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“...and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” TheThe VVolunteerolunteer ABRAHAM LINCOLN JOURNAL OF THE VETERANS OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE

Vol. XXVII, No2 June 2005

Seattle Conference on Children’s Art, page 5 FDR and the Spanish Civil War, page 6 Brian Dennehy plays Trumbo, page 9 From the Archives, Sid Kaufman’s Odyssey page 12 Book Reviews, pages 15 and 16 Elegies: Poems for the International Brigades, page 18

Left: Antonio Muñoz Molina prepares for his presen- tation of the Bill Susman Lecture. See page 4. Below: Vets Moe Fishman, Jack Shafran, and Lou Gordon (l to r) pose with Pete Seeger (center right) at the NY Reunion. See page 3. Photos by Richard Bermack. v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:47 AM Page 2

The Spoils of War Dear Editor, Please continue sending I have read with dismay the article you published me The Volunteer recently by the Madrid journalist Miguel Angel Nieto enti- tled “Separatism in Today’s Spain.” In it he depicts what Individual/Family $30.00 ❐ he clearly wishes your readers to see as the imminent and ❐ Senior (over 65) and Student $20.00 terrifying prospect of the disintegration of Spain. Whilst it Library $40.00 ❐ is true, and has been for centuries, that some Basques and Veterans of the Spanish Civil War No Charge ❐ some Catalans aspire to self-determination, it is very far I would also like to send __ gift subscriptions @____ $_____ from clear that anything like a majority in either the To Basque Country or Catalonia would vote for indepen- dence, if given the chance. Address In fact, the Catalan Government (made up of Socialists, Left Republicans and Greens) is currently in the process of I would like to make an additional contribution to ALBA $_____ seeking, together with the Catalan opposition Centre and Enclosed is my check for TOTAL $_____ Right parties, an agreed position from which to negotiate with the Spanish Socialist Government a revised version of Name the Catalan Autonomy Statute that dates from the restora- tion of democracy after the death of Franco—who, as your Mailing address Letters continued on page 10 Telephone number Email address Advertise in the Volunteer Beginning with the next issue, The Volunteer welcomes ☛Please make checks payable to ALBA. paid advertising consistent with ALBA’s broad education- Send to 799 Broadway, Rm. 227, New York, NY 10003 al and cultural mission. For more information, contact [email protected]. You can make contributions online at www.alba-valb.org. The Volunteer Journal of the Letters Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Dear Editor: I notice the ALBA will be honoring Pete Seeger on an ALBA publication May 1 for his many years of music AND his support and 799 Broadway, Rm. 227 commitment to the ALBA and our country’s Bill of Rights. New York, NY 10003 I wish I could be there with you all - to give my continuing support and my heartfelt thanks for providing me with a (212) 674-5398 lifetime of many, many hours of his music. One riveting memory I have is when I attended his free concert at the Editorial Board Longshoremen’s (ILWU) Hall in San Francisco in the early Peter Carroll • Leonard Levenson 1960’s. He told his audience he wanted to “pay back” the Gina Herrmann • Fraser Ottanelli many supporters he had in his own (successful) civil rights Abe Smorodin battle with the federal government, and the only way he knew how was to sing. And sing he did! The place was Book Review Editor packed—to (literally) the hall’s rafters. Young men and Shirley Mangini women had climbed to sit on the cross beams; others were Art Director-Graphic Designer hoisted onto the “Y” supports on the corners of the walls, Richard Bermack squatting there from 8 p.m. to sometime after 2 a.m., when his voice finally just disappeared. He sang his heart out, Editorial Assistance and we sang with him. Thank you ALBA and thank you Nancy Van Zwalenburg Pete Seeger! You are two untarnished jewels that sparkle in Submission of Manuscripts our country’s wreath! Please send manuscripts by E-mail or on disk. Sincerely, E-mail: [email protected] Linda Grant Richmond, CA 2 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:47 AM Page 3

political views because the person was “a man of ideas.” He recalled a local 7th ALBA-Susman Lecture butcher who had been denounced and shot on the street because he was seen “Memories of a Distant War” with blood on his clothes—perhaps the blood of meat he had cut—on the by Antonio Muñoz Molina day a fascist had been killed. He recalled seeing, under coats of chip- ping paint, old faded letters on buildings—acronyms of now-ban- ished political parties or the names of anarchist heroes like Durutti. What did the words mean, he wondered. He seldom received a straight answer. Muñoz Molina described his parents as members of “an unlucky generation.” At age eight, his father had to abandon his education to work the family’s small land holdings while his own father served in the Republican army. His mother, coming of school age after 1939, never had the opportunity for any education because the Franco regime eliminated the rights of girls to public education. She studied to obtain literacy only after the death of the dictator nearly 40 years later. Antonio Muñoz Molina. Photo by Richard Bermack. From his grandfather, who kept an old Republican army uniform hid- n April 29, Antonio Muñoz tion of the war pieced together by a den in a closet, Muñoz Molina learned Molina, Spain’s most acclaimed young boy growing up in a provincial of the International Brigades. He also Ocontemporary novelist and the Director of the Cervantes Institute in New York, delivered the seventh Muñoz Molina recalled how his elders would lower their voices annual ALBA-Bill Susman lecture at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain into whispers when speaking about certain strangers who had Center. Muñoz Molina has twice been awarded Spain’s Premio Nacional de been arrested or killed or otherwise punished for their political Literatura. His novels have been translated to many languages and sev- views because the person was “a man of ideas.” eral have been adapted for the screen.

Muñoz Molina, born in a small town in southern Spain in the 1950s found a tin box filled with Republican town in Andalusia in 1956, would and 60s. He evoked the stories told by government bank notes—the old seemingly have no first-hand experi- elders and the memories of his parents man’s savings, now valueless, palpa- ence of a war that ended 17 years and grandparents. He spoke of how, ble evidence of the lost future of a before he was born. His father was as a young man, he would rummage young man’s hopes. only eight when the military insurrec- through the closets in his home and Such stories, presented with sim- tion against Spain’s Second Republic stumble across the family relics of the plicity, indicate the tremendous began in July 1936; his mother was lost Republic and of the lost war, transformation of Spain during the 20th even younger. And yet, as he which had been stored away by his century, not only because of the war and explained in his presentation, titled parents and grandparents. its aftermath, but also because of the “Memories of a Distant War,” the Muñoz Molina recalled how his author’s very presence today, the child Spanish Civil War “cast a long shad- elders would lower their voices into of an undistinguished peasant society ow” on most of his literary work. whispers when speaking about certain now an international literary figure. In a genial but intense voice, strangers who had been arrested or Muñoz Molina recreated the percep- killed or otherwise punished for their Continued on page 15 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 3 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:47 AM Page 4

VETS HONOR PETE!

Pete Seeger joins in with his banjo during the performance of The Lives and Times of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Performers Grace Garland, Liberty Ellman, Arthur Holden, and Bruce Barthol (left to right). Not shown: Diego Voglino, Andy Tierstien, Chuck McKinnon, and Dred Scott. Photos by Richard Bermack

By Heather Rose Bridger ‘United States of Amnesia’ to a true Commemorating the 61st anniver- ou are genuine heroes!” United States of America!” sary of the album Songs of the Lincoln Pete Seeger told the veter- Longtime MC Henry Foner Battalion, Peter Glazer introduced Pete “Yans of the Abraham Lincoln opened the day’s event. A short film, Seeger. Glazer spoke of Seeger’s Brigade at the 69th annual reunion produced by James Fernandez and decades as a popular troubadour and held at New York University’s Juan Salas, provided an overview of voice for peace. When Seeger came to Skirball Center on May 1. Seeger, who the Abraham Lincoln Brigade the stage, he recounted the story of was honored by the VALB at the sold- Archives as the “archives of recording these Spanish Civil War out event, encouraged the audience: activism.” The late Ossie Davis was songs while on a weekend pass from “You are carrying on! Your job is to present on film, delivering a moving the U.S. Army. change what Gore Vidal calls the tribute to the vets and recalling that After numerous standing ova- their example led him to volunteer tions, the crowd cheered, clapped, and for the army in WWII. He described sang along with The Lives and Times of them as “true Americans who are the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the new committed to trying to establish and musical show written by Bruce preserve democracy.” “I salute Barthol and directed by Peter Glazer. them,” he concluded. Seeger accompanied Barthol and the Moe Fishman, VALB’s executive band on “Venga Jaleo” and “Ay secretary, hailed Pete Seeger as a Manuela,” standing tall with banjo in “hero of we so-called heroes” and hand and leading the audience in reminded the audience of Seeger’s singing “Rumbala, Rumbala Rumba- more than 60 years of activism, friend- la.” Veterans, friends and family ship, and support of the Lincoln enjoyed a reception after the perfor- Brigade. He then introduced 11 vets to mance, an opportunity to reminisce a cheering audience. One by one they and plan for future events. filed slowly onstage and greeted the ALBA Associate Heather Rose Bridger is crowd, some raising fists in the the producer of the CD The Heart of Republican salute, others sharing brief Peter Glazer introduces Pete Seeger. Spain. messages. 4 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:47 AM Page 5

Seattle Conference on Children’s Art Closes Exhibit

tions in contemporary war zones, such sonal statements touched on some of as Afghanistan and East Africa. Janice the unhealed wounds of a war that Hoshino, a psychologist and art thera- ended nearly 70 years ago. pist at Antioch University in Seattle, A final panel examined the partic- placed the children’s drawings of the ipation of Americans in the Spanish Spanish Civil War in the context of war. Virginia Malbin, one of five current research about the develop- social workers from the United States ment of art skills among children. who worked on behalf of orphans and Acknowledging the speculative limits of examining art without knowing the artists, she pointed to themes that seemed to illuminate traumatic issues, such as the separation of children from their families. Tony Geist Moving the conference into the By Peter N. Carroll campus’s Jacob Lawrence Gallery, where the drawings served as a pow- nspired by the last exhibition of erful backdrop, Elyse Pineau, a drama ALBA’s show, “They Still Draw professor at Southern Illinois IPictures: Children’s Art in Wartime University, presented a performance from the Spanish Civil War to dialogue with selected pieces, indicat- Kosovo,” an enthusiastic group of ing that even “peaceful” topics Kathleen Kostenly. Photos by Peter scholars and commentators gathered revealed underlying anxieties and Leonard. at the University of Washington in ambivalence of the child artists. Seattle on March 4-5 to describe and Two afternoon panels focused on uprooted children during the war, discuss the impact of war on chil- the eyewitness testimony of people described her visits to the children’s dren’s lives. Organized by “colonies” where the draw- co-curator Tony Geist, the ings were part of the conference attracted interdis- therapeutic curriculum. ciplinary interests that ranged Lincoln vet Abe Osheroff from art therapists and political also spoke about his experi- activists to refugee survivors of ences as a volunteer in Spain the Spanish Civil War, histori- and afterward in various ans, social workers, and causes of social justice. communications experts. These diverse perspec- Geist presented the meet- tives on children and war, ing’s keynote speech, augmented by animated “Children of the Spanish Civil dialogues with the audi- War,” emphasizing the ences, stimulated the unique perspective of chil- discourse and added an dren’s art for understanding intense emotional aura to the social and cultural conse- the conversations. A quote Angela Giral and Marysa Navarro quences of modern war. from Pablo Picasso was reit- Drawing on the material in the exhibi- directly involved in the experiences of erated in several sessions: “Once I tion, he showed how children’s art Spanish children during the civil war. drew like Rafael,” he said, “but it has expresses distinctive feelings, ideas, The first, chaired by historian Joan taken me a lifetime to draw like a and perspectives about the Ullman, included three child sur- child.” The children’s art of the omnipresent danger and fears. vivors of the war, Angela Giral, Spanish Civil War still evokes the This theme also emerged in anoth- Marysa Navarro, and Carlos Blanco- tragedy of that conflict, so eloquently er panel, “Children, Trauma, Art,” Aguinaga, each of whom drew upon seen through the eyes of its youngest which included commentary by autobiographical experiences to depict victims. Kathleen Kostelny of the Erikson the enduring emotional complications Peter N. Carroll, co-curator of the Institute in Chicago. She explained the of losing their native cultures and exhibition, moderated the veterans’ panel. uses of art therapy and communica- being forced to live in exile. These per- THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 5 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 2:55 PM Page 6

FDR AND THE By Dominic Tierney Spain; they also influenced his views Roosevelt was mindful of internation- n early 1939, the American ambas- about the nature of wider fascist al and domestic pressures. The British sador to Spain, Claude G. Bowers, aggression, with consequences for and the French were pushing for an Iwalked into the White House to the coming world war, and they cre- international agreement not to sell brief President Franklin D. Roosevelt ated an enduring guilt over the arms to either side in Spain and on the outcome of the Spanish Civil failure of a cause in which Roosevelt sought American cooperation in this War, which had just been decisively came to believe. endeavor. Furthermore, the upcoming won by General Franco. As Bowers The Spanish Civil War broke out November presidential election pro- was shown into the president’s office, in the summer of 1936, in the context vided incentives for caution in foreign he was surprised to find a somber fig- of an increasingly disturbing interna- affairs. Almost all of Roosevelt’s for- ure. Usually FDR would throw back tional situation, and at a time of eign policy officials wanted strict his head and make a joke before start- economic depression in the United American non-intervention in Spain. ing to discuss any serious issues. But States. FDR was an internationalist, But these pressures pushed Roosevelt not this time. Roosevelt hardly smiled, but he displayed extreme caution further down the road he already and before Bowers had even sat about foreign affairs in a U.S. environ- wished to travel. Worried that down, the president offered this sum- ment focused on domestic issues. American arms sales to Spain would mary of U.S. policy in the Spanish Roosevelt was opposed to American escalate the conflict, the president Civil War: “We have made a mistake. involvement in another European helped lead the efforts to introduce an You have been right all along.” conflict, and he signed neutrality American arms embargo in the The story of how Roosevelt reached this conclusion is a fascinat- ing and important one, and it is a The president repeatedly expressed guilt and remorse for the story that has never been told. Many embargo policy after 1939, telling his cabinet that the non- people have wondered what FDR— the enigmatic Sphinx—actually intervention policy had been a “grave mistake.” thought about the Spanish Civil War. We know that his wife, Eleanor, was passionately pro-Spanish Republican, legislation designed to stop Spanish Civil War. In August 1936 the but what about the president? Based Americans from selling weapons to administration adopted a “moral” on research in over 30 archival collec- foreign combatants. At the same time, embargo, telling Americans that sell- tions, I argue that Spain mattered a Roosevelt recognized the threat to ing weapons to either side in Spain great deal to Roosevelt, and that FDR world peace posed by Germany and would be unpatriotic. Already aware played an increasingly active and Italy and sought means of slowing of Italian and German aid to Franco, important personal role in regard to down the drift to war, either through Norman Thomas, the American social- the Spanish conflict. Roosevelt’s appeasement or deterrence. ist leader, asked Secretary of State beliefs about Spain were steadily From its outbreak, FDR realized Cordell Hull, “Why does our govern- transformed, from an initial disinter- that the Spanish Civil War was not ment follow a policy which so clearly est in which side won to a position as merely an Iberian tragedy; it was also helps the fascists?” “Well, Mr. a partisan for the leftist government a major international crisis. By the end Thomas,” replied Hull, “you see the who tried both legal and illegal means of August 1936, Roosevelt said that French and British do it that way, and to aid the Spanish Republic. These Spain was his “greatest worry.” The they are much nearer than we are.” changing perceptions mattered not president was overwhelmingly con- Noting Thomas’ reaction, Hull quickly only with respect to policy towards cerned with the disastrous possibility qualified his statement: “Not, of that the conflict could spark a wider course, that our Spanish policy is a Dominic Tierney is preparing a book on European conflagration. Roosevelt mere copy of theirs.” Roosevelt and the Spanish Civil War. The was fearful that radical leftists domi- Despite the moral embargo, the full story of the covert aid episode nated the Spanish Republican Spanish Loyalists intended to buy appears in the Journal of Contemporary government, but nevertheless, as FDR arms in the U.S., and after various History, Vol.39, No.3 (July 2004), “Franklin told his friend Texas Senator Tom schemes to get round the embargo fell D. Roosevelt and Covert Aid to the Connally, his sympathies lay with the through, they decided on a more Loyalists in the Spanish Civil War, 1936- Republicans rather than with the direct approach. The American arms 1939.” The author can be contacted at Nationalist rebels. dealer Robert Cuse simply ignored the [email protected]. In determining America’s initial moral embargo by requesting licenses response to the Spanish Civil War, to directly export almost $3 million of 6 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 2:55 PM Page 7

SPANISH CIVIL WAR

arms to the Spanish Loyalists. about the Spanish Civil War were Republic. At the domestic level, Roosevelt was personally deter- transformed, and he re-evaluated Roosevelt’s political standing had mined to introduce a legal embargo Franco’s likely triumph in Spain as never been lower than in 1938 as a in order to frustrate Cuse’s brazen being clearly harmful for U.S. inter- result of the “Court-Packing” contro- disregard for administration policy. ests. These changing beliefs arose versy and a recent recession. Indeed Congress raced to act before partly because German and Italian Furthermore, U.S. policy in the Cuse could physically ship the intervention in Spain looked more Spanish Civil War was the subject of weapons from the United States to threatening in the context of wider an increasingly bitter domestic contro- Spain. In the end, the Spanish fascist aggression, notably the versy. The British consul in New York Republicans won and the Cuse ship- Anschluss between Germany and reported in February 1938 that the city ment left for Loyalist Spain a few Austria, and especially the Munich “is almost assuming the likeness of a hours before Congress enacted the Crisis. Second, FDR believed a Franco miniature Spain.” Pro-Spanish embargo. Madrid’s victory was triumph in Spain could worsen Latin Republican activists represented a short-lived; Franco’s forces captured American security. The president saw loose coalition of Protestant, Jewish, the ship en route. the Spanish Civil War as a potential liberal and leftist groups. Tending to The president supported the model for German intervention in see the Spanish Civil War in idealistic moral and legal embargo because in future civil wars in the western hemi- terms as a battle of fascism against his mind, promoting international sphere. Franco’s triumph could start a democracy, these groups campaigned non-intervention in Spain was a more domino effect of fascist victories. for the lifting of the arms embargo for important aim than aiding the Third, Roosevelt displayed an aver- the government of Spain. With the Loyalists. But on a number of relative- sion to the brutality of Franco’s war Spanish Nationalists militarily sup- ly minor issues, Roosevelt did help the effort. For all of these reasons, the plied by the “non-intervening” Republicans. FDR ordered the admin- importance of the conflict in the presi- Germans and Italians, the recognized istration not to go “over strong” on dent’s mind became greatly government of Spain was unable to prosecuting American recruiters for magnified, with FDR suggesting in defend itself by purchasing weapons the international brigades. The presi- 1939 that Spain could be the first in the United States. Showing how the dent personally forced the State round of an impending European civil Spanish Civil War challenged estab- Department to issue passports for war. Indeed, Roosevelt declared in lished views, Gerald Nye, America’s Loyalist medical volunteers. Roosevelt January 1939 that events in Spain were leading isolationist senator and the also tried to stop Texaco Oil Company “occupying my thoughts to an aston- architect of neutrality legislation, from selling oil on credit to Franco. ishing degree.” became the major voice arguing in During 1937, Roosevelt began to Roosevelt recognized that favor of selling arms to the Spanish worry less that Spain would spark Germany and Italy were winning in Republic. In sharp contrast, American another world war and became more Spain in part because of decisions Catholics tended to identify with the concerned about the massive extent of made in Washington. In 1938, the Spanish Nationalist forces, seeing in German and Italian intervention. On president’s support for non-interven- Spain a war between Christianity and April 26, 1937, fascist aircraft tion was gradually replaced with communism and strongly opposing destroyed the town of Guernica, the partisan backing for the Spanish embargo repeal. From FDR’s perspec- spiritual home of Basque national- Loyalists. Roosevelt searched for ways tive, this controversy split apart ism. In the summer, the president to impede Franco’s advance, but the liberals from Catholics—the two key considered extending the U.S. president could hardly have imagined pillars of his New Deal coalition. embargo to Germany and Italy for a more difficult policy environment. FDR’s changing beliefs about the being effectively at war with the The European democracies, particu- Spanish Civil War and the problemat- Spanish Republic, but Roosevelt larly Britain, were strongly opposed to ic policy environment produced a retreated when his European ambas- any American efforts to help Madrid, typically Rooseveltian scheme. On the sadors suggested that this would for example, by lifting the arms one hand, he opposed efforts in inflame the situation. Roosevelt’s embargo, because this might escalate Congress in the spring of 1938 to sympathies for the Spanish Republic, the war. Roosevelt’s foreign policy repeal the embargo, fearing that this along with his unwillingness to act officials, including Secretary of State could embroil the administration in an to help Madrid, are captured in his Cordell Hull, were still largely in international and domestic political haunting comment to Martha favor of U.S. non-intervention. One of storm. At the same time, the president Gellhorn in July 1937: “Spain is a the few exceptions was Ambassador sought to circumvent political con- vicarious sacrifice for all of us.” Claude Bowers, who, in 1938, sup- Continued on page 8 During 1938, Roosevelt’s beliefs ported selling arms to the Spanish THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 7 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 2:55 PM Page 8

FDR Continued from page 7

straints by secretly and illegally send- grain to Spain. In the end, Catholics aspects. FDR’s clarification of events ing covert aid to Loyalist Spain. opposed the scheme, which they in 1938 demonstrated his capacity to Aware of the iniquitous effects of saw as being pro-Loyalist—most of challenge and reassess existing inter- the embargo, FDR told the Spanish the needy were in Republican pretations and comprehend what was Loyalist Ambassador that the U.S. Spain, and the food would indirect- actually at stake in international affairs. might allow the sale of planes to ly aid Madrid’s war effort. Only a We can also see evidence of his creativ- France, with no questions asked about few thousand barrels of grain were ity in policy-making, his search for their ultimate destination. Then, hav- ever sent. strategies that would aid the Loyalists ing heard from Ernest Hemingway By November 1938 FDR had without sacrificing domestic support. that the Spanish Republic was desper- decided that the embargo was a When the Spanish policies are ate for aircraft, Roosevelt encouraged huge mistake and tried to repeal it. placed in a broader context, they his alcoholic brother-in-law, G. Hall As usual, he sought strategies to cir- attain considerable significance. The Roosevelt, to travel to Paris as a secret cumvent congressional opposition, initiatives represented an important emissary to arrange for the transfer of asking the attorney general whether juncture in Roosevelt’s longer-term American planes to Spain via France. he had the power simply to declare strategy, evident from 1935 until Pearl The Spanish Republicans might pay the embargo over by presidential Harbor: aiding the democracies and for the aircraft with the $14 million proclamation. Never convinced that the victims of aggression with meth- that the U.S. government gave to the legal power existed to repeal by ods short of war. In fact, the Spanish Madrid for the purchase of Spanish decree, Roosevelt tried to gain policies in 1938 were Roosevelt’s first silver. Rumors of the covert mission repeal through an act of Congress. active attempt to confront fascist abounded, but nothing was on paper. In his January 4, 1939, State of the aggression in Europe. The president’s There is one exception: buried in the Union address, FDR declared, “At beliefs about the Spanish Civil War archives is a phone message from Hall the very least, we can and should were influenced by his wider interna- to Roosevelt, written down because by avoid any action, or any lack of tional views, but at the same time, the chance the president was at sea. Hall action, which will encourage, assist conflict in Spain shaped the presi- phoned to say that the covert aid or build up an aggressor. We have dent’s broader thinking. In the period scheme was collapsing, with the State learned that when we deliberately before the Anschluss, fascist interven- Department resisting any efforts to try to legislate neutrality, our neu- tion in Spain was the clearest evidence transship the planes via France. Hall trality laws may operate unevenly of German and Italian aggression in would continue to “follow instruc- and unfairly—may actually give aid Europe. The Spanish Civil War con- tions” from the president. to an aggressor and deny it to the tributed to FDR’s concerns about The Munich Crisis in September victim.” Efforts to repeal the Latin American security. In addition, 1938 proved to Roosevelt that Hitler Spanish embargo hit a brick wall, Roosevelt’s disillusionment with was intent on war. As Roosevelt partly because of Catholic mobiliza- British policy over Spain is striking. remarked, “I don’t care so much about tion, but mainly because the Furthermore, FDR’s gathering aware- the Italians. They are a lot of opera Spanish Republic looked close to ness of the iniquitous role of the singers, but the Germans are different, collapse with the fall of Barcelona in American embargo led the president they may be dangerous.” January 1939. to question his broader attachment to The president stepped up his In the end, most of Roosevelt’s ini- neutrality legislation. efforts to aid the Spanish Republic. tiatives in Spain came to nothing. At The president repeatedly He now saw a Franco victory as a the moment when FDR most clearly expressed guilt and remorse for the triumph for the fascist states and a saw the “last great cause” as being embargo policy after 1939, telling his clear loss for U.S. interests. The America’s cause, the Spanish Republic cabinet that the non-intervention poli- president conjured up a plan to was in its death throes. U.S. policy in cy had been a “grave mistake.” push for a negotiated solution in the Spanish Civil War highlights weak- Roosevelt maintained enduring per- Spain. As he saw it, the American nesses in Roosevelt’s decision-making, sonal hostility towards the Spanish republics could issue a joint request for example, the inability to clearly Nationalists. In 1945, in the weeks for mediation. However, the plan identify U.S. aims and interests in the before his death, Roosevelt signaled a was stillborn due to deep divisions conflict and the failure to educate the post-war aim of regime change in over the Spanish Civil War in Latin public or Congress about what he Spain. However, the Cold War ulti- America. Roosevelt also sought to believed was at stake in Spain. mately brought the United States into ease the humanitarian situation in However, Roosevelt’s decision- an alliance with Franco. Loyalist Spain by creating a com- making in the Spanish Civil War also mission to raise money to send U.S. reveals some important positive 8 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:47 AM Page 9

Trumbo Actor Brian Dennehy Toasts the Vets

When the award-winning actor Brian Dennehy came to San Francisco in mid-winter to play the title role of the blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in a multi-media staged reading of Trumbo (based Brian Dennehy at the champagne reception with VALB associates on letters written by Trumbo during the Red Judy Montell and Linda Lustig (above). Vets Dave Smith and Nate Scare era in the 1950s), he also had other Thornton (top right). Photos by Chris Goodfellow. heroes on his mind: the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Brian asked his longtime friend, ALBA Vice Chair Fredda Weiss, if he could play a performance in San Francisco as a benefit for ALBA. The Bay Area Associates responded quickly, organizing ticket sales and a cham- pagne reception for March 17, following the performance. In the play, Dennehy reads a particularly apt passage in which Trumbo depicts the courage of those who fought in Spain as an inspiration for his refusal to cooperate with congressional investigators, who threatened the rights, liberties, and livelihood of those who disagreed with their anti-communist poli- tics. Later, at the reception, sporting his own Marine veterans cap, the actor offered a toast to “the real heroes”—the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Vets David Smith ALBA Vice Chair Fredda Weiss congratulates Dennehy and thanks and Nate Thornton were there to enjoy the him for supporting the vets. Photo by Chris Goodfellow. applause.

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to claim the return of the documents Fascism—Francesco Cossiga, former Letters seized by Franco’s forces in Catalonia— President of Italy, and Mario Soares, Continued from page 2 from the Catalan Government and former President of Portugal—as well readers are well aware, annulled the Parliament, and from hundreds of as the Nobel Prizewinners Rigoberta Autonomy Statute achieved by municipal authorities, the offices of Munchú and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, Catalonia under the Second Republic political parties and trades unions, the writer Nawal El Saadawi, the immediately after he succeeded in associations of all sorts (including vege- Spanish Civil War historian Paul imposing his Fascist dictatorship. tarian and sporting societies), and from Preston, the linguist and political Even Sr. Nieto agrees that “[t]he private individuals. philosopher Noam Chomsky, the com- Spanish Constitution needs a facelift ... Whilst the Popular Party—and Sr. poser and Resistance fighter Mikis after 25 years’ service,” and it is Nieto—claim that the return of these Theodorakis, and the former Secretary expected that any changes required to stolen goods to their rightful owners General of UNESCO Federico Mayor the Spanish Constitution in order to would dismember a valuable historical Zaragoza. accommodate the new Catalan Statute archive, in fact the sinister Salamanca Last December the Spanish will be minor. As far as Catalonia, at archive was created by dismembering Government announced that it will least, is concerned, then, the alarm thousands of archives throughout ensure the return of at least those doc- that Sr. Nieto seeks to stir up is totally Republican Spain. What is more, far uments that were seized from the unfounded. In fact, only one political from wishing to destroy the Salamanca Catalan Government and Parliament, party in Spain today promotes the archive, when the stolen documents are and the Comissió de la Dignitat is con- alarmism that he espouses—the Neo- returned, the Catalans are perfectly tinuing to press for the return of all Francoist Popular Party, formerly led willing to allow digitalised versions of the material seized in Catalonia. If, as by José María Aznar, which lost them to be kept in Salamanca. Sr. Nieto asserts, many of the wounds power to the Socialists in March 2004. The Salamanca archive is not—as of the Spanish Civil War are still Far more unpardonable, however, Sr. Nieto claims—a key source of unhealed, what the Catalans demand is than Sr. Nieto’s alarmist picture of the Spanish Civil War material. It is, in precisely that the gaping holes made by threatened disintegration of Spain is fact, one of the last collections of docu- the forces of Fascism in hundreds of the way he seeks to link it to the ques- ments that any student of the Civil their archives be staunched at last. tion of the so-called Salamanca War would wish to consult, as it con- Even outside Catalonia—indeed, Papers. In the course of his cruel, tains very little indeed on the progress even in the beautiful city of Salamanca methodical conquest of Republican of the war, and a great deal on the itself—many people see the return of Spain, Franco employed special forces running—and especially the member- these papers as a necessary gesture in to seize at gunpoint tons and tons of ship—of the institutions that were overcoming the horrors of the Civil documents that were then sent to his ransacked in order to create it, includ- War. It will have taken over two gen- headquarters in Salamanca in the ing material that goes back to the 19th erations to achieve. summer of 1939. This operation, led century. Contrary to the name it has Henry Ettinghausen by Franco’s brother-in-law, Ramón borne since 1999—Archivo General de Emeritus Professor of Hispanic Serrano Súñer, a fervent admirer of la Guerra Civil Española—the collec- Studies, University of Hitler and Mussolini, received techni- tion is in fact a very partial record of Southampton, England cal supervision from the SS. The aim the Francoist repression. of the exercise was to create a huge The campaign for the return of the Salud!! police archive, following in the boot- “Salamanca Papers” has nothing I am one of the second generation steps of the Gestapo and the KGB. On whatsoever to do with “the nationalist of Interbrigadists mentioned in the basis of the Salamanca archive, persistence of a handful of Catalan Guillermo Casañ’s article about the three million defenders of the politicians,” as Sr. Nieto proclaims. It plaque at the Benicassim cemetery. Republic were put on file and, over is, in fact, supported by all the politi- The article appeared in your the following decades, hundreds of cal parties in Catalonia and the rest of December 2004 issue. The great help thousands of them were summarily Spain, except for the Popular Party, and dedication of people like executed, sentenced to hard labour, and at times it is supported even by Guillermo, and many others, succeed- imprisoned, tortured or dismissed the Popular Party’s Catalan branch. ed to place the plaque at the entrance from their posts. Led during the past three years by the of the Benicassim cemetery to honor As your readers are only too “Comissió de la Dignitat,” the cam- the several Internationals buried painfully aware, very few of the injus- paign has the approval of virtually the there. We are grateful. tices of the Spanish Civil War can be whole of Catalan society. It has also My father, Dr. Günter Bodek, is righted now, more than 65 years after received the support of over 700 buried in this cemetery. He died in June the event. However, at least one of University professors worldwide and 1937, being the director of the B.I. them can. Ever since 1978, with the of such internationally renowned fig- Hospital. He was 42 years old, I was 4. restoration of democracy in Spain, the ures as the former Presidents of two Ulrich Bodek Catalans have taken every opportunity countries that directly experienced [email protected] 10 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:48 AM Page 11

Treasures from the Archive: Sid Kaufman’s Odyssey out of Spain By Elizabeth C. Compa became separated from the group ments from the tape are transcribed id Kaufman was a merchant sea- when he was sent to recover the pass- below, as footnotes to the parts of the man from New York who went ports of ALB volunteers, so that they log to which they pertain. Sto Spain in June 1937. He served might use them to reenter the US. He This breathless text, literally writ- as a runner with the British battalion says, “I had been sent to Barcelona, ten during Kaufman’s flight from on the Levante front, in the 35th and that [getting passports] was one fascism, almost reads like a page torn artillery battery for several months, of the purposes, aside from trying to from a modernist novel. The log frag- and as commissar of an anti-tank bat- also recover seamen’s papers, things ment, like so many documents in the tery attached to the Slavic battalion on Archives, is characterized by a com- the Aragon front. In late January pelling mix of embodied immediacy Partial Cast of Characters 1939, as most Lincoln Brigaders were and analytical perspective, psycholog- leaving or had left Spain, Kaufman Marty = André Marty, head of the ical intimacy and historical testimony. and a handful of other Americans International Brigades. found themselves in Barcelona just as Mathews = Herbert Mathews, New Franco’s forces prepared to enter the Jan. 23 – arrive Barcelona – York Times correspondent to city. From this point on, for about the International Hotel. Sleep at 8:30 Republican Spain through the SCW. next three weeks, Kaufman kept a log Bombed 10:30 – Dazed – Glass – Door He also covered the French refugee of events and his impressions as he Skylight – 11:30 5 more times – all next camps. traveled around Catalunya, sick and day undernourished most of the time, Minor = Robert Minor, U.S. 24 – Leave Horta 10:30 Train looking for a way out of the country. Communist Party leader in Spain. Galleani Miller – hear about Mathews, A week into February he finally made etc. – Miserable ride – night at Gerona John Murra or John M. = a Lincoln his way over the border, only to be – stragglers on the road – I.B. women volunteer who, after the war, went detained in a French camp for several 25 – Arrive sick – 10 a.m. missed on to a distinguished career as an days. Finally Kaufman and his com- the brunch – anthropologist of the cultures of the panions managed to find their way 26 – Maria Planesi nurses me back Andes. onto a train bound for Paris, and to health – Hot milk eggs in it – shortly after that, onto a ship home. Nancarrow or “Nan” = Conlon Toasted bacon sandwiches. Rumors During WWII, Kaufman worked Nancarrow, a Lincoln volunteer start around her house – Fascists have on the SS Lurline transporting US who, after the war, lived in exile in Barcelona etc – we won’t have a troops around the South Pacific. Mexico and had a distinguished chance to “escape” etc. Freckle creamii After the war, he resumed work as a career as a composer of music. Rumors float around town – seaman and was a member of the Nancarrow shows up – Story of how O’Toole = Larry O’Toole, Lincoln vol- Marine Cooks and Stewards Union he missed the convoy at Figueras – unteer. and the International Longshoremen’s stinkin German captain at Horta – and Warehousemen’s Union until his Thompson = Fred Thompson, father now there are two of us – retirement in 1979. He occasionally of ALB volunteer Dave Thompson, a 27 – Hendrickson sets up radio set contributed to the Marine Workers banker who went to France to help at Marias – We hear Italian spoken on Historical Association periodical, The the volunteers return home after Government station – Late at night Hawsepipe. the war. hear report in English – How English In August 1977, Kaufman record- consul had arrived “safely”at Cerbere ed an oral history of his time in Spain, – Maria says she is going to find all during the course of which he reads of that nature, personal papers, citi- her rosary beads and put them on also and discusses the log transcribed here. zenship papers. And that’s why I did set up virgins in the house iii – Now On the tape, Kaufman explains that he go down to the International Brigade there’s plenty of panic because of headquarters in Barcelona from our “bulos” [rumors]– Fascists landing on Elizabeth C. Compa is a recent graduate base, and that’s how I lost the main the coast, etc. of New York University. She is currently group and found myself eventually 28 – Start trek at 2 a.m. arrive in working on an inventory of the “Cultural walking 200 miles before I got over the afternoon at [illeg.] to eat – 37 Legacy of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.” the French border.” [Side B #3265] Some of Kaufman’s additional com- Continued on page 12 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 11 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:48 AM Page 12

Kaufman Continued from page 11

kilometers walked – cover last 15 in news or papers for days or smokes – with carts, burros, packs – soldiers truck – feel fucked – last done in driv- Hernandez brings no news. walking for a month from the Lerida ing rain – miserable in open truck – Feb. 2. With addition of lots of front for example – Also neglected arrive late at night – wet cold – hun- meat to diet Im W. D’ing Canadian thinking of the best of the Americans gry – used to joke about being left. – Convoy leaves. who came over – the ones left behind Now for Nan & I it’s a calamity – Feb 3 Get word that we are leav- – some without even given the decen- sleeping in our clothes (civil) living ing tonite – Get disappointed again – cy of a dirt covering – rotting bodies – like gypsys – caught in the current. no se why. Germans come-in from stench – – John Murra’s sourness – Now at San Pedro de Pescadore. Feel Hospital – Stock- still with them – talk with him convinced me the now we must make border as wild stories of proximity of the “enchufaos” [the ones with connec- refugees. Fascists – tions] got back – the worthy ones – the 29 – Political meeting in the morn- Feb 4. Still don’t go – no transport Joe Bianca’s, Harry Hynes, Jim ing – Carlos lays down the dope. – everyone “standing by” to move – Cody’s. Taffy Skinner oh well maybe They’ve taken Mataro – the line in not morale sinking again – See Schutt. I’ve learned something after all – won- broken Govern at Figueras. (Figueras Hoffmann Germans – Long trek starts der if some of the absolutely true is a mess – Bombed all the time – again – I ride first half – gigantic things regarding lack of cadre policy Pressman shows up.) – Carlos asks us retreat v – smokes begin to appear. lack of ability to lead – cowardice – to give our confidence to the Feb. 5 – All I.B.s to the frontier – glaring mistakes involving lives & Command – Nan & I had previously Hear they’ve taken Gerona – lines bro- welfare of men. asked Oscar Hernandez for a salvo to ken – cigarettes galore – thrown Feb 6. Saw Watzek handling suit- Port Bou – “no soap”. Wonder how around – bummin’real good – haven’t cases – heard that 150 Czechs were we stand now? had an issue in 15 days. Our captured or killed black eye for us – 29 – Expect to move into school- Intendence not so good – 1/2 loaf of No I.B. at front – understand they house 2 p.m. await developments – bread when we get in after long trek – were with a Spanish outfit & the practically at end of my rope – Shows no savve – bread bullyvi every- Spaniards raised the white flag. Not Morally – Marty arrives at night – thing being thrown at people – Stores doing too bad organizing clothes – great resentment at his talk about broken into 10s of 1000’s on the march possibility of cloth for an suit no over- “conejos” & their prostitutes. Explains – Sabotaging of of trucks – ammo, coat – no sleep – been going all night leave from Cassa de la Selva – Very etc.vii Clothes (civvies) are so lousy last night & its now 6 p.m. 1 1/2 kil. angry & wild – Landeta – Queipo – they keep me awake at night. Slept from the frontier – I feel that I’ve wit- Susso – Dominguez & Cubans last night in the Pyranees – freezing nessed something I shall never see as whores off to border including the cold – in an olive grove what a climax. long as I live – tenseness – excitement “sim” [Spanish military intelligence] – See carabineros destroying records – – suspense all wrapped together – I’ve man highly trusted by us (found this fires galore – feel now altho miserably been lighting one butt to another all out much later) tired that I’ve certainly witnessed his- day – and throwing away the butts – 30 – Get order to move – missed tory in the making. Not possible to imagine – Were I a Mathews for exam- from list – great chagrin and bitter dis- describe the night with words – loot – ple to describe the masses in motion – appointment at last minute Gibson,iv loot everything for the seeking – the whole road in a sense has a fiesta- Friedman promise to straighten out everything gruyere cheese – pais de like appearance – I suppose it’s partly for us at B.I. Administration. Soria got fois gras – throwing away milk – because of my own happiness at get- caught today with a stolen car for trip sugar – soap – wildest & most exciting ting out with a whole skin – Did my to border. Morale exceptionally low – night I can remember in my life – heart good to see Majors & what not sick tired bowel movements very Stealing 1000’s of cigarettes – last in a “Kola” for milk & bread – irregular – raining all day. Streets night in Spain – everyone had a belly- Laughingly I thought of how I would muddy – grub awful no tobacco for a ache –Realize now I’m kinda selfish describe my own “escape” – a fascist week – but then again all the fellows are more chasing me with a trench knife – 31 – Still feeling very low – no or less that way. Just thinking of good makes a dive for me & grabs my coat smokes – move to Schoolhouse – more grub – clean clothes – soft bed etc. but I manage to just elude him & fall rigamarole – Marty returns – story of instead of the great calamity. Fascism across the border in a manner of the how all Americans will be permitted I’m afraid has scored a tremendous half-back making a last minute touch- to return. Morale perking up slightly. victory – I’ve also neglected thinking down – Hope they separate the – Greek named McKay – Haw! of the refugees. – the 10’s of 1000’s of Americans – Night coming on – better Feb 1. Hernandez leaves to find homeless orphans – the misery of build a fire – its cold as hell – 1/2 of out about our case – Yes or no? – No walking untold agonizing kilometers Spain must be on the move north – So 12 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 13

Kaufman Continued from page 12

many women kids people have provocation – Confiscating food as Truck has to fuck off because of boo- passed today alone – Disgraceful “war material” etc. Commission ing – Cavalry comes in to establish scenes. Carabineros – Asaltos – shows up – “apologetic” about the “order” (Spahias) using sabers reck- Intendence in particular corrupt – mess in the camp. The Canadians are lessly. Whole raft of people show up they’ve been used as police – Hear in bad shape – no blankets – no food all the consuls – Newspaper men etc. rumors of whats going to happen to etc. anarchy crops up continually with Stories of camp are getting out but us – The border is wide open – plenty of fights. home offices of big papers in London Women children – soldiers will proba- Feb. 10. Consul shows up – & N.Y. don’t like it – Mathews has bly be interned all together – good almost missed him was away washing been cabled “Why so Anti-French?” thing we have carried plenty of – brought cigs & choc. – promised Finally escape from Devil’s Island — canned goods with us liable to be Amer. Flag, medicine, supplies – & D. Isle it is minus the chains and tough until things get organized – Haven’t found other group yet. dungeons – Smith does wonderful job Trucks, equipment, arms going over Consul promises to get me out tomor- of outsmarting the right people to get with us or destroyed. Love to be able row with Nan. Uplifting to say the us out – Jumpy all the way to to get a new. Czech automatic thru – least. Former brass hats From Perpignan stopped once & searched but impossible (Sub-Thompson type) Albacete try to carry over I.B. organ. but got by – Have 1st beer in ages – 2 Finally cross the border 5 a.m. over to France – We don’t recognize of them gives me a glow – writing this Feb 7 – Mountains of arms piled them – they’re pulling the same bull- on night train to Paris – Saw train in on our side, pistols tossed about etc. shit as before. Perp. Station with load going to Walking trip with Murra, Nancarrow Feb. 11. Been very sick – gas pains Franco. the bastards! Spaniards are – Palu & Fontana – about 18 kil. – cramps – shits etc. Shit myself for beginning to say the next war will be Suitcase on my back rather pleasant 3rd night running 2 p.m. Consul against France even if it has to be on talks along the way. Get a look at a hasn’t arrived yet – more nonsense the side of Franco. Marty really French paper – Hell to pay in Spain – from former Albacete phonies includ- marked lousy – some day the real might have expected such from ing attempt to censor mail. Consul story may come out. Field said he had Company’s [sic] – Azana – Caballero – doesn’t show but Smith-Field & heard that M. threatened & coerced spent a cold night again on French soil Canadian rep (Steve) do. They some back at point of a gun etc. He & – avoiding sweet stuff – filled up with attempt to get us out but Field doesn’t other sympathetic members of the milk, chocolate etc – going for salmon, care to take the chance. Promise to try Commission interested in proving that tomatoes etc – coffee without milk. tomorrow. ç How often have I heard. government had nothing to do with Feb 8. Argeles – Camp of the Smith is a good egg. Brings cigs & return of vol. & that I.B. did it on their refugees what a sight – 10’s of 1000’s choc. – news – provocations by the own. – strikes me that M. had pic- of people – gypsy life – The whole French. – now convinced the Popular tures in his mind of another defense of thing is practically organized in Front is failing – discuss with J. Murra Madrid at Barcelona & made all the French Albacete style – There’s an – the evaluating of a new formation of plans unknown to Negrin then excellent control in view of no one the policy in view of France, Spain, informed him when too late to stop it. having a “sou” in his pocket. The etc. – Consul’s been very busy says – untold unnecessary losses – Yes panic in some of the guy’s minds was Smith – maybe on Lincoln’s Birthday even Martys make grave errors – He disgraceful not having patience to go slaves may be freed. Continuation on and the Minors ought to be retired in a together with the others when only 5 Feb. 8 or 9 Fucker-offers show up to polite way. Along with John M. I won- kil. from the border – Marty definitely scrounge on our food – Set up tempo- der if it is worth the effort in view of marked lousy on return to the front rary org. until others show up – don’t some good publicity people we had & business – Many Germans & Italians know what’s to happen to all of us. it might hurt us who are “historically supposedly killed – Rumor has it that Reactionary press inciting people in right” – L’Humanite carried his statement that this province against us – “colonizing Feb 13-14-15 Paris – get outfitted – 800 IBers were “lost” in the mountains of France” – Roughness of French sol- fixed up – hear about deal between – Hope the American papers are car- diers – Senegalese – Papers say they’ll Roosevelt & France with double x by rying some of the pictures – French be over 200,000 here – camp incidents Bonnet & Daladier on Spain & plane papers have lovely stuff – include stabbings of those who advo- deal – also hear about blackmail by Feb 9. Spent a miserable night last cate returning to Franco’s side – France to open up frontier – deal with night – got the shits & sick in general – Feb. 12 – Fascist sound truck planes which landed at Toulouse.viii “Incidents” still continue in camp – shows up with offer in name of French See O’Toole – hear about the boys – There are “bulos” galore Understand Government. to send Spaniards imme- the French are using many means of diately to Barcelona or Hendaye!! Continued on page 14 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 13 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 14

Kaufman Continued from page 13

Hear Mathews has been given an ulti- called Stillman Freckle Cream rosaries, and the statues of the Virgin matum on going to Italy – See Allen & Company of Aurora, Illinois! Fact is, Mary and so forth… and she said it in a party Bob Oken (Hindenburg skoop) they gave me the cover of the jar that very laughable sort of way. She said, ‘I Pepita & the little Ziggie who gets it came in… and they asked, in view of guess I’ll have to go down to the cellar everything wholesale – what a job he the war, a civil war, where there was a in the old trunk and dig out the did in that cabaret. – had to leave in a limitation on imports—on a scale of 1 rosaries again, and the pictures of the hurry during the dance – shits – have to 100 of what’s needed in the country saints and the Virgin Mary, and a pic- had it for days – can’t appreciate all at this time, this would be a 99, I ture of Jesus in order to be safe if we the good grub – can’t trace mail or guess—and I promised to do all I get occupied by Fascist forces.’” [Side money – typical I.B. style – could to see to it that when I got repa- B #2400] Thompson’s a great guy brother to triated, I’d send back some Stillman Kathleen Norris – doing wonderful Freckle Cream… iv “Pat Gibson, who was the exec- job in Paris. Had a talk with him in utive officer of our 35th battery, he cab on way down to the a. Express. “I was sure that if I ever contacted was a Canadian. None of the Besides $5 I had – cash $25 check – not the Stillman Freckle Cream Company Canadians were straightened out yet. supposed to but they screwed up the They had to leave much later. The money I was supposed to have here. Canadian government wasn’t ready to I’m made responsible for the 8- accept them.” [Side B #4895] Americans getting out of the camp by If you have any information about Saturday thru his efforts – promises the cultural output of the veterans v “I refer to the gigantic retreat. Radio gram to ship (Thompson). (books, films, sculptures, paintings, This was—I’ll try to describe it—it’s Promise to look up Babin’s wife Story musical compositions, etc), or any very much like what happened many, of Jack Waters & Penny in U.S. information regarding some of the many times afterwards, of course, Rothbart & others aboard the ship – with--well, we used to see newsreel opaque references in the Kaufman German refugees. pictures with tens of thousands of text, please contact Elizabeth C. refugees with all their belongings Footnotes Compa at [email protected]. using burros or carts or wheelbarrows i Kaufman describes Maria as a or horse-drawn wagons or camions or “very warm, friendly, personable anything at all, to get moving. It’s just Spanish woman who hadn’t heard with this story of how in the middle of a whole sea of humanity just getting from her husband on the front for all this terrible civil war, the impor- away from the Fascists some way, quite a while. He had been in the tance to one woman in Spain, the some how. Like I say, this was repeat- retreats, and she didn’t know whether importance of their product. And I’m ed many times, but to be right in the he was dead or alive, which—I reflect sure that they would’ve sent her a ton center of this thing and be part of it on it now—was rather typical of many if she’d only have her picture taken is—you feel you’re involved in some- Spanish families.” [Side B #2092] and give out some kind of a testimoni- thing very historical.” [Side B #5270] al. I realized after I got back that it ii “It’s what I feel is kind of a wasn’t the thing to do. Fact is, I would vi Kaufman says on the tape that humorous story, even though I’ve told jeopardize their safety by writing this refers to “bully beef.” [Side B it countless times, about the very shy them or even having any contact with #5600] girl that she [Maria] had in tow, who them from the States, so I lost track of was so shy that she hid behind a cur- them altogether.” [Side B #1855, 2250] vii “The sabotaging of the trucks tain while Maria explained to us what was where trucks run out of gas or she wanted us to do when we iii “I was coming out of Barcelona. what have you, or ammo, the trucks returned to the States. It seemed that While the Franco forces were going in were burned or sabotaged in some this shy gal—a very young girl, proba- one end, I was going out the other way so they wouldn’t be of any help bly, oh, 17 to 19—had what she end, and I got back to [the town of] to the Fascists as they moved up thought was a great deal of freckles, Casa de la Selva again and to Maria’s behind us.” [Side B #5650] and vain enough, I guess, that she felt house. And of course at that time this impaired her beauty, and she had there were plenty of rumors. They viii For more information on this been using a thing called Crema Bella were sure then that the Republic subject, see Dominic Tierney, “FDR Aurora: Doble Fuerza por las Pecas, in couldn’t hold out, and they would and the Spanish Civil War,” page 6. other words, double strength against soon be overrun. So Maria said how freckles. It was put out by an outfit she had hidden, for several years, the 14 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 15

Cultural Events Continued from page 3

Judy Montell introduced her film Professional Revolutionary: The Life of Saul Wellman (above). United Nations Ambassador of Spain Juan Antonio Yáñez- Barnuevo was presented with a copy of The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade by Richard Bermack (upper right). Tibby Brooks talks with vet Clarence Kailin (right). Photos by J. Richard Green.

Muñoz Molina responded to his audience with sinceri- ty and passion. He deflected questions about internal divisions within the Spanish Republic by acknowledging their historical truth, but he emphasized how much less serious they were to the lives of the Spanish people than the fascist insurrection that had provoked and continued the civil war. ❦❦❦

ALBA’s cultural weekend in New York continued the following night with a screening of Judith Montell’s new documentary film, Professional Revolutionary: The Life of Saul Wellman, and the opening of a month-long photogra- phy exhibition at the King Juan Carlos Center titled “The Front Lines of Social Change: The Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade” with images and text from the book by Richard Bermack. All of the events drew large, enthusiastic audiences. —Peter N. Carroll THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 15 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 16

Book Reviews

from London is accomplished with A Nurse’s Memoir members of the English International Brigades, and this part of the narrative is also blurred; the characters and Mercy in Madrid: Nursing and other nations, grants asylum to their motivations of her IB companions are Humanitarian Protection During the own nationals and others who have not at the center of her story. Spanish Civil War 1936-37. By Mary aroused suspicion. Many refugees are The memoir, however, retains a Bingham de Urquidi. Ediciones del Sur, monarchists, members of the privileged compelling freshness, even after all of Córdoba, Argentina, 2004. classes who side with Franco, or at least these years, transporting the reader to an with the assumption that the unfolding important time. It was published in social upheaval has gone too far. Spanish in Mexico in the 1970s. It has By Martha Olson Jarocki And it was an upheaval. Urquidi’s now been translated by Magdalena Mary de Urquidi’s memoir reads lively account includes the revolution- Urquidi Bingham, Mary de Urquidi’s like it was written by flashlight while ary young worker Flora, a militiciana daughter, and is available in English. the bombs were still falling. The narra- who curses as she hands out weapons Martha Olson Jarocki, daughter of a vet, tive hurls along, high on adrenaline, and safe conduct passes, skillfully orga- is a fiction writer living in California. serving up details of the daily life of a nizing the personnel and supplies for nurse in a Madrid hospital during the the Madrid medical corps. The hospitals Spanish Civil War. Urquidi was the are desperate for volunteer nurses Benicàssim wife of an attaché at the Mexican con- because the nuns who once staffed them Monument, II sulate, a mother of three and an left to join Franco, unwilling to operate experienced nurse trained in New in a secular world suddenly leveled by On March 16 the municipal council York City. In July 1936 she stayed workers, socialists and communists. of Benicàssim reinstalled the plaque in behind in Madrid as her family There is an irony in hearing from honor of the International Brigade sol- moved to summer quarters in San Urquidi about the breakdown of class diers buried in the local cemetery during Sebastian. Her story is remarkable. distinctions as the Spanish Republic the war. The plaque, originally unveiled Stranded in the city as Franco’s fought the war. A diplomat’s wife and on the cemetery wall in July 2004 (see revolt advances into northern Spain, an educated woman of the upper class- The Volunteer, December 2004), was she is unable to join her family. She es, Urquidi has never been forced to taken down in October after a change volunteers her nursing skills for the accept the eclipsed circumstance of the in the municipal government. A minori- Republican militia as they hastily working class. She doesn’t seem to grasp ty but very vocal group of extremist organize ambulances and medical the hope and energy that the Republican Catholics pressured the new council to care. Within days, skirmishes explode revolution unleashed in workers once remove the monument. around the city as fascist sympathizers the class bonds were released. The removal, in turn, sparked a open fire on the militia, launching It’s the details of this release that I local debate reflected in the local and their attacks from apartment buildings found most compelling and also most national press. Finally, the authorities crowded with innocent bystanders. frustrating in this account. Urquidi, agreed to return the plaque to its orig- Members of the militia fire back and the diplomat’s wife, does not acknowl- inal location, but only after removing round up suspected Falangist sympa- edge the sea change that has occurred, the mention of municipal sponsorship thizers, “taking them for a ride” from especially among the Republican for the memorial. The constant efforts which, the author assures us, there is women as they move into roles of of the local Association González- no return. Urquidi is soon in the thick responsibility. Reading between the Chermà have been instrumental in of it, charging up to battlefields in the lines of her account, there is an intellec- both the original idea for the plaque Sierras around Madrid to gather the tual and political development and its subsequent reinstallation. wounded, and eventually organizing underway, but Urquidi’s focus is else- At the same time the plaque hon- nursing training and managing the where, and the details remain blurry. oring the IB was reinstalled, another nursing staff in Madrid’s Hospital The story eventually moves plaque was inaugurated next to it. Its Obrero (Workers Hospital). beyond Madrid, to Paris and London inscription reads in Valenciano: “In Throughout this heightened state and back again, as Urquidi and her memory of war victims, FOR PEACE, of emergency, Urquidi also maintains husband are reunited and run the Municipal Government of Benicassim, another life in the diplomatic corps as daily affairs of the Mexican embassy. 2004.” the Mexican consulate, like those of Urquidi’s return to wartime Spain --Guillermo Casañ 16 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 17

Book Reviews

Green also became involved in the A Woman Swept into World Peace Movement, but at this time she began to question Soviet Spanish Politics Communism, which she had believed but those intrigues did not dissuade in with “blind faith,” she admits. Her A Chronicle of Small Beer: The Memoirs her from her commitment. work with the Movement took her to of Nan Green. Edited by R. J. Ellis with an Although Green had the opportu- various congresses, and she ended up introduction by Martin Green. nity to see her husband on several in China in l952. Invited back to China Nottingham: Trent Editions, 2004. occasions, as she was about to return in l953, she later began working on to Great Britain in September l938, Spanish and English-language publi- By Shirley Mangini she was informed that he was miss- cations. Just as Green had learned ing in action at the Ebro River. She Spanish while in Spain during the Nan Green’s memoirs are not hunted for him in hospitals near the war, she became fluent in Chinese. insignificant, as the term “small beer” Ebro and then in Barcelona. News of l956 was the turning point for Nan might suggest. They are intelligent, his death—ironically only days after Green in terms of her commitment to engaging, and witty observations Negrin’s speech to the League of the Communist Party, when she from the perspective of a stoic woman Nations announcing the uncondi- learned of Khrushchev’s anti-Stalin who was swept into the turbulent pol- tional withdrawal of the speech. In 1958, still living in China, itics in Spain during and after the civil International Brigades—did not she traveled to Africa and Mauritania. war. Green’s narrative proves her to reach her until March l939, as the Her marriage was slowly dissolving be a selfless and valiant woman whose exodus from Catalonia was begin- and she finally divorced in l973. As convictions motivated a lifetime of ning. Green reveals her strength in anti-Communist sentiments spread, helping others, most especially the those days as she continued to work Nan Green could no longer evade the Spaniards who resisted Franco. for the Spanish cause; she was deter- disillusionment she experienced with Raised in a strict, middle-class mined to shield her children from the the Soviet Union. Her memoirs end family, Green rejected the bourgeois pain of her loss. She went to France with that recognition. conformity required of her and strug- in May l939 so she could travel with Neither Green’s disillusionment gled for independence. She found it in Spanish refugees bound for Mexico nor her later illnesses and disap- political commitment, first working on the SS Sinaia, tending to the chil- pointments would stop her from for the Labour movement, and then dren on board. continuing her work based on joining the Communist Party, once her Back in London Green was caught Communist ideals. As historian Paul aspirations to continue studying were in the maelstrom of World War II, Preston explains in his Doves of War: dashed by the economic exigencies of barely surviving several bombings, Four Women of Spain, back in London her family. undaunted as she carried out her in the early sixties, Green worked for When her father learned that she work as an Invasion Defence Officer. a Communist Party publishing was going to marry George Green, a From l943 to l950 she also served as house and traveled to Spain to inter- musician, he warned her of the secretary of the International Brigades vene in some of Franco’s last acts of poverty she would suffer, but Association. She admits that she repression against his long-time Green’s memoirs reveal that her accepted the marriage proposal of a foes. She also resumed her work for spunky idealism left no room for sheet-metal worker she was seeing at the IBA. bourgeois considerations. In fact, this time because she needed “securi- Green died in l984. In 1986, her when her husband announced he ty” for herself and her children. Nan son Martin took her ashes to be scat- would go to Spain to drive a truck for continued to work for the Spaniards tered on the banks of the Ebro River. the Spanish Medical Aid agency in within Spain and those in exile, edit- Nan Green was finally at rest where early l937, Nan followed several ing a monthly magazine, among other she had begun the political journey months later to help the cause, leav- endeavors. In l945 she traveled to that had shaped her life. ing her two young children behind in Poland to celebrate the vindication of Shirley Mangini is author of Memories of the care of friends, who paid for their the Poles who fought in the Spanish Resistance: Women’s Voices from the schooling. Green speaks of the false civil war, and later that year she Spanish Civil War. accusations of disloyalty to the attended the Spanish Communist Communist Party that plagued her Party meeting in Toulouse, spending during much of her work in Spain, time with Pasionaria. THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 17 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 18

Elegies: Three Poems for the

This poem was read at a memorial to the International Brigades at Rivasmadrid on November 6, 2004, and for Lincoln vet Chuck Hall in Oak Park, Illinois, April 3, 2005. Ausencia de lugar Absence of Place

“Ningún hombre ha entrado en la tierra con más honor que aquellos “No men entered earth more honorably than those who died in que murieron en España.” Spain.” Ernest Hemingway, “A los americanos muertos en España,” 1938 —Ernest Hemingway, “To the American Dead in Spain,” 1938

Sus hijas nunca hablaron de la desaparición de papá, His daughters never spoke of Papa’s disappearance, hacía mucho que la polilla había digerido sus calcetines de lana the moths long ago digested his wool stockings en el cobertizo, dejando colgajos grises agarrados in the tool shed, leaving gray shreds clinging como uñas al gancho que había encima de la banqueta de pino like fingernails to the peg above the pine stool donde ningún peso ha descansado durante 66 años, salvo where no weight has rested for 66 years, except la memoria y la imagen mental de quince cuerpos, memory and a mental map of the fifteen bodies, una cara morena inclinada sobre el hombro del hermano. one brown face tilted on the brother’s shoulder.

El nieto sólo sabe que la abuela calcetaba toquillas negras A grandson knows only that Grandma knitted black shawls y que se limpiaba las lágrimas con un viejo pañuelo hasta el día en que and wept into an old handkerchief until the day los arqueólogos, con ojos húmedos y manos secas, cavaron archeologists with moist eyes and dry hands entered las cunetas para levantar los huesos de papá bajo el sol. the ditches to raise Papa’s bones into the sunshine.

Ahora sus pómulos vuelven a casa para recibir dos besos, Now his cheekbones are coming home for two kisses, para saborear rabo de cordero con patatas, para brindar con el vaso to taste lamb tails and potatoes, to lift cups of coarse wine de vino peleón and almond cakes, since it’s still Sunday, and he fell y tarta de almendra, porque todavía es domingo, y cayó by the wayside with bullets in the skull and no time for al borde del camino con balas en el cráneo y sin tiempo para apologies while dinner turned cold and the goats ran away. disculparse mientras la cen a se enfriaba y las cabras se escapaban. Now they say mass, now the progressive priest faces only Ahora dicen misa, ahora el cura progresista sólo hace frente a idle threats for ceremonies ancient and honorable, vanas amenazas por las ceremonias antiguas y honorables, and Papa will rise with the smoke of burnt incense y papá se elevará con el humo del incienso closer to a place where the soul of Federico awaits him. más cerca del lugar donde le espera el alma de Federico. ❦❦❦ ❦❦❦ Across the ocean, the Americans have no heaven to call Al otro lado del océano, los americanos no tienen un cielo al que llamar home, their decalcified bones are baked and strewn, casa, sus descalcificados huesos cocidos al sol y esparcidos, almost weekly now, like powder puffs, into transient waters casi todas las semanas ya, como borlas de polvera, en las aguas or like poor Jack, his ashes lost in a mail pouch between fugaces a Tahoe crematorium and his San Francisco hillside, o como el pobre Jack, sus cenizas perdidas en una saca de correos entre without even a blanket of soil to absorb the tears. un crematorio del Lago Tahoe y la colina de su San Francisco, ni siquiera con una manta de tierra para absorber las lágrimas. Going fast these brave men of the Lincoln battalion Se nos van rápidos estos valientes hombres del batallón Lincoln who bled for Spain, and big voiced sang Viva La Quince que dieron sus vidas por España, y con fuertes voces cantaban Viva Brigada, grasped flasks of Fundador and lamented what La Quince might have been, if they’d won. Of them, every thing fits Brigada, cogían petacas de Fundador y lamentaban lo que into teaspoons of charred powder that ascends nowhere podía haber sido, si hubiesen ganado. De ellos, todo cabe and falls into nowhere and settles under empty beds, en cucharillas de polvo calcinado que no asciende a ningún lado without a prayer to mark their passage or their pride. y que cae en cualquier lado y se deposita bajo camas vacías, sin una oración que dé cuenta de su paso y su dignidad. Peter Neil Carroll

Peter Neil Carroll Translated by Mary Kay McCoy 18 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 19

International Brigades

This poem was translated and read by Anthony Geist at the memori- Martin Green was 5 years old when his father, British volunteer al service for Bob Reed in Seattle, Washington, March 6, 2005. George Green, died in Spain in 1938. 1936 Gandessa: elegy for the dead in Remember this, and let others remember, Spain, 1936-1939 When you are disgusted by human cruelty When you are angered by human harshness: You had no funeral nor hearse This man alone, this act alone, this faith alone. No grave except the place you fell Remember this, and let others remember. No dirge but a soldier’s curse And an explosion tolled your knell It was 1961, in a strange city, More than a quarter century You lie locked in the earth Later. The circumstance is unimportant, Perhaps already merged You were asked to give a reading of your poetry, These thirty years or more And afterwards, talked with that man: And more and ever more An old soldier From the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The cutting of your death Too quick for pain or words Twenty-five years before, this man Aches like a limb that’s lost Without knowing your land, so distant to him, And cauterized my heart Chose to go there, and there, If necessary, to give his life, O king of my coming Judging that the cause being played out I was a boy too young Then was worthy To take the blow that felled Of fighting for the faith that filled his life. The tree that was your man

That the cause now seems lost To mark your passing, wife Matters not; And daughter traded tears, That so many others, feigning faith in it But scion with fiver years Looked out only for themselves, Was dry-eyed and unmoved Matters less. What does matter and is enough is one man’s faith. But five times five and more I knock upon the tomb So today once again the cause appears to you To give these words to Death As it was then: That you shall never hear Noble and worth fighting for. And his faith, that faith he has held The crumbled flesh that held Through all the years and all the defeats, The bounty of your blood When everything seemed to betray it. Has held my spark of life But that faith, you tell yourself, is all that matters. Beyond all mortal love

Gracias, Compañero, gracias. Reluctantly I pass Thank you for your example. Thanks, for you tell me As cat that toys with mouse That man is noble. That’s dead and moves no more It matters not that so few are: The memory you left One, one man alone, is enough To stand as unimpeachable witness Perhaps already merged To the nobility of all mankind. You lie locked in the earth These thirty years or more Luis Cernuda And more and ever more.

Martin Green

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Added to Memory’s Roster

era. His independent producing credits included The Bell Jar and The Directors, a television documentary series. Milt retired to Sarasota, Florida, where he kept in touch with film and theater. Over his busy career, Milt Felsen was staunchly loyal to the Lincolns. He participated in reunions as well as trips to Spain, where his good humor was always appreciated. He will be sorely missed by those who had the good fortune of knowing him. —Robert Coale

Milt Felsen Ernest Amatniek (1915-2005) by two daughters, Kathie Amatniek (1912-2005) Sarachild of Manhattan and Dr. Joan The unassuming and soft-spoken Lincoln vet Ernest Amatniek, a Cindy Amatniek of Newtown, brigadista Milt Felsen passed away on pioneer in the application of transis- Pennsylvania, as well as 4 grandchil- April 8 in Florida. His wife, Lois tors to biological research, died on dren and 6 step-great-grandchildren. Bennett, said of him, “Milt was a April 9 in Bucks County, A brother, Karl Amatneek, lives in sweet guy and a tough guy. Life with Pennsylvania. He was 89. California. him was so much fun.” Born in Tallin, Estonia, to Latvian A memorial celebrating his life Born in New York City, Felsen left parents who were naturalized citizens, and work was held at the Mt. Sinai the University of Iowa in his senior Amatniek came to the U.S. at the age of School of Medicine.—Chris Brooks year to go to Spain in May of 1937. He 14. He attended James Monroe High served as a machine gunner in the School in the Bronx and City College, Lincoln battalion and was wounded at where he studied electrical engineering. Joseph Grigas Brunete. Upon release from the hospi- He served with the Lincoln battalion in tal, he spent the rest of the war as an the signal corps in Spain. During World (1915-2005) ambulance driver. War II, he designed and put into pro- In World War Two, Felsen joined duction radar identification equipment Joe Grigas, a native of Worcester, the Office of Strategic Services with for the Navy. Massachusetts, veteran of the Lincoln other Lincoln veterans. Wounded and Ernie later worked at the neuro- Brigade, and a cited hero in World taken prisoner in North Africa, he physiology laboratory of Columbia War II, died in London, Ontario, spent two years in prisoner of war University’s Medical School, the Canada, on March 8. camps in Italy and Germany. College of Physicians and Surgeons, Grigas had served in the U.S. Felsen’s memoir of childhood during the 1950s. While there, he Army in Panama during the early and the war years, The Anti-Warrior, developed a compact, wide band elec- 1930s before embarking for Spain in was published by the University of trometer amplifier, also called a 1937. When World War II broke out in Iowa in 1989. It is one of the few neutralized input capacitance amplifi- Europe, he enlisted in the Canadian autobiographies by Lincoln veterans. er. In the 1960s, he founded and was army in 1940 and was posted to the It is a great read. president of Bioelectric Instruments of Royal Canadian Regiment. After Milt accomplished many things in Yonkers, a company that was sold in training in England, the regiment par- peacetime. After the war, he worked 1970. Lincoln vet Ted Veltfort worked ticipated in the Allied invasion of for film-related labor unions in New with him there. Later, Ernie was a con- Sicily in 1943. Grigas won the York. In 1960 he ran the East Coast sulting engineer in neurophysiology Distinguished Conduct Medal for his office of the Directors Guild of laboratories at the Mount Sinai and role in capturing a coastal artillery America. He served on its board for 30 Albert Einstein Colleges of Medicine, battery. This was the second-highest years. He was an associate producer as well as at Columbia. medal in the Canadian army, and of Saturday Night Fever, the John Ernie married artist and art teach- only five were awarded in the regi- Travolta film that launched the disco er Sara Berlin in 1949. He is survived ment during the entire war. 20 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 21

Added to Memory’s Roster

could work for their room and board. New York before returning to Detroit. Tuition was only $50 per quarter. Bob He found a kindred soul in a young submitted an application to Common- woman named Mildred Aslin. Bob and wealth College, and with his life Mildred married in December 1945. savings of $65, he hopped a freight Bob continued his party work, serving train for Mena, Arkansas. as the circulation manager of a new During his years at Common- Detroit workers’ paper, The Herald. wealth College, Bob studied labor The 1950s were a difficult time for history. He served as student farm most veterans. In a survey response to manager and volunteered as an orga- a question about his activities in the nizer for the Southern Tenant 1950s, Bob wrote, “Party assignments, Farmer’s Union (STFU). He also made construction laborer, carpenter, sweat- many friends, including his roommate ing possible arrest or summons to Marion Noble, with whom he later appear before an investigating com- fought in Spain. In 1933, Bob joined mittee because of my political both the Communist Party (CP) and activities. Increasing reluctance to Bob Reed the Young Communist League (YCL), spending Sundays in political meet- for which he served as the Arkansas ings when the weather called for (1914-2005) state organizer. fishing. The 50s were rough.” Bob Reed was cutting barbed wire Bob sailed for Europe aboard the In 1961 Bob quietly left the party. in front of the fortified Nationalist hill Vollendam on April 24, 1937. After dock- He and Mildred moved to Seattle, at Seguro de los Banos when machine ing on France’s Atlantic coast, he Washington, to raise their two chil- gunners on top opened fire. A round traveled across France to Marsaille. dren, Bill and Janet. Bob returned to cut through his helmet and into his There he boarded the ill-fated City of school and earned a Master’s degree head. Bob thought his fight was over. Barcelona. The Spanish coastal freighter, in Social Work from the University of Fortunately for him, his fellow inter- carrying approximately 500 internation- Washington. He worked as the direc- national volunteers, social justice, and al volunteers, was torpedoed by a tor of a service center for the residents all of us whose lives he touched over Nationalist submarine on May 30, 1937. of a low-income housing community. the next seven decades, he survived. The ship sank in minutes. Despite the After retiring, Bob split his time We lost a great man on January 29. lingering threat of the submarine, local between volunteer activities with vari- Despite his injury at Seguro de los fishermen launched their boats in a res- ous progressive causes and his Banos, Bob was able to rejoin the cue effort. Bob was among those saved weekend home in Snohomish. Bob’s Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion. He by locals. About 50 of the volunteers VALB and Friends Day picnics on his returned to the lines before the lost their lives . property in Snohomish were much Retreats. This move is representative Bob traveled to Albacete, where he anticipated events. of the dedication and determination formally enrolled in the International In the 1970s, Bob and fellow veter- Bob exhibited throughout his life. Brigades on June 1, 1937. He then an Oiva Halonen began a history of Born July 6, 1914, in Rodney, moved to Tarazona, where he joined the volunteers from the Pacific Texas, Bob was one six children in a the Mackenzie-Papineau (Mac-Paps) Northwest who served in Spain. This family of cotton farmers. The Reed Battalion in training. He served in invaluable project was completed in family worked as tenant farmers every battle that the Mac-Paps fought, the early 1990s and placed in the across Texas through some of the from Fuentes de Ebro through the Ebro University of Washington Archives, worst days of the depression. Falling Offensive. He was wounded three with a copy presented to ALBA. cotton prices caused the Reed family times, including the head wound suf- Throughout his life Bob worked to live on the verge of poverty. fered at Segura de los Banos. tirelessly to promote justice and equal- Bob’s parents made significant Bob joined the U.S. Army on ity. He continued to be active long into sacrifices to get him through high December 27, 1941. He was in the quar- his retirement. He was passionate in his school. Upon graduation, Bob wanted termaster branch and served in the 8th causes and about his friends. The com- to attend college, but money was not and 9th Air Forces in the European the- patriots, family and friends of Bob Reed available. He remained optimistic and ater of operations. He earned the rank mourn the passing of one whose life was pleased when he ran across an of master sergeant before his discharge exemplified the Good Fight. advertisement for a college located on on November 16, 1945. —Chris Brooks and Lisa Clemmer an Arkansas farm, where students After the war, Bob spent a year in THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 21 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 22

Contributions

IN MEMORY OF A VETERAN Vivian Florin in memory of Milt Felsen $10 Ralph & Marta Nicholas in memory of Chuck Courtney Wolfe in memory of Milt Felsen $50 Hall $100 Thomas Silverstein in memory of Milt Felsen $100 Jean S. Hunt in memory of Chuck Hall $25 Neiryham & Edulun Winnick in memory of Milt David Pritchard & Ellen Wittlinger in memory of Felsen $18 Charles A. Hall $50 Dwight Hoover & Janet Holmes in memory of Blanche Gibbons in memory of Sam Gibbons & Milt Felsen $50 Chuck Hall $50 Felice Brier Ehrlich in memory of Moishe Brier Trudy Gardner in memory of Charles Hall $25 $200 Jeffrey Granger in memory of Charles Hall $25 Frank Egloff & Martha Fowlkel in memory of VETERANS WHO DIED IN 2004 Charles Hall $50 Al Amery Robert Nagle Frank E. Fried in memory of Charles Hall $250 Clarence Forester Frank Richards Milton Herst in memory of Charles Hall $25 Anna Goldman Irene Goldin Spiegel Working Women’s History Project in memory of Ben Holzman Anthony Toney Chuck Hall $50 Lyle Mercer in memory of Bob Reed $50 Les Fein in memory of Dick & Gene Fein $200 Robbie Kunreuter in memory of Bob Reed $50 Alan & Suzanne Jay Rom in memory of Sam Mark & Christina Dawson in memory of Bob Schiff $50 Reed $100 Norma Van Felix in memory of William (Bill) Ellen Ferguson in memory of Bob Reed $100 Van Felix $100 Steve & Nancy Schlossberg in memory of Milt Louis P. Schwartz in memory of Jack Freeman & Felsen $50 Bill Susman $25 Claudia & Hirsch Cohen in memory of Milt Paulette Nusser Dubetz in memory of Charlie Felsen $25 Nusser $50 Anne & Tony Swain in memory of Milt Felsen Wendy Univer in memory of Ernest Amatniek $25 $10 Mary Bogan & David Warren in memory of Milt Peggy & Ellen Kastius in memory of Abe Sasson Felsen $100 $25 Sidney & Jack Whelan in memory of Milt Felsen $50 IN HONOR OF A VETERAN Dr. & Mrs. Moses Margolick in memory of Milt George and Birdie Sossenko in honor of Moe Felsen $10 Fishman $25

Susan Brainerd & Alan Guinby in memory of IN MEMORY OF Milt Felsen $25 Nora Chase in memory of Joann Grand $25

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ALBA BOOKS, VIDEOS AND POSTERS

ALBA EXPANDS WEB BOOKSTORE Buy Spanish Civil War books on the WEB. ALBA members receive a discount! WWWWWW.ALBA-V.ALBA-VALB.ORGALB.ORG BOOKS ABOUT THE LINCOLN BRIGADE VIDEOS Mercy in Madrid: Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil by Mary Bingham de Urquidi War The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the Julia Newman Abraham Lincoln Brigade Art in the Struggle for Freedom by Richard Bermack Abe Osheroff Soldiers of Salamas Dreams and Nightmares by Javier Cercas Abe Osheroff Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to The Good Fight Democracy Sills/Dore/Bruckner by Paul Preston Forever Activists British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War Judith Montell by Richard Baxell You Are History, You Are Legend The Wound and the Dream: Sixty Years of American Judith Montell Poems about the Spanish Civil War Professional Revolutionary: Life of Saul Wellman by Cary Nelson Judith Montell Passing the Torch: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade and its Legacy of Hope by Anthony Geist and Jose Moreno Another Hill ❑ Yes, I wish to become an ALBA by Milton Wolff Associate, and I enclose a check for $30 Our Fight—Writings by Veterans of the made out to ALBA (includes a one year Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Spain 1936-1939 subscription to The Volunteer). edited by Alvah Bessie & Albert Prago Spain’s Cause Was Mine Name ______by Hank Rubin Comrades Address ______by Harry Fisher The Odyssey of the Abraham City______State ___Zip______Lincoln Brigade ❑ I’ve enclosed an additional donation of by Peter Carroll ______. I wish ❑ do not wish ❑ to have The Lincoln Brigade, a Picture History this donation acknowledged in The Volunteer. by William Katz and Marc Crawford Please mail to: ALBA, 799 Broadway, Room 227, EXHIBIT CATALOGS New York, NY 10003 They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Art in Wartime by Anthony Geist and Peter Carroll The Aura of the Cause, a photo album edited by Cary Nelson THE VOLUNTEER June 2005 23 v2005-2.qxd 5/17/2005 11:49 AM Page 24

NNeeww YYororkk ReunionReunion EEvvenentsts

Vets take the stage: Len Levenson, Harry Randall, Abe Smorodin, Al Koslow, Matti Mattson, Clarence Kailin, Jack Shafran, Lou Gordon, and John Penrod (above l-r). James Fernandez and Antonio Muñoz Molina (right). Photos by Richard Bermack.

The Volunteer c/o Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives NON PROFIT ORG 799 Broadway, Rm. 227 US POSTAGE New York, NY 10003 PAID SAN FRANCISCO, CA PERMIT NO. 1577

24 THE VOLUNTEER June 2005