Viewing page 24 of 33
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
[[image - Dolores Ibarruri addressing International Brigade soldiers]] Tell them of these men of the International Brigades. Tell them how, coming over seas and mountains, crossing frontiers bristling with bayonets, and watched by raving dogs thirsting to tear at their flesh, these men reached our country as crusaders for freedom, to fight and die for Spain's liberty and reached our country as crusaders for freedom, to fight and die for Spain's liberty and independence which were threatened by German and Italian Fascism. They gave us everything; their loves, their countries, home and fortune; fathers, mothers, wives, brothers, sisters, and children, and they came and told us: "We are here. Your cause, Spain's cause, is ours--it is 'the cause of all advanced and progressive mankind.'" Today they are going away. Many of them, thousands of them, are staying with the Spanish earth for their shroud, and all Spaniards remember them with the deepest feeling. Comrades of the International Brigades. Political reasons, reasons of state, the welfare of that same cause for which you offered your blood with boundless generosity, are sending you back, some of you to your own countries and others to forced exile. You can go proudly. You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy's solidarity and universality, in the face of the shameful, "accommodating" spirit of those who interpret democratic principles with their eyes on the hoards of wealth or the industrial shares which they want to preserve from any risk. We shall not forget you, and when the olive tree of peace puts forth its leaves again, entwined with the laurels of the Spanish Republic's victory--come back!... Come back to us. With us those of you who have no country will find one, those of you who have to live deprived of friendship will find friends, and all of you will find the love and gratitude of the whole Spanish people who, now and in the future will cry out with all their hearts: "Long live the heroes of the International Brigades!" Farewell Speech to the International Brigades, Barcelona, September, 1938 46 [[end page]] [[start page]] Forty Second Anniversary: A Tribute _____________________________________________________ Tribute was paid to the Black Americans who, in the 1930's, joined the International Brigades of volunteers in support of the heroic fighting people for a democratic Spain. Attending the 42nd anniversary dinner on February 25, 1979 in New York city, were the surviving veterans representing 350 to 400 in the USA. Joining with them were members of their families, including their children and grandchildren. In the audience were many hundreds of working class fighters including Henry Winston, National Chairman CPUSA, who devoted many years supporting the Spanish people in Spain and VALB, and James Steele, young Black President of the Young Workers Liberation League (YWLL). Numerous greetings were read: Among them a moving greeting from Dolores Ibarruri "Pasionaria" the courageous Spanish Communist woman leader who symbolized and led the united efforts of the Spanish and world peoples' resistance to fascism. A greeting was received from the head of the Cuban veterans organizations and a telegram of greetings from the Soviet Anti-Fascist Fighters Veterans, Spanish Section. Among the highpoints of the cultural program was Pete Seeger who was among the first to come to the aid of the veterans and the Spanish people's anti-fascist war, who together with two other members of the original Weavers group rendered the memorable songs of the VALB sung in the front lines of the Spanish Civil War. The Honorable George Crockett, Jr., Judge, Recorders Court, Detroit, Michigan, and one of the chief defense attorneys in the Smith Act frame-up trials of the Communist leaders in the McCarthy era, hailed the Black veterans as "champions of democracy, anti-fascists and prophetic visionaries, symbolizing the meaning of commitment and courage in giving their lives to the cause." He noted that this commitment was expressed at a time when Blacks in the USA were struggling for their dignity and their existence. The vets, he declared "recognized instinctively the revolutionary equation between fascism and racism and saw that resistance and struggle were the only guarantors of peace, liberty and justice." He paid warm tribute to Salaria Kee O'Reilly, the only Black American woman who served as a volunteer nurse and was wounded three times. Joining with him as a guest of the dinner was Juana Dona, a Com- 47
