MI5 list reveals 4,000 Britons joined the fight against facism in 1930s Spanish Civil War
Almost double previous estimates
Hundreds more Britons set out to join the fight against fascism in the Spanish Civil War than was previously thought, newly-released MI5 files show.
Intelligence officials recorded the names of about 4,000 people from Britain and Ireland suspected of travelling to Spain in the 1930s to join the International Brigades battling against General Francisco Franco’s forces.
This is significantly more than the figure of around 2,500 British volunteers generally cited by historians, although it may include some who did not arrive.
The MI5 files, published online by The National Archives, feature some well-known names, among them the socialist author George Orwell and the trade union leader Jack Jones.
Orwell, listed under his real name Eric Blair, wrote about his experiences defending the Spanish Second Republic against Franco’s military uprising in his classic book Homage to Catalonia.
MI5, also known as the Security Service, recorded in April 1937 that the writer was ‘fighting in Spain’, and in a fuller entry noted his address, date of birth (albeit with the wrong year) and evidence of his left-wing sympathies.
Intelligence officials cited Orwell’s signing of a ‘joint peace manifesto’ and interest in the French communist party while he was living in Paris.
They continued to keep an eye on his activities after he wrote the best-sellers Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four, and recorded his death in January 1950.
The newly-digitised MI5 list contains more than 200 pages of names and dates detailing the movements of the men and women who left British ports on their way to the frontline in Spain, as well as a ‘roll of honour’ of some of those killed in action.
James Cronan, diplomatic and colonial records specialist at The National Archives, said: ‘The records show that the Security Service tracked the movements of around 4,000 people it believed were trying to travel to Spain to fight with the International Brigades, many more than previously thought.
‘It’s not clear how many made it to Spain although we know that hundreds never returned.
‘The International Brigades brought volunteers together from all over the world in defence of democracy but few if any records exist of their service. That’s why uncovering a document like this is so exciting.’
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War in July 1936.
