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Emily Mason, Democracy, Deeds and Dilemmas: Support for the Spanish Republic Within British Civil Society, 1936–1939

The Spanish Civil War began in July 1936 when a group of right-wing military officers launched a coup against the democratically-elected and progressive Popular Front government. The plight of the besieged Spanish Republic prompted an international outpouring of political and humanitarian activism. However, the National Government in Britain adopted the official policy of non-intervention in an effort to quarantine the conflict. This embargoed the sale of arms to both sides, despite mounting evidence that the rebel generals were receiving considerable and ultimately decisive military assistance from Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Non-intervention also failed to prevent sympathetic members of the British public from supporting the Spanish Republic until its defeat in April 1939. A relatively small number – up to 2,500 – volunteered to fight in Spain.(1) They were extraordinary. Most British people who supported the Republic did not set foot in Spain during the Civil War but engaged with various Spanish relief campaigns in their own communities. These activities have received extensive scholarly attention, particularly from Tom Buchanan.(2) In Democracy, Deeds and Dilemmas: Support for the Spanish Republic within British Civil Society, 1936–1939, Emily Mason suggests that there still remains a great deal that has been overlooked or misinterpreted.