HUNDREDS of anti-fascists will head from Britain to Spain next month, ready to march through the valley of Jarama, in honour of International Brigaders who fought the vile regime of Francisco Franco.

Comrades from England, Scotland and Wales are joined each year by those from Ireland, Germany, France, Poland, Italy, the US, Canada, Scandinavia, Mexico, Cuba, South America, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. This year, contingents from Canada will commemorate the MacPaps, the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, three-quarters of whom were members of the country’s communist party or its Young Communist League, along with American supporters marking the part played by the Lincoln Battalion volunteers.

Those of us who make this annual journey to the valley, less than an hour by road from the Spanish capital, march in the footsteps of the bravest and best of their generation. At Jarama, these true internationalists faced one of the bloodiest battles of the civil war. 

The Brigaders had left their homes, many of them travelling abroad for the first time, for a country where everything was strange: language, geography, culture, food. The threat of injury or death was constant. What bound them to this cause was the fervent determination that fascism must be defeated.

Hosting the event, which attracts hundreds of Spanish republicans alongside the international visitors, is the Association of Friends of the International Brigades (AABI). Its president Dr Almudena Cros says: “Remembering the anti-fascist volunteers who chose to travel to Spain in 1936 is vital, particularly in a city like Madrid where public spaces deliberately erased or ignored the memory of events that marked the lives of its residents and the soldiers defending it.  

“Europe seems to have forgotten the dangers posed by nationalism. Our effort is to commemorate those who could see this threat in the 1930s, and to warn our contemporaries again. Their sacrifice was not in vain, and we honour their clarity of mind and solidarity.”

The valley today is not so different in appearance from the bloody days of February 1937. A vast open space dotted with olive trees, the tracks we follow are pretty level, the verges full of wild thyme, which crushes under our boots. Survivors of the battle would say that the smell brought memories flooding back.

AABI’s sister organisation is the International Brigade Memorial Trust (IBMT), whose chair Jim Jump says of the Jarama trip: “This annual commemoration has become the most important date in the calendar of remembrance of the International Brigades. 

“As the first battle of the Spanish Civil War in which the British Battalion took part, Jarama has special significance for the IBMT. We remember the 150 lives lost, as well as those who went on to die in the other great battles at Brunete, Belchite, Teruel and the Ebro.

“Our Spanish comrades are to be congratulated on organising the event, which now runs over four days and captures the spirit of internationalism epitomised by the International Brigades.

“That spirit is badly needed today as the world divides into fractious blocs and as we see the resurgence of militarism and the ugly face of ethno-nationalism.”

And that’s it, in a nutshell: the reason we pack our boots and head for Madrid every year. Some have family connections to Brigaders, many do not.

I always remember one who could be seen as an “unknown soldier.” Neither my comrade Stuart Walsh nor I are related to James Walsh of Liverpool. All that is known of this 43-year-old labourer is that he was single, from Erskine Crescent, and a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain. His first day in the ranks was February 4 1937; registered dead at Jarama on February 12 1937.

What else is there to say? He was someone’s son, he was brave, he died fighting fascism. On February 22 this year, Stuart and I will take a cup of red wine, at the end of the march, and spill a drop on the soil. We’ll say: “James Walsh of Liverpool,” as a toast to this posthumously adopted comrade brother.

Among those honouring a close relative is Professor Ray Hoff, son of Harold Hoff of the Lincoln-Washington Battalion and the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalions. Harold was a writer, actor and later a carpenter who lived in Los Angeles at the time of the war in Spain. On his return to the US, he became Commander of the Henry Eaton Branch of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion.

Ray has been writing a biographical dictionary on the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, and co-authored “Exegesis: Robert Merriman Diaries,” honouring the 29-year-old American student, killed at Tarragon while commanding the Abraham Lincoln Battalion.

Ray says: “I probably would never have met other children of the International Brigades if I had not gone to Jarama in 2012. The one feature I most appreciate is the focus on different nationalities at various Jarama marches. The multitude of languages and countries represented reinforces the international nature of the Brigades and allows us to grow beyond our own national interests in the men who were at Jarama.”

Lisa Croft, from Lancashire, is co-author of the moving account, “Our Fathers Fought Franco,” based on the lives of four working-class communists captured at the Battle of Jarama in February 1937. They would face incarceration together in Franco’s prison camps and jails. Croft’s grandfather was Archibald Campbell McAskill Williams, known as AC.

Writing the book on behalf of her mother, Rosemary Nina Williams, Croft says: “Mum was renamed Rosemary for remembrance, and Nina for girl. She almost never met her dad, because she was born when he was captured. Fortunately, he survived, and as a baby, Mum was crucial in his rehabilitation. Her sister Jennifer Talavera was named after the first jail where he was held.”

Rosemary, ever true to her name, says: “We must remember our fathers who sacrificed so much, but knew that to go to Spain was necessary to help those in desperate situations.”

Croft adds: “It’s great to have a permanent memorial in place, but more important to mark that memorial regularly. In having an annual commemoration, new people come and learn, and spread the word about what happened in Spain.”

The permanence of some of the memorials in Spain is under constant threat. Both those in the city and at Jarama have been daubed with red paint and graffiti; cairns on the battlefield have been smashed apart. Local people and international comrades repair and rebuild, every time. 

One precious set of memorials stands in the cemetery at Tarancon, where Scottish Brigaders’ and Spanish republicans’ names are displayed, side by side.

(The IBMT organises a separate event here. Details: international-brigades.org.uk/news-and-blog/2025-jarama-commemoration)

Some newcomers to the Jarama event make remarkable discoveries. Anne James from south Wales says: “I’d always had an interest in the Spanish Civil War from my study of literature of the period at university. The Jarama March awakened an interest in the involvement of the Welsh miners. From my research, I discovered that my grandfather’s first cousin Sidney James, active in the South Wales Miners Federation, died of his wounds in Sierra Pandols in Battle of the Ebro. It’s thanks to the march that I found my family connection.”

The Sunday will see a visit to the Fuencarral cemetery in Madrid, to view the International Brigade plaque, and an area which is probably a mass grave site. This area had been at risk of being hidden under a huge waste management plant and vehicle depot, planned work now shelved by the city council. AABI led its sister groups worldwide in calling for the historical site to be preserved.

One body among the 451 fighters here was that of Julian Bell, eldest son of Clive and Vanessa Bell, and nephew of Virginia Woolf.
Another was Samuel Walsh, a cook from Newcastle, who died on July 27 1937 from wounds received at Brunete.

The story of Fuencarral cemetery is a microcosm of the tragic story of Spain. These heroes had been given decent burials, their graves marked, and a plaque hung on the wall to mark their sacrifice. 

But in 1941, two years after Franco’s victory, their remains were excavated and thrown into the unmarked mass grave.

As we march together this year, our conversations will focus, as ever, on our current struggles against the rise of the far right. Our battles are not unique to our homelands. We know that we face a common foe. We cannot hope to emulate our International Brigaders, but we can keep the flame of their indomitable spirit. No pasaran!

Details on the Jarama weekend, February 20-23 2025: brigadasinternacionales.org.