Philosophy Football have just produced this excellent T-shirt to commemorate the comrades of the British battalion of the International brigade.Seventy years ago this week the British battalion fought in their first battle at Jarama. Volunteers from the British Isles totalled 2,300, of whom 525 died in Spain.
The 16th British Battalion was formed in December 1936 from new arrivals plus veterans of the battle for Madrid. It comprised volunteers from Britain, Ireland and from various Commonwealth countries and beyond.
The battalion was formally integrated into the Spanish Republican Army in January 1937 as part of the 15th International Brigade, itself part of the 35th Division. Initially it was named the Saklatvala battalion, after the Indian Communist MP for Battersea, but the name never caught on and it was known in Spain as ‘el batallón ingles’. From November 1937, following a reorganisation of the Republican Army the British Battalion became the 57th Battalion. It was withdrawn in October 1938.
The anniversary T-shirt features a superb reproduction of the British Battalion's original banner, the slogan reads 'Freedom, Democracy, Peace' with battle honours listed including Jarama, Brunete and Ebro.
8 comments:
Does the T shirt also commemorate those genuine socialists who did not fight for the victory of Stalinism over the proletariat?
Freedom, Democracy and Peace are all fine ideals but in the mouths of Stalinist scum they are lies.
Mike
Do you really think that those working clas militants who left everyting behind to fight facsism in Spain saw themselves as joining a fight for "the victory of Stalinism over the proletariat".
These were brave men and women who fought for their class, and many of them died fighting Franco.
To be frank, there is no merit in rehashing historical battles about spain, the CP had a point as well. A professional army was needed to win the war, and the militias were miliraryily ineffective.
Had it not been for the Russian pilots who defended Madrid then Franco may well have won the war in 1936.
And Philosophy Football have also produced T-shirts commemorating the POUM and FAI militias, as well as the Catalans;
http://socialistunity.blogspot.com/2006/09/make-your-front-popular.html
As ark perrymans said: “We've tried to break with all the sectarian nonsense around this period, whatever our views of the communists or anarchists these were men and women who gave their lives in the fight against fascism so the entire memory should be respected. We're hoping to raise some dosh for the International Brigade Memorial Trust.”
Not terribly worried as to how the International Brigaders saw themselves. Fact of the matter is that they were fighting to defend a bourgeois state and against the interests of the working classes. Which some of them realised after they left Spain and which worried the Stalinist political police so much whilst they were still in Spain that they persecuted potential dissidents.
The thing of it is Andy that I happily acknowledge the sacrifice of the individual Brigaders but not the body itself which served as a cover for the crimes of Stalinism. That Perryman can produce T shorts commemorating the POUM and FAI as well as the Brigades is simply his attempt to continue the Popular Front which served the workers so ill. And make a few bob perhaps.
Btw the Bolshevik Leninists were in favour of a regular army too. A workers Red Army mind not a merecenary army that would defend bourgeois order as the one the Popular Front created did. Never Forget, Never Forgive.
nineteen bloody pounds ninety nine pence???? I quite fancied one till i saw the price tag!!!
Well here is the thing, Philosophy Football don't pay starvation wages to get thier T-shirts made in a sweat shop.
Well then they could let people know where they are made, and who gets paid what. I can't believe that not having it made in a sweatshop means it has to immediately become the most expensive t-shirt in the history of capitalism. Or is the price so unexceptional that it doesn't need any explanation?
Where are they made??
It is the normal price for a good quality T-shirt
see Boden: http://www.boden.co.uk/col.asp?segname=Men&styid=ML068&segid=4&gpname=Jersey+Tops&desname=T%2Dshirt&gpid=27&gen=
£19 for a T-shirt,
Or Fat Face £19.50 for a T-shirt
https://www.fatface.com/bin/venda?ex=co_wizr-xapian&bsref=fatface&itemsperpage=100¶m1=1&searchinvt=1&xptpl=wz_xapian_cat2productlist&filtercat=menswearteespolos&bklist=icat,5,shop,menswear,menswearteespolos,mycatref
and these prices are without a contribution to the International brigade fund.
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