1132 Bannerman Ave, Winnipeg, Han. R21 1K8 ’0CtObeJ." 16'

The Leader - Post,

Regina, Sask.

Dear Editor :- “Recalling the Spanish Civil War” in your issue of Oct. 13th

requires comment. Frank Hadesbeck who "wasn't injured” although "surrounded

by death for 18 months" is quoted from his diary "that 10 percent were

honest revolutionaries, while 30 percent were fools, and 60 percent were

opportunists". Such opinion of the volunteers of the Mackenaie~Papineau

Batallion, who were the first Canadians to fight fascism, should not go

iuncorrected. One might readily ask : How did he arrive at the percentages?

Did he interview all the 1259 volunteers from Canada to get that result?

Some Canadians were killed in action before in Frank Hadesbeck arrived in Spain. How could he classify them? He does say that the fight in Spain was against “international fascism" which helped "to weaken the fascist forces somewhere’else". Also, had the Allies joined in, Hitler might have been stopped. Some of the other remarks from the diary contain as much

credibility as his percentage classification of the volunteers. That

classification is an insult not only to Canadianvolunteers but to all

International Brigades and all the heroic Spanish people who fought against fascism, over a million of whom laid down their lives in the battle.

Mr. John Campbell, parliaentary seceetary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs at Ottawa, stated in the Hoise of Commons (Dec.‘15, 1980)

"One can certainly congratulate those men who went to Spain and waged war on

the fascists. One can applaud their bravery in the face of a better manned