Spanish Civil War: an introduction
Travelling to Spain
"With shouts of Bon Chance, good luck and so forth and so on, we started off in the dark to cross the Pyrenees"
- Edwin Greening
Why? - Non Intervention
The journey to Spain by many Welsh volunteers could aptly be described as 'cloak and dagger'. The numerous, often extreme, evasion methods used to arrive at the International Brigades base at Albacete in Spain were necessary measures to bypass the enforcement of 'non-intervention'. The Non-Intervention Agreement signed in 1936 was intended to prevent potential escalation or expansion of the Spanish Civil War into neighbouring states or its development into a European proxy war. The agreement effectively enforced international isolation and economic embargo.
On 11 January 1937 the British Government amended the policy of Non-Intervention to apply the Foreign Enlistment Act of 1870. This act regulated the mercenary activities of British citizens. Thus, the illegality of their participation meant that Welsh volunteers often had to undertake treacherous routes to Spain to fight fascism.
Initial stages
The most common route taken to Spain seems to have been one beginning in Cardiff, from there catching the train to London, from London to Paris, and from Paris a dangerous journey over the Pyrenees.
‘They gave us money, told us "go to Victoria station and buy a weekend ticket for Paris, and if anybody asks you where you are going just say 'I'm going for a weekend to Paris”’
- Edwin Greening
On arrival in Cardiff (usually on a Friday or Saturday, in a new suit) Welsh volunteers would meet at a secret rendezvous point. The two main meeting points were a shop on Charles Street and a bookshop in Castle Arcade. Once they arrived in London, Welsh volunteers would assemble in a café on Denmark street near Charing Cross Road, wherein an undercover organiser would cross-examine the volunteers in an attempt to reveal any additional political motivations. If successful, the men would be provided with weekend tickets to Paris.
Welsh Volunteers in the International Brigades, August 1937
From Paris to Spain
'Then somebody said, "Right, single file." We were on the foot of the Pyrenees we were, and we walked through the Pyrenees. There was Yanks, English, Irish, Scots, all there...I couldn't tell you numbers...but there must have been anything up to a hundred'
- Archie Cook
Many Welsh volunteers have reflected on the terrifying, intense (and steep!) journey from Paris to Spain through the Pyrenees in the early hours of the morning. As Non-Intervention had closed the French-Spanish border, volunteers leaving the Palace de Combat were guided into Spain through secret routes by locals. These journeys were undertaken under the cover of darkness, in single-file lines and often in silence.
Funding and Organisation
The British Communist Party (CPGB) played a vital role in the recruitment and transport of Welsh volunteers to Spain. Hywel Francis argues that 'the whole machinery of the CPGB was geared, certainly up to 1937, towards Spain and particularly towards the International Brigades'. Volunteer Edward Greening seems to agree:
'The Communist Party was behind it all...without them it is not likely that an International Brigade would have been set up and sustained'
- Edwin Greening