The Rose Held In The Teeth: an anthology marking the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War
£5.00
Have we learnt the lessons of 1936? In July 1936, Spain was plunged into a bloody civil war after a faction of the Spanish Army attempted to topple the democratically elected Republican government. The Republic was defeated and a fascist autocracy led by General Franco ran Spain until 1973.
A number of mostly socialist and communist volunteers from around 50 countries joined the Soviet-backed International Brigades to fight against the Nationalist forces. This anthology includes poems composed by British Brigader poets, together with interspersed with poems from some contemporary poets about the conflict.
The Rose Held In The Teeth: an anthology marking the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, selected and edited by Alan McGuire and Alan Morrison, ISBN 978-1-918132-10-6, 84 pps., £5.
After a failed coup d’état by a right-wing Nationalist faction of the Spanish army against the democratically elected Popular Front Government of the Second Republic, between 17th and 18th July 1936, Spain was plunged into a bloody civil war which lasted until 1st April 1939. The conflict culminated in the defeat of the Republic and the ushering in of a fascist autocracy under ‘victorious’ Nationalist general Francisco Franco, who remained in power until his death in June 1973.
Although most European governments refused to get involved in the Spanish Civil War, there was much popular support for the Republican cause (typified by so-called ‘Spain Days’), and a sizeable number of mostly socialist and communist volunteers from around 50 countries joined the Soviet-backed International Brigades to fight against the Nationalist forces—composed of Carlists, Falangists, and other right-wing factions, and supported by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy.
This anthology includes poems composed by British Brigader poets either whilst on active service or post-service: survivors Clive Branson, Margot Heinemann, Jack Lindsay and Tom Wintringham, and fatalities John Cornford, Marxist cultural critic Christopher Caudwell, and the little known Alex McDade. These period poems are interspersed with selections from some contemporary poets who have written extensively on the conflict.
These poems are even more resonant in 2026 where we once again face the rise of fascism throughout Europe, and in America. They ask us now, and hopefully not too late, have we learnt the lessons of 1936?
The Rose Held In The Teeth: an anthology marking the 90th anniversary of the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, selected and edited by Alan McGuire and Alan Morrison, ISBN 978-1-918132-10-6, 84 pps., £5.
