31

p A few days after the beginning of the fascist generals’ revolt against the Spanish Republic a committee of aid for the Government of the Popular Front was set up in Argentina. The committee immediately launched a vigorous campaign throughout the country. One of its founders had been the Spanish Patronate for Aid to the Victims of Fascism (PEAVA)—an organisation set up during the Black Two-Year Period of the temporary triumph of reaction in Spain after the uprising of the Asturian miners had been suppressed in October 1934. In the summer of 1936, a weekly magazine La Vox de Esfiana, subsequently called La Nueva Espana, which gave a truthful account of Spanish events, began to appear in Argentina.

p The working people of Argentina felt deeply committed to the struggle of the Spanish Republic for freedom and independence. In the first days of August 1936 the citizens of the small town of Coronel Dorrego, southwest of Buenos Aires, and the poor peasants of this province assembled at the Spanish Consulate and decided to set up a junta to help the Spanish Republic. Because the poor peasants who constituted the majority of the population of Argentina would find it difficult to make monetary contributions, it was decided that a collection of farm produce should be organised. The campaign was so successful that large sheds were needed to store the grain and cereals that were delivered to the aid fund not only by peasants but also by workers, bakers and shop-keepers. In the Chaco province, and also in the poorest districts of Argentina, Santiago del Estero and Misiones, people also collected wool and cotton.

p The broad movement of solidarity with the Spanish Republic and help for the Republic was headed by the Communist Party of Argentina. On its initiative in August 1936, 212 local Aid the Spanish People committees were set up, including committees in Santa Fe, Mendoza, Bahia Blanca and other towns. One of the 32 forms of activity of these committees was the collection of food rations for the men of the Republican Army. In February 1937, 5,804 collectors gathered 52,080 rations to a value of 16,144 pesos; in March of the same year 18,306 people gathered 114,480 rations to a value of 34,558 pesos, and six months later the number of collectors had increased to 36,995, and the number of rations collected, to 328,406, valued at 101,805 pesos.

p On March 7, 1937, the first consignment was sent to the fund of the International Trade Union Committee for Aid to the Spanish People (Paris). It consisted of eighteen bales of clothing, four crates of food and a ton of flour. Regular deliveries continued. By April 1938 the total value of material help for Spain amounted to six million pesos, or 2.5 million dollars. By November 7, 1938 thirty tons of dried and condensed milk had been sent to Spain and money for the purchase of another thirty tons of milk had been sent to France.

p The workers’ May Day demonstration in 1937 was held under the slogan of Aid for and Solidarity with Spain. Besides the red flag and national Argentina flag the banners of the Spanish Republic flew over the columns. Ambulances that were to be dispatched to Spain drove in front of the demonstrators. A big meeting was held to welcome the Spanish Ambassador, Dr. Angel Osorio y Gallardo. Five thousand people met him at the port and accompanied him to the embassy. On the first anniversary of the defence of Madrid a meeting was held in the Luna Park and a collection was made to buy food for the figliters of the Republican Army and their children.

p A year after the outbreak of the fascist revolt in Spain hundreds of committees were active in Argentina: women’s, youth, ambulance, and also emigre Spanish organisations, etc. They were united in their hatred of fascism and boundless admiration for the valour of the Spanish people. Help for fighting Spain had to be increased at all costs. The communist and progressive press called for increased aid and this was the subject of discussion at provincial Aid Spain congresses in Cordoba and Mendoza (May and July 1937) and finally at an illegal national congress held between the 7th and 9th of August, where unity of organisation was achieved.

p More than ten public organisations approved the decision of the congress to set up a Federation for Organisation of Aid to the Spanish Republic (FOARE) whose function would be to co-ordinate the activity of all committees. The agreement to set up the federation was signed by three organisations of the Spanish emigres, four provincial organisations (Cordoba, Rosario, Mendoza and Bahia Blanca) and four national organisations. After a time the Argentinian Junta for Medical Aid to Republican Spain and the repatriation centre of the Spanish republicans joined the federation. 33 Later, in January 1939, it was decided at a plenary assembly of the organisations of the Buenos Aires province, united under the title of “Friends of the Spanish Republic”, that they should also join the FOARE. Many political and trade-union people took an active part in the federation’s work.

p The magazine La Nueva Espana became the organ of the FOARE. It had a circulation of 40,000 copies, which sometimes rose to 90,000. Its reports gave reliable information on the military operations in Spain. The radio station “Radio Mitre" in Buenos Aires broadcast a daily bulletin of news from this weekly magazine. Later such broadcasts were banned by the government.

p In the first months of the federation’s activity over 167,000 pesos were collected in cash and 18,000 pesos worth of food supplies. On behalf of the International Co-operation and Information Committee for Aid to the Spanish Republic the federation used the money to purchase pencils and exercise books for Spanish schoolchildren and for the “abolish illiteracy" brigades, and also tobacco for the fighting men. About 114,000 packets of cigarettes were sent to the Republican Army.

p On the anniversary of the Spanish Republic, April 14, 1938, the federation sent the fighting people of Spain 500,000 francs.

p In January 1938 a campaign for the collection of gifts for orphans whose parents had been killed during the war was launched. In April of the same year a large meeting to honour the Republic’s anniversary was attended by the Spanish ambassador. Many prominent Argentinian cultural celebrities took part in the meeting. The arrival in Buenos Aires of the Spanish theatre company directed by the famous actress Margarita Xirgu with a repertoire containing plays by Federico Garcia Lorca was yet another opportunity for the expression of solidarity with Spain.

p In the autumn of 1938 meetings dedicated to the situation in Spain were held and special stamps were issued in aid of the Republic that sold quickly among the people of Argentina. October 12 (the day of the discovery of America by Columbus) was celebrated in Argentina as a National Aid Spain Day, which started the third winter campaign of help for the Republic. Over 50,000 people marched past the General Consulate of Spain in Buenos Aires on that day. The consul had to receive delegations and individual visitors expressing their solidarity with fighting Spain from eight in the morning to eleven at night. On the same day a large meeting organised by the Republican Spanish Club in Argentina was addressed by the Spanish ambassador. People sacrificed their last pennies for Spain. There were even cases when unemployed workers took off their coats and gave them in for dispatch to Spain. The day’s collection came to more than 10,000 pesos. Between the 1st and 22nd of October, 1938, a sum of 620,000 French francs was collected for Republican Spain and a big transport of food, clothing 34 and footwear was dispatched. On the average the Argentinian people, who then numbered only 12 million, contributed 3 million francs a month. From the outbreak of hostilities in Spain to October 1938 fifty million francs were collected.

p The activity of the FOARE was highly appreciated by the Spanish people and the international Aid Spain movement. Expressions; of gratitude were received from members of the Republican Government, generals, outstanding figures among the intelligentsia, the International Red Aid people, youth associations and Aid Spain organisations in various countries.

p On July 29, 1936, ten days after the outbreak of hostilities, a plenary meeting of the Central Committee of the General Confederation of Labour (CGT) of Argentina took place with the participation of the trade-union secretaries of Buenos Aires. It sent a telegram of welcome to the General Union of Working People (UGT) of Spain as a sign of solidarity with the trade unions’ struggle against fascism. "The CGT declares,” the telegram stated, "that it has begun collecting funds throughout the country. The money collected will be handed over to the UGT of Spain.”

p The first contributions from the trade unions and donations from workers and office employees at factories and commercial firms started coming in at the beginning of August. On August 10 the CGT handed over to the UGT of Spain the first contribution of 20,000 francs.

p Under the leadership of the CGT a Central Aid Commission was set up that included three sub-commissions: food and medical supplies, clothing and footwear, propaganda and collection of funds.

p On January 15, 1937, the consignments for Spain comprised: 10 tons of condensed milk; 1,000 cases of corned beef (amounting to 144,000 soldiers’ rations); 100 cases of lamb (or 1,400 soldiers’ rations); 100 cases of tinned meat (or 1,400 soldiers’ rations); 100 large crates of clothing and footwear; 50 kg of sweets for the children. Later another 1,100 cases of corned beef (13,200 tins) were sent off. The total value of aid rendered by the CGT to Spain up to April 1937 amounted to 366,715 pesos.

p All rank-and-file members of the trade unions took an active part in collecting funds, but the reformist leaders of the CGT failed to attach due importance to this campaign. On April 30, 1937, the National Labour Federation of Builders and the Union of Construction Workers of the Federal Capital organised a fete in the Luna Park as a sign of solidarity with the Spanish Republic. It was attended by a huge number of people. The appeal to contribute a day’s wages for the Spanish working people was greeted with enthusiasm. Another 100,000 pesos were added to the Aid Fund. But through the fault of the reformist leadership of the CGT this money was not passed on to the People’s Government of Spain.

35

p The organisations of the Spanish emigres in Argentina were also active in helping the Republic. Mention must be made of the Federation of Galician Societies, which was exceptionally united in spirit and had ten branches. The Asturian and Valencian committees of aid for the legitimate Spanish Government, the so-called Catalan House, the Friends of the Spanish Republic organisation and others.

p The valiant struggle of the Spanish people for their independence helped to initiate a broad and well-organised women’s movement in Argentina. The constituent assembly of the Argentinian Women’s Committee for the protection of Spanish orphans, the first women’s organisation in the country to take an active part in helping the Spanish people, was held in March 1937. During the fighting for Madrid the committee collected money to purchase an ambulance and provided it with personnel and medical equipment. Another five ambulances were sent later. In dozens of workshops, organised by active members in their apartments, diligent women’s hands darned old clothes and made new ones, and knitted children’s sweaters and socks. Women and children collected money to buy food for soldiers’ rations. At the end of 1938 five thousand children’s outfits made by women anti-fascists were sent off to Spain.

p The women took an active part also in the work of the provincial committees. Quite often they were threatened by the police and the authorities. In the township of Algarrobo, for instance, despite constant police threats, the women took a particularly active part in the Aid Spain movement and organised a Committee of Aid for Spanish Children.

p The Argentinian Junta for Medical Aid did a lot of work to provide the Republican Army with medical supplies. With the support of the workers and other employees of the pharmaceutical industry, and of doctors and nurses, medical posts and laboratories for making medicines were set up in Spain. The Junta also helped to provide the army and rear medical institutions with ambulances. Forty fully equipped ambulances costing 5,000 pesos, i.e., more than 2,000 dollars each, were sent to Spain. The last of them, after the defeat of the Republic, was transferred to Chile to care for the Spanish refugees who had arrived there on the S. S. Winnipeg.

p Spurred by hatred of fascism, the young people of Argentina showed active solidarity with the Spanish people. The organisation of Young Friends of Republican Spain in Buenos Aires comprised Communists, Socialists and young people of other political trends, including many children of Spanish emigres. The young men and girls, schoolchildren, many of whom were for the first time taking part in the social life of their country under the banner of solidarity, enthusiastically collected money in city streets, organised wheat sheaf and carnation processions, and distributed thousands 3* 36 of badges, post cards, leaflets and brochures exposing the crimes of fascism against the Spanish people.

p On November 7, 1938, in the central cafes specially hired by Argentinian students anyone who liked could drink “a cup of the coffee that Mola had been going to drink in Madrid on November 7, 1936”. The reference was to the boastful declaration of the fascist General Mola in October 1936 that Madrid was just about to be captured and he would order himself a cup of coffee there.

p At the Avellaneda Club an auction was arranged for the “broom that will sweep Franco out of Spain": it brought in 500 pesos for Republican Spain. The 5th, 6th and 7th of November, 1938 were declared donation days for the Spanish Republic. This campaign was conducted under the slogan of youth unity.

p In the Rosario province the Aid the Republic Junta produced a newspaper, Espana Republicana. The Jewish community organised a commission of help for the Spanish people, which published bulletins in two languages with a circulation of 16,000 copies. The money from the sale of the bulletin went to the aid fund. The newspapers Galicia, Espana Republicana and Correo de Asturias, organs of the provincial committees of the FOARE, were widely distributed.

p The FOARE publishing house La Nueva Espana, and also the houses of other progressive organisations, put out a series of books about Spain with a special stress on the national-revolutionary war. The most famous of these were: / Testify. ... One Year of Struggle in Free Spain by the Spanish lawyer Antonio Ruiz Vilaplana; Peasants of Spain in the Struggle for Land and Freedom by B. Minlos; Spain in Struggle: A History of the Civil War of 1936 and an Investigation of Its Social, Economic and Political Causes by Jarry Gannes and Theodore Repard; The Armoured Rose by Raul Gonzalez Tufion; Spain Versus Fascism by Bernardo Edelman; Spain, Its Struggle and Ideals by Angel Osorio y Gallardo, etc. Each of these books had a printing of between five and ten thousand copies, which for those days was an unusual event in Argentina.

p On the initiative of the La Nueva Espana publishing house there were showings of the films ’The Heart of Spain, Children of Spain and Land of Spain. Displays of photographs of battle episodes and views of cities reduced to rubble by the Italian and German air forces and photographs of homeless hungry children were organised in the capital and other cities.

p Thousands of people responded to an appeal by the Spanish Patronate for Aid to the Victims of Fascism. It received postal orders for 50 centavos, 80 centavos and 1 peso. People gave what they could afford. The Argentinians also responded to the patronate’s appeal to help the Spanish sailors charged with mutiny by the 37
Graves of volunteers of the International Brigades in Fuencarral, Madrid Argentinian authorities; these sailors had taken over the ship Cabo San Antonio to stop it from going to Franco Spain.

p The Italian community also took an active part in the solidarity movement. Many Italians then living in Argentina went to Spain to fight in the International Brigades.

p The help that Argentina gave the Spanish people in money, clothes, food, medical supplies and medical equipment amounted to more than 4,000,000 dollars or 1,400 million Argentinian pesos at the present-day rate of exchange. The Argentinian Republic held a leading place in the amount of aid that it sent to Spain.

p After the defeat of the Spanish Republic the FOARE and the Argentinian Union of Aid for the Victims of the Spanish War, along with democratic forces in Chile, its trade-union centre, the Chilean Committee of Aid for the Spanish People and the political parties in the Popular Front obtained permission for two thousand refugees to enter Chile. For each of them a surety of 3,000 francs had to be deposited. At the same time an agreement was achieved with the Chilean Aid Committee to set up a reserve fund for supporting the refugees until they could find work.

p Nearly 2,200 refugees arrived on the S. S. Winnipeg and the FOARE, in accordance with its promise, transferred to the Chilean Aid Committee more than 1,000,000 Chilean pesos.

p In the first months of 1940 a solidarity congress, organised by 38 the Argentinian Union of Aid for the Victims of the Spanish War, was held in Buenos Aires. The congress had to be conducted illegally. Its chairman was the outstanding representative of the Cuban intelligentsia, the writer Juan Marinello, and there were delegates from nearly all countries of Latin America and the United States. The Chilean poet Pablo Neruda spoke at the congress. A decision was taken to continue the campaign in support of the Spanish Republic, to strengthen the movement of solidarity with the victims of fascism, to help the refugees and devote every effort to struggle against fascism, which had by then unleashed the Second World War.

p The Argentinian patriots, particularly the Communists, were eager to help Spain in the International Brigades. More than 500 Argentinian volunteers, including many emigres from other countries—Italian building workers; Ukrainians and Poles from the Avellaneda and Beriso refrigerator plants; Yugoslavs from the oilfields of Comodoro Rivadavia; Spaniards, Bulgarians and Germans from other industrial areas of the country—made their way to Spain illegally, at the risk of their lives.

p Argentinian volunteers fought in the units of the Republican Army and the International Brigades: in the Thaelmann, Dabrowski, Garibaldi and other battalions.

p The volunteers included the Communist Ortiz, commander of the 24th Brigade of the Republican Army; the Communist Jungman, a company commissar in the 13th International Brigade; Fanny Edelman, an active member of the Spanish section of the International Red Aid (IRA), at present a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Argentina; Jose Belloqui, a lieutenant in the Republican Army, later Central Committee member of the Communist Party of Argentina and secretary of the district party committee of the Buenos Aires province, Angel Ortelli, a commissar in the famous llth Division, former leader of the Builders Trade Union; Elguer, a commissar in the medical service; Fierro, Raquel Levenson, Bernardo Edelman, Jose Manzanelli and many others.

p The emigres who left Argentina for Spain include Max Doppler, who was killed in action commanding the famous Thaelmann Battalion; Captain Sieloff, one of the leaders of the Builders Trade Union; the Italian Bonano, a commissar in the Giuseppe Garibaldi Brigade, the Spaniard Manuel Seoane, a commander in one of the Galician guerrilla detachments, a former printer, who was shot by Franco’s men. Among the Latin Americans who had emigrated to Argentina and then made the journey to Spain were the Bolivian Valenzuela and his wife, the Argentinian Communist, both of whom were killed during the defence of Madrid.

p A group of Argentinian doctors worked in the medical service of the Spanish Republican Army right up to the last day of the war.

39

p There is not sufficient space here to name all those who fought in Spain and held high the banner of anti-fascist solidarity of the Argentinian people and its working class. Many Argentinian volunteers honourably preserved the fighting traditions of the International Brigades in the concentration camps of Gurs and Argeles and continued them by taking part in the French Resistance.

The splendid mass movement of solidarity of the Argentinian working people with the Spanish people during the national- revolutionary war remains to this day a fine example to the young generation in the struggle for the national independence of Argentina.