These Brigades were really a hodgepodge of different nationalities – while there was, eventually, a British Battalion, this included those from Britain, Ireland and British dominions.

The BUF intended to celebrate their summer campaign on 4 October with the march and meetings in Shoreditch, Limehouse, Bow and Bethnal Green.The event has developed an almost mythic status in some circles, representing the East End’s clear rejection of fascism, and is celebrated with a plaque and the mural on walls along Cable Street.

This compendium of stories and analyses from the frontlines of antifascism will help us meet the daunting demands of our era with clarity, bravery, and camaraderie in the struggle. This was as part of a group of around 25 men sent by the Independent Labour Party (ILP) to fight in Spain, which Bob Edwards actually led. Bob Edwards was also from Liverpool, to docker parents, but is mostly known for his political career. H. Auden or George Orwell (who was upper-middle class at the least) but the vast majority of those who volunteered for the International Brigades, and those who undertook a lot of the fundraising efforts were from the working class. La Pasionaria (‘The Passionflower’), Ibárruri was easily the most charismatic leader of the Republican forces during the Spanish Civil War.Many people who fought in Spain ended up volunteering to fight for Britain or, such as in France, working in resistance networks, where guerrilla tactics were used like in Spain.

Years of international tension and aggressive expansion by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany culminated in the German invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939. The small concession by the British government was to allow the placement of refugee children (known as Basque refugees, though some were from non-Basque regions) in Britain for the duration of the war. The interviews were done in connection with an exhibition at Side Gallery of photographs from the Spanish Civil War; the interviewer is Sue Todd, who was a member of the gallery team. Despite volunteering to fight for a cause that he passionately believed in, it’s clear he still felt many of the normal complaints soldiers felt about war – shortages of essentials; hoping for luxuries such as chocolate; and boredom during gaps between activity, hence the eager requests for reading material. Perhaps fittingly, it's also the anniversary of one of the most inspiring Radical History stories I know.

Those supporting the coup were known as the Nationalists and received aid from both Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. And it was Ibárruri’s defiant speeches which gave Spanish Republicans the courage to face the fascist storm head-on.