Viikkosanomat, December 22, 1986

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Fifty years ago on 18 July 1936 Gen-eral
Francisco Franco began a Hitler-Mussoli- ni
supported revolt to over-thro- w the Republican Popular Govern-ment
of Spanish President Azana
elected to office five months pre-vious- ly What was supposed to be a
quick takeover of povver turned into 33
months of civil war a fight for demo-crac- y and national independence by
the Spanish people
The war was ultimately lost because
Germany and Italy grasped the oppor-tunit- y
to' support the reactionary
Franco forces And because the non-intervention- ist
policies of Britain and
France prohibited the säle of arms to
the Republican government Even
though thousands of volunteers from
over 35 countries fought in the Interna-tional
Brigades alongside the Republi-can
army they needed arms to quell
the fascist forces Mexico sent light
Canadians the Spanish Civil -
This poem vvas by Päiviö — one of most
accomplishod plawrights and of the Finnish
Canadian community — in 1938 and Finnish by his
son Jules Päiviö in Finnish tvvice
by fire
To My Son in Spain
Unexpected you arrived from yourjob to our cabin home
In the middle of the week
I have laken a bit of a holiday you say
Just a short visit I have little time
A costly ride is waiting
That sounded strange
But should I ask?
The are young and so unpredicuble
Such happy chaner with the brothers
The youngest you get to laugh
Encouragement to Mother
But soon the too short wintry day passes
You are aware and tearyourself away
Abruptly a goodbye to ali and leave
We leave you at the door and retum inside
Butnotyetyougo
Momenu later you call me outside
And offer your hand firmly clasping mine
And so quietly — that through the enbin walls not heard
So that Mother should not hear
She may not be able to stand it — murmur
Goodbye Dad! I am on my way to Spain!
So sudden — so unexpected
It hiis like hail from the sky
I had been bedridden and even now
Couldhardly stand
I feel so old and helpless
Needing support
Life is heavy so sad and sorrowful
I struggle hesitate have difficulty finding
I hardly expected this just now
Passed my lips this vveakness
That shames me secretly so
Have you considered this matter?
Look from such wars you do not retum
I have considered — Dad and decided so!
A hard firm handshake yet
You disappear into the wintry darkness
I slowly into the cabin stagger
Such contradictory emotions seethe through me
Now depressing me then again such elation
Pride in a son who does not fear
Who wants to fight for nght
That feeling strengthens inspires me
A son' s loss a life so young
Perhaps
That presses down on me in gloom
Time and the wamng
Mac-Pa- p veterans to Ottawa
Two Mac-Pa- p veterans Ross Russell
and Bill Stapleton vvere in a group that
last week travelled to Ottawa to
yet another petition to the
government for recognition of the re-gim- ent
Mr Stapleton stated that as a result
of this last visit the possibility is
better than ever before official Ca-nadian
recognition these volunteers
who fifty years ago fought in Spain for
democracy and against the tide of Italian
Fascism and German Naziism
The Mae-Pap- s as they have come to
be knovvn have been officially ignored
in Canada Historian Victor Hoar of
the University of Michigan has esti-mate- d
that as many as 60 per cent of
the volunteers were members of— or
sympathetic toward— the Communist
party a fact that caused the Canadian
establishment to distrust them In
April 1937 the government officially
noninterventionist in the Spanish Civil
War passed the Foreign Enlistment
Act The legislation imposed severe
penalties— including two years' hard
labor— on anyone serving in a foreign
army and was intended to keep Cana-dians
from serving on either side of
the conflict But it mostly affected
those sympathetic to the republican
8
arms and food but the main support
came from USSR And this support
was frustrated by European countries
refusing passage of Soviet military sup-plie- s
to Spain and German subma-rine- s
sinking Soviet ships carrying
arms and food through Mediterra-nea- n
The Spanish people and many of the
international volunteers vvere the first
victims of imperialist plans to quash
real democracy in Spain These thou-sands
of anti-fasci- st fighters made a
brave attempt to hait political reaction
in Spain but the civil war vvas a forerun-ne- r
of vvorld war which brought
devastation and death to untold mil-lion- s
before fascist crusade vvas
stopped
It is time to remember the bravery
and sacrifice of fighters for Republi-can
Spain as we continue their fight for
peace and democracy
Finnish in War 1936 39
vvritten Aku the
poets journalisti
translated from
1980 The manuscript vvasdestroyed
young
vvords
serious
forever
passes
present
Canadian
now
for
for
the
by
the
two
the
the
Some news amves
You surmount obstaclcs but
Have arrived it your destination — Spain
More News
Death stalks but you have survived
I hear you
With bnve comrades
Doing what must be done wiih honour
Weil done son
And you others — Our Boys!
You wbo are resolving such great maiters
With your fina! tum to speak
Your life at stake so threatened
Salud!
An honour volley — ihree limes!
Destroy fascism
That degraderof the people
That loved ones torture butcher others
That inflames to vu and such terrors sow
That belligerent who awesome threatens bullies
That from head to foot armed
Even suckling infants to it sacrifice
Drunk with dreams world domination
Attacks destroys wild with blood
Blood it demands
In blood it shall iiself drown
Strike it down
That Spanish people and others too
A people fiery strong as steel and brave
A people enslaved and exploited
So long who on their shoulders
Camed the load of their masters
Can now at last breathe in freedom
In freedom walk the siinny soil of their land
In freedom tend their vineyards
In freedom build their homes
In freedom with ali the strenglh of bursting energy
Build a new a happy Spain
Salud!
An honour volley — ihreetimes!
by Aku Päiviö1
I the son of Aku Päiviö was only one of about 1 80 Finnish
Canadians from across the country whojoined the 1250
volunteers from Canada We fought in the famous Interna-tional
Bngades the Bngadesthat helped save Madnd in its
darkest days from the rebcl Franco troops who had the
active support of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany2
See also Jules Päiviö Collection mhso
and interview by Varpu Lindstrom-Bes- t 1980
mmm lii
Russell: 'recording history faithfully'
cause which attracted the majority of
foreign volunteers
None of the 600 Canadians who sur-vived
the war was prosecuted under
the act although many complained of
1939 Now denied official recognition
by the Canadian government— and
veterans' and medical care
such recognition would bring— they
have launched a campaign
governmenfs policy But declared
Constant a in University
of Faculty of Engineering
"most of us do not a damn about
benefits It is principle the
thing volunteered to fight fascism
ATLANTIC
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50 yoaro ago
in Tho Globo and Cloil
On Nov 1936 "'Spanish
Fascist insurgents stormed to the
gates of Madrid tonight Government
militia fought to keep the attacking
Moors and Fascist troops from
breaking through into the very
streets of the Capital The roar and
clatter of cannon and machine guns
shook the city while overhead
Government planes fought off Fas-cist
bombers Insurgent shells
screamed over' Madrids suburbs
with Government batteries replying
vvith heavy barrage The insur-gent
attack for weeks an ever-nar-rowi- ng
semi-circ- le south of Madrid
was into solid front
driving :oward the heart of Mad
Salamani
rid
On Nov 10 1936 "Insurgent
troops crossed the Manzanares
River tonight and streamed into
Madrid proper penetrating to the
Calle de Toledo in the city's south-vveste- rn
section The entrance to the
city was made across the Toledo
bridge which was quickly reconst-ructe- d
by insurgent labor unions
after having been dynamited by the
Government Regular infantrymen
vvere the first to cross the new span
They were followed by light tanks
which rumbled into the Calle de
Toledo to begin cautious advance
toward the centre of the Capital A
Government column the
Casa de Campo was completely
6urrounded The artil-ler- y
withdrew toward the northern
part of Madrid"
On Nov 936 "Horror
grasped firc-ridd- en and blast-ravag-ed
city tonight as General Jose
Vare!a's svvarthy Moors sought to
force their way tovvard the centre
behind air artillery and shrapnel
barrages vvhicii leit alrnost no por-tio- n
of Madrid unscathed The Capi-tal
blanketed under pall of smoke
vvas to three new air raids
during the morning The screams of
women who refused to abandon the
mangled bodies of their loved ones
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LSPA NISH MeTilia- -7-
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country holding conferences on the
subject Russell who left his as a
Montreal assistant store manager in
summer of 1937 to go to Spain
said: changes In school was
taught that Louis Riel was a terrible
person Now they have a statue of him
in Regina I would like to a plaque
for the Mac-Pa- ps in Peace Tower
police harassment following their re- - lt's a question of having history faith
tum to Canada after the war ended in fuiiv record the role we nlaved
the
pensions
to change
the
professor the
Waterloo's
give
the the of
VVe
nationaiims
republicans
converged
defending
Government
this
subjected
Scgovia
Brum-u- -
VA1
(C'iMiia
the
job
the
"History
see
the
Russell's initiative may be bearing
fruit In July Conservative MP Bud
Jardine deputy chairman of the feder-a- l
standing committee on veterans' af-fai-rs
agreed to invite a delegation of
battalion veterans to press their case
before the committee this fall al-though
a meeting has yet to take place
At the same time Jardine has publicly
stated his sympathy for battalion
Indeed he once said: "These
years before the Canadian government men did fight against fascism It vvas
came around" against the law of the day but times
Ross Russell 75 is spearheading the have changed It's time now to refresh
assault on Ottawa He and a group of Canadians' memories"
fellow veterans have travelled across -R- ICHARD in Toronto
MADRID Cucnca
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'Barcelona
MINORCA
MAJORCA (Xj
Q ISLEd
ALGERIA
REPUBLICAN AND NATIONALIST SPAIN
AT THE START OF THE CIVIL WAR
i --— i
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vet-erans
WRIGHT
JULES PÄIVIÖ
We were not heroes — we only did what we saw as our
humanitarian duty The pomp and glory went to the victori-ou- s
armies Dolores Ibarruri "La Pasionaria" the sym-boli- c
leader and conscience of Republican Spain said on
bidding farewell to the volunteers in Barcelona September
1938:
You came to us from ali peoples ali races You came
likebrothersofours like sons of undying Spain and in
the hardest days of the war when the capital of the
Spanish Republic was threatened it was you gallant
comrades of the International Brigades who helped to
save the city with your fighting enthusiasm your
heroism and your spirit of sacrifice
For the first time in the history of the people's
struggles there has been the spectacle breath-takin- g in
its grandeur of the formation of International Brigades
to help save a threatened country's freedom and inde-pendence
the freedom and independence of our Spanish
land
They gave us everything: their youthortheirmaturity
their science or their experience their blood and their
lives their hopes and their aspirations — and they asked
us for nothing at ali! That is to say they did want a post
in the struggle they did aspire to the honour of dying
for us5
October 1936 The first Interna-tional
Brigaders from Europe
march through Barcelona