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If I could be transported back to any point in time, it would be to one of the balconies flanking the Gran Vía (the main road through central Madrid) on 8th November 1936. The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) provided the bulk of the 2,500 British volunteers for Spain, with the International Brigades being organised by the Soviet-based Communist International. Non-Commercial educational use for the purpose of teaching and instruction, including internal training. The widespread use of the slogan originates from the 1916 Battle of Verdun in the First World War when French General Robert Nivelle urged his troops not to let the enemy pass. The next day after the coup, the Communist politician Dolores Ibárruri “La Pasionaria” gave a speech to encourage the resistance against the fascist rebellion in which she coined the famous expression “¡No pasarán!

The letter also suggests he had been in Canada at one time – it’s unknown for how long – and that in Spain he had bumped into the brother of “Jim M-“, someone they knew in Airdrie. Perhaps Demissie and Iglikowski should have noted Sir Phillip Game’s words (at page 10 of his report reproduced above) ‘there were many cries of “Shame” when it was learned that the march and meetings had been banned’.

This was, of course, also born out through the appeasement policy that Britain followed in the late 30s. It’s a reminder that as long as racism, bigotry and oppression exist, the war fought by those in Spain is one that we must still fight today. The initial route was meant to see marchers parade down Commercial Street towards the East End, but a huge crowd of anti-fascist demonstrators blocked the intersection of Whitechapel High Street and Leman Street.Born into the poverty of the Basque working class in 1895, she joined the Spanish Communist Party almost as soon as it was created in 1920. Women threw the contents of chamber pots on to the heads of policemen and children hurled marbles under their horses and burst bags of pepper in front of their noses. The 1918 French propaganda poster by Maurice Neumont [ fr] that reads: "Twice I have stood and vanquished on the Marne. Part of this was the drive from the Trade Union movement and the Communist Party to support Republican Spain, both of which were far more popular among the working class. skewers the popular one-dimensional interpretation of antifascism to reveal how our struggle must challenge all forms of oppression if we are to ever truly build a world free from fascism.