The 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War is being commemorated by a mobile exhibition of eight panels focusing on the men and women from the Manchester area who went to defend the Republicans against the rising led by General Franco.

With the red, yellow and purple of the Republican flag in the background, the exhibition features the striking posters of the era as well as photographs of members of the International Brigade and their supporters. The text has been researched and written by members of the Association of Greater Manchester Trade Union Councils and the International Brigade Trust, helped by historians and archivists from the Working Class Movement Library and the People’s History Museum.

One of the contributors, Dolores Wild, is the daughter of the Commander of the British Battalion, Sam Wild from Ardwick, an activist in the Unemployed Workers’ Movement who was awarded the Spanish Medal of Valour. Sam Wild survived, but Oldham’s Clem Beckett, a member of the Communist Party, known as ‘DareDevil Beckett’ for his feats as a speedway rider, was one of the forty two men from the Manchester area who died in Spain. His machine gun jammed when he was trying to keep open the Valencia- Madrid road.

Three placards celebrate the women who went as nurses and writers to Spain, the raising of Medical Aid and the art and poetry that the war inspired. Among the local women who served as nurses was Stalybridge’s Lillian Urmston who nursed the wounded at the Aragon Tunnel. She was still caring for the sick among the refugees fleeing over the Pyrenees to France in 1939. The Labour MP, Ellen Wilkinson, played a key role in raising Medical Aid for Spain. Her efforts met with a tremendous response in the Manchester area. Grocers put big bags in their shops to collect tins, dances, plays and garden parties were held to raise money, collections were taken at meetings. Contributions flowed in to a depot in Deansgate for Manchester’s own ‘Food Ship for Spain’, which had the backing of the Lord Mayor, E. J Hart.

Veteran trades unionist Jack Jones, the President of the International Brigade Memorial Trust, has welcomed the exhibition celebrating the North West’s support for the Republican cause against the threat of fascism. ‘Those of us who crossed the Pyrenees to help the Spanish republic were convinced that this evil had to be stopped- and Spain was the place where this could be done. Otherwise, a wider European war was inevitable’.

The Republicans were defeated and the wider war came. The exhibition is a reminder of the commitment and sacrifices of men and women who risked their lives in an effort to prevent this.

Already shown in Liverpool Town Hall at the Annual General Meeting of the North West Trades Union Congress, the exhibition is scheduled for display in other venues including Manchester Town Hall.

Enquiries to Derek Clarke, Secretary of the Greater Manchester Association of Trade Union Councils (derekclarke@macace.com tel 0161 860 6033)