Plot

David is an unemployed communist that comes to Spain in 1937 during the civil war to enroll the republicans and defend the democracy against the fascists. He makes friends between the soldiers.

Summer 1936, a young unemployed communist, David, leaves his hometown Liverpool to join the fight against fascism in Spain. He joins an international group of Militia-men and women, the POUM (Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista). After being wounded he goes to Barcelona, where he decides to join another group of fighters. They remain in Barcelona and end up fighting other anti-fascist groups. David is disappointed and decides to go back to his old band.—Walter de Rijk <W.C.A.de.Rijk@let.uva.nl>

An old man dies. Looking through his papers, his grand-daughter realises that he had fought in the Spanish Civil War. As a young Communist Party member, he (David) had gone to Spain in 1936 to fight the fascists. He joined the POUM militia which was allied to the militias of other left-wing groups. But the idealism of David and his friends was tested to its limit as their comrades were killed and the alliance disintegrated. The old man is buried. Was his struggle in vain?—<P.M.Laws@education.leeds.ac.uk>