Held under fire, the ‘James Connolly Unit’ of the International Brigades hosts a ceremony on the Jarama Front commemorating the 21st anniversary of Connolly’s execution with comrades from all over the world participating. Includes a short resolution and signatories.

‘Irish Fighters in Spain Honor James Connolly’ from The Daily Worker. Vol. 14 No. 156. July 1, 1937.

Commemoration of Execution Is Held at Front Lines at Jarama to Accompaniment of Machineguns and Artillery

MADRID (By Mail). On May 12, 1937, the 21st anniversary of the execution of James Connolly, Irishman and Internationalist, a unique Commemoration was held in Spain.

Worker-soldiers, representing almost every nationality in the world, all members of one of the famous International Brigades, held a commemoration on the very battlefield, on the Jarama Front, south of Madrid.

The commemoration, organized by a committee representing the James Connolly Irish Unit–that serving with the American Lincoln Battalion–could be attended only by whatever men who happened to be off duty. It was held under the protecting care of a hill, just behind the front line, to the accompaniment of the usual daily strafing of artillery and machine-guns.

Every unit in the Brigade was represented. The list of signatures appended to the resolution shows how widely the name of Connolly is known and honored, and incidentally, how representative of the workers of the world are the International Brigades, now fighting in Spain for the freedom of the human race.

THE RESOLUTION

“We of the James Connolly Unit of the International Brigade, fighting alongside the democratic forces in Spain against International Fascism send revolutionary greetings to our comrades in Ireland who are commemorating the 21st anniversary of the death of James Connolly, murdered on May 12, 1916, by the forces of British imperialism.

“We, together with comrades from all over the world, pledge ourselves to the International struggle against the International enemy–Fascism. We fight that enemy here in Spain today, knowing that by defeating it here, Ireland will be spared the horrors which Fascism inflicts on the peoples it dominates.

“We salute our comrades at home, who are carrying on the struggle against imperialism, native and British, and we call for a closing of the ranks against the common enemy.

“We stand in silence here or two minutes in salute to the memory of Connolly, and to all our comrades who gave their lives in Ireland’s fight against oppression, and to the workers of the entire world who have died for freedom.”

THE SIGNERS

Signed on behalf of the Organizing Committee of the Irish Section, Lincoln Battalion:

SEAN DE PAOR, PEADAR O’CONCOBHAIR, P. DE STAINLIGH, KEVIN BLAKE, JOSEPH F. REHILL, P.C. HAYDOCK, T. HAYES, MICHAEL O’CEALLIGH, JAMES O’REGAN, J. HUNT, P. POWER, D. HOLDEN, A. MacLARNAN, PAUL A. BURNS.

Signed also by: MARTIN HOURIHAN, Commandant, 17th (Lincoln) Battalion; FREDERICK LUTZ, Political Commissar, do.; FRED COPEMAN. Commandant, 16th Battalion; R.S. ELLIOTT and B. WILLIAMS, Political Commissars, do.; ARATCHOVIS, Commandant, Dimitrov Battalion; DOBRETT, Political Commissar, do; LANTZ, Commandant, Franco-Belge Battalion; JOSE CAVALLE, Captain Estado Mayor (on behalf of Spanish Comrades); CAPT. ALLAN JOHNSON, Operations Officer, 15th Brigade; HARRY HAYWOOD, Political Commissar, 15th Brigade.

Signed by: J.A. DEMETRIAR (Greece), R. KERR (Canada), JUAN SANTIAGO (Cuba), A.J. THORSTANJE (Holland), ALFONS BIRCHT (Germany), BERNARDO CAPPADONA (ITALY), ARTEMIO LUNA (Philippines). J. SHIVA (Japan), EDWARD C. FLAHERTY (American-Irish), RALPH BATES (Editor, Brigade Journal).

The Daily Worker began in 1924 and was published in New York City by the Communist Party US and its predecessor organizations. Among the most long-lasting and important left publications in US history, it had a circulation of 35,000 at its peak. The Daily Worker came from The Ohio Socialist, published by the Left Wing-dominated Socialist Party of Ohio in Cleveland from 1917 to November 1919, when it became became The Toiler, paper of the Communist Labor Party. In December 1921 the above-ground Workers Party of America merged the Toiler with the paper Workers Council to found The Worker, which became The Daily Worker beginning January 13, 1924. National and City (New York and environs) editions exist.

PDF of full issue: https://archive.org/download/per_daily-worker_daily-worker_1937-07-01_14_156/per_daily-worker_daily-worker_1937-07-01_14_156.pdf