Black and white photograph of Felicia Browne holding a child ([c.1936])
Felicia Mary Browne was an English artist , painter, sculptor and Communist who was the only British woman combatant and volunteer to die in the Spanish Civil War , when she was killed in action at Aragon on 25 August 1936.
Felicia was born at Weston Green, Thames Ditton, Surrey, on 18 February 1904. Her family were middle class but her father, had progressive political ideas, and encouraged his daughter in her early artistic endeavors. Felicia had an older brother, called Harold, who was named after their father, and who died out in France in 1918 during the 1st World War. She also had two older sisters, Helen, and Edith, and a younger brother called Billy, who also tragically died fighting in the Spanish Civil War, two years later than Felicia, who after joining the International Brigades in February 1938 lost his life in Aragón in the following month..
Felica studied at the St John's Wood Art School and the Slade School of Art between 1920–21 and 1927–28 and was awarded the Certificate in Drawing. Arriving at the Slade at the unusually young age of 16, she was a contemporary of William Coldstream, Henry Tonks, Clive Branson, Claude Rogers and Nan Youngman.
In 1928 she went to Berlin, to study metal work and Sculptureat a state technical training facility in Charlottenburg, Berlin (she spoke several languages very well, In 1929. She became an apprentice to a stone mason whilst there, and witnessed the rise of fascism first-hand and became politically active and dedicated much of her time to encouraging working women to fight for better conditions. She also actively participated in anti-fascist activities and was involved in anti-Nazi street-fighting.
Having joined the Artists International Association, Felicia visited the Soviet Union in 1931,to see how people lived and worked under a communist regime. She also went to Hungary and Czechoslovakia, sketching the townscapes and the local people there.. She spoke at many meetings on her experiences in the Soviet Union on her return in the early 1930’s where she continued to study at Goldsmiths College and the Central School of Arts and Crafts and contributed art to The Left Review.
She donated her personal fortune to refugees, and, in a subsequent period of privation, took employment in a restaurant kitchen. Her ability to speak four languages eased her travels through some of the most remote parts of Europe.”
In 1933 Felicia joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, attracting the interest of M15 and Special Branch. Whilst she was a patient at Guy’s Hospital, she distributed leaflets and attempted to convert some of the nurses to communism. As a result, a watch was established on her postal mail, and it became clear that her home, in Bessborough Gardens and then Guilford Street, London, were being used as cover addresses for foreign mail being sent to Communists in Britain.
In 1934 Felicia won a prize for her design of a medal for the Trades Union Congress, which commemorated the 100th anniversary of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. Ironically, some of the future recipients of this medal, also turned out to be Communists.
Felica's involvement in the Spanish Civil War was not directly planned. While many of the other fighters had to travel from Britain in secret after the British government declared it illegal to go to Spain to fight, Browne had, in fact, arrived just before the war broke out,. In July 1936 Browne embarked on a driving holiday to France and Spain, accompanied by her friend Dr. Edith Bone, who was a left-wing photographer. Bone went on to become heavily involved with the establishment of the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia, (PSUC) in Barcelona.
Their objective was to reach Barcelona in time to attend the International People's Olympiad, which had been organized as protest against the 1936 Olympics that were being held in Hitler's Berlin, however just two days before the the event’s scheduled date, on July 17, 1936, the fascist military rose up against the Spanish republic, and the Spanish Civil War began. Felicia and Edith were immediately caught up in the violence that engulfed Barcelona. and as Athletes either fled or were stranded; Browne decided to stay and fight.
The Spanish Civil War had began after generals Emilio Mola and Francisco Franco instigated a coup aimed at overthrowing the country's democratically elected republic.At first, the efforts by Nationalist rebels to fire up military revolts throughout Spain succeeded only partially. In rural areas with a pro right-wing political allegiance, Franco's confederates generally succeeded, seizing political power and imposing martial law. In urban areas, particularly cities with leftist political traditions, such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Bilbao and Málaga, the revolts met with fierce opposition and were repulsed.
The Nationalists on one side were mostly composed of the military, large landowners, businessmen and the Roman Catholic church. The Republicans on the other side were urban workers, most agricultural labourers, the intelligentsia and the educated middle class. The two sides were partly composed of members from opposite extremes of the political spectrum, such as the fascist-oriented Falangists and the militant anarchists.
The conflict pitted the leftist Republican government against fascist-backed Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco. With Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini already in power in Germany and Italy, anti-fascists around the world feared that Spain would be the next to fall, threatening the future of European democracy. When world powers like the United States and the United Kingdom refused to intervene in the Spanish Civil War, more than 35,000 anti-fascist volunteers poured into Spain from 52 countries to take up arms against the Nationalists. They included Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, idealist intellectuals like a young George Orwell and communists like Felicia committed to crushing an ideological enemy.
At the same time as the Spanish Civil War was raging, Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists was gaining strength in Britain, marching and holding meetings in predominantly Jewish areas. In 1936, a clash between Mosley’s blackshirts and anti-fascist demonstrators in London’s East End – what was to become known as the Battle of Cable Street – spurred many people to scrutinise what was happening in mainland Europe. Fighting in Spain was seen by many as the only way to stop fascism spreading further across Europe, They saw in Spain the risk of allowing fascism to spread unchecked. For them, joining the struggle was about stopping that advance, which is reflected in many of the popular calls to action that echoed throughout the Spanish Civil War: “No pasarán” (They shall not pass), “This far and no further” and “If you tolerate this, then your children will be next.”
The foreign volunteers who fought in the “International Brigades” of the Spanish Civil War hoped to ward off the coming nightmare of Franco’s brutal dicatorship and, in turn, arrest the insidious spread of fascism across the rest of Europe.
“The Spanish Civil War looked like it could be the moment when fascism was finally thrown back,” says Richard Baxell, an historian and author of Unlikely Warriors: The Extraordinary Story of the Britons Who Fought in the Spanish Civil War. “There was this feeling that perhaps people could go out armed with just a gun and political conviction and do their bit alongside the Spanish people to defeat fascism at last.” The foreign volunteers who fought in the “International Brigades” of the Spanish Civil War hoped to ward off the coming nightmare of Franco’s brutal dicatorship and, in turn, arrest the insidious spread of fascism across the rest of Europe. Sadly it didn’t work out that way.
Browne learned of a mission to blow up a fascist munitions train and boldly volunteered for it. However, the Communist party attempted to dissuade her participation. She defied the orders and went to the party offices, where she demanded to be enlisted to fight on the Saragossa front. According to the Daily Express correspondent Sydney Smith, she declared that "I am a member of the London Communists and I can fight as well as any man." embodying the fearless determination with which many women travelled into the warzone with a readiness to lay down their lives.
A desire for equality of the sexes underpinned the ideologies of many women volunteers. While a number claimed to have no political inclination or reason for entering the conflict beyond religion or humanitarianism, those that did were often also fuelled by the feminist sentiments spreading across the continents at that time.
One of many female volunteers to fight – there were mixed-gender Spanish combat battalions on the front line and women-only rear guard battalions – Felicia was the only known British woman.The Spanish Civil War was one of the first wars where women were allowed to participate in combat, which further cemented the Republic’s view of women as equals.
Drawing by Felicia Brown of a Republican militia (1936)
Felicia Brown sketches
On 3 August 1936, Felicia successfully enlisted in the PSUC (Catalan Communist) Karl Marx militia to fight in Aragon. Shortly after joining she wrote to her friend Elizabeth Watson in England, describing her desperation to get involved; "Apparently no chance of aviation school on account of my eyesight, God damn it."
James Hopkins, the author of Into the Heart of the Fire: The British in the Spanish Civil War (1998) describes Felicia’s mission and tells how she met her death on 25 August 1936:
"A German comrade on the raid, George Brinkman, has left a fascinating typewritten report, describing their mission. According to Brinkman, the pudgy, bespectacled Browne was forced to clear a final gender hurdle before being allowed to accompany the raiding party. She went to its leader and asked if he would accept a woman comrade as a volunteer. After attempting to intimidate Browne by telling her of the dangers that awaited them, and failing, he accepted her as one of the ten who would attempt the hazardous mission. They left Tardienta by car and travelled to the farthest point of the front, where they disembarked walked about twelve kilometres to the rail line. Browne and two others were told to keep watch and signal if there was trouble. The remaining seven moved close to the tracks. They set the charges with only thirty seconds remaining before the train passed."
"On their way back, the group stumbled upon a macabre scene, a crashed plane with the remains of the pilot in the cockpit. As they hurriedly buried the dead man, a dog suddenly appeared, and with him an oppressive sense of danger. Brinkman moved quickly up a steep incline where he saw thirty-five or forty enemy soldiers nearby. He signaled to the rest to take cover. To re-join them, Brinkman had to run through heavy rifle fire. An Italian volunteer beside him fell with a bullet through his foot. Brinkman made him as comfortable as possible under the desperate circumstances and then ran to the others for help. Browne insisted on returning with first aid for the wounded man. When she reached him, the enemy concentrated its fire on the two of them, killing her with bullet wounds to her chest and back.”
As Angela Jackson pointed out in British Women and the Spanish Civil War (2002): "Her story has all the ingredients essential to heroic legend, the willing sacrifice of her life to save that of a comrade."
Browne's body could not be recovered, and had to be left there, but her comrades retrieved a sketchbook from her possessions, filled with drawings of her fellow soldiers, these stoic men and women all having been captured in Browne’s lyrical, romantic modernist style.
In her obituary in the Artists International Association journal it said: “She had it in her to represent the very best type of the new woman, but the kind of upbringing to which she was automatically subjected to, and the forces with which she had to compete in a society where commercial values are preeminent, seriously and unnecessarily delayed her in harmonizing all the remarkable powers within her”.
“She had most of the best human characteristics, but she conceived her own variety more as a source of opposition than of enjoyment. She was without guile, duplicity or vanity; painfully truthful and honest, immensely kind and generous, completely humane, loving any aspect of livingness, and as capable of enormous humour as she was deeply serious. She was gifted at every craft that she tried, a witty letter-writer, an amusing cartoonist, a vital and interesting companion, and socially much too gracious to belong credibly to the twentieth century."
“But if her fighting was the expression of her deeply conscientious but less happy side, at least she had intellectual faith in the future. And she found happiness at the end, as far as one can judge from her letters, in a real sense of comradeship with her fellow militiamen. Intellectually she was quite clear about what was necessary for the next few years other life.”
Felicia Mary Browne's friend and colleague Nan Youngman, who was much affected by Felicia's death, organized a memorial exhibition for Browne in October 1936.
The Spanish Civil War was one of the greatest idealistic causes of the first half of the twentieth century, Of the roughly 40,000 selfless3 foreign volunteers who fought in the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 were killed and thousands more were recorded as missing. They paid the ultimate sacrifice for their ideals,
Most of those who fought in Spain were men with left wing sympathies, motivated by the Europe-wide threat of fascism. British writers like George Orwell, WH Auden and Laurie Lee were just three of the men whose work now better informs our understanding of the war and British participation in it. Felica's story in contrast, is far less well known, but through her sketches and drawings, she documented her own experiences, as an unofficial war artist .
While some historians view the International Brigades as naive idealists or expendable pawns for the communist regime in the USSR, but at the time they showed the Spanish Republic and people around the world that Spain was not fighting fascism alone, Given what was going on in the world, that was a powerful message.
In her farewell address to what remained of the beleaguered International Brigades in 1938, the Spanish Republican leader Dolores Ibarruri, known as “La Pasionaria,” praised the foreign volunteers: “Communists, Socialists, Anarchists, Republicans—men of different colors, differing ideology, antagonistic religions, yet all profoundly loving liberty and justice, they came and offered themselves to us unconditionally… You are history. You are legend. You are the heroic example of democracy's solidarity and universality.”
Sadly Franco , with help from Hitler and Mussolini, overpowered the Republicans, Franco mounted a major attack against Catalonia in January 1939, which proved a decisive moment because Barcelona, the region’s capital, was unable to fend off the superior power of the Nationalists. On March 28, 1939, the Nationalists triumphantly entered Madrid, leaving the Republicans little option but to raise the white flag over the city, bringing to an end the bloody threeyear struggle. Franco ruled as a dictator until his death in 1975.
Even in death Felicia Mary Browne continued to help the cause she died for: Her drawings made their way to Tom Wintringham, a journalist for the Daily Worker, who suggested to Harry Pollitt that they be sold by the Artists' International Association (AIA) to raise money for Spanish relief campaigns. The AIA presented Browne as being the epitome of an artist choosing to take direct political action.
“If painting or sculpture were more valid or urgent to me than the earthquake which is happening in the revolution,” she once told a friend who questioned why she didn’t simply concentrate on her art, “if these two were reconciled so that the demands of the one didn’t conflict … with the demands of the other, I should paint or make sculpture.”
Felicia Mary Browne 's collection of drawings, prints, book designs, sketchbooks and correspondence were purchased by the Tate in 2010 and have since thankfully been fully digitalised. Now, with the Tate archive , we can at last get a fuller picture of the only known British woman to give her life to the Spanish civil war. Here is a link to the collection:
The spectre of fascism still haunts and universal equality has not been achieved. We should not forget the likes of Felicia Mary Browne and the other internatinalist brigade volunteers who preceded us who gave their lifes so selflesssly,, and we must continue to resist oppressive , fascist forces, with whatever way is at our disposale,.
Felicia Browne: Unofficial War Artist : Animating the Archives
The following film uncovers the work and untimely death of Felicia Browne, an event that reverberates through the work of artist Sonia Boue, here reflecting on the significance of British volunteers, like Browne, who helped republican exiles like her father.
co
Felicia Browne) is celebrated here in this evocative song composed by Patrick Dexter.
The Road to Barcelona (Felicia Browne)
Words and music by Patrick Dexter
Vocal by Eilís Dexter
Oh the sweet sound of the guitar
Play on comrade, play on!
Let the music flow like this cheap wine in my cup
while I sit here in my reverie
Every strum draws my mind back
to that journey we took together
We packed the car and set off
on the boat to France
Passion and ideas were our potion
We sipped fine wine,
You and I
As Eagles soared way up high
The snow capped mountains in our rearview mirror.
In café’s, through cobbled streets
We shared our passions and our dreams
Oh how I miss that sweet aroma
On the Road to Barcelona
Seized upon our chance
Became volunteers at last war for us,
hell to those who doubt our gender
My dearest friend Felicity you always had one up on me
Debating the world’s changes that were stirring
“Anything is possible” you kept declaring
You were going to change the world miss Brown
Through vineyards and sweet smelling flower fields
As we drove through sunshine with the rooftop down
We sipped fine wine,
You and I As Eagles soared way up high
The snow capped mountains in our rearview mirror.
In café’s, through cobbled streets
We shared our passions and our dreams
Oh how I miss that sweet aroma
Of the Road to Barcelona
Now I am old I drink bad wine here all alone
My thoughts a drift in this muddy river
But what good is sweet reverie
When you are gone, all is left is this memory
I long to be back again the times we had there my dear friend
But with the wind in our hair our ideals took over
You died for your beliefs, a martyr for your dreams
On 22 August 1922, the most idolised and arguably most controversial leader in modern Irish history, Irish republican and revolutionary leader Michael Collins, was killed in a sudden ambush. The son of a tenant farmer,he was born on 16 October 1890 in Sam’s Cross, West Cork. the youngest of eight children . Collins or “the big fellow” as he was nicknamed, had what by most accounts a happy childhood. Educated at Lisavaird and Clonakilty national schools, young Michael was precocious and intelligent, and while there were some early influences that piqued his interest in Irish nationalism, it was, ironically, his move to London when he was 15, in 1906 ,joining his sister Hannie Collins (1879-1971) that lit the flame of Irish republicanism within him.
He was subsequently employed by a firm of stockbrokers in the City of London, and finally as a clerk in a post office, a position that gave the young and energetic Collins the organisational skills he would eventually draw upon to change the course of history. Like many Irish in London to this day, he played Gaelic football and he was involved in the Gaelic Athletic Association, a hobby that led him to rub shoulders with figures from the clandestine Irish Republican Brotherhood.
He was sworn into the Irish Republican (or Fenian) Brotherhood (IRB) in 1909 by his fellow post office worker Sam Maguire, and went on to become treasurer of the IRB for London and South England.. On April 25th 1914, Collins cousin Sean Hurley enrolled him into the No. 1 company of the London Irish Volunteers.
Upon hearing of the planned Easter Rising, Collins returned to Dublin in January 1916 to take part in the first and most significant armed conflict of the revolutionary period. He fought alongside other household names, including Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and other members of the Rising top brass. The insurgents held their positions for the minimum time required to justify a claim to independence under international criteria, and so viewed it as a strategic win.
While the insurrection was put down after only six days, with the bulk of the leadership, and ninety men in total, sentenced to death .The executions turned the tide of Irish public opinion greatly against the British state,
Like the other ring leaders, Collins was arrested by plain clothes officers, or “G-men” from the Dublin Metropolitan Police and incarcerated. His arrest after the rebellion led to him being identified as a person who should be treated harshly, with the possibility of execution—but by a pure stroke of luck, he was accidentally transferred to Frongoch prison in North Wales.Famously dubbed the 'University ofRevolution', the internment camp at Frongoch was the location where the IRA was formed and where s ignificant figures in the subsequent War of Independence, , trained internees in the tactics of guerrilla warfare. Here, while resented by some for his thrusting, still callow assertiveness, and his involvement in establishing an IRB circle in the camp, Collins began to emerge as one of the better-known figures in his revolutionary generation He remained as a Prisoner of War for several months before his release.
Michael Collins masterminded Eamon DeValera’s own escape from England’s Lincoln Prison, allowing DeValera to become Ireland’s first ‘Prime Minister’. Had the rebel not been accidentally transferred, Irish history would be very different indeed.
Shortly after his release in late 1916, Collins was appointed secretary of the Irish National Aid and Volunteer Dependants Fund. He became a member (and, it seems, President in 1919) of the reconstituted Supreme Council of the IRB. He was narrowly elected to the Sinn Féin executive in September 1917. He was appointed adjutant general of the reorganised Irish Volunteers (later known as the IRA). At the 1918 general election he was elected for Cork South. In April 1919, Collins was appointed Minister for Finance, and threw his remarkable organising energies into the organisation of the Dáil loan. By mid-year, he had also commandeered the position of IRA director of intelligence. His network of informants reached into Dublin Castle, giving the IRA an important advantage.
Collins, who contrived to remain at large, was centrally involved in the putting together of the “Squad”, whose initial purpose was to kill a number of plain-clothes detectives in the G division of the Dublin Military Police. The intention was to achieve an escalation of the conflict, to terrorise others within the Dublin Castle system, and to provoke a repressive response from the British authorities. The strategy achieved its culmination on “Bloody Sunday”, 21 November 1920, when a dozen special branch detectives were killed in their homes, prompting a massive backlash. It relied on after-events to give a vestige of credibility to Collins’ insistence that the IRA’s “organized and bold guerrilla warfare” was in self-defence. In what became known as the War of Independence, Collins was a superlative organiser rather than a commander in the field. Capable of utter ruthlessness, he sought to calibrate the deployment of violence in the attainment of a defined political end. Few revolutionaries were so alert to public opinion. Though apt to pose as primarily a fighter, he was a highly gifted and exuberantly charismatic politician.
After the truce of July 1921, Collins reluctantly participated in peace talks led by Arthur Griffith. These negotiations resulted in the Anglo-Irish Treaty, which granted Ireland Dominion status within the British Commonwealth. Collins was one of the plenipotentiaries in the Anglo-Irish Treaty negotiations. Conscious that the IRA was not in a position to withstand a full-scale British military onslaught, Collins came down on the side of the treaty, signed on 6 December 1921. He and Arthur Griffith (1872-1922), who called him “the man who won the war”, were the Treaty’s principal proponents.
However, the treaty divided the Republican movement, leading to a bitter dispute between those who accepted it, led by Collins, and those who rejected it, including Eamon de Valera. The acceptance of the treaty led to the outbreak of the Irish Civil War in 1922. Collins and Griffith worked tirelessly to enforce the treaty, but they faced opposition from armed Republicans who saw it as a betrayal. In June 1922, Collins resorted to force against the opposition, sparking a civil war that ended in May 1923.
Collins became chairman of the Provisional Government, and remained Minister for Finance. His various endeavours to avert military hostilities with the Treaty’s opponents, which exasperated Griffith, were unsuccessful. He and Richard Mulcahy (1886-1971) directed the military operations of the hastily constituted Irish Army.
On 12 July 1922, he made himself Commander-in-chief, the last of the extraordinary sequence of overlapping positions he was to hold. Sacrifices, alliances, and betrayals unimaginable weeks ago were routine in the new bloodbath of brother against brother. Despite these dangers, Collins believed he wasn't a credible target for Anti-Treaty Irregulars. especially in his native Cork.
He set off to inspect military installations in that beautiful, wild corner of the country. Perhaps he confused his hopes of reconciliation and renewal with the desires of the new domestic enemy.When the National Army Commandant Joe Sweeney warned against the tour, Collins replied, ''No one is going to shoot me in my county.'
On the morning, of 22 August 1922, Collins' open-top car and a small armoured motorcade with 15 men began their fateful drive from Cork City through West Cork. On their way, he also hoped to parley with anti-Treaty IRA volunteers. His whistle-stop route was to take them through Macroom, Bandon, Clonakilty, Rosscarbery, and Skibbereen. Collins makes a pit-stop at Long's pub, "The Diamond," looking for directions. It is here where Denny 'the Dane' Long, a lookout for anti-treaty leader Tom Hales, spotted the Big Fella. His travel plans to return through the crossroads area of Béal na mBláth were communicated back to base, and the trap was set. Around 7:45pm, Collins' cars return through the village of Béal na mBláth and into the jaws of the enemy. But the Anti-Treaty lads would not have it all their own way. The convoy was late, so many of the IRA columns had already dispersed from the hiding places. They had even begun to dismantle and move land mines they'd installed at the choke point road. However, the main obstruction, a dray cart blocking the path, was still on site.
Free State commander Dalton wanted to try and barge through the ambush, but Collins vaingloriously insisted they stay and fight. When the assassin's guns speak, they roar for almost half an hour. Collins and his guards left the open-top car and ran for cover at a ditch on the roadside, returning fire. Collins then broke this position and got behind one of his armoured where he began returning fire this time with his Lee Enfield rifle.
The armoured car was equipped with a Vickers machine gun, which started to riddle the anti-treaty position before promptly breaking down and jamming due to a badly loaded ammunition belt. Collins broke cover again, and it would be from this final position in the middle of the road that he would become the only real casualty of the ambush.
Collins is struck by a bullet in the head and dies instantly. just ten days after the death of Arthur Griffith. Whose bullet was it? Most historians believe it was fired by Denis "Sonny" O'Neill. He had been an officer in the Royal Irish Constabulary and a sniper during WW1 in the British Army before joining the IRA in 1918. But it's not certain.
Collins was brought back to his hometown, through road blockages and muddy fields, and at times carried by members of his convoy. His body was eventually laid to rest in City Hall by Dublin Castle.
Collins lay in state for three days. Tens of thousands of mourners filed past his coffin to pay their respects, including many British soldiers departing Ireland who had fought against him. His funeral mass took place at Dublin's St Mary's Pro-Cathedral where a number of foreign and Irish dignitaries were in attendance. Some 500,000 people attended his funeral, almost one-fifth of the country's population at that time. His remains rest in Glasnevin Cemetery. His final resting place is the most visited grave with flowers placed there daily by people from around the world.
His death at age 31 in an ambush on a country road deprived Ireland of a charismatic leader and changed the course of Irish history. His immense myth in contemporary Ireland continues to radiate beyond the remote valley not far from his birthplace in which he met his death and regularly emerges top of various popular polls to select the Irish public’s favourite figure from their history. Collins’s enduring popularity owes much to the circumstances which allow him to be portrayed as the handsome and youthful leader struck down in his prime.
Over a century after his death, he is a lightning rod for controversy, with his very name sparking a debate whenever politically minded Irishmen get together. Unlike other Irish historical figures who have largely receded into the past, his life and death remain subjects of fascination on a national scale, with radio and television documentaries, ficionalised dramatisations, and even multimedia spectacles dedicated to the scrutiny of his brief life and tragic death. Moreover, at least twenty biographies and biographical portraits, the majority of which have appeared in the twenty-first century, along with three dozen Collins-themed topical monographs, have debated his life and legacy, often highlighting the still-mysterious – and probably never to be conclusively resolved – questions about what transpired on his fateful last day.
Rumours have circulated widely since the 1920s, with little support from scholars, about the alleged involvement in Collins’s death of Ireland’s most notable politician, Eamon de Valera, leader of Ireland for more than twenty years, including serving sixteen years as Taoiseach of Ireland. He and Collins were strong republicans and close comrades ever since the Easter Rising of 1916 who worked closely together until the Irish Civil War of 1922-23 set them against each other as the leaders of opposing factions. One established historian and strong partisan of Collins who believes that “Dev” was actually his diabolical enemy is T. Ryle Dwyer, though he stops short in Michael Collins and the Civil War (2012) of finding him guilty of any direct involvement in Collins’s death. Nonetheless, Dwyer leaves the reader with the impression that de Valera was a rival who envied Collins’s mystique and charismatic appeal – and who certainly could have harboured motives to eliminate him once the civil war began, whereupon “General Collins” assumed command of the opposing pro-Treaty forces.
Revised and updated in light of emergent scholarship in 2016, Tim Pat Coogan’s The Man Who Made Ireland: The Life and Death of Michael Collins, which after three decades in print still stands as the best biography in an estimable field, is also severe in its overall assessment of de Valera’s relationship to Collins, accusing him of “vindictiveness and pettiness”, though he firmly rejects the idea that de Valera played any role in the ambush Coogan’s judgments are rendered especially authoritative in view of the fact that he has also authored another stellar full-length biography, Eamon de Valera: The Man Who Was Ireland, where he writes that to “assert his ascendancy over colleagues […] and secure dominance over Collins in particular” became one of de Valera’s top three political goals during the war years, along with “keep[ing] control over the Irish Americans” and “taking over the reins of the peace process and work[ing] himself into a favourable negotiating position with the British”
Like other biographers, Coogan notes that Collins risked his life to spring de Valera from a London prison and then braved even greater perils during strict curfews to make weekly visits to Dev’s family during the latter’s eighteen-month absence to the U.S. during the Anglo-Irish War (1919-21), which the Irish typically refer to as the War of Independence.
Neil Jordan’s epic film Michael Collins (1996) depicts the life and death of one of Ireland’s most important revolutionary leaders at the beginning of the 20th century. Opening with the Easter Week rebellion of 1916, the film highlights Collins new strategies for securing the independence of Ireland, his signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921 and the ensuing Civil War which was to cost him his life.
Despite his relatively short political career, Collins remains a highly respected and revered figure , his journey from a remote Irish village to the heart of the struggle against British rule renowned for his relentless dedication to securing Ireland's independence from the British Empire. showcases the indomitable spirit of a man who left an indelible mark on Irish history and his life is a testament to the unwavering spirit of those who fought for Ireland's independence. His legacy endures as a revolutionary leader known for his realism, efficiency, vision, and humanity.
An annual commemoration ceremony takes place each year in August at the ambush site at Béal na Bláth, County Cork, organised by The Béal na mBláth Commemoration Committee.There is also a remembrance ceremony at Collins' grave in Glasnevin Cemetery on the anniversary of his death every year.
Michael Collins House museum in Clonakilty, Cork is a museum dedicated to Michael Collins and the history of Irish Independence.Situated in a restored Georgian House on Emmet Square, where Collins once lived, the museum, tells the life story of Collins through guided tours, interactive displays, audiovisuals and historical artefacts.
Collins’s death in the ambush will be marked on Sunday when Fine Gael leader Simon Harris becomes only the third serving taoiseach after Enda Kenny and Micheál Martin to give the oration at the monument near where Collins was fatally wounded on August 22nd, 1922.
A statue of Michael Collins now stands in Cork city, the scene of one of his most famous public orations. The near lifesize statue depicts Collins standing alongside a bicycle, a nostalgic nod to a photograph of him taken with a Pierce bicycle in Wexford in 1922. The statue is a reminder of the time when Collins used to cycle around Dublin despite there being a bounty on his head.
Sculptor Kevin Holland was commissioned to create the new statue. The piece is being described as a “monument for the people, from the people” funded through a crowd-funding scheme spearheaded by the Michael Collins 100 committee.
"Give us the future, we've had enough of your past. Give us back our country, to live in, to grow in, to love." - Michael Collins.
Written by teenage rebel Brendan Behan, the following well-known Irish song “The Laughing Boy” was penned in memory of another iconic rebel, Michael Collins. But this song also had an extraordinary and dramatic afterlife as “To Yelasto Paidi,” the powerful left-wing anthem of resistance against the dictatorship that ruled Greece in the late Sixties and early Seventies. Translated by the poet Vassilis Rotas, Behan’s words in Greek were set to music by the legendary Mikis Theodorakis.
The laughing boy - Brendan Behan
't was on an* August morning, all in the morning hours
I went to take the warming air all in the month of flowers
And there I saw a maiden and heard her mournful cry:
Oh, what will mend my broken heart? I've lost my laughing boy!
So strong, so wild, so brave he was, I'll mourn his loss too sore
when thinking that we'll hear the laugh or springing step no more
Ah, curse the time, and sad the loss my heart to crucify,
that an Irish son with a rebel gun shot down my laughing boy!
Oh, had he died by Pearse's side or in the G.P.O.**
killed by an English bullet from the rifle of the foe,
or forcibly fed while Ashe lay dead in the dungeons of Mountjoy,
I'd have cried with pride at the way he died, my own dear laughing boy.
My pristine love, can ageless love do more than tell to you:
Go raibh míle maith agat*** for all you tried to do
For all you did and would have done my enemies to destroy
I'll prize your name and guard your fame, my own dear laughing boy!
Béal na Bláth where a simple Celtic Cross marks the spot where the course of Irish was changed forever.
The violence that has afflicted many UK towns and cities over the weekend has left the country appalled, with mobs steered by hatred committing violent acts against people of colour. Violence first flared after three girls – Alice Dasilva Aguiar, nine, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven and Bebe King, six – were shockingly stabbed to death at a Taylor Swift-themed summer holiday camp in Southport.
After the northern English town in mourning held a peaceful vigil, a group of far-right agitators ran riot in scenes that have been repeated for a week. Conspiracy theorists were quick to float the idea that the Southport attacker was Muslim and a migrant. Neither is true of his identity. The suspect has been named as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana. Suspects below 18 have automatic anonymity, but judges decided to identify Rudakubana, in part to stop the spread of false information. He is a British national born in Wales, reportedly to Christian parents from Rwanda. Despite attempts to debunk the provocateurs, it was too late. The damage had already been done as hate filled riots and Islamophobic attacks spread across the country, fuelled by disinformation online..
A range of far-right factions and individuals targeted mosques, Muslim-owned businesses and hotels housing asylum seekers in London, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol, Manchester, Sunderland, Stoke-on-Trent, Blackpool, Rotherham, Hartlepool, Aldershot, Middlesbrough, Belfast and Hull. Rioters mobilised support through Telegram channels and WhatsApp groups with slogans such as “enough is enough”, “save our kids”, and calling to “stop the boats”, an anti-migrant slogan touted by the Conservative government.
The images of people attacking and setting fires to hotels housing refugees. men, women and children who’ve fled horrific violence like torture – are proof that divisive rhetoric inspires hateful acts. This violence is a direct result of years of divisive politics, scapegoating, demonisation and dehumanisation.
As far-right mobs threaten mosques, intimidate and harass people, and throw Nazi salutes, we must offer our utmost solidarity to people of colour, and Muslim communities in particular. These riots are not about protecting children.What is happening in the streets of our country are not protests. There can be never be "justified concerns" that cause people to attack minorities and places of worship. Let's call them what they are: Far right race riots. and are a racist outpouring from a vile underbelly in British society that are currently terrorising Britain’s streets and must be stopped.
Imagine being the parents of one of these killed kids, not only grieving but also having to deal with your kids death being hijacked and turned into nationwide far right riots The people who encouraged this need jailing, the likes of Nigel Farage and Tommy Robinson who couldn't care less about those poor children. They simply stoke hatred for their own political ends. They are a danger to the security of this country and are a disgrace. Literally the most far right figureheads we’ve seen since Adolf Hitler and Oswald Moseley.
There’s little doubt that social media has plaed a significant role in stoking tensions. However, the threat of the far right is not new, and many of their views entered the political mainstream long before the domination of social media.
What's happening in England can also be linked to Gaza. When Arabs and Muslims are being murdered on a live feed for 10 months, with British bombs, and called "terrorists" because they don't like having a colony of European Zionists on their land, then this emboldens far righ rcists to behave like thugs and attack any Arab or Muslim they see. After all they are simply mimicking the violence of the state and the media. As anti-war and pro-Palestinian protests have been the focus of hateful anti-Muslim comments in British media and politics since the start of the Gaza war, many believe that the long-standing rhetoric has set the stage for the rise in hate.
Even in their responses to this violence, our Prime Minister and Home Secretary fail to centre Muslim people, or call out racism for what it is. What we are seeing unfold is more than ‘thuggery’, it is violent racism and islamphobia.
Police have emphasised that these riots over this weekend were significantly more violent than any mass gathering in recent years. These recent riots, in the words of one police constable, were “about trying to frighten communities, damage property and attack police officers,” not promote any unified or specific cause.
.Far-right violence hasn’t come out of nowhere. It is the result of anti-migrant rhetoric from mainstream politicians who scapegoat refugees.. Islamophobia nurtured and made mainstream by the media, mainstream politicians and commentators. It is sad that things like this are so normalised. The far right have no place in this society ! No immigrant has taken your job. You were laid off by a capitalist who required cheap labor and took advantage of that immigrant to increase his profits, and nothing makes him happier than to hear you blame the immigrant and not him.
Defeating the far right doesn’t stop with ending the violent riots on the streets, the politics that inspired them must be beaten too. We beat the far-right and the race riots by finally tackling a quadruple of evils: racism (especially Islamophobia), the demonisation of immigrants, poverty and inequality.These acts of violence and hate have no place in our society.
The full force of the law" is not what's going to stop emboldening fascists and reactionaries What will is a public discourse that stops mainstreaming their politics through increasingly less subtle dog whistle and pretending they represent "the people" We must encourage everyone to stand against racism and discrimination and support efforts to build a fair and just world for all.
It is hard to believe that all this could happen in our country in 2024 – but it is a reminder of the scale of prejudice that exists in our country still, and that we must continue to stand against the emerging Far-Right threats. The media needs to stop giving them airtime. Hate needs de-normalising.It is pure poison and infiltrates everything. It seeps into daily life and damages everything it touches. Politicians and Brexiteers ruined the UK not refugees or asylum seekers.
There are reports that over 30 locations will be targeted tomorrow evening and groups including Stand up to Racism are organising counter-protests to protect cultural insitutitions and our diverse communities.
Stop the far right events in your area – Stand against the fascists and say refugees are welcome here.Unity is our strength, and we must stand firm against those that aim to pit different communities against each other. We are the many, they are the tiny minority. No parasan to fascism in all its forms. https://standuptoracism.org.uk/
Lughnasadh (“LOO-nuh-sah” or “LOO-nah-sahd.”) The pronunciation can vary slightly based on regional accents) or Lammas is the first harvest festival of the wheel of the year and this cross quarter holiday is one of the Greater Sabbats (the others are Samhain, Imbolc, and Beltane). For Wiccans it’s when the God begins to lose his strength and the Goddess mourns his coming passing, which occurs at Samhain. It is also time of both hope and fear. At Lughnasad, modern Wiccans face their fears, concentrate on developing their own abilities, and take steps to protect themselves and their homes.
Lughnasad falls halfway between Litha (the summer solstice) and the Mabon (the autumn equinox). This year, the holiday falls on August 1, 2024 in the Northern hemisphere and on February 1, 2024 in the Southern hemisphere.
Lammas is also rooted in Christian tradition, emerging from the Anglo-Saxon era in England. The name itself derives from the Old English words “hlaf,” meaning loaf, and “mas,” meaning mass.As the name implies, it is a feast of thanksgiving for the first fruits of the corn.The sun has shone upon the crops all season, Rituals of Lammas are centred around seeing the fruits of our labours unfold as we wished. Our hard work has paid off and we can relax now before the preparations for next year begin. Time to chill out, break bread and share our spoils.
Thoughts of transformation, death and rebirth are also part of Lugnnasadh ,Pagans also give thanks for the bountiful harvest – honey, fruit, corn – as they realise that the days are growing shorter, and these nutrients will providet the sustenance that were needed for people to survive the coming winter that will soon return
Bread is very symbolic to Lammas as the barley is now being harvested, with bread, symbolizing the first fruits of the harvest.and so friends and family gather and break bread together, sharing what we have for every-one’s benefit, and acknowledging our blessings and good fortune The festival was traditionally marked by baking bread from the first grain harvest and bringing these loaves to the church to be blessed. Lammas is historically observed by various Christian communities, and the rituals involve not only the breaking and blessing of bread but also prayers for a fruitful harvest season.
Many people choose to celebrate Lammas as an “eat, drink and be merry” festival, focussing on the excitement and gratitude of first harvest – revelling in the fruits of labour now being rewarded and celebrating the bountiful land around us.
Others prefer to commemorate Lammas by focussing on “sacrifice” – in that something has to give in to make way for something else – the sun has given his strength to the land to create the fruits of the harvest, and the very fruits of the harvest themselves will have to wither and die in order to bring forth seeds for next year’s crops.
Unlike Lammas, Lughnasadh is deeply intertwined with ancient Celtic mythology and cultural practices. It is named after the Celtic god Lugh, known for his skills and crafts. According to lore, the festival commemorates the funeral games Lugh hosted for his foster mother Tailtiu, who died of exhaustion after clearing the lands of Ireland for agriculture. Lughnasadh festivals which lasted from 15 July until 15 August. is traditionally a time for community gatherings that included athletic contests, storytelling, matchmaking, and ritual ceremonies. It was not just about the agricultural harvest but also about celebrating skills and craftsmanship, reflecting the attributes of the god Lugh himself.
Today, Lughnasadh continues to be observed by practitioners of Celtic based pagan paths, Wiccans, and other nature-based spiritual traditions. It is a time to celebrate the abundance of the harvest, express gratitude for the gifts of the land, and honour the cycles of nature and the changing seasons.
As summer reaches its peak and the fields bear the fruits of labour, many cultures around the world come together to celebrate the bountiful harvest. Among these celebrations, Lughnasadh stands out as a significant festival that honours the first harvest of the year. Lughnasadh is steeped in traditions that connect people to the land and the cycles of nature.
Lughnasadh is a festival rich in symbolism, reflecting the cycles of life and the interconnectedness of humanity and the natural world. it is a celebration of the Earth's fertility and the abundance it provides. It reminds us to be grateful for the sustenance we receive and to recognize the interconnectedness of all living beings.and is a time for people to come together, reinforcing the bonds of community, emphasizing the importance of supporting one another and offers us an opportunity to reconnect with the cycles of nature and express gratitude for the Earth's abundant gifts. By honouring the first harvest and celebrating the interconnectedness of all living beings, we can find meaning and inspiration in this timeless celebration.
The focus on community and the mythological roots of the festival give Lughnasadh a distinct cultural and spiritual flavor, celebrating more than just the harvest—it’s about the endurance and spirit of community. We can acknowledge that resistance keeps us alive, helps us struggle against injustice, maintain our boundaries, and live in the world. And yet, for a time, we simply let Earth hold us.
In addition to celebrating and expressing our thanks to Mother Earth for her gifts, we take time now to contemplate our own personal harvest. We contemplate what we set out to achieve when we set our intentions at the beginning of the wheel’s cycle, and what we have succeeded in.
This is also a time for letting go of anger, injustice and past regrets, preparing ourselves to move forward and plant our own new seeds. Whatever which way you decide to celebrate this day, may blessings fall on you and on your house,
A Poem for Lammas
We harvest the seed and the grain from the soil. And transformation now surrounds us, There is joy among the chaos, roses as well as bread Lets share our rewards and bless the earth, Release sparkles of thankfulness With our smiles spread a glint of hope, Let our spirits belong to the world Move forward together light and bold, As summer recedes and winter draws near Hold on to any chance that breaks, Bless the departed the newly arrived Let black clouds of hate drift on by, In the noisy confusion of life Keep gratitude within our souls.
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