Industrial Workers of the World

Violets article got me looking around on the internet – dreaded waster of time for the rebel.

The first hit I got was an article about Aussies in the Spanish Civil War 1936/39 by David Leach It was on the digger history site but given the subject matter I let it pass. Here the author repeated the story of f.w. Dickinson's last words and heroic death but concluded that “ "Dickinson is claimed as an Aussie. The British claim him as a Londoner. He was, in fact, from eastern Europe!"

This did not ring true. Why would an Eastern European, however firm in his internationalism, want ten thousand Australian bushmen? I politely asked the site controller if he had any information.

“I am not your fellow worker. Matter of fact I am not, by choice, your fellow anything. Too well I remember the wharfies refusing to load stores and equipment for Vietnam. So, you, your red ragger mates and your brown dog, FUCK OFF.” Ted Harris, Webmaster of the Digger History Group.

I remonstrated with him through cyber space for most of the rest of the day but the quality of the dialogue did not really achieve that meeting of minds that one would like in those pursuing knowledge.

The site http://www.international-brigades.org.uk/british_volunteers/jarama.htm was more informative. In its section The battle of the Jarama River, 12-14 February 1937 it tells us:-

“Very early in the morning of the 12th February, the British Battalion, and other members of the 15th International Brigade, were moved up to the heights overlooking the Jarama River at Arganda. Facing the rebels' crack troops from the Army of Africa, the battalion's lack of training and equipment took its toll, with the number of casualties growing at an alarming rate. By early afternoon, the battalion was in a desperate position, its flank unprotected, the machine-gun company without ammunition, and numbers decreasing by the minute. The remaining volunteers were faced with little choice but to pull back to the battalion headquarters on the plateau behind them. Rebel forces rushed to occupy their positions, but were quickly forced to duck for cover by the machine-gun company which at last managed to load its guns with the correct ammunition. As the first day of the battle came to an end, the battalion found itself with less than half the number that had set out from Madrigueras. Day two was to be no less terrifying.

During the morning of the 13th, the battalion fought desperately to hold back the Rebel forces. As their flank once again came under attack, the commander of Number 4 Company pulled his soldiers back and the machine-gun company situated on a knoll to the battalion's right became isolated and were surrounded. Over thirty volunteers, including the company commander Harold Fry and adjutant Ted Dickenson, were captured and several of the battalion lost their lives in an ill-judged attempt to rescue them. Somehow, the remaining volunteers in the battalion held on until nightfall.”

In a subsequent section Prisoners of war captured at Jarama the site says that:

“The members of the machine-gun company captured at Jarama expected to be executed, for the belief was widespread that captured Internationals were shot on sight. Phil Elias, of Leeds, was shot when reaching for tobacco from his pocket and John Stevens, an engineer from Islington in London, was killed by the same burst of machine-gun fire. When Edward Dickenson, the company second in command, protested over the shooting, he was shot through the head with a pistol.” The Brit pages use the name Dickenson throughout although it is clearly the same person.

Another interesting possible slant upon Ted’s last moments upon Earth was found on the Irish Nationalism site (http://irish-nationalism.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1439) about Irish volunteers. Here it is mentioned that:

“Ted (Edward) A. Dickinson (an alias, originally Austrian Jewish) - Forest Gate, London - murdered as a POW - Feb 2nd 1937, Jarama - after protesting the murder of two other Jewish POW's, Elias and Stevens - he was tied to a tree and shot through the head.” The date is different although I think the site might just have made a mistake here because I cannot find any reference to fighting at Jarama much before the twelfth; and finally the nationality is different. Has someone mistakenly read Austrian for Australian?

Clearly, however, they the same incident is being referred to – the names of the two companions that Dickinson protested the shooting (Elias and Stevens) of are identical in both cases. The same incident is recorded in Jews Who Served in The Spanish Civil War by Martin Sugarman, BA (Hons.), Cert. Ed. (Assistant Archivist AJEX – Jewish History Museum)

Clearly, in spite of everything, including possible Stalinist spin from those controlling and manipulating the Brigades, the man was a real authentic hero. More importantly, a hero, for a change, that had a cause worthy of is courage – the preservation of human dignity against right wing aggression and a better world.

We could do with more like Ted.