International Brigade Memorial Trust
Encyclopedia
The International Brigade Memorial Trust is a British educational trust formed by the veterans of the International Brigade Association, the Friends of the IBA, representatives of the Marx Memorial Library
, and historians specialising in the Spanish Civil War
.
The aims of the IBMT are to:
The longest serving President of the International Brigade Memorial Trust was the late Jack Jones
, former General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, and himself a veteran of the British Battalion
of the International Brigades. The IBMT holds an annual commemorative ceremony at the International Brigades memorial at Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank in London and organises a yearly lecture on the civil war, given by specialist academic historians from around the world.
Marx Memorial Library
The Marx Memorial Library in London holds more than 43,000 books, pamphlets and newspapers on Marxism, Scientific Socialism and Working class history. The library also features the fresco The worker of the future upsetting the economic chaos of the present by Jack Hastings, painted in 1935. It is...
, and historians specialising in the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
.
The aims of the IBMT are to:
- Educate the public in the history of the men and women who fought in the International BrigadesInternational BrigadesThe International Brigades were military units made up of volunteers from different countries, who traveled to Spain to defend the Second Spanish Republic in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939....
and in the medical and other support services in the Spanish Civil War. In particular, by preserving and cataloguing valuable historical material relating hereto and by making such material available to the public. - To foster good citizenship by remembering those who have fallen in the Spanish Civil War by preserving, maintaining and assisting in the construction of war memorials.
The longest serving President of the International Brigade Memorial Trust was the late Jack Jones
Jack Jones (trade union leader)
James Larkin Jones, CH, MBE , known as Jack Jones, was a British trade union leader and General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union.-Early life:...
, former General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers Union, and himself a veteran of the British Battalion
British Battalion
The British Battalion was the 16th battalion of the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.- Early volunteers :A number of British volunteers, including Tom Wintringham and Nat Cohen, arrived in Spain during August-September 1936 and formed the Tom Mann Centuria - a rifle company in...
of the International Brigades. The IBMT holds an annual commemorative ceremony at the International Brigades memorial at Jubilee Gardens on the South Bank in London and organises a yearly lecture on the civil war, given by specialist academic historians from around the world.
External links
- The International Brigade Memorial Trust - www.international-brigades.org.uk
- History of the British Battalion, XV International Brigade - www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/
- RealAudio interviews with British Battalion veterans - www.iwm.org.uk
- Men who fought Franco fêted as Spain finally confronts its past - The Times, 15 July 2006