Trade Unionists and the Spanish Civil War
Annual commemoration 2021
Annual commemoration at London's Jubilee Gardens, held on 3 July 2021.
This year's event was a smaller, invitation-only commemoration due to ongoing restrictions. This film has been produced so all our members and supporters are able to experience the event.
Thelma Ruby, actress and widow of International Brigader Peter Frye, spoke about her memories of the volunteers and laid a wreath on behalf of the IBMT.
Then Ronan Burtenshaw, editor of Tribune magazine, spoke about the significance and legacy of the volunteers.
We request supporters to give as generously as they would if they had attended the ceremony. You can make a donation via PayPal here: www.international-brigades.org.uk/donation-page
2020 Annual Commemoration
The IBMT held a wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday 4 July at the International Brigade Memorial in Jubilee Gardens, London.
We have produced this short film of the proceedings in lieu of the customary public event, which could not be held due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
Jeremy Corbyn, a close friend of the IBMT, was invited to lay the wreath. The film concludes with a pre-recorded performance of ‘Valley of Jarama’ by Na-Mara. Jeremy Corbyn said, "A real honour to lay the wreath at the International Brigade Memorial Trust Annual Commemoration. The International Brigade Memorial Trust keeps alive the memory and spirit of those who volunteered to defend democracy and fight fascism in Spain from 1936-39. In the world today let's unite against the far-right and for equality."
We request members and supporters to give as generously as they would if they had attended the ceremony. You can make a donation easily by texting IBMT to 70450 (£10) or via PayPal (www.international-brigades.org.uk/donation-page). All donations – however large or small – help fund our vital commemorative and educational work.
Comrades Come Rally
On 8 March 2020 dozens of supporters gathered at Holywell Music Rooms in Oxford to celebrate the volunteers from the UK and Ireland who fought to defend democracy in the Spanish Civil War. IBMT supporter Alice Roth has produced this short film of the event.The event featured a number of actors and musicians reading and performing a range of Spanish Civil War-themed works.
Anti fascism and the Spanish Civil War
Volunteers for Liberty - OMNIBUS
OMNIBUS version - runs for 15 minutes - of the five short films under the title ‘Volunteers for Liberty: Archives and memory – preserving the story of the International Brigades’, which have been produced by Platform Films for the IBMT and the Marx Memorial Library. The films publicise the extensive archives of the International Brigades and Spanish Civil War held by the Marx Memorial Library, which were digitally catalogued in 2017/18 in a project in which the IBMT was a partner and which received funding from The National Archives.
Refugees and the Spanish Civil War
'George Orwell and the Spanish Civil War' by Paul Preston read by Jim Jump
Len Crome Memorial Conference, Manchester, 2nd March 2013.
Unfortunately Paul Preston was ill and was unable to attend the conference. Jim Jump, secretary of the IBMT, read Professor Preston's paper. The paper noted that while Orwell's 'Homage to Catalonia' year on year outsells any other text on the Spanish Civil War, it is nevertheless only a partial and localised view of the war and misleading as a description of the reasons for the Spanish Republic's defeat. Preston's paper concluded by saying that Orwell's memoir "had given much succour to those who wished to claim, whether from the far left or the far right, that the defeat of the Spanish Republic was somehow more the responsibility of Stalin than of Franco, Hitler, Mussolini or Neville Chamberlain". He ended his lecture by quoting Orwell: "...curiously enough the whole experience has left me with not less but more belief in the decency of human beings."
'The Minstrel Boy'
Brenda O'Riordan singing 'The Minstrel Boy', an old Irish song of liberty and freedom standing against tyranny and oppression. Recorded on the International Brigades last battlefields near Corbera d'Ebre overlooking the last British command post with the Sierra Pandols in the background. Recorded by Marshall Mateer on the IBMT Ebro Tour, Spain, 2013.
'Spanish Women in the 1930s'
'Spanish Women in the 1930s'
Paul Preston on 'Spanish Women in the 1930s', he explained "how the Spanish Republic had given much to women and Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War took away much more." He mentions his book 'The Doves of War' Four women in the SCW'.
Recorded in Manchester, England, at the 2016 IBMT Len Crome Memorial Lecture. More information about the Len Crome Memorial Lectures and the IBMT at www.international-brigades.org.uk
Internationalism and the Spanish Civil War
Women and the Spanish Civil War
2020 Annual Commemoration
The IBMT held a wreath-laying ceremony on Saturday 4 July at the International Brigade Memorial in Jubilee Gardens, London.
We have produced this short film of the proceedings in lieu of the customary public event, which could not be held due to the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
Jeremy Corbyn, a close friend of the IBMT, was invited to lay the wreath. The film concludes with a pre-recorded performance of ‘Valley of Jarama’ by Na-Mara. Jeremy Corbyn said, "A real honour to lay the wreath at the International Brigade Memorial Trust Annual Commemoration. The International Brigade Memorial Trust keeps alive the memory and spirit of those who volunteered to defend democracy and fight fascism in Spain from 1936-39. In the world today let's unite against the far-right and for equality."
We request members and supporters to give as generously as they would if they had attended the ceremony. You can make a donation easily by texting IBMT to 70450 (£10) or via PayPal (www.international-brigades.org.uk/donation-page). All donations – however large or small – help fund our vital commemorative and educational work.
