Daniel Gray - Homage to Caledonia: Scotland and the Spanish Civil War

DANIEL GRAY is a manuscripts curator in the National Library of Scotland. He is a graduate of Newcastle University. His first book, The Historical Dictionary of Marxism (Scarecrow Press), was published in 2007. Gray has worked as a researcher, contributor and writer on bbc radio and on STVS 2-part documentary series The Scots Who Fought Franco. He has also written on football for When Saturday Comes and Fly me to the Moon, the fanzine of his beloved Middlesbrough FC. He is married to Marisa and lives in Edinburgh.

Praise for Homage to Caledonia

Daniel Gray has done a marvellous job in bringing together the stories of Scots volunteers in [this] many-voiced, multi-layered book. SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

[Gray] has organised a complex story into a well-constructed and compelling narrative. He can write his prose is unfussy, fluent and warm. Best of all, he has squared the circle of producing accurate history while retaining a deep respect for the men and women who people it moving and thought-provoking.

THE HERALD

Excellent highly effective. THE SCOTS MAGAZINE

A new and fascinating contribution. SCOTTISH REVIEW OF BOOKS

Excellent a rigorous, well written and entertaining assessment of Scotlands contribution to that chapter of European history. Jamie Hepburn MSP,

HOLYROOD MAGAZINE

Book of the week Gray deserves applause for shining a light on a lesser-known aspect of the nations character of which we should all be proud.

PRESS AND JOURNAL

A very human history of the conflict emerges.SCOTTISH FIELD

The latest addition to a line of excellent books detailing the efforts of British men and women in Spain. MORNING STAR

An excellent book I would recommend to anyone with an interest in the Civil War. SCOTS INDEPENDENT

Tells the story of those in Spain, but also of the tremendous effort of the Scots at home to raise funds to provide vital food and medical supplies. DAILY RECORD

Much of the testimony in this important book is new What is most impressive is the way in which the different characters involved carry the reader along with them. From its pages, the voices of the ordinary Scots who volunteered to fight fascism ring out loud and clear in no other book will you find yourself closer to them, or more inspired. INTERNATIONAL BRIGADES MEMORIAL TRUST NEWSLETTER

Daniel Gray skilfully weaves the words of the Scottish participants in Spains struggle for democracy in this excellent and timely book. THE CITIZEN

Told through the words and experiences of those who were there, this meticulously researched and beautifully written book is simultaneously heart-breaking and uplifting. MAGGIE CRAIG

EDINBURGH

www.luath.co.uk

First published 2008

Reprinted 2009

This edition 2009

eBook 2012

ISBN (print): 978-1-906817-16-9

ISBN (eBook): 978-1-909912-12-0

The authors right to be identified as author of this book under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 has been asserted.

Table of Contents

To Marisa, for everything

Picture it. The Calton. Fair Fortnight. 1937. Full of Eastern Promise. Wimmen windaehingin. Weans greetin for pokey hats. Grown men, well intae their hungry thirties, slouchin at coarners, skint as a bairns knees. The sweet smell of middens, full and flowing over in the sun. Quick! Theres a scramble in Parnie Street! The wee yin theres away wae a hauf-croon.

Back closes runnin wae dug pee and East End young team runnin wae the San Toy, the Kent Star, the Sally Boys, the Black Star, the Calton Entry Mob, the Cheeky Forty, the Romeo Boys, the Antique Mob, and the Sticklit Boys. Then there wiz the Communist Party. Red rags tae John Bull. But if things wur bad in the Calton they wur worse elsewhere. Franco in the middle. Mussolini oan the right-wing. Hitler waitin tae come oan. When they three goat thegither an came up against the Spanish workers, they didnae expect the Calton to offer handers.

The heirs a John MacLean, clutchin a quire a Daily Workers, staunin oan boaxes at the Green, shakin thur fists at the crowds that gathered tae hear aboot the plight ae the Spanish Republic. Oot ae these getherins oan the Green came the heroes ae the International Brigade, formin the front line against fascism.

The Blackshirts, the Brownshirts, the Blueshirts, fascists of every colour an country came up against the men an women ae no mean city, against grey simmets an bunnets an headscarfs, against troosers tied wae string an shoes that let the rain in, against guns that were auld enough tae remember Waterloo. Fae nae hair tae grey hair they answered the call. Many never came back. They wur internationalists. They wur Europeans. They wur Scots. Glasgow should be proud ae them!

From the Calton to Catalonia, John and Willy Maley

Daniel Grays important and powerful book Homage to Caledonia tells the story of those deeply committed and courageous Scots who volunteered to fight for democracy and socialism against General Franco and his forces backed by Hitler and Mussolini in the Spanish Civil War against an elected Republican Government.

The British establishment was openly sympathetic to the fascists, and its policy of non-intervention was known on the left to be their way to stay clear so that Franco could win, but the left in Scotland rallied to the cause and apart from those who actually fought and died there, there was a great campaign to raise money and support.

As a teenager, I wrote a school essay in support of the republicans and against Franco on which my teacher wrote a one-word comment, Disgusting, so that told me a lot about him.

That war can be seen as a prelude to the second world war, and if Franco had been defeated, Europe might have escaped the horrors of 193945.

This book is very timely because the economic chaos that led to fascism seems to be threatening again today in the so-called credit crunch, which should remind us that the left has always to be vigilant.

Tony Benn, October 2008

I have been stimulated and encouraged by the kind help and knowledge of widows, sons, daughters and nieces of those who participated in the Spanish Civil War. In particular, David Drever, Annie Dunlop, Sandra Elders, Alan Murray, Sonna Murray, Sheila Stuart, Liz Pettie, and George and Nan Park all offered me stories, wisdom, and copious amounts of tea, cakes and soup. The words of Willy Maley were almost as great a motivation as the actions of his father. I am grateful, too, for their cooperation in allowing me to use the letters and archives of their relatives. Mike Arnott, Jim Carmody and Marlene Sidaway of the International Brigades Memorial Trust have been enormously helpful. Ian MacDougalls written and spoken words have been of immense value, as has been the advice of Richard Baxell, Alan Warren and Don Watson. A grant from the Strathmartine Trust facilitated an extremely useful study trip to Spain.

Thanks are due to David Higham Associates for permission to use a quote from Muriel Sparks The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. The unendingly patient and obliging Dr John Callow of the Marx Memorial Library deserves special praise, and thanks for permission to use quotes from the librarys International Brigades archive. Images and quotes appear courtesy of private collections belonging to the relatives of International Brigaders, and holdings of the National Library of Scotland (see Archival Sources, page 213). Photographs of the Scottish Ambulance Unit originally appeared in the Glasgow Evening Herald. Every effort has been made to trace the copyright holders of material reproduced in the book. In case of any query, please contact the publisher.