The gallant yet illegal cause: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War.

• Author: Normey, Rob

It was in Spain that men learned that one can be right and still be beaten, that force can vanquish spirit, that there are times when courage is not its own reward. It is this, without doubt, which explains why so many men throughout the world regard the Spanish drama as a personal tragedy.--Albert Camus

I recently prepared for a presentation I was to make after our film showing of Los Canadienses in the ongoing series, "Do the Rights Thing: Standing Up For Human Rights in History". The documentary depicts the remarkable tale of the 1,600 or so brave young Canadians who volunteered to fight in Spain shortly after they learned of the attempted coup against the democratically elected government in that country. In thinking of how significant the Spanish Civil War was for an entire generation of Canadians who reached adulthood in the 1930s, I thought back to a climactic scene in Hugh MacLennan's novel The Watch That Ends the Night (1959). Many critics consider the novel of this five-time Governor General winner to be his finest.

The novel was one MacLennan had to struggle over many years to write. It is his most personal and contains a great deal of autobiographical detail and a vivid portrait of Montreal in the 1930s, when he, like so many others, strained and persevered to survive in the midst of the Great Depression. In an era before there was any social safety net, many found it difficult, if not impossible, to make ends meet, and the spectre of unemployment and a restless, vagabond existence hovered over fearful Canadians. Paradoxically though, side by side with the darkness and desolation, was a dream shared by many that a much better society based on equality and social justice could be built. Some writers and intellectuals called for revolution or, at the very least, significant reform. One of these radicals is MacLennan's hero and most compelling character, Jerome Martell. Martell is a doctor who shares a number of traits with the radical doctor who remains a major presence in any history of the era, Norman Bethune. However, in reading the introduction to the recent re-issue of The Watch That Ends the Night by McGill-Queen's University Press, I learned that MacLennan himself considered that Martell had far more affinities with Frank Scott (his pen name being F. R. Scott), poet and constitutional scholar, lawyer and guiding light in the newly formed socialist party, the CCF.

While the novel is certainly no roman a clef and does not...