"I didn’t know much about Spain but I knew my thoughts were that, every bullet I fired would be against the Dublin landlords and capitalists.”

 

Bob was born in the slums of inner city Dublin in 1916, and like most people around him, had a harsh upbringing during a time of abject poverty. What Bob witnessed during his childhood led to him to commit himself to a lifetime of political activism. He was the last Irish born survivor to have fought against Franco and the fascist alliance in the Spanish civil war.

In the thirties Bob received a severe beating from Eoin O’Duffy’s right wing Blueshirts at a demonstration, leaving him with permanent damage to one eye. This led him to enlist with the Dublin Brigade of the IRA, meeting up with the influential Kit Conway. Three years later he joined the highly politicised Irish Republican Congress, where his socialist beliefs developed further.

In 1936 Bob joined with the International Brigades and the Connolly Column to fight against Franco's fascist forces in Spain, who with the help of Hitler and Mussolini, and the blind eye turned by Britain, France and the USA, sought to militarily uppose the democratically elected Spanish government. He made his way through France onto Valencia to enlist, and began using skills learned in the IRA to train foreign fighters for the front. This was not enough for Bob who disobeyed orders and joined a group heading for the front line in the Spanish civil war.

He was eventually captured and imprisoned in a concentration camp before being released in 1939 as part of a prisoner exchange. On his release, Bob was determined to continue the fight against fascism so joined the British merchant navy based in Gibralter, making regular crossings of the Atlantic until his medical discharge.

After the war, Bob settled down in London with his Spanish wife Lola, where they raised their family. He dedicated the rest of his life fighting for worker's rights as a trade union official, whilst also regularly returning to Spain under cover, to help the underground anti-fascist movement during the Franco dictatorship, and travelling throughout Europe speaking at meetings and delivering lectures to progressive organisations and individuals.

In 2007 the Anti-Racism World Cup was honoured to have Bob as guest of honour, and he showed that even at the age of 91 he still had the same passion for the political struggle that he held as a youth in Dublin.

Bob delivered his final speech last November, fittingly at a re-dedication of the International Brigade monument in Belfast. His life and dedication will not be forgotten.

Bob Doyle

No Pasaran!