Approximately 90 years ago, the Spanish Civil War broke out, an event that would profoundly shape the ideological evolution of the twentieth century. For the first time in history, supporters of the far right faced the left in a large-scale armed conflict, with the latter ranging from radical communists and anarchists to democratic republicans. Remarkably, the war prompted a massive mobilization across European societies. Romania was no exception, and the Communist Party, which was operating illegally at the time, played a more significant role than one might expect. But how did events unfold?

Spain at War with Itself

In the early twentieth century, Spain was deeply affected and polarized by the new extremist ideologies that emerged in the aftermath of the First World War. The years leading up to 1936 were marked, on the one hand, by right-wing dictatorships, such as the military dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, and, on the other, by major left-wing unrest, including the Asturian miners’ uprising of 1934.

The spark that ignited the Iberian Peninsula came with the victory of the Popular Front in the 1936 elections, a coalition comprising both democratic and radical left-wing movements. In response, a group of marginalized generals launched an armed rebellion against the Second Spanish Republic. European powers quickly became involved in the conflict: Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy provided extensive support to the Nationalists led by General Francisco Franco, while the Soviet Union directly supported the Republican side. The conflict soon acquired a broader European dimension and was marked by unprecedented atrocities committed by both sides. Approximately 500,000 people died, and the war ended with the victory of Franco’s forces, which established a brutal dictatorship. The conflict also left a profound cultural legacy, inspiring writers such as Ernest Hemingway and Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell, as well as artists such as Pablo Picasso, who depicted the war through their work.

The Soviet Union and Recruitment by the Communist Party of Romania

As part of the Soviet Union’s support for the Republican cause, the Moscow-led Communist International issued a call for recruitment into the International Brigades, including among members and sympathizers of the Communist Party of Romania. Outlawed in 1924, the party was attempting to adapt to the new realities of the interwar period. The Spanish Civil War offered it an opportunity to gain greater visibility, given both the scale of the conflict and the extent of international involvement, particularly that of communist parties. In the year the war broke out, a committee was established within the party to promote the communist cause through propaganda, while clandestine efforts were also made to recruit volunteers. In total, approximately 400 people, most of them young, recruited by the Communist Party of Romania fought in the conflict.

Based on archival sources analyzed by historian Mihai Burcea, it can be argued that, for many of them, participation in the war represented both an escape from repression by the Romanian state and an opportunity to devote themselves wholeheartedly to the struggle against fascism and, by extension, to the communist cause. Among the best-known participants were Valter Roman, Leonte Tismăneanu, Petru Borilă, Zigmunt Leibovici, Emil Schneiberg, and the brothers Constantin and Mihail Burcă.

Romanian Volunteers – From Spain to the Soviet Union and Romania

According to the memoirs of Valter Roman, father of post-communist Romanian Prime Minister Petre Roman, there were approximately four Romanian military formations fighting on the Republican side. Their tactical and strategic importance was limited, but their propaganda potential was exploited to the fullest, both during the war and in the years that followed. In his memoirs, Roman described the struggle of the Romanian volunteers as a “shining example” and also praised the words of encouragement that Romanian Foreign Minister Nicolae Titulescu had addressed to the Romanian brigadistas.

After the conflict ended, the Romanian volunteers who survived initially took refuge in France and later in the Soviet Union. Among the most notable trajectories were those of Leonte Tismăneanu, Valter Roman, and Petre Borilă. Roman and Borilă later returned to Romania alongside the Soviet Army in August 1944, holding command positions in the two Romanian volunteer divisions, “Horia, Cloșca și Crișan” and “Tudor Vladimirescu.” They actively contributed to the Sovietization of the Romanian military and, more broadly, of the country as a whole. Tismăneanu, meanwhile, became an influential figure in the cultural Sovietization of Romania after 1948, serving as editor-in-chief at the State Publishing House for Political Literature.

The Legacy of the Spanish Civil War – in Spain and Romania

For the Romanian veterans of the Spanish Civil War, the outcome did not bring the glory they may have expected, not even within their own party. Following the establishment of the communist regime in Romania, and particularly after Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej consolidated his power, former members of the International Brigades were viewed with suspicion because of the Western “influences” to which they had supposedly been exposed. As a result, many of them were not given prominent positions in the postwar political order. The figures mentioned above became exceptions largely because of their subsequent activities during the Second World War, which were defined, above all, by their ideological loyalty to Stalin and the Soviet Union. Yet even such loyalty was not always a guarantee of safety, as demonstrated by the victims of Stalin’s purges.

For Spain today, the Civil War remains a painful memory, particularly in light of the dictatorship of Francisco Franco that followed it. Although the conflict has left behind a difficult and contested legacy, the struggle of the Republican forces has remained, to some extent, embedded in collective memory as an expression of Spanish resistance to the far right and dictatorship. At the same time, Soviet involvement proved to be something of a “poisoned apple.” Beyond the material assistance it provided, Soviet support also brought rigid control and political purges and ultimately contributed to the collapse of the Republican war effort.

For Romania, the involvement of Romanian communists in the Spanish Civil War has largely remained a closed and relatively underexplored chapter, partly because of the legacy of the communist regime itself. Nevertheless, amid the spread of pro-Iron Guard narratives—particularly given the participation of Iron Guard volunteers on the Nationalist side and the deaths of Vasile Marin and Ion Moța—highlighting the role played by Romanian volunteers on the Republican side offers a broader and more nuanced perspective on the issue.

Keywords: Spain, Romania, war, civil war, volunteers, communists, Communist Party, Soviet Union; Further Reading: Beevor, Antony, Lupta pentru Spania. Războiul Civil Spaniol (1936-1939), Editura RAO, 2013 | Burcea, Mihai, Luptând pentru o iluzie: Voluntari români în Brigăzile Internaționale din Spania (1936-1939), Editura Cetatea de Scaun, 2017 | Burcea, Mihai (ed.), Corespondență din Spania. Voluntarii români în Războiul Civil Spaniol (1936-1939), Editura Cetatea de Scaun, 2017 | Preston, Paul, The Spanish Civil War: Reaction, Revolution, and Revenge, W.W. Norton & Company, 2007 | Thomas, Hugh, The Spanish Civil War, Penguin Books, 2003.

Back to list
Older Crimes of Communism: Serial Killers, Covered-Up Investigations, and State-Imposed Silence