Description
Object description
British civilian member of Central Wandsworth Branch of Labour Party League of Youth in London, GB, 1935-1937; runner served with British Bn, XV International Bde in Spain, 11/1937-10/1938
Content description
REEL 1 Background in Stockton-on-Tees, GB, 1919-1934: family; employment. Recollections of participation in hunger march to London, GB, 1934: confrontation with police in Hyde Park, London; descriptions of banners and 'coffins' carried; marchers' songs sung on route; reception received in towns passed through by marchers; behaviour of students towards marchers in Cambridge; political climate in Stockton-on-Tees.
REEL 2 Continues: reaction of workers in City of London. Recollections of period of as member of Central Wandsworth Branch of Labour Party League of Youth in London, GB, 1935-1937: effect of employment experiences in London on his political development; treatment in hostel in Tooting; recruitment to Central Wandsworth Branch of Labour Party League of Youth, 1935; branch activities; opinion of rambling and mass trespass campaign; meeting with German refugees.
REEL 3 Continues: question of divisions within Labour Party; relations with Young Communist League; work with Juvenile Advisory Council and London Trade Council; sending donation to Spanish Embassy on outbreak of Spanish Civil War, 1936; memories of disturbances at Cable Street, East End, 1936. Recollections of volunteering for International Bdes and journey from GB to Spain via France, 1937: recruitment to International Bdes in London, GB.
REEL 4 Continues: briefing on conditions for volunteers; preparations for going to Spain including clothing purchased and obtaining false identity card; problems with suspicious officials during passport control at Newhaven, GB; activities on arrival in Paris, France; medical examination in Paris, France; journey to southern France; crossing Pyrenees Mountains.
REEL 5 Continues: arrival in Spain. Aspects of training with XV International Bde in Spain, 9/1937-11/1937: conditions in Figueras Castle; drilling in threes and training at Karl Marx Barracks, Barcelona, 9/1937; civilian poverty; escort duties at funeral of Czechoslovakian International Bde volunteer; joining battalion at Albacete; exchanging civilian clothing for American's uniform infested with lice; use of Spanish for words of command; organisation of International Bdes; origins of volunteers within XV International Bde; role of activists in British Bn; guard duties at castle, 11/1937.
REEL 6 Continues: Recollections of period as runner with British Bn, XV International Bde in Spain, 11/1937-10/1938: importance of Battle of Teruel; conditions during battle, 11/1937-12/1937; ration supplies; conditions of front line troops in unit; duties as runner; move to Belchite; story of visits to Spain, 1981 and 1986; discovery that guerrilla warfare continued in Andalusia after 1939; description of Anarchist trenches and treatment of civilians by Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM); relations with civilians in Aragon.
REEL 7 Continues: describes photographs of Republican posters from Aragon front; duration of service on Aragon front; problem of supplies; character of rations; stories illustrating food shortages; medical problems; nature of his three wounds including being shot on Hill 666, 8/1938.
REEL 8 Continues: opinion of stretcher bearers; opinion of political commissars; memories of Bob Cooney, Bill Alexander, Lewis Clive, David Guest and John Connor; description of deaths of David Guest and Lewis Clive with No 2 Company, British Bn at Hill 481, 8/1938.
REEL 9 Continues: construction of sangars in positions near Gandesa, 8/1938; supply problems; bodies in wells at Gandesa; under Nationalist air attack at Corbera, 8/1938; further memories of David Guest; opinion of role of Communist Party; question of role of Jock Cunningham and Fred Copeman at Battle of Jarama; change in personal politics.
REEL 10 Continues: background to joining Commuist Party of Spain after screening of film 'Battleship Potemkin' (1925); return to Labour Party League of Youth on return to GB, 1938; Labour Party's Popular Front campaign, 1939; belief in inspiration given by Spanish people to resisting Fascism; cases of battle fatigue amongst International Brigaders; memories of Reginald Saxton.
REEL 11 Continues: treatment of Nationalist prisoners; use of megaphones to encourage Italian desertion at Guadalajara, 3/1937; treatment of Moorish prisoners; execution of International Bde prisoners by Nationalists; comparison of treatment of prisoners in Spanish Civil War and Second World War; story of informing International Bde volunteer's mother of death of her son; hospitalisation for wounds; question of burial of International Bde volunteers.
REEL 12 Continues: Reflections of service with XV International Bde in Spain, 1937-1938: story of comforting relatives at International Bde reunion in Spain, 1981; opinion of accuracy of books written about the Spanish Civil War; question of treatment of International Bde veterans in GB on return and during Second World War; question of discussing Spanish Civil War experiences during military service in Spanish Civil War; opinion of role of International Bdes in Spain; opinion of importance of Spanish Civil War; question of shooting of Wilfred Macartney by base commissar Peter Kerrigan.
REEL 13 Continues: International Brigade Association visit to Spain, 5/1981; sings song 'Jarama'.
