scholarly journals Help Spain by showing films. British film production for humanitarian aid during the Spanish Civil War

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 019
Author(s):  
Laura López-Martín
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Wide Spectrum ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Fund Raising ◽  
Film Production ◽  
The Real

The Spanish Civil War mobilised a wide spectrum of the British population, a mood which materialised in the despatch of humanitarian aid, mainly to republican Spain. To this end, there were meetings and rallies in which the use of film was customary. Films made it possible to show a different reality from that which appeared on the newsreels, provided an opportunity for fund-raising and showed the deployment and results of the aid received. The distribution of the films, and occasionally their production, was undertaken by progressive film organisations, close to the Communist party, which raised doubts vis-à-vis the real intentions of the humanitarian organisations.

scholarly journals Frida Stewart in Spain: Administering humanitarian aid during the Spanish Civil War

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 227-240
Author(s):  
Linda Palfreeman ◽  
Jon Arrizabalaga
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Military Coup ◽  
Social Conscience ◽  
Women’S Experiences ◽  
Women's Experiences ◽  
International Solidarity ◽  
Republican Government

When a failed military coup provoked civil war in Spain in July 1936, the Spanish government made a worldwide plea for assistance. More than 2500 British men answered the call, taking up arms in defence of the democratically-elected Republican government. While this show of international solidarity has been widely documented, much less attention has been given to the massive response made by British women. Thousands of women organized nationwide campaigns to send aid to Spain. One of these women was Frida Stewart (1910–96), a young musician with a strong social conscience. As is the case with so many other women, Frida’s recollections, her memoir and correspondence, upon which the following essay is closely based, constitute a valuable historical resource for the analysis of women’s experiences during the war and give voice to those whose stories have previously gone unheard.

UM CIGARRO PARA UM AMIGO: a Guerra Civil Espanhola na Imprensa Comunista Mexicana

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 222-245
Author(s):  
FáBIO DA SILVA SOUSA
Keyword(s):  
Latin America ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Discursive Strategies ◽  
The Government ◽  
America Latina ◽  
Lazaro Cardenas

Em 1936, eclodiu na Espanha a Guerra Civil. Esse conflito ceifou vidas, soterrou sonhos e foi uma derrota para anarquistas e comunistas. Na América Latina, o México, então governado pelo Gen. Lázaro Cárdenas, apoiou os combatentes republicanos. Além do governo, os comunistas mexicanos também se engajaram nessa Guerra. O Partido Comunista Mexicano (PCM) utilizou as páginas do periódico El Machete para noticiar o desenrolar do conflito e também para angariar apoio aos republicanos. Assim, o presente artigo objetiva analisar o material impresso da Guerra Civil Espanhola publicado nas páginas do El Machete de 1936 a 1938. Por meio de uma análise do material, serão discutidas as estratégias discursivas que o periódico comunista mexicano utilizou em sua cobertura do conflito espanhol e a imagem que ele construiu para os leitores sobre a Guerra que estava em curso do outro lado do continente latino-americano.Palavras-chave: Imprensa Comunista. México. Espanha.A CIGARETTE FOR A FRIEND: The Spanish Civil War in the Mexican Communist PressAbstract: In 1936 the Civil War broke out in Spain. Such fighting mowed down lives, buried dreams and was a defeat for anarchists and communists. In Latin America, Mexico, then, ruled by General Lazaro Cardenas, supported the Republican fighters. Besides the government, the Mexican communists also supported the war. The Mexican Communist Party (MCP) used its periodical - the El Machete - to report the course of the conflict and also to raise support for the Spanish Republicans. Thus, this article aims to analyze the printed material from the Spanish Civil War published on the pages of El Machete from 1936 to 1938. Through the analysis of the material selected, it will be discussed the discursive strategies that the Mexican Communist journal used in its coverage of the Spanish conflict and the image it has presented to its readers about the war that was taking place across the Latin American continent.Keywords: Communist Press. Mexico. Spain.  UN CIGARRILLO A UN AMIGO: La Guerra Civil Española en la Prensa Comunista MexicanaResumen: En 1936 estalló en España la Guerra Civil. Este conflicto se ha cobrado vidas, sueños fueron enterrados y fue una derrocada para los anarquistas y comunistas. En América Latina, el México gobernado por el Gen. Lázaro Cárdenas apoyó a los combatientes republicanos. Además del gobierno, los comunistas mexicanos también participan en esa Guerra. El Partido Comunista Mexicano (PCM) utilizó las páginas del periódico El Machete para informar el curso del conflicto y también para obtener el apoyo a los republicanos. Este artá­culo tiene como objetivo analizar el material de impresión de la Guerra Civil Española publicado en las páginas de El Machete, en el perá­odo de 1936 hasta 1938. A través del estudio de ese material, se discutirán las estrategias discursivas que El Machete utilizó en su cobertura del conflicto español y la imagen que se construyó para los lectores del periódico comunista mexicano de esa Guerra que estaba en marcha del otro lado del continente latino-americano.Palabras claves: Prensa comunista. México. España.

‘Fae nae hair te grey hair they answered the call’: International Brigade Volunteers from the West Central Belt of Scotland in the Spanish Civil War, 1936–9

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-114
Author(s):  
Fraser Raeburn
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Economic Conditions ◽  
Political Connections ◽  
The West ◽  
Central Belt ◽  
West Central ◽  
Political Communities

Despite making up over ten per cent of the British volunteers in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War (1936-9), Scots from Glasgow and the surrounding districts have been overlooked in many accounts of the British involvement in the conflict. In seeking to explain the disproportionate numbers of volunteers from this region, the influence of factors such as economic conditions, political structures and institutions, ideology and community are examined with reference to individuals’ decisions to volunteer in Spain. It is argued that as well as the more severe impact of the inter-war slump in the region, it was Glasgow's distinctive working-class cultures, which placed great importance on grassroots political communities, with an emphasis on social as well as political connections, that led to Communist Party recruitment efforts being especially successful.

scholarly journals Hildreth Meière: Connections to Spain Before and During the Spanish Civil War

2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-94
Author(s):  
Mónica Orduña Prada
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Vice President ◽  
The United States ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
Art Deco ◽  
American Spanish

The prestigious American Art Deco artist Hildreth Meière provided humanitarian assistance to the victims of the Spanish Civil War and in the Second World War. Acting as the vice-president of the American Spanish Relief Fund created in 1937 and run by P. Francis X. Talbot, S. J. with the goal of helping people affected by the war in the Franco zone, and to also deliver medicine and medical supplies from the United States through diplomatic channels. She visited Spain in 1925, 1938 and 1961. On the first trip she came to see the works of Spanish painters and made contact with important aristocratic families of the time (the Duke of Sotomayor, the Marquises of La Romana and Arcos, the Duchess of Vistahermosa, etc.). In 1938 she started humanitarian aid, collecting money and donations from New York society for orphans of the civil war and acted as a propaganda distributor for the Francoist cause in the United States. On this occasion she met with people familiar with the situation in Spain to solve the problems of humanitarian aid: Luis Bolín, Pablo Merry del Val, Cardenal Gomá, Carmen de Icaza, and Mercedes Sanz Bachiller. Meière actively participated in providing humanitarian aid in the Franco zone during the years of the civil war while also acting as a staunch supporter of the Francoist cause. After the civil war she continued her collaboration to alleviate aid deficiencies in Spain by facilitating the transport of anesthetics, medicines, surgical materials, etc, but her perspective towards Francoism was changing and gradually her ties to Spain weakened. It was only three years before her death in 1961 that she made one last trip to Spain.

Watts, Myrtle Eugenia ‘Jim’ (1909–1968)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Christina Murphy
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Blood Transfusion ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Early Adulthood ◽  
New Frontier ◽  
Dorothy Livesay ◽  
Literary Journal ◽  
Foreign Correspondent ◽  
Emma Goldman

Myrtle Eugenia Watts, known variously as Jim, Jean, or Gina, was a Canadian foreign correspondent for the Spanish Civil War, theatre artist in the Theatre of Action, and patron of Canadian leftist literary and theatre culture in the 1930s. In her short career, Watts had a significant impact on Canadian leftist modernist culture. Jean Watts was born in Streetsville, Ontario to a wealthy family. By 1920, Watts’s family had moved to Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood, where Watts’s social and artistic circle would eventually include such prominent Canadian cultural figures as writers Dorothy Livesay and Stanley B. Ryerson, and theatre artists Toby Gordon Ryan and Oscar Ryan. Watts and Livesay would spend their adolescences as self-identified bluestockings, attending lectures by prominent feminist Emma Goldman, and reading the literary works of European and British modernists. Beginning in her early adulthood, Watts contributed significant resources to the Worker’s Theatre (later the Theatre of Action) and to the establishment of the leftist literary journal New Frontier (1936–1938), for which her husband Lon Lawson was editor. In early 1937, after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Watts took up a position with the Canadian Communist Party newspaper, the Daily Clarion (1936–1939), as a foreign correspondent stationed at the Blood Transfusion Unit outside Madrid.

scholarly journals "Mirek" z Reportáže psané na oprátce - Jaroslav Klecan (1914-1943)

2020 ◽  
Vol 188 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 3-58
Author(s):  
David Majtenyi
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Secret Police ◽  
Free Zone ◽  
Resistance Movement ◽  
Second World ◽  
French Resistance

This paper focuses on the fate of Jaroslav Klecan, a native from southern Bohemia, a pre-war member of the Communist Party who had left as a volunteer for the Spanish Civil War in late 1937. He fought in the battalion T. G. Masaryk of the 129th interbrigade. After the fall of the Spanish Republic, he was interned in the French camp in Gurs. When the Second World War begun he enrolled to the Czechoslovak Army, albeit he was probably never committed at the front. After the French capitulation, he stayed in the free zone and joined the French resistance movement in the FTP-MOI group led by Ladislav Holdoš. However, the Comintern soon ordered him and few other Czechoslovak Resistance fighters to return to the occupied homeland. Klecan arrived to the Protectorate in 1941 and affiliated the Communist resistance movement in Bohemia immediately. He was arrested by the Nazi secret police on 24 April 1942, together with Julius Fučík and others. After a series of interrogations, the German People’s Court sentenced him to death and he was executed in Berlin-Plötzensee on 8 September 1943. He is known as “Mirek” from Fučík’s Notes from the Gallows.

scholarly journals Swiss humanitarian aid during the Spanish Civil War: The journey of Anna Siemsen and Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann

2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís Manuel Calvo Salgado
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Moral Dilemmas ◽  
Democratic Values ◽  
Forced Displacement ◽  
Main Motivation ◽  
Shared Emotions ◽  
Displaced People

Anna Siemsen’s and Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann’s journey to Spain in May 1937 resulted in two accounts regarding their experiences and views of Swiss humanitarian aid in the Civil War. The comparison between these two narratives makes it possible to study the role and the expression of fear, sadness and indignation at the bombing and the forced displacement of the civil population during the war. They are shared emotions yet expressed by each one in different ways depending on the function of their ideas and their perceptions. The empathy with the displaced people, especially with the children evacuated from Madrid to Valencia and Catalonia, is the main motivation of the participants in the Swiss humanitarian aid to Republican Spain, which raises some moral dilemmas. This empathy is furthermore characterized by a strong sympathy for the civil, social and democratic values represented by the Spanish Republic. Anna Siemsen’s and Regina Kägi-Fuchsmann’s religious and ideological beliefs, however, establish the limits of their empathy.

The ‘Premature Anti-fascists’? International Brigade Veterans’ Participation in the British War Effort, 1939–45

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fraser Raeburn
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
War Effort ◽  
Uncertain Future

After fighting in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War of 1936–9, hundreds of Britons returned home to an uncertain future. While the anti-fascist left saw them as heroes, their Communist Party links met with official suspicion, complicated further by the advent of war in September 1939. Popular and scholarly narratives alike have concurred that International Brigade veterans were barred en masse from the armed forces, despite their experience and demonstrable hatred for fascism. This article complicates these narratives, exploring the extent and causes of discrimination, and placing these within the context of wartime anti-communist policy.

Politics, Networks and Community: Recruitment for the International Brigades Reassessed

2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-744
Author(s):  
Fraser Raeburn
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Communist Party ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Communist Movement ◽  
Specific Factors ◽  
Foreign Fighters

Despite decades of scholarship, historians have struggled to explain the decision made by the tens of thousands of volunteers who joined the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War (1936–9). Recent methodological innovations, particularly the embrace of transnational perspectives, have led to richer appreciations of complex individual motives and circumstances, but have done less to advance general explanations of the phenomenon. Drawing on a Scottish case study, this account argues that while motives may indeed have been highly individual, the context for the decision to enlist was not, with most volunteers coming from within well-defined social and political spheres. The density of recruitment among particular Communist Party networks suggests that far from being an internalised choice, the decision was made alongside and influenced by friends, family and colleagues. The communal nature of this process offers a useful explanation of the scale of recruitment for Spain across contexts, and suggests several specific factors that enabled the international communist movement to mobilise itself on such a large scale compared to other historical contingents of foreign fighters.

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