As a survivor of that small band who were reviled as warmongers
and even Soviet agents for slandering kind Signor Mussolini, who
had made the trains run on time, and kind Herr Hitler whose "sturdy
young Nazis are Europe's bulwark against Bolshevism"
(The Daily Mail), I recall the task of building unity among the
Left-Wing Socialists and Communists, the many admirable Liberals
(how sadly their name has been disgraced!), and patriotic
Conservatives like the Duchess of Atholl and Robert Boothby MP.
There are many similarities with the task of creating the basis for
united action in the most important immediate the battle, to save
our national currency, the very symbol of nationhood.

In 1936, I joined the Young Communist League, mainly because I
perceived the CP as leading the fight to warn the nation of the
impending Nazi peril. Of great value was the  "Theory of Allies"
developed by that great anti-Fascist Gregori Dimitrov, the
Bulgarian Communist whom the Nazis attempted to frame in a
show trial for the burning of the Reichstag. Assisted by British
lawyers, he put the Nazis in the dock, and became their accuser,
exposing them so successfully that they had to let him go.
Dimitrov devised the strategy of the "Popular Front" of all anti-
fascists, which came to power in Spain and France. Sadly, the
French "Socialists" broke ranks, and joined Chamberlain's Tories
in strangling the Spanish Republic in its gallant fight against
Franco's rebels and his German and Italian allies, with the farce
of "Non-intervention", denying the lawful government the right to
buy arms for its defence, and recognising Franco as the
legitimate government the moment he held 51% of Spanish
territory.

In spite the of this, the Spaniards and the International
Brigades, with arms from the USSR, limited in the help it could
give by the danger of being involved in war without any allies,
held back the fascist plague for two and a half glorious years.
A handful of Soviet fighters inflicted so much damage on the
Italian air force that Mussolini was never able to afford the
delay of switching over to new models. This had a great effect
on the desert war, since an efficient Italian air force would
have tipped the balance in Rommel's favour. This would not
only have given the Germans access to Suez and Middle East
oil, but also to the rich resources of Africa in food and minerals,
liking up with the pro-Nazi Boers, and gaining millions of black
slaves to be worked under the lash. Hitler would not have been
compelled to invade the USSR in search of raw materials, in
which Western Europe is very deficient. He would have been
able to concentrate his forces against Britain and America,
delaying his attack on the USSR until after his friends in the
Munichites had secured a surrender, which need not have
involved a humiliating surrender or even occupation, and who
would have supplied British soldiers for the Drang Nach Osten
with the same eagerness as they had prepared 100,000 troops
for Finland during the "Phoney War". With the Red Army driven
behind the Urals, and under attack by the Japanese, the Nazis
would have achieved control of most of the "World Island",
Europe, Asia and Africa, with their Japanese allies occupying
China, India and most of the rest of Asia. This, believed the
Nazi geopoliticians, was the route to world domination, in
accordance with the Nazi geopolitical theories derived from
the English geographer Makinder. So we owe a lot to Dimitrov
and the Spanish Republicans and the foreign volunteers. If
the Chamberlainite traitors had not persuaded the French
"Socialists" to assist in their treachery, the Fascist regimes
would have suffered a humiliating defeat. This would in all
probability have resulted in their overthrow. If not, the moral
of the French Army would have been high, and they would have
been reinforced with a battle-hardened Spanish Army lusting
for revenge, and the experience of the Spaniards and the
International Brigades would have been accepted by the
British and French Armies, instead of such talented officers
as Malcolm Dunbar, Chief of Staff at the brilliant crossing of
the Ebro, being relegated to die commanding one tank in
Burma.

I was too young to join the British Battalion of the
International Brigade, but I made a solemn vow, that when
the Spanish people rose against Butcher Franco, I would
leave wife and children, if I had either, and return to the task
of restoring the honour of the British people. In the event,
fascism was ended peacefully, mainly by the alliance of the
Roman Catholic Church and the illegal Communist Party. As
happened in Portugal, the "Socialists" skimmed off the benefit
with many millions of West German Marks from the German
Social-Democrats, and were able to hi-jack their respective
countries into the new German Empire. All this, of course,
has been deleted from "history".

Dimitrov argued for the broadest unity on the urgent issues
of the day, in his case, holding back and defeating Fascism.
This was later expanded to the idea of the Peace front,
including whole nations whose interest lay in avoiding war,
such as the western Empires, which had already acquired
vast territories, and had no interest in going to war for new
ones, as opposed to Germany, which went to war for the
colonies it lacked, because of it becoming a nation too la the
to join in the race for colonies, and losing what it had in the
First World War. Obviously, there would be conflicting
interests within such alliances, but these could be set aside
until the common enemy had been defeated, after which new
alliances would be formed along the main faultlines of
disagreement. Having fought side by side, many would have
found agreements with previous opponents, and in any case,
the memory of past dangers shared would help make the
consequent disputes more civilised and tolerant. In our case,
many of those who oppose the Euro but support membership
of "Europe", will learn from outright opponents and join them
in the fight for freedom.

All that is required now is that everyone concentrates on the
battle ahead, and, as Enoch put it "In wartime, Conservatives
and Socialists, nay, Tories and Communists, sank their
differences, and postponed their divergent political ambitions
in order to fight together for the political nation". We should
not insist on The Democracy Movement or the Congress for
Democracy campaigning for withdrawal; Business for Sterling
should not praise the Single Market. The art of unity is
avoiding what divides us and stressing what unites us.

We should aim to ensure that the government is so afraid of
losing a referendum that it does not try. Since no generation
has the right to surrender the freedom of its successors, any
more than Parliaments have to bind their successors, to
destroy what has been won by the sacrifice of past generations
and defended with their blood, is illegal and treasonable, and
should not be made available. The vote of 1975 is
constitutionally invalid, since, as Heath has admitted so
shamelessly, "A single currency and a single government",
gross violations of the Constitution, were implicit in the
Treaty of Rome. We should proceed in accordance with our
traditions. Michael Shrimpton has suggested that "implied
repeal" cannot be altered, and that since the latter statute
always prevails over the earlier ones, for example, ,the
Merchant Shipping Act, which was enacted later than the
European Communities Act, should prevail, so stopping the
quota-hoping swindle, and the "European Court" had no power
to rule it illegal. This argument has never been tested in the
Courts.

We should work to bring the main Parties back to their
senses, which may not be so difficult. Trades Union leaders
fell for Jacques Delors' promises of kindly "European" laws
to protect them from Thatcher's onslaught with industrial
legislation more repressive than anywhere outside of
militarist or fascist dictatorships. But for that, the TUC
would never have ended its 24 years of patriotic opposition
to the EEC/EC/EU. Neither would the Labour Party have
changed its policy of withdrawal adopted in 1980. Now,
they have the toothless "Social Protocol", and it has not
invalidated one of the Thatcher laws. Revulsion is inevitable,
never mind what Monks or Jackson may say.

So let us all exercise sensible restraint, and not insist on
having our own way over everything. When we are a free
nation again, we can all contend for the favour of a free
people. Advancing serious arguments, not the cheap sound-
bites which have debased the political process within the
mephitic atmosphere of "Europe". Until then we should
follow Mr Powell's advice, and "postpone our divergent
political ambitions" until we have regained the power to
fulfil them.

Eric Clements
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