The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939, a talk by Harry Owens

national | history and heritage | event notice Monday March 31, 2008 01:20 by xtic

In the summer of 1936, an army-led coup against the democratically elected Spanish republic ignited a three-year conflict which can today be seen as the first round of the Second World War. The Nationalist forces were backed by Hitler, Mussolini and international capital, a combination which resulted in the defeat of the republic and 40 years’ of repression and terror, with which the Spanish people are only now coming to terms.

The coup was initially resisted by workers’ militias, Basque nationalists and a section of the army which remained loyal to the republic. The industrial regions of Catalunia, the Asturias and the Basque country held out along with the capital while the Nationalists quickly occupied much of the northern and western parts of the country. Despite a non-intervention pact enforced by the western powers, many international volunteers travelled to Spain to fight for the republic, among them a number of Irish who fought with both the British and the American battalions of the International Brigades.

By the winter of 1936, serious tensions were emerging within the republican zone, the resolution of which would be crucial to the defence of the republic and to the very outcome of the war. The growing influence of the Soviet Union within the government and the army has been particularly controversial, as indeed has the conduct of the International Brigades themselves.

The release of archival material in Moscow and in Madrid has in recent years has been fuelling this controversy, promoting a minor historical industry within which revisionists continue to hammer away at Marxist accounts, yet with few considered counter-attacks from the left.

Yet to be quantified was the body blow struck to the Irish left by the participation in Spain of a whole generation of activists. Many were killed and most of those who survived (with several notable exceptions), decided to discontinue their activism after the war.

This talk by Harry Owens is the first in an occasional series under the banner Lessons from History. In the coming months we hope to look back at important points of juncture for the Irish left and see if their context and resolution can shed any light on the direction of our own activism today.

Admission is free and we hope that a lively discussion will follow. It starts at 8.00.