PABLO NERUDA AND THE
SPANISH CIVIL WAR
BACKGROUND ON THE CIVIL WAR
Spawning from nearly 100 years of political
unrest and a previous failed attempt at
overthrowing the government, the winds of Civil
War blew in the once great nation of Spain.
 Beginning in 1936, it was intended as a military
coup by the right wing, but due to failure by the
military units in key strategic cities such as
Madrid and Valencia, it instead became a civil
war.
 Fought between the Republicans and the
Nationalists, both sides committed atrocities and
evoked deep passions amongst the people.
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NATIONALISTS VS. REPUBLICANS
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In the tense pre-WWII political climate, this civil war
between political ideologies embodied the scene in
Europe.
The Great Powers in Europe, while cautious about
sparking a world war, were very tempted by the
opportunity to gain an ideological ally.
Germany, Italy, and neighbouring Portugal supported
their ideologically similar Fascist friends at the
Nationalist party, and Hitler, Salazar and Mussolini
supplied some ~85,000 soldiers, as well as planes,
boats, arms, training, and Reichmarks.
The Republican cause, seen as a fight against
Fascism, gained support for the Soviet Union in the
form of arms, Mexico in the form of financial aid, and
the international community in the form of volunteer
soldiers (some 40,000 from 53 nations).
A WAR (BUT NOT REALLY)
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It’s easy to see why this war was divisive – what
started as a coup had become an international warby-proxy.
The ideologies at work ended up coalescing somewhat
– you were called (and killed as) a communist for
opposing the nationalists, which is a reasonable
assumption because you were being supported by
socialists, and you were called a fascist for supporting
the nationalists, which is also a very fair assumption
because they mostly were fascists.
However, there was also a wide spectrum of ideologies
on the left and right – those afraid of fascism, those
afraid of communism, moderate left and right wingers
– it caused every Spaniard to pick a side.
THE ARTS DURING WAR
Spain was (and still is) a vibrant cultural centre.
Painters, poets, writers; none were exempt from
the war.
 The famous Englishmen George Orwell (Eric
Blair) put his money where his mouth was, and
signed on with the Republicans to “fight
Fascism.”
 The Arts and leftist thought are closely tied, and
the cause attracted much support amongst artist
and authors.
 For instance, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso,
and our hero…
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PABLO NERUDA (!)
Pablo Neruda was, at the time of the war’s
outbreak, the Chilean consul in Madrid. He had
spent this time working on his poetry and
meeting a circle of artist friends, where his
political ideology was influenced by his radically
leftist friends, and allowed to grow.
 One of these friends, Federico del Sagrado
Corazón de Jesús García Lorca, would later prove
to be the catalyst for great change in Neruda’s
life.
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POET OF THE PEOPLE
When the war began, Neruda was startled, but
not shocked – the premonitions of civil war had
been coming for those who had been looking.
 What shocked him and awakened his inner
activist was the assassination of García Lorca,
his close friend.
 This shocked him and shocked too his poetry.
 This and other atrocities led him to write Spain
in our Hearts, a collection of poetry written to
show solidarity to the Republican side of the
conflict.
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A SHIFT IN POETRY
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I Explain Some Things is demonstrative of his change
in tone. In these passages:
You will ask: And where are the lilacs?
and the metaphysical blanket of poppies
In this poem, he “explains some things” about how his
tone and voice in poetry are changing, and to do this
references Ruben Dario, another famous Latin
American poet, who was well known for political
poems. In Dario’s De Otoño, he says:
I know that there are those who say: why
Doesn't he sing now
With the madness of yesteryears
This reference prepares the reader for the stark
changes that occur from Neruda’s old poetry to this
poetry.
POEMS OF THE PEOPLE
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This passages is demonstrative of his intense change in tone, and of the shock that he must have gone
through.
And one morning it was all burning,
and one morning bonfires
sprang out of the earth
devouring humans,
and from then on fire,
gunpowder from then on,
and from then on blood.
…
You will ask: why doesn’t his poetry
speak to us of dreams, of leaves
of the great volcanoes of his native land?
Come and see the blood in the streets
come and see
the blood in the streets
come and see the blood
in the streets!
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He ends the poem similarly to how he began it, thus ending his explanation.
The last 5 lines are haunting , and one can’t help but read them arrhythmically due to the odd spacing.
POEMS OF MOURNING AND VENGEANCE
He wrote in this collection many different poems,
addressing different groups or specific people with each
poem. In Songs for Mothers of Slain Militiamen, he
sympathizes with the mothers of the dead in a comforting
voice, like so:
Put aside
your mantles of mourning, join all your tears until you make
them metal
 Whereas in Sanjurjo In Hell, Mola In Hell, and General
Franco In Hell, he addresses (attacks) three prominent
Nationalist generals, like so (to Franco):
You do not deserve to sleep even though it be with your eyes
fastened with pins:
you have to be
awake, General, eternally awake among the putrefaction of the
new mothers machine-gunned in the autumn
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SAVIOUR OF THE PEOPLE
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In the end, all the poems and paintings in the world could not stop Italian men
and German guns
Franco ended up winning, and many thousands of leftist, free-thinking, or just
plain scared Spanish refugees fled to neighbouring France.
The French, lacking proper infrastructure for an influx of thousands of
Spaniards, put them in internment camps, where they faced poor conditions
and possible return to Spain due to both France and Britain maintaining
neutrality in accordance with the League of Nations.
Neruda organized an old cargo steamer, the SS Winnipeg, that could hold
about twenty people to be refitted to hold 2200 refugees, who were then
shipped off to Chile, where they were greeted with open arms.
Most stayed as immigrants.
The SS Winnipeg later was captured by the Dutch and returned to it’s nominal
roots via purchase by a Canadian company, but was sunk on its way to Saint
John, NB. 
Everyone on board was rescued by the HCMS Morden though. 
Neruda called this “the noblest mission I have ever undertaken” and wrote of it
“The critics may erase all of my poetry, if they want. But this poem, that today
I remember, nobody will be able to erase”
NOT-WELL-SUITED DIPLOMAT (OF THE
PEOPLE)
With Franco’s government in power, a
Communist diplomat who had actively opposed
his regime and literally told him to go to Hell
seemed like a poor choice of consul for Chile.
 He was relocated to Mexico for three years, after
which the rest of his life progressed.
 This pivotal point in his life affected all of his
later works, splitting them into two separate
entities almost: the decidedly personal poems
about love and lust; and the decidedly political
poems about Stalin and Capitalism.
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THE END
