PV Victoria Bureau
About 50 people gathered in Victoria, BC on the morning of November 11 to commemorate those who have died fighting for peace, at the annual white poppy event at the Spirit of the Republic statue. The event was organized by the Scotty Neish Club of the Communist Party of Canada, which later in the day hosted a screening of the 1976 NFB film Los Canadienses about the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion.
During the civil war in Spain, which erupted in 1936 when the democratically elected government was attacked by a fascist rebellion, 1200 Canadians joined the International Brigades and formed the all-Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion to fight fascism. The majority of the “Mac-Paps” were members of the Communist Party of Canada.
These fighters were not sent to Spain by the Canadian government, however. In fact, the government adopted the Foreign Enlistment Act in 1937 to stop people in Canada from joining the republican loyalists. But working-class fighters recognized the danger posed by the forces of Franscisco Franco, who was backed by Hitler and Mussolini, and picked up arms out of their own conviction. Many of them died on the battlefields, becoming the first of tens of millions to fall in the fight against global fascism.
Only about half of the Canadians returned from defeat in Spain. The Mac-Pap veterans were greeted as heroes by the people upon their arrival home but were treated with suspicion by the ruling class and government. Many were prevented from attaining employment for their affiliation with communism. They were the “premature anti-fascists” of Canada who would be absolved by history.
Each year the Scotty Neish Club organizes a commemoration of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion at Victoria’s Spirit of the Republic, a 25-year-old statue honouring those who fought in Spain. “We remember their sacrifice and their profound contribution to Canadian history. We remember the Mac-Paps as soldiers of humanity. Their fight and their sacrifice stand as a permanent reminder of what working-class unity looks like and what it can accomplish.”
The Mac-Paps also stand as a historical reminder that it’s never too soon to mobilize against fascism.
In recent years, imperialism has greatly destabilized the world. The genocidal nature of capitalism and war have been on full display, while working people in Canada are being forced to shoulder the burden of public service cuts linked directly to an enormous increase in military spending. The rise in militarism is accompanied by a normalizing discussion of so-called “tactical” nuclear weapons. History teaches that fascism is built on precisely this kind of rapid, global movement by the ruling class toward reaction and war.
Unfortunately, that’s an urgent lesson working people must consider today.
There has been a dramatic growth in recent years of far-right movements and organizations which fan the flames of the racist, xenophobic, anti-Indigenous, misogynist, transphobic and anti-science views of Donald Trump and his “MAGA” movement.
Last fall, the BC Conservative Party nearly won a majority in the provincial election. This included ultra-right MLAs who have since formed a new racist, anti-Indigenous “OneBC” party. Mainstream media recently reported on “Exiles of the Golden Age,” a white nationalist conference that has taken place in BC two years in a row.
An October 30 editorial by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network noted: “Whether you measure it by number of supporters, fundraising ability, or by the size of its militant groups, the white nationalist movement in Canada has never been larger or more of a threat.”
This growing white nationalist movement, with its complimentary propaganda, political, and militant arms, includes leaders who speak openly of ethnic cleansing and seizing power. They believe fascism is inevitable and are preparing for it.
We’re in a political moment of either advance by the working class and democratic forces, or the retreat into hatred and division demanded by the far-right political forces. In these dire times, it is important to remember the legacy of the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion by standing together to resist the rising wave of hatred and war.
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