Homage to Caledonia
Page 22
As Political Commissar to the machine-gun company, Murray himself was one of many Scots who attained that position. Dundonian Arthur Nicoll achieved the feat of becoming commissar to the crack Anti-tank Unit, a company entirely separate from the British Battalion though containing a large Scottish contingent.
One of many certificates awarded to Scottish Brigaders for their military accomplishments in Spain. This particular document records John Dunlop’s efforts in the field of battle, particularly during the Ebro offensive, which merited his promotion from corporal to sergeant.
Nicoll and Murray were just two of the hundreds of Scots who received special citations from the republican authorities in Spain for their efforts. The latter was awarded a special certificate for his ‘valour, enthusiasm, spirit of sacrifice and strong will power in the fight to crush fascism.’ Prior to his death, George Jackson was made a corporal for his ‘brave and determined work as a machine-gunner in very dangerous positions.’ Bobby Walker was cited for ‘coolness and efficiency in carrying through his task of Battalion Adjutant’, and John Dunlop for being a ‘glorious example of an anti-fascist fighter’.
Yet Scotland’s greatest contribution to the war in Spain was not that of any individual. This was a collective, grassroots-up campaign unlike any seen since. Almost unanimously, the lion rampart roared on the Spanish republic. In the aid for Spain movement, working class women took a proactive rather than reactive political role for the first time ever. Politically, the energies of several interlinked movements were harnessed, providing a focal point for the ‘red, red heart of the world’ to rally around.
Though expressing his pride at being part of the International Brigades, Steve Fullarton could have been referring to pro-republican Scotland in its entirety when he movingly said:
Here were a body of men who I don’t think will ever be equalled in their intensity of purpose, trying to eliminate fascism. There are many people who set out on different jobs and they fall by the wayside. But not them. And that’s been my pride, that I was one of them. That’s something to be proud of.
While it may appear that the cases of Bob Smillie and Ethel MacDonald were what exported Spain’s war to Scotland, in truth the Scottish people had already made the republic’s struggle their own. They had paid homage from Caledonia. It was truly a glorious, if often tragic, chapter in Scotland’s unwritten history.
Interviews and Printed Material Quoted
1. All George Watters quotes courtesy of notes of an interview by Ian MacDougall, a form of which appeared in Voices, from nls Acc. 11526
2. Interview with Donald Renton conducted by Victor Kiernan
3. Interview with George Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 101
4. Interview with Jimmy Maley on bbc Radio Scotland, 17 November 2006
5. Blue Blanket, an early 1950s magazine by the Cultural Committee of the Edinburgh Communist Party
6. Interview with Donald Renton conducted by Victor Kiernan
7. Interview with Donald Renton conducted by Victor Kiernan
8. Interview with George Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 101
9. Interview with Donald Renton conducted by Victor Kiernan
10. Interview with Jimmy Maley on bbc Radio Scotland, 17 November 2006
11. Interview with Donald Renton conducted by Victor Kiernan
12. In Rust, Britons in Spain p. 24
13. Interview with John Dunlop in The Scotsman, 17 July 1996
14. Interview with Donald Renton conducted by Victor Kiernan
15. Interview with Donald Renton conducted by Victor Kiernan
16. Funeral reading by Murdoch Taylor, 17 May 1987
17. Interview with George Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 102
18. Interview with Roddy MacFarquhar in MacDougall, Voices p. 82
19. Interview with Annie Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 69
20. Interview with Annie Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 74
21. Booklet commemorating Fife International Brigaders, 1983
22. All James Miller quotations from a booklet commemorating Fife International Brigaders, 1983
23. Interview with Tom Clarke in MacDougall, Voices p. 67. Other estimates put the number closer to 60
24. www.spanishrefugees-basquechildren.org
25. Orwell, George, Homage to Catalonia. All quotations taken from 1938 edition (London: Secker and Warburg, 1938), p.48 and p. 292
26. Interview with Hugh Sloan in MacDougall, Voices p. 217
27. Interview with Tom Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 329
28. John Dunlop quotes in chapter 14 courtesy of MacDougall, Voices pp. 117–68
29. Interview with Tom Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 318
30. Interview with Bob Cooney in The Road to Spain, p. 121
31. Interview with George Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 104
32. Interview with George Murray in MacDougall, Voices p. 104
33. Interview with David Anderson in MacDougall, Voices p. 93
Archival Sources
I have avoided repetitious footnoting and referencing for obviously archival, unpublished and interview content referenced in the main text body. I have applied the same system for newspaper quotes. I am indebted to the Marx Memorial Library and the National Library of Scotland for the vast bulk of quoted unpublished material in the book (for exact references, see the Bibliography section). Published data used has been acknowledged in Endnote form. The quoted material from interviews conducted with Donald Renton by Victor Kiernan, from the Inter- University Consortium Film: The Spanish Civil War, are reproduced with the permission of Owen Dudley Edwards and Paul Addison.
University of Edinburgh, Department of History
Professor VG Kiernan – interviews with John Dunlop, Donald Renton and George Watters
National Library of Scotland
Acc. 7914–7915 David Murray papers
Acc. 9083 Tom, Anne and George Murray papers
Acc. 10042 John Lennox papers
Acc. 10043 David Anderson and John Londragan papers
Acc. 11479 John Gollan papers
Acc. 11526 Ian MacDougall papers
Acc. 12087 John Dunlop papers
Marx Memorial Library: International Brigade Archive
1986 Catalogue
Box 1: C/18a; Box 21: File F; Box 33a: Book 12, Sheets 1–6; Box 34: File A; Box 34: File B; Box 40: File B; Box 44: All; Box 45: All; Box 50: File AK; Box 50: File DN; Box 50: File FL; Box 50: File GL; Box 50: File McA; Box 50: File McC; Box 50: File McG; Box 50: File McW; Box 50: File Mi; Box 50: File My; Box 50: File Wi/17; Box 50: File Wi/18; Box 50: File Wi/23; Box 50: File Wi/35; Box 50: File Wi/40; Box 50: File Wi/59; Box 50: File Wi/66; Box 50: File Wk
1990 Catalogue
Boxes A – 2,3 & 4: File A; File C; File S/39
Box A – 12: File Bro; File Ke; File McC; File Pa; File Ru; File SL; File Sm; File Wk
Box A – 15: 3 (Cooney)
Box B – 4: File Q; File R
Box B – 6; File J
1994 Catalogue
Box C: File 1/4; File 1/4c; File 1/5; File 5/5; File 6/1; File 10; File 11/2; File 13/2; File 13/3; File 14/3; File 17/7; File 23; File 24; File 25; File 26
Box D – 1: File D
Box D – 3: File D
Box D – 4: File My; File Tn/1
Box D – 7: File A/2
Select Bibliography
Books
Baxell, Richard British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War. Abersychan: Warren and Pell, 2007
Beevor, Antony The Battle for Spain. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006
Bell, Adrian Only for Three Months: The Basque Children in Exile. Norwich: Mousehold Press, 1996
Buchanan, Tom Britain and the Spanish Civil War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997
Corkhill, David and Stuart Rawnsley (eds) The Road to Spain: Anti-fascists at War. Dunfermline: Borderline Press, 1981
Fyrth, Jim The Signal was Spain. London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1986
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Keene, Judith Fighting for Franco. London: Leicester University Press, 2001
MacDougall, Ian (ed) Voices from the Spanish Civil War. Edinburgh: Polygon, 1986
Orwell, George Homage to Catalonia. London: Secker and Warburg, 1938
Rust, Bill Britons in Spain. Abersychan: Warren and Pell, 2003
Spark, Muriel The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. London: Penguin Classics, 2000
Maley, John and Maley, Willy From the Calton to Catalonia, Glasgow City Libraries, 1992
Newspapers and journals
Barcelona Bulletin, 1937
Bellshill Speaker, 1937
Blue Blanket, 1952
Catholic Herald and Glasgow Observer, 1936–39
Forward, 1937
Frente Rojo, 1937
La Politica, 1937
New Leader, 1936–39
Regeneracion, 1936
Save Spain, Act Now!, 1939
Scottish Labour History, volume 34 (1999), and volume 37 (2002)
The Daily Mail, 1936–39
The Daily Express, 1936–39
The Daily Worker, 1936–39
The Glasgow Herald, 1936–39
The Glasgow Evening Times, 1936–39
The Scotsman, 1936–39
The Sunday Mail, 1936–39
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