Ethel MacDonald

Ethel MacDonald (born February 24, 1909 in Bellshill near Glasgow , † December 1, 1960 in Glasgow) was a Scottish anarchist and activist and in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War , a propagandist for the CNT radio in Barcelona .

biography

Ethel MacDonald initially worked as a waitress . During this time, Scotland got more and more into the Great Depression , work was scarce and paid rather poorly. Ethel was involved in the women's and labor movement and in 1931 met Guy Aldred , editor of anarchist newspapers in Glasgow, and worked with him. In the same year the miners rose in Oviedo , Asturias (Spain). Socialists , communists and anarchists alike took part in this uprising . Ethel MacDonald quickly realized the importance and in many speeches and articles emphasized the importance of what was happening in Spain.

The military coup under General Franco electrified them too. She wrote against it, distributed leaflets and called for action. In almost every major city, there were information stands, funds were collected, signature lists were drawn up and, in some cases, people were recruited for the International Brigades.

The CNT in Barcelona needed an English-speaking journalist to tell the world about the Catalan Revolution. Ethel MacDonald, with her writing and propaganda skills, was well suited for this. Glasgow's anarchists raised funds that allowed Ethel and her partner Jenny Patrick to get to Perpignan . The rest were hitchhiked and starved.

In those unbelievable months of 1936/37, Barcelona had become the center of arguably the most radical revolution in the world. About three million women, men and children were involved. Municipalities reshaped the country. Workers took over the factories and the police were replaced by civilian self-defense (militias). 3/4 of the Catalan economy was collectivized. Ethel wrote about it and soon her propaganda skills were noticed. The radio had become a new and important tool in these days. Ethel became the voice of the anarchist radio station in Barcelona. The events in Spain were now being broadcast around the world on the radio.

The more the fascist uprising in Spain grew, the more passionate Ethel's programs became - and attracted many volunteers. But the new world was coming to an end in May 1937. The attack on the telephone exchange in Barcelona, ​​a stronghold of the anarchists, did not come from the fascists, but from the government backed by the communists. In the middle of the street fighting, Ethel managed to get bulletins out of the country. The revolutionaries fought another 4 days. Many of them were arrested by former allies, others tortured and many killed. Ethel was also arrested. In the prison cell, she wrote messages for other inmates and smuggled them out in food cans along with her reports. A member of the British “Labor Party” then managed to get Ethel out of prison on bail . But she did not leave the country yet, instead she plunged into practical resistance and helped many comrades to flee.

In February 1939, Great Britain and France recognized the Franco regime. Ethel MacDonald fled Spain and continued her activities in Europe. In Amsterdam and Paris she told of the Spanish revolution and called for resistance against fascism.

Later she worked again as a journalist in Glasgow, but also as a printer and distributed the newspapers on the street, again without any financial remuneration. Ethel MacDonald died of multiple sclerosis on December 1, 1960.

literature

• John Taylor Caldwell: Come dungeons dark: the life and times of Guy Aldred, Glasgow anarchist. Luath Press, Barr 1988, ISBN 0-946487-19-7
• John Taylor Caldwell: With fate conspire: memoirs of a Glasgow seafarer and anarchist. Northern Herald, Bradford 1999, ISBN 0-9523167-1-4
• Rhona M. Hodgart: Ethel MacDonald: Glasgow Woman Anarchist. Kate Sharpley Library, London 2003, ISBN 1-873605-28-5