Jock Cunningham

Joseph Wallace "Jock" Cunningham (20 December 1902 – 22 February 1969)[citation needed] was a British volunteer in the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War.

He made a considerable fuss while incarcerated including going on hunger strike three or four times[5] and eventually when a letter he had smuggled out of the prison was published in a Fife newspaper questions were asked in the Commons.

His release was something of legend as it is noted in The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas that Cunningham has the reputation of being: "the only soldier in a military jail in England who made such a fuss that the authorities freed him to rid themselves of the trouble of looking after him".

Edinburgh City Councillor, Donald Renton's older brother served with him in Jamaica and described him as "the gamest man in the British Army".

As Britain and many other democratic nations of Europe refused military aid to the Spanish Government and maintained a policy of "non-intervention" such an act of volunteering was illegal.

[8] He arrived in Spain 19 October 1936 and was involved in the early defence of Madrid after joining the Machine-Gun Company of the Commune de Paris Battalion, part of the XI International Brigade.

He later served as Chief of Brigade Staff of the XV Battalion, but after the battle of Brunete the Communist Party of Great Britain recalled all the leaders of the British volunteers back to London.

[5] Spanish Government supporters praised Cunningham's military skill[10] and en route to London, he was welcomed back to Glasgow on 31 August 1937 by 2,500 Communist Party members.

His military influence was praised by Harry Pollitt, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) during his speech at a Unity Campaign meeting 15 March 1937 in Liverpool: "One day we shall tell our children about the defense of Madrid, this epic story that can never die in the pages of World History.

A word of encouragement here...ceaselessly moving among his men until everyone has become influenced with the mighty unconquerable spirit of a worker blessed with a fiery hatred of Fascism…this is Jock Cunningham.

"[6] After differences arose in the CPGB, Pollitt decided Cunningham and fellow Scot Commissar George Aitken were not to return to Spain.

He had residence in the family home on Old Post Office Lane in North Queensferry, although he rarely stayed longer than four weeks at a time.

Wounds are the only decorations…"[9] In the 1990s the Scottish playwright, Hector MacMillan, wrote a play about Jock Cunningham entitled "A Greater Tomorrow", focusing on his service in the Spanish Civil War and speculating about his later years.