The Fight Against Facism.

Image by Wendy Tanner via Flickr

"Once more I had clambered up the hill with my comrades, taking cover wherever we could and firing at the enemy wherever he appeared. The bullets of the snipers whizzed over, grenades and shells were striking the ground, throwing up earth and dust and showering us with shrapnel. Suddenly my shoulder and right arm went numb. Blood gushed from my shoulder and I couldn't lift my rifle.I could do nothing but lie where I was. Near me a comrade had been killed and I could hear the cries of others,wounded and dying. I was taken with other wounded men down the line to an emergency field hospital. The place was like an abattoir."
                                                                                   Jack Jones - Union Man

 The legitimate government of Spain was being overthrown by fascists whilst the rest of the world including Britain stood by. Franco and his ally Hitler were taking control of Spain in what became known as The Spanish Civil War. Decent and very brave  men and women of the left and trade unionists from around the world were appalled and came together, at great sacrifice to themselves, to form  The Internationale Brigade to fight against the fascist forces. One of the anthems of the Internationale Brigade was "Viva La Quinta Brigada" and I purchased this cherished copy made by The Ian Campbell Folk Group and sang with enormous power and feeling by Lorna Campbell. Those of you much younger than myself will be pleased to hear that the family's proud tradition of singing has been maintained by Ali Campbell of UB40.





 At the end of the fifties and the beginning of the sixties in Britain there was a revival in the folk song movement. I was working for what the BBC calls, "The Secret Spy Station" (i.e. GCHQ) at the time and we had a green General Notice warning us of "communist penetration" of the folk clubs which were springing up all over the country. This of course was bollocks and I was an enthusiastic supporter and a regular attender at Cheltenham Folk Club. Folk or traditional music is the history of peoples lives: it recalls the the events that have occurred good or bad, the wonders seen, the tales passed down through generations, stories of love and hate, of work and journeys undertaken. Sometimes they are nationalistic and sometimes  used as a vehicle of protest. It is this latter capabilty that worried the authorities at GCHQ and in government because it also had the capacity to change the course of history as the Civil Rights anthem "We Shall Overcome" did in America. Here is a very different version of the the Spanish Civil War song where the chorus attack it in order to overthrow their demon.


 It is strange how history repeats itself and many years later, in 1984, Thatcher banned free trade unions at GCHQ and we were offered a £1000 bribe to leave our trade unions, or to be transferred to another department or be sacked. The freedom to belong to a free trade union had been fought for over centuries in this country by brave men and women like The Tolpuddle Martyrs and I thought that this was the beginning of fascism in this country and that I would be neglecting my duty to defend the freedoms of this country if I did not resist. The Trade Union movement rallied behind us magnificently with protests up and down the land and I together with some other colleagues fought the ban through the courts but inevitably lost when it reached The Lords.

We must always be on our guard for history always repeats itself but IT also demonstrates that grave injustices are, eventually, overcome. And so it was in this case when Robin Cook, in almost the first act of the newly elected Labour Government overturned the ban in 1997. Remember the words of Pastor Neimoller.

First they came for the Jews


and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for the communists

and I did not speak out - because I was not a communist.



Then they came for the trade unionists

and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.



Then they came for me -

and by then there was no one left to speak out for me.



Pastor Martin Niemöller