Spanish Civil War Comes to Australia
From a cane farm at Mena Creek , near Innisfail , anarchist Salvador Torrents campaigned against fascism in his homeland during the brutal Spanish Civil War which raged from 1936-39. From one of his wide ranging scrapbooks in the Torrents archive at James Cook University Library Special Collections , Townsville , is part of a unique, emotive , faded leaflet that circulated in the north highlighting the danger to the world.
From a cane farm at Mena Creek , near Innisfail , anarchist Salvador Torrents campaigned against fascism in his homeland during the brutal Spanish Civil War which raged from 1936-39. From one of his wide ranging scrapbooks in the Torrents archive at James Cook University Library Special Collections , Townsville , is part of a unique, emotive , faded leaflet that circulated in the north highlighting the danger to the world.
It is not known if Torrents,president of the Innisfail Spanish Relief Committee , a widely read , self educated man ,wrote the text , although he contributed to overseas anarchist publications and Australian newspapers . In summary, the leaflet called on Australians as lovers of freedom and democracy to help the Spanish people during the conflict which saw the Republican government supported by the Comintern and other left wing and anarchist groups overthrown by General Franco , aided by fascists, Hitler and Mussolini , and other right wing groups .
Printed by the Innisfail Advocate , it described fascists as "the most horrible of prehistoric beasts," who had risen up against Spanish Republicans, long oppressed by the ruling class and the church , who had legally won many seats in municipal elections. It went on to say that in Germany, Italy , Portugal and Spain anybody who dared show humanitarian feelings ended up in a cemetery or gaol . It asked readers to consider if it was better to have fascist governments who would continue the methods of the 15th century Catholic Spanish Inquisitor-General ,Tomas de Torquemada , and Nero, or the system of democracy, liberty , freedom and justice
Torrents corresponded with influential Australian writers Nettie and Vance Palmer , closely involved in the Spanish Civil War, a daughter , Aileen , serving with the British medical unit and medical service of the International Brigade in Spain 1936-38. A prolific writer, Nettie Palmer moved in international writing circles in the l930s and became deeply involved with refugees and immigrants, especially during the bloody Spanish war. She wrote two pamphlets Spanish Struggle (1936) and Australians in Spain (1938).
Interesting correspondence between Torrents and the Palmers is stored in the National Library of Australia and Special Collections , James Cook Library. One Townsville letter , apparently written in July 1947, from Nettie Palmer to Torrents, reveals the close relationship between the two , covering a host of subjects ...Spain, the plight of Jews in North Africa, the Palestinian situation,Saudi Arabia ,Syria and concerns about her daughter, Aileen .
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1940s American anti fascist publication Cultura Proletaria in Special Collections, Townsville, mentions New Zealand . Copies were banned and seized by the Commonwealth Investigation Branch . Torrents and others , including Italians in North Queensland , were investigated , Salvador's mail censored as revealed below .
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Handwritten, the letter from Nettie Palmer opens with her saying she had just been reading an article in "your Cultura Proletaria "( to which which Torrents contributed ), by the brilliant Angel Sanblancat, an anarchist, novelist , journalist, which was so original her ordinary Spanish dictionary could not help...And his phrases!
"When he calls the flag of England the 'Union Jack the Ripper ' I can gather the meaning ; but when he invents something based on a Turkish idea,or an Italian proverb ,I can only guess." In thanking Torrents for ordering the office in New York to send her Cultura Proletaria, she went on to say she would like to talk it over with him.
This year, she confided ,she did not look like being able to visit Queensland (the Palmers journeyed to Green Island, near Cairns , from time to time ) because of a great number of unusual difficulties and responsibilities. One reason being the health of her father's sister , on her "last dreamy time to be peaceful."
Their real anxiety, however, "don't mention to anyone ", was the condition of Aileen who had been in hospital for some months.Her difficult years in Spain and London during the German blitz had put a great strain on her . She had only been 21 when she went to Spain for two years and had been Involved in the retreat with wounded in 1938.
Nettie Palmer expressed concern for all those young people who had been attacked and crushed by the forces of darkness . Aileen, like "many young resisters of her generation", had refused to join the abortive onslaught. "Surely there has never been so many crusaders ,in the best sense ," she added."It has not made their lives easy in the years that followed."
In another part , she said she had not forgotten Salvador's kindness , friendship and passion for liberty. Both she and Vance were writing a good deal, and she asked if Salvador had read Vance's short novel about the Cairns cyclone and his play, Hail Tomorrow. Nettie had nearly completed a manuscript based on her journal ,1925-1939.The letter signed off " with warm thoughts."
NEXT: A miscellany of interesting items from Salvador's scrapbooks, library, letters and photographs.
