THE letter of Ralph Prothero about the International Brigade was interesting but in my opinion he is wrong (Spetember 5).

The International Brigade were fighting for democracy. Fighting for the right of the Spanish people to vote for and to be governed by whatever government they chose.

The opposition, of course, consisting of the aristocracy, the grandees and the officer class thought they had a divine fight to rule, and that the Spanish people should accept things the way they always had been, and that democracy was an unpleasant word. These people of course went under the title nationalists.

With the nationalists having the backing of financial institutions and the Fascist governments of Italy and Germany, the Republicans were glad to accept help from wherever it might come.

The help, of course, came from Russia in the main and to a lesser degree France.

The Republicans, including the International Brigade, were well aware that Russia was a totalitarian state and not the socialist one it pretended to be, but this had to be set aside as long as Russian help was needed.

The men of the brigade knew that people such as they, individuals, politically aware, and democrats would not last long in a communist country such as Russia. They would be first-rate candidates for the gulag.

C E WATTS, Southampton.