Friends of Charlie Donnelly Benefit Night January 23, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in The Left.trackback
Friends of Charlie Donnelly Benefit Night
Friday January 29
Teachers’ Club
Parnell Square
Dublin
8pm
“There’s a Valley in Spain called Jarama,
It’s a place that we all know so well,
It is there that we gave of our manhood,
And so many of our brave comrades fell.”
Among the heavy casualties taken by the poorly-equipped Republicans in the bloody battle at Jarama to save Madrid from Franco’s fascist army in February 1937 was Charlie Donnelly, the young poet whose remains lie in an unmarked grave near where he died.
On February 27 – 73 years to the day after he fell shortly after uttering the immortal line “Even the olives are bleeding”, the Friends of Charlie Donnelly will gather at the site of the battle to erect a cairn to his memory and to the memory of all those from the famed ‘Connolly Column’ who gave so much to defend the rights of the Spanish people.
The cairn, which will be built by The Friends of Charlie Donnelly, will consist of stones taken from the 32 counties of Ireland to symbolise the unity of purpose of those who died in common cause in the fight against tyranny.
Despite battling seemingly insuperable odds, at Jarama the Republicans fought the fascists to a stalemate – a victory in itself considering the forces stacked against them.
To help defray the cost of the memorial cairn, a benefit night will take place on Friday January 29 at 8pm in the Teachers’ Club, Parnell Square, Dublin. Tickets are priced at €8 at the door and can also be reserved in advance.
The night will comprise music, poetry and song but, more importantly, it will give like-minded people who appreciate the continuing significance of the Spanish War of 1936-9, an opportunity to meet up, have the craic and celebrate the spirit and legacy of people such as Charlie Donnelly.
For further details or to reserve tickets beforehand, contact:
Eddie O’Neill
087 271 2864 (m)
eddietyrone@gmail.com (e)
Many thanks to SM for forwarding this…
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
I read his brothers bio a few years ago. he was an independent thinker with reservations about Stalinism. I gather there was a discussion about this on whether he was an “ultra leftist” in the pages of the Irish Democrat in the 50s.
It would be nice to see a monument to Verschoyle Gould, Brian not Neil who worked for the Spanish Republic and who died in the Gulag.
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Many thanks to anyone who turned up last night after seeing the gig plugged on the CLR (thanks again WbS). The place was packed (in fact, we might have lost people to a psychiatric nurses’ convention in the main hall downstairs) and the music was amazing… All shades of left and republican opinion were there (a bit like at the launch of TLR) and contacts were made for future commemorative activities. There was a palpable sense of left unity which would be amazing to harness in other directions.
The main commemorative stone from Tyrone and smaller stones from all over the country were assembled in a cairn this afternoon and will be shipped out to Spain over the next few days, where we’ll be building the monument the week before it’s unveiled on 27 February.
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Thanks for that anarchaeologist. I might post that up if you don’t mind. I’d have loved to be there, but ferocious little creature with cold stymied all plans this week…
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[…] Civil War. Already, commemorative events are being organised by left groups in Ireland, such as the Charlie Donnelly commemoration and The Workers’ Party is organising a trip for next year as well. The Spanish Civil War of […]
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