International Brigade Memorial Trust
Several greetings were sent to the IBMT’s Annual General Meeting, held in Belfast on 4 October.
As well as those reproduced below, there were messages delivered in person by Nancy Wallach from the New York-based Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, by Ewald Peter Schulz from the German association KFSR (Kämpfer und Freunde del Spanischen Republik 1936-1939) and by Austin Harney, national executive member of the PCS union, on behalf of General Secretary Fran Heathcote.
The following greetings were read out to the meeting.
[Photos © Kevin Cooper Photoline NUJ]
ACER
Members and leaders of ACER, the friends of the French Brigaders who fought in Republican Spain, send you a warm message of support and thanks for your 2025 general meeting in Belfast.
We rejoice every year to see your wonderful work accomplished for the memory of Brigaders in Republican Spain. It is a great comfort and an example for us to see how we must perpetuate the memory of these admirable fighters for the freedom of the Spanish people.
In this difficult time for peace and understanding between peoples, the fight of the Brigaders is there to show us how to stand against oppression, obscurantism and intolerance.
Thanks comrades, and long live the IBMT, great and strong. Long live the Fifteenth Brigade – with fists raised.
Claire Rol-Tanguy
Claude Desmazure
ACER (Amis des Combattants en Espagne Républicaine)
France
AICVAS
Dear comrades of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, on behalf of the Italian Association of Anti-fascist Combatant Volunteers in Spain, we are honoured to send our greetings to the 2025 Annual General Meeting of the IBMT in Belfast.
Almost 90 years have passed since the Italian volunteers fought shoulder to shoulder with the British and Irish Brigaders in defence of the Spanish Republic. The memory of that unequal struggle has become legend, and those ideals still guide our lives.
In these times when winds of war are blowing and old and new forms of fascism threaten democracy, we’ll continue to hold with you the flag of the International Brigades, as our volunteers did then.
We therefore wish you every success for your meeting. We hope to find opportunities for collaboration between our associations in the future and meet you during the events in Spain to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Civil War.
Our warmest regards. ¡No pasarán!
Italo Poma
President
AICVAS (Associazione Italiana Combattenti Volontari Antifascisti di Spagna)
Italy
A packed meeting room in the Unite offices for the IBMT's AGM on 4 October.
Marx Memorial Library
The Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School values our partnership with the IBMT in preserving the memory of the Spanish Civil War and all those from these islands who took part in that epic struggle against fascism.
With IBMT support, the library has this year embarked on an ambitious project to digitise our Spanish Civil War archives. Along with our associated educational activities, these archives help all those seeking to understand the significance of the Spanish Civil War. Just as importantly, they also inspire new generations of activists who once again must resist the rise of fascist and militarist ideologies.
It is in that spirit that we send warmest greetings to the IBMT’s 2025 AGM in Belfast.
Meirian Jump
Director
Marx Memorial Library & Workers’ School
London
At the opening ceremony of the AGM weekend at Belfast City Hall on 3 October, Deputy Lord Mayor Paul Doherty with Nancy Wallach (second from left) of ALBA and Lynda Walker (right) and Ciaran Crossey (left) of the Belfast-based International Brigade Commemoration Committee, which hosted the AGM and organised the weekend's programme.
PCE-GB
Greetings on behalf of the Great Britain Branch of the Communist Party of Spain (PCE), which we are pleased to announce has recently adopted Felicia Browne's name.
The Exterior Branch of the PCE was originally founded by the comrades who fled Spain during the Spanish Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship. Our comrades worked in exile, going mostly to France, Germany and Latin America, where they contributed to the clandestine struggle of their comrades, helped people escape and told the world about what was happening in Spain. Some are still alive.
The branch today is formed mostly by migrants, who left the country fleeing from precarity and looking for a life worth living at the expense of leaving their families and friends behind. We are a branch of refugees, political exiles and emigrants. So, I’m sure you’ll understand how deeply concerned we are with the expansion of far-right ideology and anti-immigration discourse.
The living conditions of the working class are worsening. We are not only witnessing a genocide taking place but also are part of it. Pacifists are charged with terrorism and terrorists run free – and all this is happening under a so-called progressive government. This puts us in a difficult situation, here and in Spain, where we are part of the government that was selling arms to the terrorist state of Israel but at the same time was on the streets protesting and boycotting the Vuelta a España cycling race, a major sports event in which Israel was taking part, and now we need to pay the high price for our contradictions.
The anti-immigration discourse spreads like wildfire through the let-down and frustrated working class that blames foreign fellow workers for their hardship. But we cannot let that happen again. Memes won’t do. Making jokes or ridiculing on social media is not going to do the trick. Far right ideology and fascism you can only stop in the streets. We need to confront them.
The volunteers of the International Brigades knew that it wasn't just Spain's future that was at stake and we need that clarity of mind today more than ever.
There are many challenges ahead for us. We need to keep working together as we have been doing. That's why the work of the IBMT is so important. We need to keep the memory of the volunteers alive. We need to educate new generations and do justice to all those who paved the way forward with their blood.
We wish you all the best. Thank you for your work and please remember that you are not alone. In solidarity!
Noelia Sánchez
PCE-GB (Great Britain ‘Felicia Browne’ Branch of the Communist Party of Spain)
Ewalt Peter Schulz of the German KFSR speaking at the AGM.
RMT
RMT is proud to stand with the International Brigade Memorial Trust in honouring the memory of all those who bravely chose to join the International Brigades and fight against Franco, Hitler and Mussolini.
Members of our predecessor unions in the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and the National Union of Seamen (NUS) volunteered alongside thousands of others to fight fascism in Spain.
Their sacrifice was rooted in the principles of anti-fascism and internationalism, values that remain at the heart of the RMT and the wider trade union movement today.
I hope your AGM is a great success and you keep up your vital work in honouring the spirit of the International Brigades.
Eddie Dempsey
General Secretary
RMT (National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers)
Austin Harney of PCS at the International Brigade memorial in Writer's Square, Belfast, at a commemoration held on 5 October.
