January, 1946

Antifascists! Democrats! Those whose nations are those of Republicans! The Second Republic of Spain, the legitimate, recognized, democratic, and popular government, in-exile, once again calls for the help of the nations of the world! What occurred in 1936-1939, La Guerra Civil, was a precursor to that horrid war, the greatest the world has ever seen, where the free nations of the world defeated fascism! And now, we must ask you to end the wars against fascism where it began! On the Iberian Peninsula! In the Spanish Republic!

We remember Las Brigadas Internactionales who rose to help us in our time of need!

We remember the Lincoln-Washington Battalion! The Connolly Column! The Mickiewicz Battalion! The André Marty Battalion! The British Battalion! The Checo-Balcánico Battalion! The Commune de Paris Battalion! The Deba Blagoiev Battalion! The Dimitrov Battalion! The Djuro Djakovic Battalion! The Dabrowski Battalion! The Edgar André Battalion! The Español Battalion! The Figlio Battalion! The Garibaldi Battalion! The Thälmann Battalion! The Henri Barbusse Battalion! The Henri Vuilleman Battalion! The Matteotti Battalion! The Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion! The Marseillaise Battalion! The Palafox Battalion! The Pierre Brachet Battalion! The Rakosi Battalion! The Nine Nations Battalion! The Sixth of February Battalion! The Thomas Masaryk Battalion! The Chapaev Battalion! The Vaillant-Couturier Battalion! The Veinte Battalion! The Zwölfte Februar Battalion! The Company De Zeven Provinciën!

Men and Woman of France, Italy, German, Austria, Poland, The United States, The Balkans, Britain, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Belgium, Canada, Yugoslavia, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, The Baltics, Argentina, The Netherlands, Denmark, Hungary, Sweden, Romania, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Lithuania, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Greece, Portugal, Luxembourg, Mexico, Cyprus, Australia, The Philippines, Albania, Costa Rica, New Zealand, and even China! Plus others not mentioned by name by still remembered by the people of Spain!

How can we say our plea to the people and governments of free nations around the world? La Pasionaria put it best the regard with which we hold the International Brigades!

"From all peoples, from all races, you came to us like brothers, like sons of immortal Spain; and in the hardest days of the war, when the capital of the Spanish Republic was threatened, it was you, gallant comrades of the International Brigades, who helped save the city with your fighting enthusiasm, your heroism and your spirit of sacrifice. – And Jarama and Guadalajara, Brunete and Belchite, Levante and the Ebro, in immortal verses sing of the courage, the sacrifice, the daring, the discipline of the men of the International Brigades."

It has not been ten years yet since the start of the Civil War! In ten years time we have defeated Fascism across the Globe and must now defeat it here, in Spain! Your people once rose to help us and your people will rise again to help us, and with the support of their governments, we could finish what was started in 1936! ¡Ganar La Guerra!

The Civil War is not over, it rages covertly! Republicans in the nation now violently struggle against the regime of that fat rat bastard, the ill-bred hate-child of Hitler and Mussolini, Franco! Our Republic could have fought on even past 1939, had it not been for the coupists and fascists who overthrow our democracy and allowed Franco to march in, and even still Republicans fight on in Spain! Franco never got the satisfaction of overcoming the siege of Madrid, and Franco did not pass. Fascism will never pass in the hearts and minds of the people of Spain! Oberos! Campesinos! Mineros! Empleados! Todos Son Republicanos!

You who see democracy and smile! You who remember the dead children, the military practice of the rebels, the fascists across the world! You who take rifles in your hand to defend that virtue most precious, liberty! You whose sons gave their lives, in the battlefields of the world, Spain, in France, in Italy, in Poland, in Germany, in Russia, in the Ukraine, in Africa, in Asia, in the skies and in the seas! You who remember the international brigades as well as we do, their heroism and antifascist ideals and their fight for democracy! You will be the ones who remember and support us in our Reconquista against Los Moros, Los Mercenarios, Las Hienas Fascistas!

If we do not end it here once and for all, if we do not save the children of Spain, we know that it will again be the children of Todos Los Mundo who are next on the kill-lists of Fascism. It is a virus, a hydra which grows on and on forever until it is squashed once and for all. If we let it fester in Spain, it will fester again in all countries, even those who are now composed of solely republicans. Fascists will always come for your children unless all the Fascists are hanging, dead, by the justice of the people.

The winds of the people blow us! The winds of the people call! Do not ignore them, follow them!

¡Muerte al Fascismo! ¡No Pasaran! ¡No Pasaran!

Rafael was part Catalan, although he spoke none of the language. He used to be an antifascist militiaman of the PCE. A regular communist. Real macho, cool. He was there in Madrid, and he killed his first fascist there. He had killed many since. He was there in Barcelona, too, during Las Jornadas de Mayo. He met Gennaro there actually, for the second time ever. They were trying to shoot each other when the Assault Guards came over and told them that the barricades were being dismantled by order of the Generalitat and the request of the CNT. He hated him then. But, the war kind of went south from there. Things got bad, the government fell apart, the army dissolved, and there was Rafael, running away with his squad into the mountains with as many guns and bullets as they could carry, and who should he run into but the motherfucker sitting next to him peeling an apple.

Gennaro was a FAI militiaman, and a full Catalan, and he could speak a fair bit of the language. He had run guns for the CNT since 1934. He killed his first fascist in 1936, too, in Barcelona. He first met Gennaro somewhere on the Ebro front. They hated each other immediately for obvious reasons. May 1937 didn't help things. But being stuck somewhere in the south of Spain in the mountains where all you can do is talk to each other and shoot Civil Guards together (to steal their guns) (and ammo) (and sometimes their horses) is a real bonding experience. It's like camping but horrible.

"You know," says Gennaro, finally getting the last of the skin off, "Some writer-journalist fuck in America, Hemingway, I think, wrote a book about us."

Rafael is, meanwhile, reloading some ammo casings. It's just the two of them around the campfire, the others are busy gathering firewood and feeding the horses. "Hm?"

"Hemingway. Some guy named that wrote a book about us."

"Us, us?"

"No, about partisans during La Guerra Civil. But basically about us."

"Well, that's nice of him."

Gennaro offers a slice of the apple to Rafael, who refuses. He crunches into the apple, which satisfyingly crumbles in his teeth and mouth. It's a wonderful sensation.

"Are you going to help reload the casings or not?"

"I said I'd get to it!"

"You said that many hours ago."

"I said it 20 minutes ago. You are impatient."

"I didn't try to overthrow the republic in the middle of the war against the fascists, so who's the real impatient one?"

Gennaro gives Rafael the "We don't talk about 1937" look. Rafael rolls his eyes. "Alright, alright. Give me a slice of the apple, I'll take a break from this."

The Spanish Maquis and the Second Republic In-Exile fight on. Franco will hang. Franco will die, screaming. The people will live, laugh, love, and once again rule their nation, and not some moor-monger who sits in a palace in Madrid. This is the promise carried in the hearts of every man and woman, every son and daughter of the people, of immortal, democratic Spain.