Fighting for good of humanity

Growing up James Bentley never really heard much about his great-grandfather, Jim Bentley. Neither did anyone else in the Bentley family. That won’t be the case for future generations, says James, they will learn all about the hero in their history.

Jim was one of more than 2300 British volunteers – eight of them from Jim’s home city of Hull – who went to fight in the Spanish Civil War between 1936 and 1939, after the fascist General Franco launched a coup against the elected socialist government. Tragically Jim was killed on the battlefield by a tank supplied by the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini. Three of Jim’s Hull comrades were buried in Spain, along with 500 other Britons.

Yet in Hull, as in many other places around the UK, there is no public memorial to the soldiers of the International Brigade – many of them trade unionists – who were the first to see the danger and fight against Europe’s far-right forces. The Bentley’s, along with the families of the other Hull volunteers and local campaign groups, are about to change all that and have been granted permission to erect a memorial in the city centre.

The sacrifices of Britain’s International Brigade volunteers were neglected for many years because their actions were technically illegal. The British government, which remained neutral during Spain’s civil war, did not erect memorials to the volunteers; even as they built cenotaphs for those who died fighting the same evil during the Second World War.

It is for that reason that the volunteers’ actions are not more prominent in the public consciousness. For the Bentley’s, however, there was another reason as to why Jim’s history remained buried for so long.

“It wasn’t for many years that our family found out more about him. He left a wife and a three-year-old son and the people who knew him were very bitter about the whole thing. They never shared it with anybody. We kind of knew about him, but nobody asked any questions or pushed it any further. Sensitive is exactly the right word,” James explained.

It wasn’t until 2005 that the Bentley’s began to learn about Jim’s past. An academic from the University of Hull, who was writing about the city’s International Brigade volunteers, contacted the family and asked them if they had any information.

James said: “We said “we don’t really have anything except a postcard Jim sent from Paris before he deployed. But we went to (the academic’s) lecture and ended up learning a lot more.”

Jim Bentley was 24 when he went to fight Franco, and the combined fascist forces of Germany and Italy, in Spain. The leather worker, who was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain, joined up with his friend Robert Wardle, a dock worker, in 1938.

The pair had been in Spain for six weeks when they were ambushed and killed, along with 100 others, by Italian tanks at Calaceite village, near Barcelona. Both left behind young families.

“It’s hard to imagine people of his age doing that sort of thing now,” said James. “He fought for what he believed in and paid the ultimate price for it. He’s the hero of the family and we’re proud to have his name.”

It’s not just the Bentley’s who have begun to celebrate their history. In the last few weeks Hull City Council have agreed planning permission for a memorial to be built to the city’s Spanish Civil War volunteers. It’s about time too, says James.

“Although at the time what happened in Spain wasn’t going to affect Britain directly, the volunteers foresaw what was coming and were being proactive rather than reactive. They should be held in high-regard. They weren’t necessarily fighting for their country at the time, but, in the end, they were really the first wave of soldiers to die in the Second World War fighting against fascism. They were fighting for the good of humanity and its right they should be recognised,” said James.

Unite North East, Yorkshire and Humberside regional secretary Karen Reay welcomed Hull City Council’s decision to allow the memorial to be built and pointed out that the volunteer’s proud history is also part of the history of Britain’s trade union movement.

“Jack Jones, the general secretary of Unite’s parent union the Transport and General Workers’ Union, also volunteered during the Spanish Civil War and was seriously wounded in battle. In fact many of the volunteers had strong links to trade unions,” Reay said.

“Unite honours and remembers their sacrifices today by continuing to stand against the far right. I’m pleased that finally, after all these years, the eight brave volunteers from Hull, four of whom never came back, are finally being given a proper memorial so that people can remember that they fought for our freedom. I hope there will be more memorials to come in other towns and cities.”

The final design for the memorial will be decided later this month, with the estimated cost between ÂŁ8,000 and ÂŁ20,000.

James and his dad, also called James, are fundraising for the memorial by undertaking a 44 mile sponsored walked.

To donate visit www.crowdfunding.justgiving.com/8menfromhull