Fighting for Democracy: The True Story of Jim Higgins

Fighting for Democracy: The True Story of  Jim Higgins (1907-1982), A Canadian Activist in Spain’s Civil War – by Jim Higgins, with  Janette Higgins 

Publisher:  Friesen Press

Published: 20th August 2020

Pages: 204

It has been a real pleasure researching the Stockton volunteers for the International Brigades I have had huge support from so many people, and heard so many inspiring and interesting stories.

One of the eight volunteers was a Canadian, Wilf Cowan, he was the youngest son of John and Sarah Cowan of Tilery Road, Stockton, they had immigrated to Canada in 1925, as I discussed in https://foxburg.edublogs.org/2020/08/18/wheres-wilf/

Wilf served in the Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion, which was part of the XV International Brigade, hence I have looked at this fascinating Battalion  as well as the British Battalion and the Anti-Tank Battery of the XV Brigade.

In September I became aware of a new book soon to be published: Fighting for Democracy. It came to my notice as Janette commented on a Facebook Post of mine regarding Wilf Cowan, she has since been very supportive, and so too has Ray Hoff, her Facebook Page is well worth a visit. Shortly after this I read Stewart Walsh’s review – Read it here, and resolved to get a copy when it became available in the UK.

In September I asked Janette if, when it becomes possible, she would be willing to speak and maybe do a book signing, she agreed, but for obvious reasons this is on hold. Janette being in Canada was curious about the UK distribution of the book, therefore when I ordered it from Drake the Bookshop I asked if it was possible to get the details, within a few days we had the book, finding the process pretty smooth, we passed the information onto Janette. I then had the challenge of waiting ten weeks as ‘er indoors claimed the book as one of my Christmas Presents.

Jim Higgins wrote part of his story in 1939 in Saskatoon and the rest in 1977 in Peterborough, where he died in 1982. It lay fallow until his daughter, Janette Higgins, organized it into coherence with additional biographical detail. Friesen Press

I began reading memoirs forty years ago, the first was the fabulous Adventures in the Rifle Brigade, by John Kincaid, which sets a pretty high standard. The majority of the Napoleonic memoirs I read  were wonderful, as the men were describing their experiences, and this added context to the knowledge I had of the campaigns, and enriched my understanding.

I find that a major weakness of many more modern memoirs, biographies and autobiographies is that the author attempts to use the narrative to tell the bigger story. This is also noticeable in testimony, although recent experience has led me to believe that  this is generally down to the line of questioning; I’ve listened to dozens of IWM sound archive interviews,  many are the times when I could scream as the veteran’s interesting anecdote is interrupted by the question – “and when was this?” The demand for a specific date not only interrupts the flow of the narrative, but quite often pulls the interviewee away from their experiences and towards a description  of the larger picture, sacrificing the story for the sake of Chronological integrity.

What is hugely impressive about this memoir is that it is clearly focussed on Jim’s experiences, it is clearly his modest voice one hears on reading this. The writing is wonderfully succinct, one can picture the events and experiences as the writing is light and fluid. Therefore we get a purposeful and meaningful memoir, and yes it can be compared favourably with Kincaid;  Fighting for Democracy is a cracking story told in a compelling way, it could be said that Jim writes in a straightforward way, without any flourishes, but this style hides the emotional depth of the prose. Take the beginning for example; Chapter one is starkly titled – ORPHANED

I was born July 26, 1907, without aid of a midwife, in the attic of a pub run by my parents. The address was 644 Wandsworth Road, Clapham, London, England, and the name on my birth certificate was Harry James Thomas Higgins.

As he says himself everything changed when the pub was demolished during a Zeppelin raid in 1915, his father was killed, he and his mother were seriously injured in the attack. Jim then goes on to explain in a heartbreakingly simple way the consequences of this event:

I later learnt that my mother was unable to provide for my two sisters and myself, which is why we were sent our separate ways.  

You’ll note I refer to the author as Jim, for one does feel that you are with him on his journey, without persuasion you see and feel things his way, you accept the triumphs and hard knocks he experiences, not because he explains things but rather the opposite,  his open and positive outlook is infectious.

Ever the optimist Jim saw being sent to an orphanage in a positive light, seeing the care he received as hugely beneficial, especially the schooling in Bristol and Manchester. In Manchester he was taught in the Industrial School in Ardwick; by coincidence Sam Wild, the Commander of the British Battalion was born in Ardwick in 1908, both Jim and Sam were the same age.

I will never forget my arrival in Canada. It was August 1928, and I had just turned twenty-one. About thirty of us were in a cement floored room being questioned by government bureaucrats who were deciding where we would be sent. We were chatting on rows of wooden benches, and a uniformed guard kept ordering us to stop talking. We thought this unreasonable so we ignored him. Then one of the men lit a cigarette and the guard shouted, “put that cigarette out!” we rose off the bench and surrounded the guard, voicing our displeasure. 

This set the pattern in Canada, where he endured the Great Depression,  he took whatever job he could find to survive and was sometimes compelled to take shelter at relief camps, or “slave camps” as he called them, but more often than not he ran into trouble with bosses for organizing the other workers or advocating for better terms and conditions. I must admit I was totally absorbed in the narrative, willing him on and taking pleasure in the simple pleasures he describes in his affable style. 

I’m not going to retell his story here, quite simply you need to read it for yourself, it is an outstanding history, not just of his life, but of the times he lived through; there are, and I feel will be, few histories which will explain the soul destroying grind of life in the first half of the 20th Century in such a eloquent way.

We are almost a third of the way into the story before Jim goes to Spain, and it almost comes as a surprise, I was so immersed in his experiences. The account he gives of his time in Spain is invaluable, as he simply and openly describes his experiences and feelings, once again the reader is travelling alongside Jim on his journey. I think it is a huge credit to Janette that she has not patched the holes in his account; there are large gaps in the chronology. The immersive aspect of these memoirs would be lost if the context was explained or described, there are few accounts of combat which can match this for clarity. For someone like myself, familiar with the timeline and  events this memoir covers, it is hugely refreshing, everything is renewed; we see familiar events  from a fresh perspective and are captivated by unique and detailed anecdotes. This is the international Brigades experience from the ground level, from the front line, the brutal kill or be killed isolation of modern warfare. Nevertheless somehow the horror and brutality is overcome by the light and affable writing, we are not repelled by the horror but neither are we distanced from it. Even the failure at the Ebro and the withdrawal of the International Brigades is presented as a disappointment, Jim never seems to portray any bitterness or anger.

Another link to my own research is that Jim Higgins travelled back to Spain with Stockton born Wilf Cowan; On 3rd February 1939, Jim and Wilf arrived back in Canada, stepping ashore in Halifax after travelling as part of the first batch of repatriated ‘Mac-Paps’ who had travelled on The Canadian Pacific Line’s ship The Duchess of Richmond. Two men, both born in England, both emigrated to Canada, both fought in the Mac-Paps and both returning home to Canada to continue the struggle for democracy.

I think it is the mark of the man that an incident for which he gives just  10 lines in his memoirs is hugely significant to so many people; in his last weeks in Spain he rescues as boy  from drowning. Manuel Alvarez then spends the next forty years tracing the Canadian who had saved his life, travelling to meet Jim in 1978. Janette briefly tells the story, and Manuel published a book about his search, however, despite writing up him memoirs at the time Jim modestly fails to add anything to his own recollections.

In the last third of the book Jim, added to by Janette, describes the life Jim made for his family, and the sacrifices he made so that his family could have a better future. I will admit to shedding a tear, or ten, as I read the beautiful prose Jim writes of his wife, Reta. Jim Higgins certainly had a hard life, but one lived to the full, this book is a fitting commemoration of a great, good man.

This memoir is outstanding for numerous reasons, but primarily Jim is describing his  experiences in vivid and coherent detail, this added context to the knowledge I have of the campaigns the XV International Brigade fought in,  enriching my understanding of the conflict. I am not exaggerating when I say that this is the most outstanding memoir I have read, in fact I can safely say it is one of the few truly magnificent books I have read, I cannot see how it could be improved or even surpassed. I would not only highly recommend it, I would go so far and insist that you read it.

 

 

 

 

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