In this week’s episode, Tony Fox joins me to discuss the newly published collection Remember Me to My Comrades, which brings together letters, diaries, and previously unpublished documents from International Brigade volunteers from the North East of England. Here, I want to expand on some of the key themes we discussed, with additional context from the book and wider scholarship.**
The Origins of the International Brigades
The International Brigades were born out of a paradox. In August 1936, the major European powers signed the Non‑Intervention Agreement, promising not to interfere in the Spanish Civil War. But Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy signed up while simultaneously pouring troops and weapons into Franco’s Nationalist forces. The Soviet Union, trying to keep Britain and France on side, did not want to violate the treaty openly. Instead, it worked through the Comintern to organise volunteers from 50 countries.
In Britain, the Communist Party – not the Labour Party, which supported non‑intervention – took responsibility for recruitment. Tony explains how the party was split into regions: Scotland, Wales, the North East, the North West, and London. Each had a regional organiser who vetted potential volunteers. Initially, only single men over 21 were accepted – there was no way to provide pensions to dependents if they were killed.
Tony notes that three‑quarters of the 2,500 British volunteers were members of the Communist Party – though this number was probably inflated by the requirement that to get to Spain, you had to join. The volunteers came from all walks of life: steel workers, miners, dockers, but also, in a few cases, wealthy public school graduates like Robert Trial, a former Arundel School boy whose family were shipbuilders and international polo players. Trial had been in Moscow when the war broke out and, with his military training, became an officer.
The Political Character of the Brigades
What makes the International Brigades unique in military history is their political character. These were not mercenaries or adventurers; they were working‑class activists who understood exactly what they were fighting for. Many had already fought Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists on the streets of Britain. They knew that if fascism was not defeated in Spain, it would come to Britain.
Tony shares a remarkable story: in July 1938, at the height of the war, the British Commissar Bob Cooney organised an essay competition for the men on the “13 Points” – the Spanish government’s programme for a democratic society. Soldiers fighting for their lives were writing essays on political theory. “It’s just so bizarre,” Tony says, “but it’s a unique aspect. The International Brigades are totally unique to anything else that has been seen before.”
The Human Cost
The book includes letters from volunteers that reveal the human reality behind the politics. One of the most moving is from Otto Estensen, a Stockton volunteer, writing to a comrade who had been wounded and sent home. Otto has just learned that the International Brigades are being incorporated into the Spanish Republican Army – they are now “here for the duration”. He accepts it. But he ends: “When I get home, I’ll get married. If I get home, I’ll get married.”
Tony also shares the story of Sam Wild, the last commander of the British Battalion. Wild was not a Communist Party member before he went to Spain – he joined the Spanish Communist Party first, then the British. His letters reveal two voices: one, to the party organiser in Manchester, is the political voice of a committed comrade; the other, to his father, is chatty and personal. After the Brigades were withdrawn, Wild was put in command of all English‑speaking volunteers – including the Americans, who had long tried to monopolise the leadership. “Read the glee in his voice,” Tony says, “of saying now I’m telling the Americans what to do.”
The Legacy
The International Brigades were withdrawn from Spain in October 1938. Franco’s victory was inevitable. But the volunteers did not fight in vain. They held the line at Madrid, at Jarama, and across the Ebro. They showed the world that ordinary people would stand up to fascism – and that solidarity across borders was possible.
As Tony notes, the British Battalion was used as shock troops throughout the war. At the Battle of Jarama in February 1937, they went in with over 500 men; after three days, fewer than 100 were able to stand. In the Aragon retreats of 1938, they were the last troops of the Republican Army, holding points while surrounded, retreating from one position to another, until they crossed the Ebro. The positions they held in February 1937 were still held in October 1938.
The letters and diaries in Remember Me to My Comrades bring these men back to life – not as heroes, but as human beings: sons, brothers, husbands, comrades, who gave their lives for a cause they believed in.
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