COMRADES of the international Brigades! Political reasons, reasons of state, the welfare of that same cause for which you offered your blood with boundless generosity, are sending you back, some to your own countries and others to enforced exile. You can go proudly. You are history. You are legend.

These were the farewell words of La Pasionaria, the Spanish communist leader, to the International Brigades, who had been fighting in the ranks of the Spanish Republican army to defend democracy and fight fascism.

The words of Dolores Ibarruri sum up beautifully the sacrifice made by working-class people in Britain, Ireland and around the world to fight fascism in Spain.

In Britain, Harry Pollitt, then general secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, took a leading role in recruiting and organising the British Battalion of the International Brigades.

With his leadership the CPGB led the recruitment of the International Brigades and pressed the TUC and the Labour Party to abandon their cowardly non-interventionist stance towards the fight for democracy in Spain.

As the war went on, and as the pressure mounted, the TUC and the Labour Party reversed their stance. Thousands of British volunteers, socialists, communists and trade unionists, went to Spain to fight fascism.

They gave up their lives because they recognised that the struggle of the Spanish people against fascism was their struggle.

For years, I have attended International Brigade commemorations in Spain. When I was 19 years old the first trip I went on was to Madrid, along with other trade unionists remembering the British and Irish volunteers. Being there made me understand the importance of international solidarity — and that those comrades who fought as part of the International Brigades knew the true meaning of solidarity.

They knew that an attack on the people of Spain and on their liberty was ultimately an attack on all workers and that the fight for peace, social justice and democracy started in Spain.

Following the Brigaders’ example, internationalism is more important today than ever. Being a trade unionist has never just been about working within the system to change work for the better. We must also organise to challenge the very basis of exploitation — capitalism. In that same vein, our struggle in Britain is not separate from the class struggle internationally.

It’s our duty to fight for a better world so that those who fought and died in Spain did not die in vain. With US-led imperialism ravaging the world with war, it has always been our responsibility as trade unionists to show solidarity with those people at the sharp end and call out our own government’s complicity in these crimes.

For example, the genocide against the Palestinian people, facilitated and financed by the US, requires our movement to step up and fight our own government’s complicity. It’s our responsibility as trade unionists to fight for justice, ensure historical memory of the crimes against humanity and reiterate the calls from our Palestinian sisters and brothers for a state of Palestine as the first step towards the Palestinian people themselves deciding their own right to sovereignty and self-determination.

In Iran, workers are suffering at the hands of the US illegal war on the country. Trade unionists in Britain must support the Iranian people fight for the same principles of sovereignty, peace and democracy.

Our comrades in Cuba are facing Trump’s attempt to crush the revolution and its achievements through strangulation and cutting off oil supplies on top of the illegal blockade.

Solidarity between the British labour movement and Cuba is paramount. We must throw ourselves into the campaign to end the blockade and fundraise for medical and food aid to Cuba through the Cuba Vive campaign set up by Unison and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign. Given what Cuba has given to the world, in their time of need we must show our utmost solidarity with them.

Ninety years ago, trade unionists in Britain made the ultimate sacrifice for peace and democracy. In their image and memory, we must ensure our movement remains internationalist — fighting against war, against imperialism and for justice for all those around the world who are suffering and fighting fascism and imperialism.

Long live the International Brigades!

Micaela Tracey-Ramos is on the Unison NEC and is vice-chair of the union’s international committee.