WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE FRANCE - news journal UPDATE - (en) France, Monde Libertaire - Ideas and struggles: "The lyrical illusion" (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 A need for Spain ---- A look towards the sky, a smile, a weapon in the

hands to defend democracy, freedom against fascism, such could be
described the cover of the book by Edouard Sill published by the
Sorbonne and entitled "The lyrical illusion", the international
volunteering fighting in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1938). The
international brigades (IB) constitute a very specific phenomenon
without any real equivalent in recent history. "An extraordinary
migratory movement that led to the Iberian Peninsula several tens of
thousands of enthusiastic foreigners, men and women, ardently wishing to
take part in the fighting. This displacement concerned a global space."
This armed international volunteering was guided by the desire to
provide pragmatic and decisive support to the faction of their choice,
overwhelmingly to the republican, anti-fascist camp, as the author
notes. The military dimension is real but the commitment is largely
driven by the political approach. It is André Malraux who introduced in
L'Espoir, this expression "The lyrical illusion".

International mobilization is a reality during the 19th century,
foreigners support the French Revolution, later the Philhellenes in
Greece, Garibaldi's International Legion, and even during the Russian
Civil War. However, "the Spanish Civil War marked a qualitative and
quantitative stage in the long history of international combatant
volunteering." Who are these brigades? These are not the troops enlisted
in the Republican army, the brigadas mixtas. The International Brigades
designate a complex, autonomous political-military organization with
private status. The management based in Albacete organized the barracks,
workshops, hospital structures, and delegations spread across the
territory controlled by the Republic.

A front for freedom is Spain.

How did this craze develop? The rise of fascism in Italy, Nazism in
Germany, the fear of hesitant democracies developed the notion of
self-defense. The Spanish Republic seemed weak internally and isolated
externally. International solidarity is not an empty phrase. A front of
freedom must be created, and that is Spain. A first group mobilized,
that of the exiles, of those who had fled dictatorships and knew their
dangers. The second group brought together intellectuals such as Romain
Rolland, Joseph Kessel, John Dos Passos, Berthold Brecht, Anna Seghers.
And finally the third group made up of activists giving popular impetus
to these BIs. The emotion was real, the films and reports encouraged
people to leave. Edouard Sill explains the recruitment process, in
particular by presenting the actions of the various French anarchist
structures. Each person left according to their convictions and in
support of the structures and sensitivities of reception on site. The
testimonies shed light on chance and enthusiastic will. The Republic
quickly considered that there were enough fighters, it was waiting for
weapons blocked by non-intervention. The reader will find the debates,
the rivalries between the different tendencies, in particular the
anarchists and the Stalinists. A climate of mistrust is established with
regard to the arrivals. Who are they? Where do they come from? They are
of good will but technicians, experts are needed!

1937, the end of the adventure is taking shape

And then, the war seems endless. Those who left, left their family,
their environment feel useless with regret, morale is no longer there
especially because of the successive defeats. Women are relegated to the
rear, the militia columns are militarized, the recovery is obvious, the
communists in particular Marty hold the health organizations. From 1937,
the end of the adventure is taking shape. With the demobilization of
foreign volunteers. Great Britain demands the departure of foreigners.
It is the return home, the end of the war is difficult. Munich is not
far away and international chaos is on the way. However, many of those
who lived through this period will then project themselves into the
Resistance, will become transnational figures.

This book is not a naive apology for this experience, it gives figures,
facts, references. It even looks to the opposing camp, that of Franco,
to find an equivalence. Some of the Action Française, Catholics will
enlist before realizing a little late that integrating a fascist unit
means becoming a simple soldier in the service of a dictatorship
conquering its own country and massacring its people. "Only the sacred
love of freedom, the hatred of this filthy beast, fascism has thrown
onto the battlefields, with an indomitable force, the volunteers of
Freedom." (Excerpt from The Soldier of the Republic. Journal of the
XIVth Brigade of October 8, 1937). The attentive reader will find the
pages of this book of many anarchists, volunteers of Liberty.

* Edouard Sill
"The lyrical illusion", the international volunteering fighting in the
Spanish Civil War (1936-1938)
Ed. de la Sorbonne, 2024

https://monde-libertaire.fr/?articlen=8164
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca