John Langdon-Davies - Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

Langdon-Davies welcomed the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic, describing it as a "good-tempered revolution" that marked "a real break with the past" and which would deliver freedom to Catalonia. In May 1936 he went to Spain to report on the May Day celebrations in Madrid for the News Chronicle, who sent him out again in August that same year to cover the Civil War. On this second trip he travelled by motorbike with his sixteen-year-old son Robin, whom he left with the "Revolutionary Committee" in Puigcerdà for safe keeping. The following year he wrote Behind the Spanish Barricades, a noted book of war journalism. Behind the Spanish Barricades was a critical and popular success, and "even received favourable mention in the House of Lords". Behind the Spanish Barricades was re-published in 2007 by Reportage Press. Part of the profits from the book went to Plan International, the child sponsorship charity which Langdon-Davis founded. Langdon-Davies disapproved of the activities of the Catalan party POUM, which he felt were undermining the Republican war effort, and this was reflected in his coverage. In a debate against Fenner Brockway, Langdon-Davies supported the motion "that the suppression of the POUM was vital to the anti-fascist cause in Spain". Langdon-Davies' coverage of the Barcelona May action was strongly criticised by George Orwell in Homage to Catalonia.