries' anger. will be the measure
of the victory against war and
Fascism.
It is earnestly to be hoped that
,
,
,-,...
~ ckere claim that the Annemasse
, t ...
'a t its present meeting the Exe.
cutive of the I. F. T . U. will react
a de ;'ision favourable to th-e
speedy incorporatiol). of the Sf'-
viet trade unions, ih accordance
with the Moacow agreements. An
International Federation of Tra-
de UniODB including in its ranks
the millions of Soviet Trade Unlo"
nlsts, IlIId soon, let'U8 hope, tholle
of the U . . S. A. as well, will be
an International with vaat possi-
bilities of mllSs pressure &gaiM!
the complacency and the compli-
city, the vaclllations and the re-
treats of some Governments ·b e-
fore the Fucist aggressorll.
Another problem the I. F . T. U.
Executive will have to consider
is that of the Circumstances which
compe~led the noajority of the or-
ganisations in the U. G. T. to re-
move their former Executive.
This problem has already been
solved to a great extent by the
Spanish Unionists them.sel~es. whc
have shown that they will not
tolerate the use of their great
organisation as a manoeuvring
ground for personal ambition and
individual Interest which do not
coincide with those of the Spanish
people. Their action has been
further strengthened by the de-
cision of the People's Front Go-
vernment to recognise the 'n~w
Executive aa the legitimate r.:xe-
Ur.~Rl'l·
8~g
cutive of the U. C. T. it is f,·r·
vently to .be desirt'd that th,' lk-
legation which the 1: F. T. Li.
sends to Spain will s et the seal
of its approval on the labour of
unity ltIready realised hy the new
E'.><ecuUve.
While there is an advance In
the international trade union
field, there is a setback in the
political field. On November 25th
the Labour and Socialist Interna-
tional rejected the Communist
International's offer to begin joint
conversation.. with a view to
bringing international unity into
the realm of reality. In their letter
of refus al Adler and De Bro.u-
agreement did n ot provide for
joint conversations. In the text 01
that agreement we read, howe-
ver: "TheY :(1. e. the' delegates of
the two Internationals) are united
in their desire that fresh con-
tacts should be made with the
least possible delay for a more
d~tailed study of the concrete
ways IlIId means envisaged for
providing Spain with material and
moral aBlJistance. "
Months h'l.ve gone by. We are
still Waiting for these "contacts
with the least possible delay", and
n :though "hope deter.red maketh
the heart sick" we have not yet
lost our hope -that better councils
will prevail.
IN WHOSE INTERESTS?
In France It will be remembered
that the Socialist comrades post-
poned the drawing up of a unity
pact with the Communists on the
grounds ' that what urey wanted
was organisational unity. Now
-
the Central Committee of the
MAIlI:"l(G )It'~; ITIO~S in 008
Advance
French Sociali!lt Party has taken
a dcd.s :on whi ch breaks up thl
·.1i' i !i ··~tion commission, though it
(k~"l!':s that the S. P. remains
t:'ue to the policy of united ac-
tion. Only Zyromski "Voted against
this decision.
The resolution was quoted with
great satisfaction in all the reac-
tionary French press to the tune
of " It's never too late to mend".
and an accompaniment of oblique
references to a "French" Socia-
lism.
It is ironic that one of the pre-
texts for this decision was the a.r-
ticle on the XXth Anniversary of
the October Revolution by none
other than Comrade Dlmitrov.
whom the whole Spanish people
knows WI one of th2 very best
fighters for unity.
It is difficult to avoid the con-
clusion that the campaign devo-
ted to breaking united action IlIId
preventing the full realisation of
the P eople's Front programme
has borne fruit in this particll-
lar instance; just at a time whea
a widespread reactionary plot
against the French State is c0-
ming to light.
The balance sheet of unity 1e
showing both gains and . losses.
The situation demands that the
gaJns Increase and that there be
no more 1088eo!1. The Fascist ag-
gressora are becoming ever m~
re shamele88 and the Government.
of the Western European ·demo-
cracies continue to display a hy·
pocritical Impotence, .a policy of
inviting the burg<lar in for a drink
and a friendly chat, sh.owing him
the next door DJ:lKhbour's hoWle
and hoping for the best.
A. X. J!I.
of :">I~d"d·. mlHlern war pla·Db.
 THE VOLUNTl!:EB FOB UBERTi'

DISCIPLINE IN OUR ARMY

EDITORIAL

III the COUl'8e of nearly a year and a half, the char~"ter of. the
SpalLlah Civil War has radlca.lly changed. Two trained armies arc now
facing eacb other. The outcome of event8 will depend more on ~trategy
and leliS on cbance. When the first International ColWlUl w .... fonned,
speed alone WILlI _nUal; unJt8 were sent Into the Ilnp with a mini.
mum of training and co-ordinatlon. The Internatlona.! Brigades are
BOW an Integra.! part of a dlaclpllned fighting force.

If It had been po88ible to call up a fully disciplined anny from the

Spantsb 80il at tbe outbreak of tbe war, the suhst>,quent history of
c venta would have been very diffe rent. The Go\·crnment·s task in those
days was to 8top the advancing rebels by whatever means they could
hoy haad8 on. There W88 no time to organize discipline on a large scale.
It waa neoe88SrY then to rely on the self-di8clpline tbat Is Inspired In
men who are figbtillg for what tb~y believe In.
Self-dt8clpllne may 8ufflce for a small group of men who remain In
cOJ18tant toucb with one another. As ,the 8C8le of organization widens
and the work of the small onlts Is ®.ordlnated, the problem of disc·
TilE STUDESTS of the La.ra.ca Institute of the F. U. E. (F.d~ration
Ipllne Is enormously Increased. It becomes essential that the central of I "nln~ nity Students) are the "Mndrtnas de Guerra" of the 16th Drlca.d f'.
command shall be able to rely upon the unlta carrying out Instructions 'r hesf' youn.r 8ludeDt•. vlolted the In'''rnaUonai BnKade Readquurtf''' 01
. . qulckly and thorougbly aa possible. In otber words, unconditional the ~Iadrhl Commissariat recently and were en&ertallled b7 the Anglo .
American delecatiOD there.
obedience 18 vital to the formation of a fully trained anny.
In tJle early days a good dea.! of cUscussl.on wen t on in the In te rna·
tlona.1 ranks. Even sa late ILII Brunete, some men would discuss the
merlta of an order Instead of Jumping to obey It. This 80rt of behavl"r
Is a legacy of the old world, and ShOW8 how hard It i8 even for an anti·
faeclst to break his old habit&. In bl8 own country he often opposed
antborlty, because it Wali In thehand8 of the wrong men. He Is fight·
InC aga.ln8t their allies now, but the position has ('hanged. The a?thor.
Ity under which he "erves Is on his own side. He realises now that
every order Is part of a general plan, tlll,t failure to carry out e \'c ry
order may endanger tbe whole plan.
Tblll has been the volunteer's difficulty, to recognize tbe differe nce
between one kind of authority and another, and to ('hange his attitude
a.ccordlngly. It ill a difficulty which has heen largel~' ov.'rcome. Th"re
is now .. spirit in the units of tbe Brigade which is quite new. Ikecnt
recruits, who have been trainl!d on the basis of the new di,..,ipline, have
materially helped the c/uwge. The older members have responded. One
of the most Interesting aspects of life in the Brigade has bN'1l th" ca·
pacity of the men to change. Sue.h is the Influenre exerdsed upon them
by their common purpose that its changing re1Iuircm"nts have a co·
rresponding effect on the men themseh·c".
One of the hard.",t disciplinary lessons that our voiunteers had to
learn was the necessity of sa.luting. At first glance it ""l' IllS a smull
matter, and (>ven appears to introtluce an element of c1 ....,s·dislinction
between officers and men. It reminded the ml'll too much of the rC"I'l.-et
thl'Y were asked to show at home to thosc who e"ploitro th.·III.
Thanks to tbe in's titution of politi('.aJ. commissars, whose duty It i~
to act as a link between the mCIl and tho command, the ft·a....... for
~a.Iuting I" now generally undel'8tood. There is no quc~tlon of exploltat .
ion or empty 'I'spect, sin('e the offic.e r" of the Brigade hold their pos,
Itlons ill' virtue of merit and sen'leo alune, a.nd eVl'ry soldier ha~ an
equal c.hance of rising to rank. Saluting i~ a slmpll' devke for assistin"
an oflleer t.o have his ordel'8 promptly obey.'d. Tho IIoldll.'r who is I'f'.
luctnnt to "a.!ute Is reluct,mt ro obey; his reluctance means that hi~
mind 18 occupied with tbe thought that hI' i" ....s good a soldl"r" us
hilt offlc"r, and If that is the ('u,'Ie, he iK lik"ly to considl' r his own
decisions 88 good lIS thOHe he I'f'cdve... SUI'h .. man CJUlIIot he r<,l·
ied on.
The problelll Is fading out. It i" rar('ly now that you hear obj.... tlon"
ralaed In the Brigade to the new ... ·l{UIaUons. This ft'n",·!.s both on th.,
command. whom the men respe<.'t, aDd on the men th('m,. .. lvc~, who
want to get the war won. Above all, it Is a tribute to tb., powerful THt: WAY th" ~Iadrld In ... motioDal Bnpd" h-.Jqu......... 1001<<<1 w,
Mentle of lUlity wblch makes 80ch chang.... po.... lble. and it seem" to
montb durin .. the double Aa.nh'eraary eelebration: ef on" 7"" 0'
thf' •• ~ ..
('u""ful deft"DIie of Madrid. and t "'fOnt)' ,-earJl of thlP t"("tortH .t Sod.ll_
penlst through everything and despite e\,.,rything. IA tho l'. S. S. &.

A CLOSE-UP OF OUR CHIEF OF STAFF
Ma jor n obert H. Me rriman ot ~Just why his plans changed It Is
til ., !·'ifteenth Brigade was once
a 11 n i n' rsity lec tuY"cl' B ecause h e
":l''' n: .9pcctaclcs .llld has a quict day he enrolled as a student. With
vL i\": e, some believe he has n ever
been a nything else. This is far
from true. Bob C\icniman's life
has been tough . even hard-boiled.
True to the old American cust-
om, he started living away from
home a t a very ea rly age. He had
worked through a numbe r of jobs
before he came to have any pro-
.\IAJOR MERRUIAN and hi. wife
lUarioll.
fe"sional connection with books.
The thirst for knowledge caught
him when he was working in a
logging camp, where he met a
man who had read 3 little about
much. He was inspired to do the
same, and with this intention he
trekked off to. Nevada Univer.9ity,
where he planned to spend a year
studying as many subjects as he
could cope with in that time.
The only subjects he had no
Interest in were those which he
was compelled by statute to take,
as a first-year student. In the ef-
fort to avoId them, he showed
more initiative than any man had
shown before him, aDd discovered
a forgotten statute which gave
him a reliable alibi. He got away
with it. Before anyone else was
able to do the same, the st:.. ute
was fonnally repealed.
Bob Merrima.n's ideas about life
in general are clear enough, but
so &ar as his persOD&l destiny is
concerned he does not even trouble
to rough-hew it. Provided he can
work for his general Ideas, he is
indifferent how he earns his liv-
Ing. Mental and physical work
are equally congenial to him. H e
may plan ahead, but he Is ready
to ""e his plans changed by cir-
cumstances without regret. His
philosophy Is v cry aerviceable.
His single year of study leng-
lbenl'd t o four ; his many "ubjccts
oarr(;wcd to one, economics, on
which he became an authority.
'J.'IDI; VOLUNTEER FOR UBERTY
difficult to say, but suspicio,\ r&9ts
on the girl he fell in love with the
a stroke of poetic justice, he ma-
rried her the day they both left.
During the four intervening years,
both man and girl had to keep
themselves. The girl had given a
new twist to the old American
custom by ha ving her family walk
out on her. They had now walked
back again, and they, too, had to
~e kept.
Boo Merrimll.D'S .small store of
savings wore out with his shoes.
l"eeling he had a capacity for Win-
dow dressing, he offered his ser-
vices to a department store for
a new pair of shoes, and got the
contract. His ability earned him
promotion to the counters, where
he sold a corset so successfully
that the manager, who watChed
him do it, gave him a permanent
job. From then on he never lac-
ked work. He reckons the oddc~t
thing he ever did was to be a sa-
lesman in an undertaker's par-
~our.
Two year" of univerSity life had
convinced hun that it was all ra-
ther reactionary. He resigned !.rom
his fraternity - the only man who
had ever done so. He resigned
from eight other societies. He
was unable to resign from the
military R. O. '1'. C., which he
had joined fv.r the pay. AJJ thags
turned out, this was fortunate, as
his military grounding has siace
proved useful to the Spanish Re-
publican Army. Had he been able
to resign, he would probably have
done so, as a protest against the
exaggerated Importance placed by
' ..
OUR "GLORIOSA M •
the authorities on military tn-
struction. He made his opposition
evident in the student paper, of
which he was manager. In return
for this he was denounced in pu-
blic by the President, who re-
frained only from referring ta
him by name. This did not de!er
hun from remaining another two
years.
On leaving the University, a
married man, he took a job dig-
ging ditches, which he liked. He
is probably the only man in the
Fifteenth Brigade who likes dig-
giflg. An influential friend got
him his next job at the Univer-
sity of California, where he even-
tually became a lecturer In eco-
nOmics. During this time h e' lived
in a single room with his wife
and the peripatetic family.
Despite the family, life became
too still. They moved out and
Merriman took a job in a Ford
plant. Just at this time the San
.\>'.rancisco general strike broke
out, and Merriman pllJllig'ed into
it, becoming an I. L. D. orgar..i-
zero His knowledge of strategy
warned him tl1at it would be wi-
se not to let his former emplo-
yers at the Un'lversity know
about this. It might have stood
out a mile; but WI Merriman sa.ys,
professors live in glass houses and
never look out of them•• When la-
ter he asked the p.rofessors to
finan~e 'hlm to the Soviet Union
on a traveling fellowship, they
saw through nothing. He sa,iled
with his wife.
As soon as he arrived he began
collecting material for a book on
the economics of collective farm-
ing. As a preIimblary, he investi-
'.:.
gated life on eighty farms. Hi.t
book was already begun wben the
war broke out in Spain. At the
same moment the current two-
year period expired. This was too
much. He packed up and became
a soldier aga.iD.
Merriman arrived In Spain In
January and joined the first Ame-
rican group. By the time it be-
came the original Lincoln Batta.-
lion, he was Ita adjutant. He lni-
tiated a movement to establisb
efficient training centres in ths
opeD, the first of whiCh was built
at Pozo Rubio and destined for
the LincOins. Tbey were already
in camions, on the point of mov·
Ing to their base, when an order
came that tbey were to go straight
to the front. Th~ February trou-
ble was starting at Jarama.
They spent the night In Alba-
cete. Rifles were Issued. In the
morning each man fired three
shots into the side of a hill with
his own rifle, and that was the
extent of bis training with it.
Events put Merriman in command
of the Battalion the day they
moved up. They 'Went straight in-
to the batUe and laid the found-
ation of the Batt&lion's good re-
cord. Tiley gained ground, even In
those difficult days.
After twelve days of fighting,
on Feb. 27th, Merriman was woun-
ded in the arm. Tbe. hospital doc-
tors were short of medical sup-
plies, and put his arm in builder'S
.plaster, whiCh is several times
heavier tban its medical equiva-
lent. He carried the weight and
the wound around together.
When bis wife heard the news,
she caught the first' aeroplane
out, can trary to his instructions.
Only recently she returned to the
States to make propaganda, as
one who had worked close to the
war.
While sUIl convalescent, Merrl·
man took charge of the Officers'
School. From her~ he was tran·
sferred to take command of the
new Mackenzie-Papin:,\u Battal-
Ion, whose thorough grounding .11
largely due to his efforts. He ca·
me up to Headquarters while th.
brigade was at rest after the Bru-
nete offensive, and took over hiB
present duties as Chief of .Staff. A
waft of addltiona.I efficiency blew
in with him.
Since then he has been through
the actions at Quinto, Belchite
and Fuentes, a familiar figure,
with a heartening cooiness and a
!.aUe.ss head.
M. T,

Two New Tasks Face the International Brigades
,In the present situation in Spain
the volunteers In the Internatio-
nal Brigades are faced with new
tasks in addition to thOlle which
they have been undertaking up to
now, Firstly there is the question
of giving effective help in the mi-
litary and poll tical training of the
new recruits - an indispens able
condition which determines a
unit's fighting value - and se-
condiy that of promoting the ma-
ximum number of new Spanish
cadres from the ranks.
' Our Army is growing every day ;
new recruits are flowing In, The
necessities of the war make It im-
possible' to give these men long
months of training. The new re-
cruits have to be trained in a few
weeks and made into good sol·
diers, .acquainted with military
tactics. And it \.s precisely the
"old soldlers", those who have
gone through long months of war
who should become the organisers,
the movmg splrits and the ins-
tructors among these new re-
cruits.
What would be the fjghting va-
lue of a unit with a handful of
trained men, but wit" the great
majority of its members inade-
quately prepared? It is obvious
that Its value could only be ne-
gative.
WAR WAGED AGAINST
ILLITERACY IN THE 45TH
DIVISION
The 45th Division has given us
the balance sheet of ODe m onth's
activity on an important front.
In the 12th Brigade 123 indivi-
dual lessons bave been given and
77 collective lessons. In two Bat-
talions of the 13th Brigade the
figures are 34 individual lessons
and 40 collective lessons. The to-
tal for the whole Division is 255
individual lessoos and 141 collec-
tive lessons. Out of 717 illiterates
60 have learned to read and
write.
WHO'S D UMB?
"They're talking now of recog-
.nlzing Franco as a belligerent."
"Are they? It hasn't taken
eighteen months tor iIIOme of UB
to recognize that."
'l'BE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
J rep\ltation as shock units.
We must therefore co-ordinate
and concentrate all our efforts
with the aim of providing our Ar-
my with the qualities which will
enable it to inflict a decisive de-
feat on Fascism. We should profit
by every opportunity, by every
moment of rest to carry out
training exercises, with old and
new soldiers together, so that the
experience of the older soldiers
can be passed on to the new re-
cruits, Let the more experienced
soldiers give an example of disc-
Ipline and goodwill, wherever they
are. Only in this way will our In-
ternational Brlgadell be able to
fiXE OF OUR cook. In th" 1M" Brl&,ad& ,,"ttln&' the "rub ro'Udy out I ...
the
fulfil their role and maln~ln their
To bring this abou ', however,
there are other conditions which
are necessary.
In our International , Brigades
the best possible relationships
must exist between the Internat-
ionals and the Spaniards. We
must succeed in forming a united
and monolithic whole, despite dif-
ferences of la.nguages f.:1d tempe·
raments.
When reproaches are made
about poor work among the re-
cruits, one often hears the reply:
"But we have no Spanish cadres
to work among them." They a sk
for cadres everywhere - from
the 'Division, from the Army
Corps, or the Government. Ob-
viOUb._ they get nothing or very
little. The fact is that the same
difficulties are encountered eve-
rywhere . There Is only one solut-
ion - to develop new forces, new
cadres.
We must know how to bring
out the comrades with intelligence
and ability who are hidden In the
ranks and set tbem in responsible
posts.
The quality ami the qualificat-
ions of the cadres in our Internat-
ional Brigades should be measured
by the number of new leading for-
OprD.
5
ces they have been able to draw
from the ranks.
It sbould be regarded as bum-
iliating for tbe leaders of our Bri·
gades to have to ask for cadres
from other units. We ourselv'Js
must create them, and in such lar-
ge numbers that we are able to
senu them to uni ts that stand in
need of tbem.
I know that there are comrades
who have a feeling of pride when
they count aU the International
officers and commissars in the
Brigades: "See how many good
elem ents we, the Volunteers for
Liberty, have given to the S'panish
caus~JJ.
It it certainly true that we ha-
ve given many good elements to
the Army. But we sbould take
much more pride in being able to
say how we have contributed t o
bringing out a large number of
new Spanis!'- cadres from our
ranks.
By giving active assistance in
the fulfilment of these two tasks
- the train,ng of the n ew re-
cruits and the formation of new
Spanish cadres - we shall have
done a great deal towards streng-
thening and reinforcing our Army.
L. GALLO
"':om.missar Inspector
of the International Brigades.
SCANDINAVIAN PAPERS
SEIZED BY NAZIS
Berlin pOlice have seized all
Scandinaviamperiodicals, includ-
ing Swedish, Danish and Norwe-
gian, for publishing carir.atures of
Goering and Schacht. The Ges-
tapo considered the pictures of-
fensive.
Munitions men
Exult again
And say "What could be finer
With Spain at war
And - what Is more -
Japan Invading (Jhlna."
The Nazi censors have gODe to
work on the film "L1oyds ot Lon-
don", now showing in Berlin. On"
piece of dialogue th"y cut out
wag t~" line in wbk h a boy 3.'k.,
hi~ l ~ n c h', "D<.lot>,<'.i it g '_ J wt':l "V:t!!

SPAIN'S MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE TRACES
AGRARIAN REFORMS IN RECENT INTERVIE\W
In th e f oref.ront of, constructI-
ve work carried on by tbe Re-
~'Iul;l i c must be put that of Agra ~
".a1> Reform . Since July, 1936 the
co nditi on o f th e Spanish peasant
has been changed altogether and
1.hi5 lot has improved from day to
day. Th e famous decree of Octo-
ber 7th, 1\J36, nationalised tbe
lands of th(' great rebel proprie-
tr)rs and handed ov~r the entire
use at tb em t o those who cultiva-
te the soil. I asked Vicente UrI-
be, the Minister of Agriculture,
to tell me about the agrarian po-
licy of the gov.ernment.
}'LIGIIT OF PEASAl'o7
"The agrarian question has al-
ways played a J.a.rge part in Spa-
nish p ol!tics. Before the rebellion
t he p easants live d under a: .se mi·
feudal regime. Almost hal! the
fertile land belonged to tbe big
proprietors -- six great landlords
posse,sed between tbem. 264 ,000
hectares, en tire provinces! The big
estates of more than 250 hecla-
r('.,3 ov.'Iled a third of the cultiva-
ble land, while many of the .p ea·
sants had n ot even balf a hecta-
re. The farmers and small pea-
sants, who rent land, payed, cnor-
VICENTE URIBE, Minister of AI'rlen1ture.
THE VOLUNTEER FOR UBERTY
mous tribute; 40 to 60 ';i of the
produce of tbeir labor8 went t o
tbe proprietors!
" The eODdition of the agri c ul·
tural laborers was even wo rse.
Before .t he r ebellion , in the p ro-
vinc e of Albuquerque the wor-
ke.rs were still paid only a single
meal for tailing from sun.ise to
sunset. In Granada a day's weork
was paid four pesetas, in Extre-
madura 2.50, in Salamanca and
Toledo 1.50. As for w omen they
received 60 centimes a t T oledo:
and at Valencia an orange-picker
received 2 pesetas for t en h ours'
work.
"This was not all. The agri cul·
tural workers only obtained the-
se laughable salaries when tbeir
work was needed. During the off
season , f or months and m onth8,
th ey did n ot ea.rn a penny. And
their lives were more wre tched
than tbose of serfs in th e Midd le
Ages. It was very simple: they
died of bunger. In Extremadura
the p easants were r educed to
toasting acorns for food. But as
the oak forests belonged to the
lords they were arrested by civil
guard.. wh en the pea., ant s were
caught gathering acorns and
thrown into jail!
"The ag.rarian problem was one
of tb e underlying causes of tbe
fall of th e monarchy, and the
Republi c at once attempted to
solve it. It was decided to dis-
tribute land to the peasants after
having indemnified the proprie-
tors. Th e misfortune was that the
g overnment was composed of men
w ho were perhaps sincer e repu-
b lican s, but many of whom were
also big landowners, or r elated to
big landowner.s. This explain.! the
weakness and dilatoriness with
which the reform which was de-
creed In tbe entbusiasm of the
first days of the firs t days was
executed.
REACTION HALTS Hf;FORMS
"Nevertheless, in 1932, after the
pronouncement of Sanjurjo, tbe
g ovemm ent suddenly became
uneasy and decided to punish the
m onarchist rebel s decreeing tbat
they .should be expropriated wi-
thout indemnity. But the reaction
was viole nt and when the Le-
rreux-Gil Robles g ove rnment ca·
me into power, all agrarian re-
torm was shelved. The few small
advantages which the peasants
had obtained were removed. Dur-
ing the 'two black y ears' , 1934
and 1935, there was a return to
the w orst days at tbe monarchy.
"When tbe p easants tried to
defend their rights, the landlord8
refused, purely and sim<ply to el-
low them to work on their land.
It was a sort of a.g;ricultural loc-
kout. 'We', they said cynica:lly,
'we' have money, we can wail.
Whereas, you, if you do not l/Ub:-
mit, we shall n ot give you any
work and you will die ot hun-
ger'. The peasants sometimes tried
to rise, but tbe landlords put the
bated civil guards on tbelr track,
tbe watch-dog of the big land-
lords .
.. And tbls is why the triumph
of the Popular Front on tbe 16th
of February, 1936, was so over-
whelming: all the peasants were
against the reaction, they had vo-
ted en ma.sge for tbe Popular
Front. Also tbe first thought of
the February government was to
reestablish the agrarian laws of
'31', and to raise the wages at
the agricultural workers. But re-
a ction would not admit deteat,
the landlords continued to boycott
the peasants. In May 1936, near
Albacete, the Civil Guard killed
25 peasants. Fascism wa.s already
aligning itself against tbe will at
the people .
"And then came the rebellloD
of July 18th, which broke in the
mi ddle of the harvest season, Na-
turally, in the country, as in tbe
towns, everything was disorga-
nised, people only thought of ru.sh-
ing t o arin.s, and in the general
disorder tbe crops ran a risk of
being lost. The government UD-
derstood tbe gravity of the situa'-
tion and its first care was, In
spite of all difficulties, to assure
the gathering at the harvest. In
every village agriculturaJ commit-
tees were formed, composed of
municipal counsellors and repre-
sentatlve.s at trade unJon organi-
sations and politlc&il parties of the
People's Front.

"A great deal was done to gi-
ve publicity and explain to the
peasants the importance of field
work to win the war. Everyone
was mobilised. It was a complete
success. The crops were not lost
and the sowing was accomplished
with such enthusla.sm - large
areas of uncultivated growld we-
re sown - that the wheat har-
vest in 1937 was greater than in
1935 and 1936."
GREAT STRIDES
"Was it really on the 4th of
September 1936 that the portfOliO
of AgricultlLre was entrusted to
you ?"
"Yes, and my party realised
that the problem mlLSt be imme-
diately and fundamentally dealt
with. My first act, as minister,
was to give a legal standing to
the will of the peasants. At one
blow the agrarian reform which
had been talked of for 30 years
was realised. On the 7th of Octo-
ber, 1936, we published the de-
cree which is the agricultural
charter of the Spanish Republic.
The use and the enjoyment of the
lands thus nationalised was given
to the peasants and the munici-
pal collectives.
"Under the monarchy In 24
ye8.1's the Institute of Agrarian
Reform had distributed 6,800 hec-
tares of land to the peasants. The
Republic from 1931 to 1936 dis-
tributed 164,000 hectares, and
from the triumph of the People's
Front in February 1936 up to
July, 712,000 hectares. We, since
the rebellion, have distributed
more than three million hectares!
Thus, thanks to the decree of the
7.th of October the agricultural
workers and the small proprietors
have received land, the farmers
arid peasant owners have ceased
to pay rent to the rebel proprie-
tors, and the small proprietors ha-
ve naturally kept their land as
well as all those other landowners
who have remained faithful to the
Republic."
S. T.
SOVIETS ENJOY
SPANISH FRUIT
In the first week of December
30,000 CMes of Spanish oranges
and lemons entered the Soviet
Union through the port of Odessa.
By the end of the month 100,000
cases of this fruit will be re-
ceived.
TIlE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
"MORE AND BETTER BOOKS"
SLOGAN IN LOYAL SPAIN
In Loyal Spain today books are
almost as important as bullets.
One of the tremendous tasks the
People's Front Government has
undertaken is the liquidation of
the mass illiteracy which is one of
the characteristics of the feuda-
lism that the fascists want · to per-
petuate. Under the slogan "Cultu-
re is also a weapon against Fas-
cism", mind is being united with
heart in the battle. Thus books are
beginning to flow throughout the
land in a veritable flood. With
a magnificent reapon.!!e the Spa-
nish people have taken to learning
and reading. This work of educa-
tion. which began at the very
ou tset of the war, has already
produced r ·:!Sults so wide.!!pread
that the statistical estimate of 45
pe~cent total illiteracy in 'pre-war
Spain must be revised downwards
many degrees for the loyal zone.
It' represents one of the greatest
achievements of a ,p eople strug-
gling with their lives for demo-
cracy and all that goes with it.
The English-speaking fighte1'/!
in Spain are, of course, a highly
literate group. Many are extreme-
ly well-read. But the contagion of
a land and a people full of IiViing
convictions and driving IdeM, has
a.roused in them a thirst for rea-
ding matter equally noteworthy.
Thousands of volumes in English
have been gathered and organized,
and Ii brari€lS exist in each batta-
lion, in each hospital, in the trans-
port squadrons, in rearguard posts.
Everywhere that Anglo-Americans
go, books are sure to go with them
~as well as pa.pers, pamphlets
and magazines. Needs B.Ild moods
that books can answer are satis-
fied now with a considerable de-
gree of general aa.tJ.sfacUon.
But it was not always thus. The-
Ile libra.r ies were built with great
effort and some expense. And it
took a long time. Books had to
be bought and more had to be
IS THE
ENGLISH·SPEAKING comrades In one of their llbrarie5"'at the front.
brought. They came from Ma-
drid and Valencia, from New York
and London. Cultural committees
did what they could here in Spain;
friends at home did the rest. Ci-
vilized men must know, must
learn, rolLSt read - even in war.
Let the book-burners do the re-
verse - even in peace .
Subjects vary greatly, but books
on political matters compete with
light fiction for main popularity.
The latter category fills an obvi-
ous n~d. Movies and regular
forms of entertainment are to b"
found only in the large cities,
which soldiers reach only on oc-
casion. Relaxation ~ which men
crave so badly after the strain
of battIe or training ~ is there-
fore sought in reading right whe-
re they happen to be, since the
libranes are brought along with
other supplies. At such times ma-
ny inen plunge into books IIko
swimmers into water on a hot <lay.
They want - and get ~ the light
stuff: detective BJ1d mystery sto-
nes, short stories, recent beet se-
llers and strange 'as it may seem.
even tales of war. Humor is of
course, extremely ,popular.
At the same time it would per-
haps surprise an observer who
did not know the anti-fascist vo-
lunteers intimately to see how
warmly they regard the establis-
hed English classics, past and pre-
sent. The plays of Shakespeare
and Shaw, Bacon's essays, Gulll-
ver's Travels, Robinson Crusoe
and on to John Calsworthy and
Ernest Hemingway - these are
a few of the representative titles
frequently requested. They are
read with care and enjoyment not
because of their hallowed reputa-
tiOIlB, for these fighting men can
7
hardly be considered bookish. It
a book looks good they take ' It.
The compulsory reading of bour-
geois education is as unheard-of
as fascist book-destruction.
But it is natural that the litera-
ture read most attentively should
be on .p olitical subjects. Anti"fas-
cists are thoroughly familiar with
the basic truth of things Il;S they
are in the world today and 8J'e
keen to know the course of events.
All news of the day is, of course,
most eagerly devoured. But things
to keep them In touch with the
shifting background, .t he funda-
mentals behind .the ha.ppeniIlgll,~
such b80ks are aelzed upon and
the men posseMlng them besieged
until finished. Tb.e most recent
instance of thi5 SQrt ia "When Ja-
pan Goes To War", .by O. Tanin
anc1. E. Yohan.
Several copies of tm!! book are
in Spain, but not nearly enough
to fill the bill: The l18me thing
'taS true of Harry Cannes' "Spain
in Revolt" and Louis Ft.cher's
pamphlet "Spain in ArmafI"~ The
how and why is . what they Beek,
these readers-ln-a.rms.
Political Wstory and ~neral
theory are uncea.s!ng subjects of
reading and di~cusaion, so far M
many individuals are concerned.
Theory and practice mlLSt be com-
bined at all times, ot course, but
where are· men doing it better
than in Spain today? It it is true
that some of the greatest leaders
of the m&llSes could not find the
op'portunity to study untIJ thrown
into jail, we may look forward
to the developm~mt of many a po-
tential leader, putting the enfor-
ced Idleness of certain periods
during war to similar use.
]\(. M .
8 THE VOLUNTEER FOB LIBERTY
A Labor Impostor Passes
The fight which Is being made
(o r th e unity of working-class
f orces of Britain has been pro-
f oundly affected by the past ac-
tions of the one-time Labour lea-
<.lers such as :MacDonald, Snowden
and Thomas. Snowden died last
~! ay, un mourned by a .y but tho-
'e m embers of the owning classes
whose servant he had been.
And now the leader at the trio
has died a.I1d it i3 interesting in
th e light of present-day events,
when unity iB so essential to the
continued existence of freedom
and libe rty in Britain and through
the world, to trace the pattern of
event. wh ich led to the present
p M ition in world events, for It
is ce rtain that British policy has
had a profound effect on the cour-
se of wo.rld evE'Ilts, and Ra.mBay
lIlac Donalrl was dircctly responsi-
ble for the eclipse of the Labour
Party in the y ears f oll owing the
s erond L.,hOlJf G') \'?rnment. His
J: . \M~A'· .' IA, /'()SAr.D
DrOtia.
In
guiding star in all hiB actions
from the war years onwards was
his hatred of Marxism and Bolshe-
vism. When he died, the Nazi pa-
per "Deutsche Allgemeine Zel-
tung" appraised him thus :
"As a Socialist he was an out-
spoken opponent of MarxiSm" .
!'-IOVED BY HATRED
The essence of his being is
shown by the manner at. his acting
when the Zinoviev forgery came
to hiB hands. So blinded by his
hatred was he that he was prepa-
red to 1090 the Impending General
Election of 1924, in order ·that he
might send a ferocious note. to the
Soviet Government demanding an
explanatton,
The "letter", was paJpably a for-
gery, and the cynical attitude of
the Tories to the whole business is
typified by the comments at Ma-
jor-General Sir WyndhaIDI Childs,
one tiDle Chief at the London Me-
tropoJitan Police, leader of the in-
famous Arcos raid, and no lover
of the Communists, iI:s hia utte-
rances show. "I regarded the Com.
munists as sociaJ .p ariahs and a
body of persollll agaJnst whom
every political party should wage
ce&i!cless waT." This Is the m an ,
who when writing on the "lette r " ,
wrole the following. "There we re
DO new ideas ~d no n~w direc-
tions (-in the "-Jetter"), but It chan-
ced to appear at a psychological
moment and its Importance was
exaggerated out of all propo.rtlon
in order to suit the exigenCies of
a political situation caused by the
forthcoming Election.
LE'ITER A FAKE
''I first became aware of the
despatch of Mr. MacDonald's no-
te by reading tile daily ·papers. It
was then that 1 reaJised the im-
portance which was being atta-
ched to the Zlnoviev letter from
a political point of view. Very few
peopie are aware that there _ver
Wa..! any Zinoviev letter at all. The
document In the posseSSion of Hla
Majesty's Government purported
to be nothIng more thiLn the En-
glish translation of an alleged co-
py in Russian of an alleged origi-
n&1.
"Had Mr. Ramsay MacDonald
been mar.. CODVersant with the
machInery at the organisation
which he controlled In addition to
admlnlstertng the ottlce at Prime
M1nI.ster, 1 think be would have
sought other op\n1Olll1 before de·
Coort
spatchlng his DOte, I teel that b I.e
ASTURIAS
HJgh In your mountain tutne88 still you fight,
LackIng In arms out-numbered by the foe.
Rather than bondage, to die for what Is right
And with your ebbing strength deal blow for blow.
Proudly you give your all In freedom's c&UIIe,
A bright example to oppressed ma.nklnd,
Cut off from aid, yet fighting wJth0t4-t pause,
Steel horde ahead, \\ild barren rock behind.
From belching cannon's mouth and from the skle.,
The steely death raIns on you de.,t' and night,
Traitorous diplomats Ignore your chlldren 's cries,
Deaf to your agony, bllnd to your pUght.
Yet when the history of this war 18 writ
And all this bloody ma8SBCre exposed,
We your brothers will then In judgment ait
And deal out JU8Uoe to our mutual toes.
Then you8haU be avenged, AAturIaa,
For every drop ot blood you giadJy gave,
To make our tight for Uberty victorious
From faacl8m and war the world to Bave.
H . G. SUTCLIFFE
department did him iii dis8ervlce recommend the treatie.'3 In quest-
in permitting h im (or possibly ion to the consideration of Par-
inducing him - 1 do not kDow liament, or to subnilt them to the
which) to send the note without King for His Majesty's ratitica-
having the original letter In his tion.' The Note ' urther went on to
pos9Ossion. There was no ' more quote an extract from Mr, Ram-
evidence that the ZiDOviev "let- say Mac Donald's Note, and which
ter" emanated from the 1. K , K. I . concluded by saying that the "S0-
than that the publications at the viet GQvermnent would do wen to
C. P . G. B, came from the same weigh carefully the CODSequences
source. I am not, of course, speak- of ignoring this pronouncement.."
Ing of evidence in the "pollce- Childs' final comments on the
court" meaning of the word; It I n:.e.tter are "If Mr. Zinoviev did
were, It would have to be admit- actually despatch this letter to the
ted at once that there was no evi- -" .nmunl.st Party of Great ~rl­
dence whatever given In the Hou- tain, he mWlt surely have taken
se of Commons as to the existen- temporary leave of his . sense;
ce of the Zlnoviev "letter" or its What was the situation? A La-.
receipt in this country, bour Government in power, and a
treaty with Soviet Russia was
NO'I SO DUMB about to come before the House at
Commons for its consideration, so
"On November :lIst Sir Austen I can only conclude . by giving it
Chamberlain ~'irected iI. Note to as my opinion that if Mr. Zino-
the Soviet GovernJlllent in which viev did send it he was, in collo-
he 8tated that 'I have the honour quiaJ language, a bltthering idiot."
to inform you that after due de- This effusion of Childs' shows
liberation -His Majesty's GQvern- all the pride in his class that one
ment find themselvel' unable to would ex~t fo r having pulled off
a slick trick on th e electorate.
Whether MacDonald W ;t.S a s dumb
as he seem ed , is, in vi ew of what
happened later, op rn to son:.:!
doubt. 'But this incideut shows the
type of man he was and the kind
of influence he had on the Labour
Party in th e post-war years. He
has gOlle , but th ere are ,,', ilI those
who oppose work ing-class unity in
B rita in . The Mar·Donalll tradition
wtll not die an easy death. But
Look! W .....hlp.!
die it will, D ie it must.
Yeahf That'. fine.
back to clvw.&aUon.
We're ,"'tin o. c. u,

MEDICAL STU ~ ,:",~T ESCAPES TO OUR LINES
AND REPORTS OF TERROR IN SARAGOSSA
According to a report from the
Eastern front, it seems that in
one of our scctors at the Ebro
Klver a soldie r jumped out of the
enemy lines, signalling not to Ihe
lll'ed upon. He made a wild 8PZ#nt
l or our parapets, and though the
lasci..st sentries fired furiously, he
,:as lucky enough to reach our
trenches unhurt.
At headquarters he said he was
a medical :;tudent and felt o\'cr-
joyed at having escaped from
tne fascist yoke. His testimony.
was tull of interesting facts, fOI
he had been detained from August
:.!:l to September I, last year, in
lne Iru'ormation Servioe of the
~'nalangi.sts, in Sarag0Ssa, and
Hom tnen until August 19 this
year in ' the ,provincial jail.
'i'he true aS88SBins of the Sara-
gossa proletariat are Gene.ral
Urrutia, Lieutenant-Colonel Dario
Gazapo, and Police Commissioner
Cogerti, who is also the adminis-
trator of Saragossa. Other agents . eyes Were gouged out in the pre-
who have punished the workers
and leftists are Mulo, the l'halan-
gist chief; Villuenda, the local lea- municipal council of the city, who
der; the Phalangist police, Lamar- was horse-whipped to death. ' The
Ca., ' Toro, Pinilla, Navarro, Herre- same atrocity was InfI!cten on
ro, Trebol, and LOpez del Olmo,
who is also the station agent.
CITES CRUELTIES
There are also many elements
of the worst type in the val i )US
squads of the "Cuerpos de Segu-
ridad", "Asalto", and "Guardia
Civil". those who are at the head cut also. When the mother of pallo
of the assassins, distinguishing
themselves by their cruelty and
callousness against the workers.
Outstanding among them is a lieu-
tenant of the "Guardia Civil",
whose name the medical studcnt
DIE VOLUNTEER FOB LlBEBTY
could not remember, but who Is
in charge of the Mareria district
ot the Aragon capital. As exam-
ples of utter cruelty he cited the
assassination of don Antonio Ph.
vice-president of the provincial
THE "NA.TIONA.I/' AR.M~
committee of Saragossa. whose
sence of the student. and the case
of LOpez Conde, member of the
Manuel Marin Sanchez, the muni-
cipal librarian. The provincial iu'l-
pector of Sanitation, Seftor A1bl-
tl.ana, was killed shortly befr re
the same fate was met by his son,
despite the latter's rank of lieute-
nant. Comrade Gallo, of til:! J. S.
U., Wlla shot, but when hlS family
came to the morgue to claim the
body tiley found it witil the throat
protested at this added barbarity,
some Phalangists present in the
morgue pushed her out with sho-
uts and jeers.
The student said he had seen
an endless number of civlli8.IlB ta-
OUR CAVALay
TRIBUTE PAID TO
FOUNDER OF SPAIN'S
SOCIALIST PARTY
ken from the Saragossa jail and
The Delegation of the Commi-
shot. Among them were don Fran-
ttee for Unification of the Socia-
cisco Araoda, retired professor ot
li.~t and Communist Partfes Issued
the faculty of sciencee; tile Mu-
the following statement on the
niesa brothers, professors ,of the
twelfth anniversary of the death
faculty of medicine; the civil go-
vernor. don Angel Varea Coronel, of Pablo Iglesias :
and many others. "To be faithful to the doctrines
of Pablo Iglesias, we must Qn
He related also how the priso-
thLs day make a solemn prontlee,
ners were traiI!ed by the prison
take a revolutionary oatil, to Jiglit
officials. One of these ofnclals, Ju-
more close:y every day for the
lio Uicz, boasted proudly of his
triumph of the workers and of
ruthlessness a.nd demonstrated it
tile masses. For Socialists and
by killing an old man, shortly
Communists particularly, the me-
bef"rc he left the prison. Some of
the champions of cruelty exercIsed
themselves by putting the WhiP to
the inmates.
Others who wers outstanding in
their cruel excesses include a Cap-
tain of the Information Center of
the Phalange; one who bragged
of having shot "thousands"; and
one called Marques, who did not
conceal the fact that be had snot
the prisoners at Belehite. Quite fa-
mO\l3 also were two men who are
known in Sa.ragossa as the bro-
thers "AI Capone", a nickname gi-
ven to them because in every
quarrel or brawl they' Immedia-
t~ly resorted to pistols. At pre-
sen,t tiley are members of the
body-guard used by the general uf
the Fifth Division.
PABLO IGLESUS
AU those known to have been
members of revolutionary organi-
zations in Saragossa. m\l3t be de- mory of this teacher should be
nounced as a matter of law, after- an Imperative duty to work and
ward to he shot. tight united until we have .welded
When a prisoner 18 condemned ourselves into one Party, the
to work under the custody of the Single Party of the Proletariat.
"Guardia Civil", it Is considered a "Pablo Igle.siaos, tireless fighte.r
dreadful fate. The guards treat tbroughout hls life for the rights
tilem in a terrible manner and ma- of the workers against the ex-
ny workers are in the h08pital as plOiters, against all the enemies
a result of the blows and beatings of the proletariat and the people.
they have receiVed. Is an example tor all the Spanish
workers and anU-tasclsts during
these moments in which the gra-
vity of the situatlon !orcQII 113 to
fight closer together eYf'l'Y day
In order to win tile war, to ~ht
to the fintsh, to crush l<·ranco. and
to hurl the tnvadel'8 out of our
country.N
APOLOay~
A Horn It HU'dart picket telll!
about the cop tn unltorm who
apologift'd for golDg intG the sto-
re, explam.ng that It has the only
available washroom In the nelgb.
borhood
 10
The Myth of a Dictator:
How it was Invented
The well-known Gennan "author
in exile, Conrad Heiden, h~ pu-
blished a book entitled "Hitler :
The Life of a Dictator." In it he
eXlllains how and by / whom the
myth of a "fUhrer" came to be
created; how the NationaJ-Socia-
list Party was started, climbed t o
power and eMlaved all Gennany.
The fifth chapter of the book is
called "Dietrich Eckart Looks F or
a Dictator" and .shows that the
.idea of a "fUhrer" arose from the
topsy-turvy notions of a bad poet,
a drunkli.rd unbalaneetl by the
war. Here are some excel1lts from
this cha.pter :
"Whoever had the luck of en-
tering the Ortiga Tavern, in the
Bohemian district of Schwabrig,
in Munich, on a certain summer's
night in 1919, would have been
able to sit at a table together
with the regular habitues of the
cafe, and thus witness the inven-
tion of Hitler. ~r perhaps It would
be more accurate to say the In-
vent.i on of the legend of Hitler.
. ' "In this tavern Ple poet, Die-
trich Eckart, was holding forth.
He :was a man of medium height,
but corpulent, with an Impressive
bald head and very small eyes ;
and quite plainly a man who lo-
ved wine to excess. He had a ha-
bit of using curse words which in
no other language s ounds quite so
well as in the Bavarian dialect.
"Before the war this Dietrich
Eckart ha.d ,b een the editor of a
weekly in Berlin which was a finn
supporter of the Kaiser. But like
a. true Bavarian and natura.l Bo-
hemian he did not last very long
in the capital. He then devoted
himself to the theater and wrote
a &erl~s of drarnllol!, The two or
three plays which were produced
had very little success , And to
oompooe dramas which are not
produ<x>!I . or if produced, are not
TIlE VOLU'N'DZR FOB LIBERTY
enjoyed wouJd seem to be the dee-
tiny of 14e Nazis in Germany.
"Among other w ork~ he made
an adaptation of H enrik Ibsen's
"Peer Gynt". It was notable for
the extreme liberties it t'ook with
HITLER
Ibsen's meaning. But Eckart as-
serted, in his incomparable man-
ner, that he was concerned only
with the spirit, not the form , of
the original.
"This man, more of an artist in
living than in writing, had beco-
me attracted to politics since the
war, as had many others of the
literati , H e began calling f or the
crMtion of a party "to combat
the Jews and Bolsheviks." To the
m otley Boh em1an crew that fre-
quented the Ortiga. Ta.vern he de-
claimed, " It must be a party of
the German bourgeoisie. Why ?
Because a worker is also bour-
geois when he is a German. Are
wc g oing t o regard the middle
class and the farmers as eithe r
capitalists or t~amps ? Don't they
have to work for 'what they have?
They should be emulated. But the
proud financiers have to be des-
troyed. We must r eturn to simpli-
citi es."
Then he proceeded to explain
hi s plans for the organization of
the new party: "At jt.~ he8.<i," he
said, "there must be a strong man.
capable of making himself heard
lil' l' th l' sound of a machine-gun ..
The Spanish Republican
Theatre in the War
The theatre company directed
by Maria Teresa ~n, well-
known playwright and producer,
Qas given performances to the
aoldiers .,defending 'the fronts ill
the EscoriaJ sector near Madrid.
Speaking after the first pertor-
mance Marla Teresa said
"Thle Is a new departure for
our company. It is our duty to let
the soldiers know that we remem-
ber them. At the &&me time we
acoustom those who have- never
seen plays to see them and those
who have hitherto only seen bad
works to see good ones.
"One fine, but cold morning we
arrived at the front in order to
give a little joy and ~rriment to
men who, before the war, had only
known rough work in the fieldll
and who had no time for 8IIlAIse-
ment, men who now, in the strug-
gle for freedom, are living face to
face with death. Our actors 8Z'6
not like the wandering actors who
formerly went from village to
village iDBpired rather by hunger
'than by the desire to act.
"We come to visit our soldiers in
a happy frame of mind, From the
road the distant enemy lines are
visible. Far away can be heard
the thud of bursting shells: white
smoke can be seen rising from a
clump of trees on the horizon. The
undulating landscape, with Its
green hills, does not in the least
betray the proximity of war.
"During a performance of " Ma-
rian". Pineda" two soldiers were
standing by my side. One of them
said to the other: "All my life I
have' done nothing but dig and
now I am here like a lord." This
frank expreBSion of satisfaction
goes a long way to explain what
our struggle means . The peasant
who has now become a soldier
for the rabble mlUlt be forced to
shiver in its boots .
"This man should not be a p o-
litician o r an official . The pu blic
no longer feels any r espect for of-
ficials. It is best that such a man
be a w orker who could say thing s
without r estraint, one who is n ot
obligated to a.nyone.. . My God! "
he shouted, "if only Nosk c had
not been such II. so-and-S O! "
(Here came one of his characte-
ristic vulgar expres.'l.ions) ,
Then he continued with h is spe-
cificati ons for leadership, "He d eJCs
not need much brains. The trade
of politician is the moot stupid in
the world, and every f ishwife
finda It difficult, yet pleasing to
find he is one of the many who
are 'n ow no longer downtrodden
'and despised, but who, on the con-
trary. are given the opportunities
which onCe were only the 'Jot of
the few."
The audience, most of whom are
men, follow the play with the ut-
most ·attention. Afterwards they
mix with the actors and chat with
them. In fonner. times the actor!!
were scmething apart from the
audience, as separated as were
the villages from the cities. Eve-
rything was out of the reach of
the peasants - justice, culture,
art.. . Now all is within theiJ:
grasp.
They can learn to read and wri-
te, they can see the theatre, they
can talk with the actors, they
themselves can become actors.
The Republic has introduced them
to a world of feeling. And now
when they are fighting and cannot
go to the theatre, the theatre co-
mes to them. How things have
changed! The Republican soldiers
are happy and cannot lose, for
every day brings with it a new
object in life: Everyone of them
now has the strength which a hun-
dred men formerly had, In the
days when Ufe had no prospects
and when every atom of stimulll8
was crushed in them even before
they left their m other 's womb.
KULTURI
BERLIN. - Nazi police seized
and destroyed all fore ign news-
papers containing the pastoral
lette r issued by the German Epis-
copa l Ch urch . Among these for-
bidden papers were all the
English dailies and s e ve r a I
French.
knows i t, I prefer a conceited
m<mkey, capable of giving the
R eds a !c)ud answer and who will
not flee before the raised hoofs
of a h urse. I prefer him t o a do-
zen learned professors."
Alld as the clima.x of this lec-
ture on p olitical scieIice, Eckart
said. " He must be unmarried. In
this way we can attract the wo-
men t o us."
This i" the picture of Hitler,
and many people still remember
that the prophetic image was pain-
ted in a fly-by-night tavern in
Schwabrig. Dietrich Eckart is the
spiritual author of the' myth of a
"fUhrer,"

DOCTOR BARSKY RETURNS
TO SPAIN
A4-er a four-month speaking
tou~of the United States, in which
be sPoke to entbustutlc audien-
ces from Maine to California; Ma-
jor Edward Barsky of New York
baa returned to Spain to resume
bls work· with the AmeriCan .Hos-
pltals In Spain. Major Barsky,
who headed the first American
Medical Unit to arrive In Spain
early last February. toured the.
States under the auspices ·ot the
Medical Bureau to Aid Spanlab
Democracy.
"There is a definite increase
and crystallzation of sympathy
for Spain in the United States",
said Doctor Barsky 0::: his re-
turn to the America!! Base
Hospital, "and tile Medical Bu-
reau has now darwn more and
more people to its side in the
gatheriDg of medical ald for
Spain." At meetings In all the
major cities of the United States,
Doctor Barsky was received by
large audiences and definite finan-
clliJ. returna. A high point In
the Doctor's trip was the forma-
Uon ot a West Oo&8t Medical
Unit fOr Spain, complete with
doctors, nurees, technicians, and
equipmeJlt under the leadel'llbip
of Doctor Leo Eloeeser, profes-
sor of IW"gery at Stamford Uni-
versity Medical Scbool. TI1i.s
unit, DOW in Spain, Increased tre-
mendously the interest and acU-
vlty tor the Loyallsts on the en-
tire West Coast and In meetings
10 Los Angeles, San Diego, Sail
lI'ranclsco, and Derke\ey. People
from all c1asge.9 were brought to-
gether and responded to Doctor
Barltsy'll pleas for ald.
At a meeting in the University
of California. whlclr Is represen-
ted ill Spain by a large group of
students now In the 1Mh Brigade
under the leadership of RObert H.
Merriman, one time professor at
the U. of C., Major Barsky ad-
dressed a large audience of pro-
fessors, their wives, and students
()f the school. "This was a high
- hope for even further strldt'lll In
U. S, Ambassador to
Germany Resigns
Professor William E. Dodd,
American Ambassador to Germa-
ny, has resigned his post. Mister
Dodd is noted for his progressive
Uuld~cle8. He and his son have
spoken frequently in tbe United
St&te4 before anti-fascist au-
,dience».
spot on my tour", stated the doc-
tor. "The response was ":'tcel-
lent. The Interest equalled,.. if
not in physical size, at least In
enthusiasm, my meeting in Ma-
dison Square Garden, New York."
In Chicago and its suburbs, In
Rockford, IllinoIs (the scene of 11
tremendous. movement tor .the
C. 1. 0.); in Boston, before Har-
vard students at a meeting in
DOCTOR BARSJl.Y
Woods Hole, Mass., where, with
Dr. Walter B. Cannon of Harvard
Medl~al Sellool, Major Barsky ad-
dres.sed representatives from 17
universities working at the .Mari-
ne Biologieal LabOratories. He
also spoke before a group ot doc-
tors at the· annual convenUon of
the American Psychological As~o­
ciation IB seMion at the Uniyer-
sUy ot Minn.ata.. In &II these
and other meeting» for medical
aid to SpaiD, money ,,"lUI r&l8ed
and solidarity was expressed.
At a meeting of the lltaft,
Doctor Barsky lVWI wclccmcd
back to Spain a:nd to the sce-
ne of the first American Ease
Hospital. At this reunion the
Doctor addressed the staff and
congratulated Major Doctor BUllch
on the IIplendid advances made in
his aMence. He expressed the
hospitalization in the future.
Dr. Leo Eloesser was present at
the gathering and spoke of some
first impressions of Spain. The
eminent California surgeon told
of the high type. of SUrgIcal work
he witnessed In Spanish hospi-
tals. He told those present (In
perfect Spanish) of his copes ·for
an even greater unity. with our
Spanish comrades.
M. H.
A Watch Ma!(es the
Rounds
A well-known comrade and
old-timer of the Fifteenth Briga-
de came out to Spain with a
\vatch. He Obtained thl.lJ watch
by mean.s of a swap, which he
arranged In London on hhi way
out. On the back of It .he Ins,
cribed a brief message in Irish
Gaelic.
He was wounded In the Fe-
bruary actiollll at Jarama. While
he was at the dressing sta.tion,
waiting with the blood running
down hill arm, he supposed tbat
the watch would be of no further
USe to him. He gave it to a com-
rade who asked to have it rather
than see it throWJl away, and
after that he thought JlO more
about It.
Some moDths afterwards .an
American came up to him and
said, "You're an Irishman,. per-
haps you can tell me .what this
~ge me&na on· the back of
my watch."
It was his own. The American
passed it over witbout demur, He
had taken It, he lIaid, from the
wrist of a lrrench com1"llde~ s.s It
seemed a pity to let 1t be. burled
with him.
The watch was going, and AtiU
goes on the wrist of the man who
brought it to Spain. By what de-
vioW! process' of exchange it ca-
me Into the bands of a French-
man will . probably never · known·.
1000 Years on Strike!
Tbirty million working days
"Were lost this year by strikes In
21 COuntriM throughout the
world. Acccrding to the annual
bulletin of the International La-
bor Of1!ceat Geneva, this is equi-
',alent to one worker's non-pro-
ductivity for a period of one
thousand years.
Japanese Bombard
Catholic Mission
Japanese bombing squadrons,
in a raid over the town of Huang-
Teh, dropped several heavy char-
g ~.~ on the Catholic Mission the-
ra. According to reporbl, the
mir.sion had clearly Identi1led it-
s"lf by ground markings. Ca·
GU:llties and material damages
reach ccDIII<Jerable 1!gures.
11
Spanish Pa~nter Goes to
The United States
Pablo Picaaao, the celebrated
Spanish painter, will represent
his cou;try at the InternatioDal
Congress of ArtIat8 meeting In
New York this month. Picauo
had previously refuaed many in-
vitations to go to America, and
accepta thla time to show his lo-
yal sul>port of the Govenunent.
Not Even Fasc::ist Bomber.
COUld Ruffle his Dignity
Where was. Wattis when the
bombers came over? wattle WBII
shaving; or if you·cl\.n think of
something else not unconnected
with a man's persona1 prepazoa-.
tiona for the day, perhaps yOll're
right.
WatUs was a Billa-de figure. He
wa.tI indeed. Any two other Bzi-
gade ,ti!Nres would have fi~
inslde WatUs'belt \ogetber. He
was a Great Guy. It was Wattill
whO looked after the Brigade'.
food 8UIPYUP to the time when
he WIllI wounded while we 'were
taking Belchite.
When the bombers came over
one morning during the Brunete
offensive, Wattiawae sbaving ba-.
hind a tree: 'I'hbI Brigade figure,
half·' uneamouflaged, offered a wi.
de,pink target to the bombers;
but Wattis went on ahaving.
"Get under cover, for GOd's sa-
ke!" Mauted someone, running
paat. "They're coming over!"
"Cover be damned;" said Wattis.
"Do you think I am going to pull
up my shirt tor those blighters?"
And if that wasn't what he ca-
lled them, It beg8n wlthtbe same
letter.
HIS MASTER'S .A PPETITE
~Howd7. Geaeral, wad eh! Like
t:be ••up:"

CATALONIA TEXTILE INDUSTRY
IN THE WAR
The great importance aasumed
in Catalonia by the Industry of
the textile manufacturtng syndi-
cataa aDd their development In
tht ,,"S!II1t «onoIr.tc and social
siluaU~n, bave Proml,ted lIB to ob-
tain aD account of their various
probltms. With this purpose the
mcmtbeno of the Secretariat of the
rf'gionaJ committee of the manu-
f ...,·turlng, textile and related in-
dus~ at CatalonIa bave given
us the foUowlng Information:
A t the outset of the uprising,
""'hen we bad taken cbarge of the
factones, we found that many
btdlvlduala bad come to be small
caplt.a.J11lt1l by buying a few looms.
There were others wbo had for-
med companies by contributing
capital and buying twenty or
thirty looms together, but had not
THl: " 'OlIEN of Spa III are d.Uh·
bee_Inll more involved In their
countr.Y'. war lndalltrtt'~ .
developed very successfully; they
had been forced to become de-
pendents of the large enterpr1Bes.
The big firms were the ones whicb
received the Important orders.
When the order was . very large
and greater productive capacity
was needed, they resorted to tbe
small companies to serve them
and complete the work . In the ma-
nufacturing and texLile industry
there were many sucb cases of
hou.ses who had no life of their
own, who merely worked fo.r
others.
Wben the large firms were
collectivized those of the greatest
potential output refu.sed to give
wo rk t o thc smaller finn", but
this contradictory s ituation was
abolished by the "Dec ree on Col-
lectivization", which r equired the
large to help th c small.
Eighty percent of the regional
production had been for the home
trade and the remainder for ex-
1'BE VOLUN'.DZB FOR LIBERTY
port. The Industry Wled 400,000
bales of cotton, most at It comin:;
from Ametfca and some from In-
dia and Egypt. But when the
uprising began the supply of pri-
me materials was rapidly exhaus-
ted. Capitallam had declined to
pay the debts it owed to the
American exporters, and we were
forced to de&! with a very limi-
ted amO:l nt of raw matedal . This
we attached, paying 9(hat wa.·
due. Through the effort. of a cer-
taln Bank we were able to settle
all debts 'by the end of the year.
This was eloquent proof of our at-
titude. But there atill remained the
painful problem of the lack of
raw materials. In seeking a solu-
tion of thiS problem a comm1ttee
went to the Government In Ja-
nuary 1937. We calculated the va-
lue of foreign exports at some
300,000,000 pesetas and propoeed
a formula to the Government.
This cOIl8!.eted of exporting n:18'
nufactured good~ and converting
It. through commission agents, In-
to bales of cotton which we
would receiVe by land; for we
imposed the condition that the
material would be brought to the
trontier. 'V
~ would thus 8!'cure
the advantage of a discount from
the French railways an'd We al-
so planned to request the same
from the Spanish rail. But diffi-
culties arose and this Idea never
materialized.
Our structure consists of in-
dustrial syndicates, grouped ac-
cording to manufacturing zones,
which number seventeen. Each
bas its own committee and to-
gether these delegatee constitute
the Regional Committee.
t 'OOD SHORTAG};
" What ', th~ matter ,..lIb th o•• pi_
rate c.jubma.rine!4! It·a tlm~ they
sank 80m.. more retul'ee~."
DIANA (U . G. T .)· La,...• • ~. -}IAllR'D
ASOTHER photo .f tbe clelelration. Ellen WUklnooD :\(. P. , I. OD Gee-
ral lI1aJa'. lett. !II..,....
A TTL!!:E k OD the eJ<lreme rtlrbt.
BRITISH LABOUR DELEGATION
VISITS SPAIN
(Conlloued from pare I.)
mocracy. Two rifle salutes were has been conducting over the last
fired Into the aJr by squads of ' few weeks . .The Campaign has as
picked British and Spanish sol- Its immediate objective the collect-
diers during the silence. ion of food and milk for the Span-
"Help us to get anns", was the ish people, and the political object-
plea of the British Volunteer.9 in
the battalion. "We'll do our part
;-:e of t'f'Uslng public opinion !n
order to force the British Go-
here, fighting not only for the vernment to drop its policy of
freedom of the Spanish people, but "non-Intervention" .
for the very existence of the La- With regard to the collection of
bour Movement 'threatened by tood and milk, the 6Upport given
Fascism In Britain and the entire by the working-class p&rties, an~
world. You must carry ' on the by the Co-operative movement es-
fight back borne." pecially, is sucb that the IlUCCeas
General Walter vOiced the de-
ie assured. In the case of the
tennlnation of the International campaign to rouse popular opin~
Volunteers and the Spani.sh people ion against the policy of the Brit-
to prevent Spain "from becoming
ish Government, there Is as yet
a European Aby&Sinla".
no evidence that this Is going With
a real swing.
MEETING TO AID SPAIN Major Attl¥ will return at the
climax (If this campa.ign-a cam-
After visiting the barracks of
the Brltlsb Volunteers the delegat- paign which has not yet attatned
ion had dinner at the Brigade the aecessary results. He will be
Headquarters before continuing on fresh with memories of his visit
their journey to Valencia. Prior here, memories of a people who
to ~heir departure the ddegation will fi ght to the bitter end, me-
stood at attention during the play- m ories of International Volunte-
ing of the Spanish Republican ers including his own countrymen
anthem , then stood at' sal~te while who are fighting for the Libeyty
singing the "International" in of Spain and the Peace of/ the
cOlllpany with the soldiers. World. '
"Good courage and gooo fort- What he must do Is clear to us
une" , cried Miss Wilkinson in part_ and to himself. He must tum this
ing. meeting from being the clima.x ot
Almost immediately after his one campaign into the first step
return to Britain, Major Attlee of an even greater one--a campa-
will be the principal speaker at a ign which w!ll really bring results,
great Labour Rally at the Albert a campaign of direct action In fa.
Hall in London. This meeting is vour of the Spanish Republic.
the climax to a great Aid-Spain
Campaign which the Labeur Party A. D.