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>> Information about Jock Cunningham, please! Is there >anyone who have somthing? Please send it! > >>Sent : Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:33 AM >> >>Subject : Connolly Column 70th Anniversary >> >>Connolly Column 70th Anniversary >>By Scot MacCreamhain >> >>Viva La Quince Brigada >>(Christy Moore) >> >>Ten years before I saw the light of morning >>A comradeship of heroes was laid. >> >>From every corner of the world came sailing >> >>The Fifteenth International Brigade. >> >>They came to stand beside the Spanish people. >>To try and stem the rising Fascist tide >>Franco's allies were the powerful and wealthy, >>Frank Ryan's men came from the other side. >> >>Even the olives were bleeding >>As the battle for Madrid it thundered on. >>Truth and love against the force of evil, >>Brotherhood against the Fascist clan. >> >>Viva La Quince Brigada! >>"No Pasaran" the pledge that made them fight. >>"Adelante" was the cry around the hillside. >>Let us all remember them tonight. >> >>Bob Hilliard was a Church of Ireland pastor; >> >>From Killarney across the Pyrenees he came. >>From Derry came a brave young Christian Brother. >> >>Side by side they fought and died in Spain. >> >>Tommy Woods, aged seventeen, died in Cordoba. >>With Na Fianna he learned to hold his gun. >> >>From Dublin to the Villa Del Rio >> >>Where he fought and died beneath the Spanish sun. >> >>Many Irishmen heard the call of Franco. >>Joined Hitler and Mussolini too. >>Propaganda from the pulpit and newspapers >>Helped O'Duffy to enlist his crew. >> >>The word came from Maynooth: 'Support the Nazis.' >>The men of cloth failed yet again >>When the bishops blessed the blueshirts down in >Galway >>As they sailed beneath the swastika to Spain. >> >>This song is a tribute to Frank Ryan. >>Kit Conway and Dinny Coady too. >>Peter Daly, Charlie Regan and Hugh Bonar. >>Though many died I can but name a few. >> >>Danny Doyle, Blaser-Brown and Charlie Donnelly. >>Liam Tumilson and Jim Straney from Short Strand. >>Jack Nalty, Tommy Patton and Frank Conroy, >>Jim Foley, Tony Fox and Dick O'Neill. >> >> >>July 18th 2006 marks the 70th anniversary of the >>Fascist uprising against >>the democratically-elected Spanish government. The >>Fascists had military >>support from Germany and Italy whilst the Spanish >>Republic relied on the >>Soviet Union and Mexico for arms and advisers. Most >>other Western >>governments refused to get involved and signed a >>non-intervention pact. >> >>Many on the left felt that these were the opening >>shots of a second world >>war against Hitler, Mussolini and Spain’s rebel >>General, Franco. Idealistic >>young men and women from all over the world >>volunteered to come to the aid >>of the Spanish Republic in the face of indifference >>and hostility of their >>own governments. From Germany came the Thaelmann >>battalion, from Italy the >>Garabaldis, from Canada the Mackenzie-Papineaus, from >>the USA, the Abraham >>Lincoln battalion, from Scotland, Wales and England, >>the British Battalion, >>and from Ireland the Connolly column. All Anglophone >>fighters were organized >>under the XVth International Brigade. In total the >>International Brigades >>totalled 45,000 men and played a major role in >>fighting the fascist forces. >> >>In Ireland, support for the beleaguered Republic was >>organized by Frank >>Ryan, a Republican Socialist, veteran of the Limerick >>IRA flying columns, >>Gaelic scholar and former editor of An Phoblacht. Ryan >>was driven by an >>intense dislike of Eoin O’Duffy, former Garda >>Commissioner, Blueshirts’ >>leader and first Fine Gael president, who had already >>with the support of >>Cardinal McRory, The Independent newspaper and >>capitalist W.L Murphy, >>organized an Irish Brigade to help Franco’s side in >>the war. >> >>O’Duffy had promised 5000 men to Franco and at their >>peak in 1934 the >>Blueshirt movement had 50,000 members. This movement >>had come out of the >>Treatyite Army Comrades Association which represented >>the large farm owners >>and capitalists but also the rural poor who lived >>under an almost feudal >>relationship with the church. >>In the end though O’Duffy only managed to dupe 670 >>men, mostly rural-based >>from Cork and Kerry to follow his crusade to Spain >>believing that the >>catholic religion was under attack. In some areas of >>Catalonia churches had >>been burned and some atrocities carried out but were >>highly exaggerated by >>the church hierarchy: >> >>“Spain has always been a catholic country like >>Ireland. We are for religion >>and we don’t want the Reds to conquer Spain.” said >>O’Duffy >> >>In many cases churches were used as storage dumps for >>fascist arms, >>personally witnessed by Frank Ryan and there were >>reports of individual >>fascist priests firing on civilians from church >>towers, again bullet holes >>on houses opposite churches provided the evidence. >>What O’Duffy failed to >>tell his men was that Franco was actually using >>Moorish Muslim troops in his >>front line from colonized Morocco and were themselves >>persecuting the >>catholic Basques who had gained autonomy under the >>leftist government. >> >>On the 18th December 1936 480 men sailed on the SS >>Urundi from Galway flying >>the German Swastika to form the Irish Brigade of the >>XVth Bandera el Tercio, >>an elite battalion based on O’Duffy’s claims that the >>men were there to die >>as Christian martyrs. As the battle for Jarama was in >>full swing the Irish >>Brigade arrived late in the proceedings and were >>caught up in a friendly >>fire incident and withdrew without orders. All in all >>they lost 6 men and >>were involved again only briefly. In fact their >>drunken behaviour at camp >>and poor performance on the battlefield (mainly down >>to bad leadership) led >>to the Irish Brigade being sent home in disgrace. A >>split also had the >>effect of denying them any sizeable parade on their >>return to Dublin. >> >>In stark contrast the Irish section of the >>International Brigades, 200 >>strong, were drawn from some of the poorest urban >>sections of Irish society >>(66% from Dublin and Belfast), mainly communists and >>IRA men from the >>Republican Congress who had a visceral hatred of >>O’Duffy and the bosses. >>Some of these men saw the chance to fight in Spain has >>a way of avenging the >>result of the Civil War and many blamed O’Duffy for >>the Ballyseedy atrocity >>in particular. >> >>Ryan is quoted at the quayside on leaving for Spain: >> >>“The Republican contingent, besides being a very >>efficient fighting force ­ >>every member of it having been in action ­ is also a >>demonstration of the >>sympathy of revolutionary Ireland with the Spanish >>people in their fight >>against International Fascism. It is also a reply to >>the intervention of >>Irish Fascism in the war against the Spanish Republic, >>which, if >>unchallenged would remain a disgrace on our people. We >>want to show that >>there is a close bond between the democracies of >>Ireland and Spain. Our >>fight is the fight of the Spanish people, as it is of >>all people who are >>victims of tyranny” >> >> >>Desmond Ryan (no relation) made this appeal: >> >>“Why do you fight by the side of the upholders of a >>land system as crushing >>and as terrible as that which your own grandfathers >>fought against in the >>days of the Land League. The answer is easy; cynical >>politicians and >>thoughtless bigots have misled you.” >> >>Bob Doyle said: >> >>“O’Duffy and his Blueshirts intended following in the >>footsteps of the >>Nazis...I thought there was a danger Ireland would go >>Fascist and that was >>one of the motivating factors in making up my mind to >>go. I didn’t know much >>about Spain, but my thoughts on the way to Spain were >>that every bullet I >>fired would be a bullet against the Dublin landlords >>and capitalists” >> >>Tommy Patton said: >> >>“the bullet that will get me won’t get a Spanish >>worker” >> >>Two volunteers whose enthusiasm was not wanting and >>whose republican >>credentials were well-known to Ryan, presented >>themselves for enlistment but >>Ryan curtly dismissed them; Brendan Behan and Cathal >>Goulding were barely 14 >>years old! >> >>The Irish and British battalion was organized with >>military efficiency by >>the Comintern and volunteers were vetted by the CPI >>and the CPGB in London >>before traveling onwards through France to the I.Bers >>base at Albacete. >>Volunteers were asked to travel in discrete (and >>discreet!) groups and only >>to speak when spoken to by members of bourgeois >>authority. The party >>travelling with Frank Ryan disdained to behave in such >>an anti-social manner >>and on one channel crossing around forty men occupied >>the bar giving out a >>stirring repertoire of rebel songs and impressing on >>their fellow passengers >>their strong distaste for fascism and Franco. >> >>The first party of Irishmen to arrive was soon pressed >>into action after >>only a couple of days training at Lopera on the >>Cordoba front at Christmas >>1936. Kit Conway was in charge of this company. 8 >>Irishmen were killed >>including Tommy Woods aged 17. >> >>Meanwhile more Irish began to arrive at camp and found >>they were to be part >>of the British Battalion and not a separate Irish >>section. Frank Ryan >>explained that the English working class were their >>allies against fascism >>and they should work together. However tensions rose >>when it was discovered >>one of the British Officers, a Captain Nathan, had >>been part of a Dublin >>Castle murder gang responsible for the deaths in >>Limerick of the mayor and >>ex-mayor. A meeting was called and a majority of the >>Irish present decided >>they wanted to move to the Lincoln battalion. >> >>As more Irish arrived the IB leadership refused to >>allow any more to move to >>the Lincolns and that they must serve with the British >>which most agreed to >>do remembering their enemy was imperialism and >>fascism. Nathan was demoted >>and moved from the area. >> >>In February 1937 Franco was making a major push to >>encircle Madrid and the >>apex of the battle to stop him was the Jarama valley. >>The fighting done by >>the International Brigades here is the stuff of legend >>and rightly so. On >>the 12th February Kit Conway led troops across olive >>fields straight into >>fascist fire capturing enemy positions and halting the >>advance, Conway >>himself being fatally wounded. Franco’s troops, >>veterans of the Moroccon >>war, had never been stopped so effectively in open >>countryside. Ryan called >>out with a loudhailer in case the Irish fascists were >>in the enemy trenches: >> >>“Irishmen go home! Your fathers would turn in their >>graves if they knew that >>you’d come to fight for imperialism. This is the real >>Republican army, the >>real, real men of Ireland.” >> >>On the 13th some defensive positions were lost after a >>British commander >>withdrew without orders and the defensive line fell >>back slightly however on >>the 14th when all seemed lost the men were ready to be >>routed in the face of >>overwhelming numbers including tanks, the fascists >>failed to pursue them >>possibly tiring themselves. Frank Ryan and >>Scots-Irishman Jock Cunningham >>turned around the bedraggled remains of the batallion >>singing the >>Internationale and led 140 men back towards the enemy. >>The fascists >>erroneously believed fresh units had arrived and fled. >>The machine gun >>positions were re-captured Ryan was wounded in the arm >>and went back to >>Ireland for a period of recuperation. Nearby on the >>battlefield the 40 Irish >>with the Lincolns attacked Pingarron Hill and lost >>over 100 men including >>the UCD scholar and poet Charlie Donnelly who coined >>the phrase “even the >>olives were bleeding”. The battle was over and >>Franco’s army looked to other >>fronts to win the war. >> >>Jarama was the Connolly Column’s finest hour but they >>went on to fight at >>Brunete, Guadalajara, Belchite and finally at Gandesa >>where in March 1938 >>Frank Ryan and hundreds more were surrounded and >>captured by Italian Black >>Arrows. Most were eventually released but Ryan was >>passed over to German >>intelligence, the Abwehr and spent the rest of his >>days in Berlin, finally >>dying in Dresden in 1944. >> >>The International Brigades were wound down in November >>1938 with a parade in >>Barcelona just months before Franco came into control >>of the entire country >>and a long dark period of repression would begin. >> >>However Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria, gave the >>farewell address at the >>parade which finished with these words: >> >>“We shall not forget you; and, when the olive tree of >>peace is in flower, >>entwined with the victory laurels of the Republic of >>Spain --- return! >>Return to our side for here you will find a homeland >>--- those who have no >>country or friends, who must live deprived of >>friendship --- all, all will >>have the affection and gratitude of the Spanish people >>who today and >>tomorrow will shout with enthusiasm --- Long live >>the heroes of the International Brigades!”

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