"The Spanish Anti-Facist War 1936 - 39 and the Irish involvement".

by another ex-stick Sun Sep 19, 2004 23:56

The theatre behind New Books was fairly packed (and extremely hot) as the assembled sat patiently through a set of revolutionary numbers provided by one man and his guitar. Everybody stood for the Internationale at the end which was sorta touching (although his version sucked and discouraged crowd participation).

The meeting proper started at about 2.40 when Mick was introduced by a comrade (the bloke from the north that seems to live in New Books). The audience was a funny mix of old CPI members (who obviously hadn't seen each other for years) and younger heads. There had been a real sense of occasion in the bookshop beforehand and the crowd was ready to hear it from someone who was there.

Mick started by sketching the political situation in the Europe of the mid '30s. The overall impression was one of fascist dictatorships all over the continent. One repressive state which wasn't mentioned by Mick in this context was of course the Soviet Union. However, I don't think anyone really wanted to piss on his party by pointing this out.

Mick (eventually) went on to talk about Spain and peoples' motivations for going there. Again, some historical inaccuracies can be excused here. His discussion of the early fighting stressed the contribution of the militias formed by the communists (the party was relatively small at this stage) and ignored the contribution of the anarchist and trot organisations who acted immediately against what was in effect a military coup.

It got better when he talked about individual Irish volunteers. Amazingly, he's one of two Irish volunteers left alive. It would have been interesting to know how many of the Irish volunteers toed the CP line or even, if they had any choice in the matter. However, by this stage it was 4.00 and I had to split so I never found out if he was questioned further on the communist-led repression which eventually liquidated the anarchists and trots...

In a way, I hope he wasn't. O'Riordan dedicated his life to some sort of progressive cause by going to fight in Spain. Christ knows, being an active member of the CP in Ireland can't have been easy through the '40s and '50s, whatever about the late '60s. Anyway, at this stage in his life I hardly think he cares.

I remember though asking him at a similar occasion in the early '80s how, after fighting the fascists in Spain, he had reacted personally to the Stalin-Hitler pact of 1939? He had then looked me straight in the eye then and said 'next question'! That put me back in my (anarcho-syndicalist) box.

Maybe somebody out there can report on the rest of the meeting, or did everyone die of heat exhaustion?

by No Pasaran! Fri Sep 17, 2004 17:00

I'd recommend anyone who can get to the meeting to attend. It will be well worth while to hear this veteran speak.

Just in case anyone is interested, here is a site concened with Ireland and the Spanish Civil War.

It carries material on the pro-Republican forces, so not only are those from the International Brigade mentioned, but there is material on Jack White and others who served with the medical units, the POUM, etc.

While it may annoy some the site also contains material on the Irish supporters of Franco - the 700 or so strong Bandera.

by space3 Thu Sep 16, 2004 17:48

will the fact that the POUM was made illegal be mentioned? Even though it was they who were first to arms against Franco and without whom there may not have been any resistence.
Also, will there be mention of the communist propeganda circulated throughout Europe citing the POUM as the cause of the May '37 street fights in Barcelona. The fact that this is not true did not bother the Communist Party at the time as they were too busy trying get as much power as they could by slandering the POUM as fascist collaborators (a blatant lie) and de-collectivising and re-centralising the industries won by the anarchist CNT(including the Telephone Exchange at Placa de Catalunya).
No disrespect to the Irish anti-fascists who fought in the war but serious questions would have to be asked if the Irish Communist Party does not address the lies propegated by the Spanish Communists during the war. I suspect they will not even be mentioned.

by La Pasionara Wed Sep 15, 2004 16:57

There might even be a re-enactment of the Stalinist Terror in Spain if any of you chaps get stroppy there!

by jarlath Wed Sep 15, 2004 14:46

Without doubting the sincerity of the volunteers, I don't think the Communist Party should be allowed to get away with this without an examination of Stalinist terror in Spain also.

by Curious Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:15

Will the role of the Anarchists and the POUM be mentioned in this talk?