Membership card of the Communist Party of Spain, 1938 This
membership card belonged to John Dunlop (1915-2006). He was one
of the 500 Scotsmen who volunteered to fight during the Spanish
Civil War, 1936-1939. John Dunlop was born in Winnipeg, Canada,
but grew up in Edinburgh. Unlike many of the other Scottish
volunteers who fought in Spain, he came from a middle-class
background. When the Spanish Civil War began in summer 1936, he
was studying to be a Chartered Accountant in Glasgow. Dunlop was
interested in politics and a member of the Communist Party.
Through the party newspaper, the 'Daily Worker', he read about
the war in Spain and decided to volunteer to fight on the
Republican side. He fought in the battles of Jarama and Brunete,
where he was badly injured. Later, he fought in Teruel, Belchite
and the Ebro. He returned to Scotland in December 1938 and set
up his own printing business in Edinburgh. Scottish involvement
in the Spanish Civil War In 1936, the British government
committed to a non-interventi