International Brigade Memorial Trust
Marking the 40th anniversary of the unveiling of the International Brigade memorial in London’s Jubilee Gardens, IBMT Chair Jim Jump looks back at the drama behind its installation…
Linger by the International Brigade memorial on London’s Southbank and you’ll soon notice tourists stopping to find out what this imposing piece of public art is all about. Standing four metres high, it’s the only sculpture or memorial in Jubilee Gardens, a green oasis facing onto the Thames and squeezed between the London Eye and the Royal Festival Hall.
The memorial today with its inscription inspired by Cecil Day Lewis's poem 'The Volunteer'.
As these curious tourists read the inscriptions, some, especially Spaniards, are clearly surprised. How come a memorial of this sort, dedicated to a cause still considered controversial in some official and rightwing circles, should be located on a prime site in the heart of the capital?
It’s a good question. Little do most people know the politics and cliff-hanging drama that led up to its unveiling 40 years ago on 5 October 1985.
The impetus for a national memorial emerged in the years following Franco’s death in 1975 and the process of restoring democracy in Spain.
Through the International Brigade Association, the veterans had, until Spain’s often fraught transición, concentrated on campaigning against the country’s brutal dictatorship and on behalf of its many political prisoners.
Now, with the approach of the 50th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War in 1986, they could devote efforts to a national memorial to their more than 500 fallen comrades and to all those anti-fascist volunteers who had, as the memorial in Jubilee Gardens states, ‘left these shores’ to go to Spain. These were carefully chosen words to include all the Irish, Cypriots and those from the dominions and colonies who didn’t count themselves as ‘British’.
Supporters in Scotland had already led the way. In August 1980, Glasgow City Council raised the landmark Pasionaria memorial to the International Brigades. Created by Liverpool sculptor Arthur Dooley, the figure of legendary Spanish Republican leader Dolores Ibárruri faces south across the Clyde, arms outstretched.
Something equally as impressive was needed nationally. And in the leftwing Labour-run Greater London Council, the Brigaders found friends, notably leader ‘Red’ Ken Livingstone, chair Illtyd Harrington and arts committee chair Tony Banks. The GLC agreed to provide a site for the memorial in Jubilee Gardens, which it owned and was located next to its headquarters in County Hall.
The International Brigade Memorial Appeal (IBMA) was set up and began raising the necessary funds, including an £18,800 grant from the GLC.
Six leading sculptors were asked to submit ideas for the memorial, and in December 1984, the commission was awarded to Ian Walters, creator of, among other works, the bust of Nelson Mandela on London Southbank and the statue of Harold Wilson in Huddersfield.
Sculptor Ian Walters (left), with his maquette for the memorial, and (from right) Brigaders Bill Alexander (International Brigade Memorial Appeal chair) and Jimmy Jump (IBMA Secretary).
Meanwhile, Red Ken was becoming a thorn in the side of Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The GLC hoisted, for example, a massive banner on top of County Hall, clearly visible across the river from the Houses of Parliament, with a running total of the growing number of unemployed in London.
Thatcher was not amused, and she characteristically went for the political nuclear option, announcing in 1983 that she would abolish the GLC. Two years later, royal assent was given to the Local Government Act, which on 31 March 1986 dissolved the GLC and its powers were distributed to the London boroughs.
County Hall was to be sold off – it’s now a leisure hub for attractions such as the Sea Life London Aquarium and London Dungeon – and Jubilee Gardens was eventually handed over to a specially-formed charitable trust.
Thatcher’s attack on the GLC galvanised campaigners. At the meeting of the IBMA on 8 January 1985, appeal chair Bill Alexander said it was now ‘essential to hold the unveiling ceremony while the GLC is still in control’. Illtyd Harrington urged it to be held ‘the sooner the better’, the meeting heard.
Committee members of the International Brigade Memorial Appeal inspect the unfinished sculpture in Ian Walters’s studio in Battersea. From left are Brigaders Robert Walker (partly hidden) and Joe Monks, Betty Birch, Solly Kaye and Ann Mildwater.
With the clock ticking, plans for an unveiling on 19 July 1986 were scrapped, and Ian Walters was told to speed things up for the new deadline in October 1985.
The new deadline was met, though even after the unveiling, uncertainty still hung over the memorial’s future.
‘It is intended to hold a public event at the memorial on 19 July 1986, 50th anniversary of the fascist revolt,’ wrote Bill Alexander in the International Brigade Association’s newsletter.
‘But the GLC, whose many-sided and generous support made the memorial possible, will have been replaced by a government-appointed quango who will control the Southbank,’ he said. ‘The character and form of the event cannot therefore yet be decided.’
5 October 1985: Michael Foot MP with his hand on the memorial shortly after he unveiled it. From his left to right are: Norman Willis (TUC General Secretary), Brigader Jack Jones, Tony Banks and Communist Party General Secretary Gordon McLennan. With her hand on the plinth is Dame Janet Vaughan and, next to her, Bill Alexander.
Thankfully, not only did the 1986 event go ahead, but a commemoration has taken place in July ever since. And, with excellent relations with the Jubilee Gardens Trust, the IBMT is confident that the volunteers will continue to be remembered at the memorial for many years to come.
