Viewing page 23 of 33

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE
42
[[image]]
44
[[end page]]
[[start page]]

*"In her first speech at the outbreak of the Civil War, Dolores Ibarruri (commonly referred to as 'Pasionaria') sounded a clarion call to her people to take up arms and defend their democracy-- 'vale mas morte depie, que vivir de rodillas' which means 'better to die on our feet, than to live on our knees.'"

'You Are History'
____________________________________________________
by Dolores (Pasionaria) Ibarruri

It is very hard to say a few words in farewell to the heroes of the International Brigades, both because of what they are and what they represent.

A feeling of sorrow, an infinite grief catches our throats...Sorrow for those who are going away, for the soldiers of the highest ideal of human redemption, exiles from their countries, persecuted by the tyrants of all peoples...Grief for those who will stay here forever, mingling with all the Spanish soil or in the very depths of our hearts, bathed in the light of our everlasting gratitude.

You came to us from all peoples, from all races. You came like brothers of ours, like sons of undying Spain; and in the hardest days of the war, when the capital of the Spanish Republic was threatened, it was you, gallant comrades of the International Brigades, who helped to save the city with your fighting enthusiasm, your heroism and your spirit of sacrifice.

In deathless verses Jarama and Guadalajara, Brunete and Belchite, Levante and the Ebro sing the courage, the self-sacrifice, the daring, the discipline of the men of the International Brigades.

For the first time in the history of the people's struggles, there has been the spectacle, breathtaking in its grandeur, of the formation of the International Brigades to help save a threatened country's freedom and independence, of our Spanish land.

Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, Republicans--men of different views and different religions, yet all of them fired with a deep love for liberty and aspirations...And they asked us for nothing at all. That is to say, they did want a post in the struggle, they did aspire to the honor of dying for us...

Banners of Spain!...Salute these many heroes! Lower Spain's banners in honor of so many martyrs!...

Mothers! Women! When the years pass by and the wounds of the war are being staunched; when the cloudy memory of the sorrowful, bloody days returns in a present of freedom, peace and well-being; when the feelings of rancor are dying away and when pride in a free country is felt equally by all Spaniards, then speak to your children.

45