The brass plaque, has inscribed in red letters,
the following:
"Tower Hamlets International Brigade
In honour of the volunteers who left Tower Hamlets to fight in the International
Brigade, Spain 1936 - 1939. They fought alongside the Spanish people to stop
Fascism and save liberty and peace for all. They went because their eyes could
see no other way.
'No Pasaran!'".
The International Brigades website (visit
link) tells us:
"Spain, July 1936: from uprising to civil
war
In July 1936 a military rising was launched
in Spain by a group of military generals aiming to overthrow the Republican
government, elected only five months previously. Though initially successful in
many parts of Spain, opponents of the rising- working people, trade-unionists,
members of political organisations from the centre to the left and, in some
cases, members of the Civil Guard and the new Republican police force, the
Assault Guard- took to the streets, erected barricades, and confronted the
insurgents.
Faced with determined opposition the generals saw that their rising was in real
danger of being defeated. With their best soldiers, the elite Army of Africa
commanded by General Francisco Franco, trapped in Morocco, the Rebels turned to
fascist Italy and Nazi Germany for assistance. After some initial hesitation,
both Hitler and Mussolini sent help to the Rebels, crucially providing aircraft
to ferry the Army of Africa across the strait of Gibraltar onto the peninsular.
Once across the strait, the Army of Africa rapidly headed north, leaving a trail
of slaughter and destruction in their wake. Within weeks Franco's forces were
approaching Madrid, where they united with the rebel army of the north, led by
General Mola.
Desperate pleas by the Spanish Republican government for assistance from the
European democracies of Britain and France fell, overwhelmingly, on deaf ears.
Terrified of the prospect of a wider European conflagration, and convinced that
appeasement of Germany and Italy was the best means of preventing it, the
European powers chose not to intervene, nor even to provide military support to
the Republican government. Instead, an agreement was made not to intervene in
the conflict, to which Britain, France, Germany Italy, Portugal and the USSR all
agreed to adhere. However, it quickly became apparent that the agreement
strongly favoured the Rebels, who continued to receive assistance from Germany
and Italy, despite the non-intervention agreement.
Appalled at the prospect of another European country succumbing to fascism,
supporters of the Spanish Republicans government from around the world flocked
to its aid. To these anti-fascists, Spain was the latest battleground in the
European war against fascism, and Spain offered a chance to, at last, to check
its advance. At the same time, the Comintern and the USSR, fully aware of the
extent of German and Italian assistance to the Rebels, chose to provide help to
the Republicans. In addition to the military help sent from the USSR, the
Comintern (the Communist International) took on the role of organising the
volunteers for the Spanish Republic, many of whom had already arrived in Spain.
Over the coming months, these International Brigades of foreign volunteers would
fight and die alongside the Spanish Republicans in their determination not to
let the fascists pass. Madrid, its defenders declared, 'would be the tomb of
fascism'."
The website also contains a list of the British
volunteers that died in Spain (visit
link).