Spanish Civil War: an introduction
Welsh Involvement
Why they went?
The 1930s are often described as a time of affluence and prosperity, however, this was not the case in Wales. The interwar depression affected South Wales significantly. Where long queues for food kitchen became a normality of life.
Mining activism and a rising working-class consciousness forms the background for Welsh volunteering during the Spanish Civil War. Where struggles of the period allowed for socialist ideologies to spread amongst working-class people, creating thus, a sense of international working-class solidarity.
Politically charged miners with the experience of deprivation, struggle and militancy against exploitation and injustice, particularly from industrial South Wales provided a backdrop for Welsh volunteers travelling to Spain. They had experienced similar exploited roots with a similar economic situation.
Edwin Greening, a Welsh volunteer in the Spanish civil war recalled Aberdare in the 1930s a society of poverty, misery, and frustration.
Roughly 177 Welsh Men, motivated by political concerns, travelled to Spain to risk their lives and fight for a cause they thought was just. Grouping within the British Battalion of the International Brigades. Throughout the war, 33 Welsh men died in Spain. The response to this conflict within Wales was provided by the South Wales Miners’ Federation, as well as the communist party, with later support from the Labour Party, Liberals, writers, academics, and teachers.
Jim Brewer wrote to his mum whilst in Spain ‘happiness for us, is only possible when fascism is wiped from the face of the earth.
Welsh involvement was at its highest during the battle of Brunete, despite the Welsh consignment being decimated as a result. Expressing, the sheer importance of this conflict to the men.
A Letter home from Jack Williams, who became badly injured with a leg injury, wrote home saying he would not go home ‘until we stop international fascism, or I am wiped out’.
Welsh Support
Support from Wales was not limited to fighting. South Wales held numerous demonstrations in support for Republican Spain. For example, a support rally in Neath reported 10,000 people joining to support the movement.
Spanish aid committees were established throughout South Wales, particularly throughout coal ports such as Cardiff, Swansea, and Barry. They campaigned for milk for Spanish children, and the provision of a Welsh ambulance unit. The ambulance had inscribed ‘a Welsh gift for the Spanish people’ and the Welsh dragon on the front.
As well as the founding out the South Wales Council for Spanish Aid in early 1937. Which held public meetings in many colliery villages and towns.
