The International Brigaders and the Spanish People

Adrian Pole, a cultural historian at the University of Edinburgh, has produced an interesting look at “the relationship between the International Brigades [IB] and people, places, and politics of civil war Spain”. (p. 218)

Following an introduction explaining his purpose and methodology, Pole gives us six chapters, each covering encounters between the brigadistas and various others.

   1. Loyalists

   2. Soldiers

  3. Enemies

  4. Civilians

  5. Women

  6. Children

The book closes with an ‘Epilogue’ that follows how the personal encounters and experiences established during the civil war of 1936-1939 influenced the lives of the veterans in the postwar era.

Naturally sympathetic to the Republican cause, Pole tends to overlook some unsavory aspects of the men’s service, most notably the many executions ordered by the brutal IB commissar Andre Marty for disciplinary or ideological infractions.

It’s worth noting that the IB did not include all the foreign fighters for the Republic. From the onset of the civil war, foreigners in Spain as tourists, students, or participants in the “People’s Olympiad’ to be held in Barcelona in protest of the official games in Nazi Germany, joined local militia units to fight the Nationalists. In addition, well before the IB arrived, in September of 1936, volunteers were already flocking to Spain. Many of these volunteers never joined the IB, such as anti-Stalinist leftists. A story yet to be told.

Although not a history of the role of IB in the war, "Making Antifascist War" offers interesting insights into the personal experiences of soldiers, in this case idealistic trans-national volunteers, making common cause across cultural and social lines.

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Note: Making Antifascist War is also available in e-editions.

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