The International Brigades

This song is the anthem of the International Brigades. It is sung by the chorus of the 11th International Brigade conducted by Ernst Busch, a German actor, singer, and volunteer.

On 18 September 1936, the Comintern, the organization of Communist Parties controlled by Moscow, decided to create the International Brigades (IBs). The idea was to support the Republic by sending volunteers. Hundreds of foreigners were already spontaneously fighting in Spain, but many thousands more wanted to join the fight. Some were intellectuals, but the majority were workers. Most were Communists, but the political beliefs of the volunteers were varied, including a general anti-fascism. There were even some who joined out of a sense of adventure. The IBs were formally established on 14 October. Their leader, appointed by the soviets, was the French communist André Marty, a staunch Stalinist and ruthless disciplinarian who would later be accused of ordering the execution of hundreds of brigade members. 

The seven Brigades, numbered from the XI to the XV, along with the 129th and 150th, enlisted approximately 35,000 members from over 50 countries. Each brigade consisted of about 2,000 men, organized into three—and in some cases, four—battalions, often grouped by their countries of origin (although, over time, Spanish soldiers were also recruited into the Brigades). Most had no military experience, though many were veterans of World War I. France provided by far the largest number of volunteers, around 10,000, followed by exiles from Germany and Austria, and Italy. 

The IBs were used as shock troops in the toughest battles of the war, from the defense of Madrid in November 1936 to the crossing of the Ebro in July 1938. As a result, their casualty rate was extremely high—around 30 per cent —while the average in the Spanish Civil War was about 10 per cent. The greatest losses occurred during the collapse of the Aragon front starting in March 1938.

The Francoists had a habit of executing the members of the IBs, although later, partly due to pressure from their Italian and German allies, they began exchanging them for prisoners. Captured brigadiers ended up crammed into the infamous San Pedro de Cardeña concentration camp in Burgos, where they endured appalling conditions.

The Republican government decided to withdraw the IBs in September 1938. Decimated, their military value was already limited, and Juan Negrín was also attempting to use the gesture to involve the major powers in a negotiated end to the war. Taken at the height of the British and French policy of appeasement, the move ultimately achieved nothing.

Huge crowds cheered the IBs at their farewell parade in Barcelona on 28 October 1938. Their subsequent fates varied widely. French, British, and American volunteers had no trouble reintegrating into civilian life. However, others, such as the Swiss and Canadians, were persecuted by their democratic governments, as were those from countries ruled by dictatorships. Germans, Austrians, and Italians, for their part, had nowhere to go. Most of them, after passing through French concentration camps, continued fighting against fascism during World War II. 

Similarly, the ways in which they have been remembered in their home countries have varied and changed over time to reflect changing political circumstances.