 | |
| Author | Richard Baxell |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Leo Nickolls |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Subject | British volunteers in the Spanish Civil War |
| Published | 2012 (Aurum Press) |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN | 9781845136970 |
Unlikely Warriors: The British in the Spanish Civil War and the Struggle Against Fascism is a history book by Richard Baxell about British people who served in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. It was published by Aurum Press in 2012. [1]
Baxell described the book as "the first to place the Spanish Civil War within the context of the volunteers' lives, rather than the other way round"; and seeks to deliver its narrative "from the perspective of the participants themselves using, wherever possible, their own words". [2] Set against the context of the 1930s in Britain—marked by the Great Depression, the growth of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) and the emergence of Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists —the book primarily deals with the International Brigades and their volunteers, but also covers those who were involved in other capacities, including George Orwell who fought with the POUM, British journalists who worked in Spain during the Civil War, and the small number of Britons who fought on the side of Francisco Franco. [3] Baxell describes the May Days of 1937 in Barcelona and British participation in the Siege of Madrid and the Battles of Jarama, Brunete and the Ebro. He continues by describing the experiences of the British volunteers who departed Spain at the end of the war and those who were taken prisoner, and Civil War veterans' experiences of the Second World War. These included Tom Wintringham who helped to found the Home Guard and Bernard Knox, who joined the Office of Strategic Services. [3]
The book begins with three chapters discussing the Brigadiers' responses to Depression-era Britain, campaigns against fascism in the UK, and the debates and varying responses to the Spanish Civil War in British society. The final three chapters and the epilogue look at events after Franco's victory, including the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and the CPGB's withdrawal of support for the Second World War, which it deemed imperialist (a position it later reversed). The intervening seventeen chapters deal with the Civil War itself and cover, among other topics, Britons working in medical aid, foreign correspondents, the involvement of the Independent Labour Party, and the experience of those imprisoned in camps by Franco's Nationalists. [2]
Writing in The Volunteer, a publication of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, historian Peter Stansky described Unlikely Warriors as "a culminating and I believe definitive accomplishment." [3] Stansky praised Baxell's treatment of "the endless paradox of war"—that war "could not be ... more dreadful yet for many though not all who participated and survived, it was the most important and rewarding experience of their lives"—and his unromanticised account, concluding "This is a colorful, heroic, tragic and deeply troubling tale ... Based on an extraordinary range of material, it is a splendid thing to have this full and satisfying account." [3] Alan Lloyd of the Morning Star praised Baxell's "pre-eminent knowledge of the British volunteers" and use of their own words to tell the stories; and wrote "The book is beautifully written and it's a totally absorbing read". [4] Historian Francis Beckett, writing in The Tablet praised Baxell's detachment as bringing "something new" to the historiography of the Civil War and described Unlikely Warriors as "Well researched and luminously written". [5]
Unite the Union named Unlikely Warriors as one of two "books of the month" for June 2013 [6] and published a review by the historian Lewis Mates. Mates identified Baxell's inclusion of a chapter on those who fought for the Nationalists and "the wealth of detail [he] provides of the individual experiences of British fighters" as strengths, and praised his collation of published and unpublished accounts, interviews, correspondence and archival sources. [2] Mates also published a review in the academic journal Contemporary British History in which he also noted Baxell's attentiveness to the conflicts between the International Brigades and the anti-Stalinist POUM, who some Communists claimed were acting on behalf of the fascists. However, Mates also described the six chapters dealing with events before and after the war as "a little disappointing", and questioned Baxell's treatment of Irish volunteers in Spain, his engagement with historiographical debates including whether the events constituted a war or a revolution and the International Brigades' relationship with the Communist International, and methodological questions relating to Baxell's varied sources. Concluding, Mates noted "that Unlikely Warriors is tailored to appeal to a wider market than simply academics" and described the book as "a well researched, largely balanced, highly readable and accessible narrative". [1]
Unlikely Warriors was shortlisted for the 2013 Political Book Awards political history book of the year. [7]
Homage to Catalonia is George Orwell's personal account of his experiences and observations fighting in the Spanish Civil War for the POUM militia of the Republican army.
The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil War. It was formed by the fusion of the Trotskyist Communist Left of Spain and the Workers and Peasants' Bloc against the will of Leon Trotsky, with whom the former broke.
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Thomas Henry Wintringham was a British soldier, military historian, journalist, poet, Marxist, politician and author. He was a supporter of the Home Guard during the Second World War and was one of the founders of the Common Wealth Party.
Wogan Philipps, 2nd Baron Milford was the only member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) ever to sit in the House of Lords.
The British Battalion was the 16th battalion of the XV International Brigade, one of the mixed brigades of the International Brigades, during the Spanish Civil War. It comprised British and Dominion volunteers.
Ralph Bates was an English novelist, writer, journalist and political activist. He is best known for his writings on pre–Civil War Spain.
Lou Kenton was an English proofreader who served as a medical courier and ambulance driver with the International Brigade and was its oldest surviving member at the time of his death.
Jewish volunteers in the Spanish Civil War refers to Jews who joined International Brigades and fought in the Spanish Civil War, which erupted on July 17, 1936 and ended on April 1, 1939.
Alexander Ethan Tudor-Hart was a British medical doctor in South Wales who was active in the Communist Party of Great Britain. He was the great grandson of American merchant Frederic Tudor and father of Dr Julian Tudor-Hart.
Sam Lesser was a British journalist and veteran of the Spanish Civil War's International Brigades. Lesser was one of the last surviving British veterans of the Spanish Civil War, and went on to serve as chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT), and write for the Daily Worker and its successor, the Morning Star.
Douglas Frank Springhall, known as Dave Springhall, was a British communist activist.
Richard Baxell is a British historian and the author of three books on the Spanish Civil War. Between 2015 and 2018 he was the Chair of the International Brigade Memorial Trust. He received his Doctor of Philosophy from the London School of Economics in 2002 with a thesis titled The British Battalion of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–1939. As of 2020 he is a research fellow at the London School of Economics.
Bill Alexander, born as William Alexander, was a leading activist within the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB), most known for commanding the British Battalion of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. During World War II he underwent a commissioning course at Sandhurst military academy, graduating top of his year. He then served in Germany, Italy and Northern Africa, during which he was promoted to the rank of captain in the Reconnaissance Corps. Later in life he became an author, the vice-chairman of the International Brigade Association, and the president of London's Marx Memorial Library. Alexander spent the remainder of his life promoting Marxism–Leninism, and was a member of the CPGB until the party was dissolved in 1991.
Nan Green, was a British communist who in October 1936 volunteered to join her husband George on the Republican side in the Spanish Civil War. She worked in several hospitals as a medical administrator and collator of statistics during the war and after it continued to support veterans of the International Brigade.
Peter Daly was an Irish socialist and republican who fought in the Irish War of Independence as well as serving as a volunteer in the Spanish Civil War, where he died serving with the International Brigades.
George Drever was a Scottish communist and volunteer with the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.
The Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial is a monument in Oxford dedicated to the 31 known local residents who fought in the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) against Nationalist forces. Erected and unveiled in 2017, the memorial is located close to South Park, near the base of Headington Hill by the junction of Headington Road and Morrell Avenue. The memorial is dedicated to all the volunteers with links to Oxfordshire who supported the Republicans and inscribed onto the front are the names of the six volunteers in the International Brigades who were killed during the war.
Edward Cooper (1912-1937) was a British actor, communist activist, and newspaper worker, who died fighting for the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War. He was also a close friend of Ralph Winston Fox, and John Cornford, and is memorialised on the Oxford Spanish Civil War memorial.
The Clapton Press is an independent publisher based in London E5, established in 2018.