Arise ye toilers of the earth
For reason thunders new creation
`Tis a better world in birth.
Never more traditions' chains shall bind us
Arise ye toilers no more in thrall
The earth shall rise on new foundations
We are naught but we shall be all.
Then comrades, come rally
And the last fight let us face
The Internationale
Unites the human race.
(Lyrics from The Internationale)
Spain
1936- 1939
The Spanish Civil War
The war began after a pronunciamiento
By a group of generals
Under the leadership of Jose Sanjurjo
Against the elected government of the
Second Spanish Republic
At the time under the leadership
Of President Manuel Azana
This amounted to a coup d’etat
On the right
The Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right
Monarchists and the
Fascist Falange
The uprising was authoritarian and
Anti-separatist
Anti-Basque and
Anti-Catalan
Following the coup
Spain was left
Militarily and politically divided
Generalissimo Francisco Franco
Began a protracted
War of attrition
Against the established government
For the control of the country
The rebel forces received the support of
Nazi Germany and
The Kingdom of Italy
As well as neighboring Portugal
While the
Soviet Union and Mexico
Intervened in support of the
Republican government and
The loyalist side
American volunteers
Got into the fight by
Forming the
Abe Lincoln Brigades
To help the Spanish people
In their struggle to save their liberty
Bloody purges occurred
In territory conquered from
The republic to consolidate
Franco’s future regime
Tens of thousands of civilians on both sides
Were killed for their political or religious views
And after the war’s conclusion in 1939
Those associated with the losing Republicans
Were persecuted by the
Victorious Nationalists
The war ended with the victory
Of the Nationalists
The overthrow of the
Democratically elected government
And the exile of thousands of
Left leaning Spaniards
Many of whom
Fled to refugee camps
In Southern France with the
Establishment of dictatorship
By Generalissimo Francisco Franco
American novelist
Ernest Hemingway
Wrote a novel about his
Experiences fighting on the side of the
Republican forces titled
For Whom The Bell Tolls
He describes
How it felt for him
To lay in ambush
Waiting to kill
Franco’s fascist soldiers
While he rested on a bed of
Pine needles
He said that was
The happiest time of his life
Not to worry folks
Before this bloody century
Plays itself out
The best of us
Will all have our chance
To do the very same!
Viva la Causa!
jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012
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