Camelia Ethel MacDonald (24 February 1909 – 1 December 1960) was a
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
-based
Scottish anarchist, activist, and 1937, Spanish Civil War broadcaster on pro-Republican, anti-Fascist Barcelona radio.
Early years
Camelia Ethel McDonald was born on 24 February 1909 in
Bellshill, Scotland, to Andrew McDonald, a coach painter, and Daisy Watts. A native of
North Lanarkshire
North Lanarkshire ( sco, North Lanrikshire; gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Tuath) is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the northeast of the City of Glasgow and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs and commuter towns and villages. It als ...
,
[Dolan states Motherwell, the Evening Times and Gray state Bellshill.] Ethel MacDonald, the fifth of nine children,
left home at 16, joined the
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...
(ILP)
and worked at various jobs. In 1925
she met
Guy Aldred
Guy Alfred Aldred (often Guy A. Aldred; 5 November 1886 – 16 October 1963) was a British anarcho-communist and a prominent member of the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF). He founded the Bakunin Press publishing house and edited ...
and, with him, became politically active in the
Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation
The Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation (APCF) was a communist group in the United Kingdom. It was founded by the group around Guy Aldred's ''Spur'' newspaper – mostly former Communist League members – in 1921. They included John McGover ...
(APCF). In 1933 she accepted his invitation to work as his secretary,
and joined him in the June 1934
formation of the
United Socialist Movement
The United Socialist Movement (USM) was an anarcho-communist political organisation based in Glasgow. Founded in 1934 after splitting from the Anti-Parliamentary Communist Federation, the USM initially aimed to unite revolutionary socialists int ...
(USM). During this time she became fluent in
French and
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
.
Spanish Civil War
In November 1936
MacDonald travelled to Barcelona with Guy Aldred's partner,
Jenny Patrick, to represent and show the support of the Scottish anarchist movement for the
Republican faction in the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
. In January 1937
she began to transmit regular English-language reports on the war on Barcelona's widely heard Anarchist radio station run by the
National Confederation of Labor (CNT).
In the crackdown following the
events of May 1937 she assisted the escape of anarchists wanted by the
Communist secret police and smuggled into prison letters and food for fellow anarchists held by regional authorities.
Through her activities in helping anarchists escape Spain, she became renowned in the British press as the "Scots
Scarlet Pimpernel
''The Scarlet Pimpernel'' is the first novel in a series of historical fiction by Baroness Orczy, published in 1905. It was written after her stage play of the same title (co-authored with Montague Barstow) enjoyed a long run in London, having ...
".
Between July and November 1937, she was a national figure in the newspapers, with daily reports and inquiries as to her whereabouts and activities.
Death of Bob Smillie
On 12 June 1937, Bob Smillie, who was a member of the
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...
that had been fighting with the
POUM
The Workers' Party of Marxist Unification ( es, Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista, POUM; ca, Partit Obrer d'Unificació Marxista) was a Spanish communist party formed during the Second Republic and mainly active around the Spanish Civil ...
forces for the Republicans, died while being held by the
Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
police. The police stated that his death had been caused by
peritonitis
Peritonitis is inflammation of the localized or generalized peritoneum, the lining of the inner wall of the abdomen and cover of the abdominal organs. Symptoms may include severe pain, swelling of the abdomen, fever, or weight loss. One part o ...
, however, rumours flew around Valencia that he had been beaten to death. MacDonald began reporting the latter version of events on her radio broadcasts and in newspaper articles. This eventually led to her own arrest.
MacDonald eventually escaped custody and left Spain altogether, making her way back to Glasgow by November 1937.
Along the way she travelled through
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
and
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
, where she denounced the actions of the Communists in Spain. She continued to publicly discuss the case of Bob Smillie, but her version of events was disputed in the UK by David Murray, a member of the Independent Labour Party who had also been in Spain. Murray insisted that Smillie had died of peritonitis, and he was generally believed until
George Orwell returned to London in 1938 and also began to denounce the actions of the Communists in Spain.
Georges Kopp
Georges Kopp (October 10, 1902 – July 15, 1951) was a Belgian educated engineer and inventor of Russian descent, who volunteered in the fight against Nazism and is best known for his friendship with George Orwell, whom he commanded in the Spani ...
, who had been Smillie's commander in Spain, also returned and supported the view that Smillie had been murdered.
Later years and death
After her return from Spain, Ethel MacDonald worked closely with Guy Aldred, Jenny Patrick,
John Taylor Caldwell and other Glasgow anarchists on a shoestring publishing enterprise, ''
The Strickland Press'', which published regular issues of the
USM organ, ''The Word''. They continued their activities through
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
and the 1950s
peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement which seeks to achieve ideals, such as the ending of a particular war (or wars) or minimizing inter-human violence in a particular place or situation. They are often linked to the goal of achieving world peac ...
, with MacDonald considered as the unofficial manager, bookkeeper and printer of ''The Strickland Press''.
She and Guy Aldred donated their papers to the
Mitchell Library
The Mitchell Library is a large public library and centre of the City Council public library system of Glasgow, Scotland.
History
The library, based in the Charing Cross district, was initially established in Ingram Street in 1877 following a ...
in Glasgow. The collection numbers approximately 500 items consisting of Spanish newspapers, bulletins, newssheets, flyers, posters, pamphlets and photographs issued under the auspices of the CNT and the
Iberian Anarchist Federation
Iberian refers to Iberia. Most commonly Iberian refers to:
*Someone or something originating in the Iberian Peninsula, namely from Spain, Portugal, Gibraltar and Andorra.
The term ''Iberian'' is also used to refer to anything pertaining to the fo ...
during 1936–1938.
Ethel MacDonald was diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis in February 1958 and lost her ability to speak. Within three years she died in Glasgow's
Knightswood Hospital at the age of 51.
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
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*
*
*
*
Film
*
Ethel MacDonald - An Anarchist Story' by Mark Littlewood
External links
Biography by John Couzin: "Life story of one of Glasgow's women anarchists that I feel very strongly is worth remembering."- speech given by Ethel MacDonald on Radio Barcelona and subsequently published in ''Regeneración'' (1937).
Entry in the Daily Bleed
Ethel MacDonald Collection at Mitchell Library, Glasgow
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macdonald, Ethel
Scottish anarchists
Scottish activists
People from Motherwell
People from Bellshill
Scottish essayists
Scottish women essayists
1909 births
1960 deaths
Deaths from multiple sclerosis
People with multiple sclerosis
Neurological disease deaths in Scotland
British women of the Spanish Civil War
Anarchism in Scotland
20th-century British essayists
Scottish people with disabilities