International Brigade Memorial (London) 2015

International Brigade Memorial (London) - 06.06.15

A delegation of the BMA (UK) made a visit on Saturday the 6th of June, to the International Brigade Memorial, situated in the Jubilee Gardens area of Waterloo – southeast London. This Memorial was unveiled in 1985 by the then leader of the Labour Party – Michael Foot. This symbol of Socialist solidarity was created during a time of extreme rightwing politics and prejudice exercised against the British people. As Margaret Thatcher and her incumbent Conservative Party was engaged in dismantling the Socialist institutions of the Welfare State, the National Health Service, and the principle of universal free education, as well as privatising previously nationalised industries (creating vast swathes of unemployment as a consequence); the Greater London Council under Ken Livingston, supported the idea of a permanent memorial dedicated to the 2500 men and women of Britain who volunteered to fight in the British Battalion of International Brigade. The International Brigade was motivated by Socialist principles and joined with the legitimate Republican government of Spain to fight the fascist forces of General Franco. Franco was a staunch ally of Adolf Hitler – and his forces were supported, supplied and trained by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. The Spanish Civil War lasted from 1936-39 – and ended with the defeat of the Republican cause and the victory of Franco’s Hitlerite forces. During the time of the Spanish Civil War, Western governments would not openly back an anti-fascist cause that was morally and materially supported by the Soviet Union. Franco’s Nationalists committed numerous atrocities against the Spanish people and the volunteers of the International Brigade, and after the war, his despicable regime remained in power until 1977 with no criticism or sanction from the Western European powers who had triumphed over German and Japanese fascism during WWII. This Western indifference grants Franco the dubious distinction of being the only world leader to have actively collaborated with Hitler’s Nazi regime – and to retain his power after Hitler’s defeat. The Spanish Civil war is an important part of British history that is generally ignored by the bourgeois State and its naturally bias historians. Workers of the world unite!

New Plaque laid in 2012 – Inscription Reads:

No Pasaran - They shall not pass
The 2,500 International Brigade volunteers who left from Britain and Ireland were among 35,000 men and women from 53 countries who went to the aid of the Spanish Republic during the Spanish Civil War of 1936-1939. They faced enormous odds. The treacherous generals who rose up against Spain’s elected government won the war with the help of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy. Those regimes were defeated in the Second World War that started, as the volunteers had predicted, a few months after the civil war ended. Democracy was restored in Spain in 1977 and in 2007 the Spanish parliament awarded Spanish citizenship to all surviving International Brigade veterans.
This plaque was unveiled in 2012.
International Brigade Memorial Trust

Inscription on Front Reads:

International Brigade
In honour of over 2100 men & women volunteers who left these shores to fight side by side with the Spanish people in their heroic struggle against fascism, 1936 - 1939. Many were wounded and maimed. 526 were killed. Their example inspired the world.

Inscription on Back Reads:

This memorial, unveiled by Michael Foot 5th October 1985, was made possible by the support of many democratic organisations,
individuals and the Greater London Council.

Sculptor - Ian Walters

Inscription on Left Reads:

Yet freedom! Yet thy banner, torn, but flying, streams like the thunder-storm against the wind”

Inscription on Right Reads:

“They went because their open eyes could see no other way”