December 2006

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Vol. XXVIII, No. 4 December 2006

Vets attending Spanish celebration, Carl Geiser (above) and Matti Mattson (below). Photos by Len Tsou. Spain thanks International Brigades, 70th Anniversary. See page 1. Photo by Dena Fisher.

FLASH! S.F. MONUMENT APPROVED Amid an outburst of spontaneous cheers from onlookers, the San Francisco Port Commission formally approved the erection of a monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on November 14. The memorial structure—30 feet long, eight feet high—will be built of translucent onyx engraved with photographic images and literary texts. It will rise on San Francisco’s historic Embarcadero, just opposite the Ferry Building, a site crossed by tens of thousands of commuters, residents, and tourists each day. Looking toward a successful drive for the remaining funds this winter, ALBA hopes to produce an installation during spring 2007. Letter From the Editor As the year draws to a close our calendars are bulging. The Volunteer Seventieth Anniversary commemorations of the Spanish Journal of the Civil War sprout like mushrooms around the nation and Veterans of the the world. In this issue, you can read about events in Abraham Lincoln Brigade Salamanca and Madrid, New York and Chicago. And more an ALBA publication will be coming in 2007. 799 Broadway, Rm. 227 As The Volunteer goes to press, so does a catalogue of 15 New York, NY 10003 illustrated and original essays that will accompany a spark- (212) 674-5398 ling museum exhibition titled Facing Fascism: New York and Editorial Board the Spanish Civil War. The show is scheduled to open at the Peter N. Carroll • Gina Herrmann Museum of the City of New York in late March and will Fraser Ottanelli • Abe Smorodin run until August, before shipping out for exhibition in Book Review Editor Madrid and Barcelona. (See page 13.) Shirley Mangini Mark your calendars for April 29, 2007, the date of the Art Director-Graphic Designer annual reunion of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Richard Bermack Brigade, which will be keyed to the new exhibition. Editorial Assistance Meanwhile, New York’s Cervantes Institute will present a Nancy Van Zwalenburg new version of ALBA’s show They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Drawings from the Spanish Civil War, beginning in Submission of Manuscripts Please send manuscripts by E-mail or on disk. May 2007. All these events will be mixed with lectures, pan- E-mail: [email protected] els, screenings, classes, and other public programs. Celebrations of the U.S. volunteers in the Spanish war still bring surprises. One Lincoln veteran, Irving Norman, returned from Spain severely anguished by the horrors he had seen. Today, we might call his reaction “post-traumatic Letters to the Editor stress,” but in 1939 he was left to his own resources. To ex- Dear Editor, orcise his demons, Norman began to draw and paint; he Not to prolong the discussion about Mr. Stix and his took a few art classes. And for the rest of his life, while checkered career, I have personal knowledge to affirm that supporting himself as a part-time barber in California, he his service in Korea had to have involved perjury—or pos- painted large canvases that portray the tensions of modern sibly a “special arrangement” with military intelligence. civilization. This fall, Norman’s art is on exhibition at the As noted in Miguel Ångel Nieto’s article in the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento and immortalized September 2006 issue (p. 8), the Lincolns were listed twice with the volume titled Dark Metropolis: Irving Norman’s in the Tom Clark/Harry Truman Justice Department’s Social Surrealism. (See page 12.) “subversive organizations” list. (If I’m not mistaken, a third Another unexpected windfall was the acquisition of listing was for Friends of the ALB.) That same list was pre- the papers of Lincoln vet Irving Fajans, once the executive sented to US Army (and USMC) draftees and volunteers secretary of the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. during the Korean War, who were required to indicate, un- (See page 7.) These include an unpublished autobiographi- der penalty of perjury, the organizations in which they cal novel about a department store strike in the 1930s. were “now or had ever been” members. The biggest story of 2007 remains to be written. With Those who cited the Fifth Amendment and declined to the help of ALBA’s supporters, we are hoping to unveil a sign—under Army regulations which I subsequently national monument to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in San read—could not be permanently assigned to any unit. Francisco. Built in onyx and steel, the structure will be 30 Those ordered, after completing training, to permanent feet long, eight feet high, and show photographs of the posts in the U.S. or overseas, were stopped during routine Spanish Civil War (including images by Robert Capa) and processing because that form in their file was “not com- texts by poets and Lincoln vets. Lend us a hand, please. plete.” At times, this resulted in an interview with G-2 Come to our programs. (Army Intelligence), in which the inductee was urged to For the latest ALBA updates, visit our website: WWW. Continued on page 17 ALBA-VALB.ORG. Spain Thanks International Brigadistas By Dena Fisher

hirty former Brigadistas gathered in Madrid to com- Tmemorate the 70th anniversary of the Spanish Civil War. Gaspar Llamazares, General Coordinator of the Izquierda Unida, greeted them at the Congreso de los Diputados on October 9 with these words: “Thanks, in the name of freedom.” Amaya Ruiz, daughter of La Pasionara, spoke for the Spanish people in gratitude to all the international brigadistas, stating, “Our cause in Spain is the cause of humanity.” She said that while many of us live in a democracy, we still have much to do to reach true freedom. She thanked the Brigadistas for paving the way. Award ceremony at the Fundación Loa Soler Blánquez, Colegio Público Joaquin Costa. Photo by Dena Fisher. The next day, the Brigadistas were honored in Zaragoza as the first com- of age, and their 300 family members 60th Anniversary. Harry’s picture was batants to fight fascism on a large and friends who came from the U.S., in the many photo exhibitions—in scale. The theme of all speakers was Russia, Estonia, Romania, Canada, Salamanca, Madrid, and Barcelona— “We need you now more than ever.” Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, and brigadistas from every country lit Ana Perez accepted an award for the Poland, England, Australia, Belgium, up when his name was mentioned. Asociación de Amigos de las Brigadas and Israel. Hundreds of young people in The personal was reinforced by the Internacionales (AABI), which is dedi- Madrid, Zaragoza, and Barcelona con- many family members who united in cated to the importance of the firmed that the legacy lives on in our their history and experience to make International Brigades and a world struggle today for peace and justice. the trip quite wonderful. united in peace. For me, it was a very personal ex- But this event was not personal; it The week-long celebration was an perience—the first trip since 1986 was political. A young Spanish folk- extraordinary experience, focusing on without my father-in-law, Harry singer at the Rivas-Vaciamadrid the 36 ex-combatants, all over 90 years Fisher, who died in March 2003 at a concert began with these words: “I demonstration opposing the U.S. inva- am a victim of democracy. I learned sion of Iraq. Everywhere I went people nothing of the history of the Spanish said how lucky I was to be in Harry’s Civil War.” Several performers cited family. This included chance encoun- their introduction to “Si Me Quieres ters, such as one at the El Fossar de la Escribir” and other songs of struggle Pedrera cemetery with a young wom- by Pete Seeger and the role of Paul an who had been in regular e-mail Robeson in shaping their political communication with Harry for five Continued on page 5 years until just before he died. The Dena Fisher is Executive Director young woman’s grandmother was of Dos Pueblos: New York-Tipitapa good friends with Maria, whose fami- Sister City Project, which works with ly we had met in Madrigueras at the a Nicaraguan non-governmental Jack Shafran. Photo by Len Tsou. THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 1 Chicago Reunion Marks 70th Anniversary: The Next Generation Picks Up the Story

hrough the crowded room at Roosevelt University on South TMichigan Avenue, people in the audience called the names of relatives who had left the Windy City to serve in Spain 70 years ago: “Ernie Arion,” killed at Brunete; “Chuck Hall,” once a prisoner of war in Spain, later a founder of the Chicago Friends of the Lincoln Brigade; the brothers “Tom Swan” and “Alexander Svenchansky”; “Robert Klonsky,” whose granddaughter Jennifer would soon speak from the podium; “Syd Harris,” the photographer, whose son would also speak; other names leaped to mind. Only one Chicago veteran of the Spanish Civil War survives, Aaron A. Hilkevitch, M.D., aged 94, and on a Wednesday night in October, he re- A Tribute to Aaron Hilkevitch ceived tributes for what all the names By Victoria Hilkevitch Bedford had earned in blood and struggle. plays down the “virtue” of the part he Modest as ever, the recently retired obby Hall asked me to speak played in the struggle in Spain, it’s psychiatrist basked in smiles, as about what my dad’s partici- hard to imagine a more honorable and friends and family spoke warmly of Bpation in the fight for Spanish brave thing to do in one’s lifetime. I the medical school graduate, class of democracy means to our generation, tell everyone when I have a chance. 1936, who enlisted in the Spanish specifically, to me and my sisters. Ever My rabbi’s husband, the holder of Republican Army and could take since she made the request, I’ve been an endowed chair at Indiana credit for saving lives among the war’s thinking a lot about this. I will briefly University, said to me a few weeks sick and wounded. His daughter, describe four kinds of influences. after I announced this event to the Victoria, addressed his moral courage First, there is an easy and obvious congregation, “I can’t stop thinking about not only in going to Spain, but in answer, and, I think the most impor- it.” These words say a lot. Although maintaining his convictions during tant for this occasion: My sisters and I, Dad would disapprove, they convey World War II and the harassment of our children, mates, the cousins, are the continual amazement that we will the Cold War years. all bursting with pride. Although Dad Continued on page 4 Continued on page 6

2 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Salamanca Celebrates IB Legacy

By Robert Coale The second in a series of interna- the war. The most famous sentences tional conferences to commemorate were these: “You will win, because the 70th anniversary of the Spanish you have more than enough brute Civil War scheduled in European force. But you will not convince. For to countries was held in Salamanca, convince you need to persuade. And Spain, October 5-7. Dedicated specifi- in order to persuade you would need cally to the history and memory of the what you lack: Reason and Right in International Brigades, it was orga- the struggle.” The respected rector of nized by the University of Salamanca, one of the oldest universities in the Association of Friends of the Europe was then escorted home and International Brigades (Amigos), and placed under house arrest. He died the University of Castilla-La Mancha. two months later. It is significant that the University Seventy years have passed since of Salamanca was the host of such a then, and today Salamanca is graced conference, as an important episode of with a vibrant university community the Civil War took place there in in a beautiful and ancient city center. October 1936. During Columbus Day As for the conference, all those in- celebrations that year, the rebel gener- volved agreed that it was a complete al Milán Astray of the Foreign Legion success. Over 70 researchers and pro- shouted down the rector of the univer- fessors presented papers, gave the United States was especially large sity, Miguel de Unamuno, with the call conferences, or participated in round and productive. “Down with intelligence. Long live table discussions. The majority of Peter Carroll gave a very well re- speakers were from Spain, but others ceived presentation on the Lincoln hailed from France, the United Brigade and their continued struggle Kingdom, and the United States. In in World War II. A sampling of other addition, at least 100 university stu- topics presented includes: Adelaida dents attended the three-day Bean and the Theater Arts Committee; conference for course credit. the recovery of historic memory; the One highlight of the gathering 15th Brigade Photographic Unit; was undeniably the special session Lincoln Brigade monuments in the where International Brigade veterans United States; and Operation X, code told of their experiences. Moe word of the Soviet Union’s military Fishman, in fine form, represented the aid program. Tony Geist presented his Lincolns. Other English-speaking vet- new documentary on the Lincolns, erans in attendance were George Souls Without Borders, to an enthusias- Sossenko, Bob Doyle from Ireland, tic audience. and Jack Jones from England. In addition to scholarship, three Lincoln scholars from both sides parallel exhibits were open to the pub- death!” The shocked Unamuno, an of the Atlantic were well represented lic. “Volunteers for Liberty: The early supporter of the military rebel- at the conference. Several Spanish col- International Brigades,” “Norman lion, proceeded to give what may well leagues presented papers on African Bethune: The Crime of the Malaga- have been the only discordant speech American participation in the war, in- Almería Highway,” and “The to be heard in Francoist Spain during cluding a presentation of a bilingual International Brigades in the General edition of Langston Hughes’ writings Archive of the Civil War.” All were Robert Coale teaches Spanish on the civil war. The contingent from literature at the University of Paris. Continued on page 5 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 3 Aaron Hilkevitch Continued from page 2 always feel about the weightiness of My twin sister, Bonnie, told me Joyce to Spain for the 60th his participation. It continues to be that letter reminded her of a related Anniversary and to witness my dad’s awe-inspiring. childhood memory—when a member receipt of honorary Spanish citizen- And, despite the outcome of the of the FBI came to our home to ques- ship. war, it gives me hope. If Dad could see tion Dad; we all remember this. I also What moved me more than the this as a “duty, not a choice, but the remember a Sunday school friend’s dad speeches, the unbelievable hospitality, right thing to do,” surely the same who had been blacklisted. I remember the music and poetry, was the emo- spirit exists today and holds the po- struggling to keep Dad’s activities a se- tional impact of the Brigadistas’ tential for a great movement. Perhaps cret and finally spilling the beans at a presence on the Spaniards—tears liter- this spirit simmers beneath the surface pajama party, and then feeling both ally streamed down their faces, at the of our daily lives, beneath the surface pride in my special heritage and guilt stadium in Madrid, on the streets–not of today’s depressing politics, beneath for thinking I had betrayed my family, only the faces of the war survivors, but the surface of the pervasive media im- even though my dad never said I could on the faces of Spaniards of all ages. I ages that bombard us. Perhaps it will not speak out. On our walls were the was particular struck by the tears of break out into an effective progressive 1936 photos of SIM (Rey Vila), dramatic the youth. They are the grand and movement, perhaps as soon as sketches of the SCW, and they were great-grandchildren of my Dad’s gen- November. So, that’s the idealistic re- frightening—a woman in silhouette eration. sponse, one that, hopefully, has some pointing a gun (who happened to re- When Dad fell during a visit to a reality to it. semble my mother), soldiers galloping memorial, I couldn’t get near him be- Second are influences from child- on horses, carrying large weapons, all cause of the attention lavished on him hood, what sometimes seems like the in stark colors. by the young Spaniards who dressed darker side of being exposed to our On the bright side of all this, this his wound. Suddenly I could under- dad’s heroism. When Dad and Joyce “subversive” fight for justice, this par- stand what heroes my Dad and all the moved to smaller quarters two years allel reality that we inhabited, instilled Brigadistas were to them. These men ago, I found some documents, Xeroxed in us a critical orientation toward the and women traveled so far and took them, and sent them to my sisters and institutions of our daily life and con- such risks FOR THEM. Yes, there was to Dad’s six grandchildren. My daugh- tinue to do so. For instance, I suspect I the fight against fascism, but it hap- ter Sibyl’s copy is framed and speak for all of us when I say we ques- pened specifically in Spain, so the act displayed on her wall. The document tion what lies behind media messages was also an enormously personal one, is a letter from the Department of the today, in the mainstream as well as in an act of great generosity toward the Army, Communications Branch, our alternative media, guarding Spanish people. Classified Message Center, Pentagon, against entrenched dogma that does Finally, a new chapter is unfolding dated September 16, 1952, and ad- not take present realities into account. right here, right now. That Aaron is the dressed to Captain Aaron A. I have reason to believe that this criti- last survivor in Chicago is a stark re- Hilkevitch, MC, ASAR. In it, Jo cal orientation is filtering down to our minder that an era is coming to an end. Sheldon, the Adjutant General, de- children as well. Or is it? In Spain in 1996, it was clear manded, by order of the secretary of The third influence relates to the that we “children” of the Lincolns had the army, that Dad respond to (i.e., re- event itself, the Spanish Civil War. a bond. I know my sisters and I are but) a list of 11 allegations. If he failed My older sister, Margie, an historian proud to carry the torch. My children to do so within 30 days, he was since birth, has always been exqui- have absorbed the fight in their stand warned, he would be discharged from sitely attuned to its historical for related causes. I don’t think we can the army. The seventh allegation on significance. Never had this signifi- measure the extent of Aaron’s influ- the list was “You were a member of cance struck me more than in ence, because it has generated ripples the Abraham Lincoln Brigade which is November, 1996, when I had the great that will continue well into the future. cited as Communist.” honor of accompanying Dad and Thank you, Dad!

4 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Spain Thanks International Brigades Continued from page 1

U.S. Vets at 70th Anniversary in Madrid Carl Geiser, Corvallis, OR Jack Shafran, Great Neck, NY Moe Fishman, NYC, NY Matti Mattson, NYC, NY George Sossenko, Atlanta, GA

Those who destroy democracy must be defeated.” The theme of many speakers perspective. Moe Fishman, while hon- Internationale” at every juncture, throughout the week was that war is oring and being honored for the past, hearing it sung simultaneously in no longer the solution—we must cre- praised the Spanish people for setting Spanish, German, English, Polish, ate a common front for humanity. The an example in today’s struggle by Russian, Italian, French, and Hebrew. Spanish people told us, “La gente uni- bringing home their troops from Iraq. We were a strong mix of generations da, España será republicana.” As He spoke of the need for all of us to united in our conviction to “fight” for North Americans, we are particularly make major efforts to end this inva- peace. Bob Doyle said, “Some of you responsible for assuring that fascism sion. The theme was that the may see me as a decrepit, old relic, in its current form sera vencida. It was Brigadistas paved the way, but nostal- here to talk of memories or to make an honor to be part of this U.S. delega- gia must not interfere with what we you sad about me now or happy about tion of like-minded folks, and it was must do now. Several of the memorials heroic events. But that is not why I’m inspiring to see that there are people were dedicated with the sentiment here. I am here to make you angry. throughout the world who are united that they would serve as a tribute to a The same people who supported in their belief that another world is future of justice and peace for all. Franco give support to the devastation possible. All week we were greeted by “The of people around the world today. Salamanca Continued from page 3

well attended. Following the conference, many participants and veterans continued on to Madrid to partake in the I.B. anniversary homage organized by the Amigos. The next stop on the European tour of anniversary conferences will be in Paris, where the French International Brigade Association is hosting “The Past and Present of the Spanish Civil Unveiling of the International Brigades Monument at Morata de Tajuna. Photo War” from November 17-18. by Len Tsou. THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 5 Chicago Reunion Continued from page 2

There was a strong sense of family Director Margaret Rung providing a the Chicago Friends, but many re- at the gathering, but it was a broader generous welcome. solved to carry on the group’s purpose spirit of political kinship that warmed To be sure, there was some con- of honoring the Lincoln Brigade and the room. Songs of the Spanish Civil cern expressed during the evening its internationalist traditions. War and other anti-war music, per- that this could be a final moment for formed brilliantly by Jamie O’Reilly and Michael Smith, brought irresist- ible tears of joy. Yet it wasn’t merely nostalgia for ALBA/Susman Lecture the past that touched the emotions. Chicago’s Venezuelan Consul, Omar December 12 Sierra, emphasized the continuing Julián Casanova, renowned histo- struggles for peace and justice in the rian of contemporary Spain, will world. He quoted from a recent speech deliver the ninth annual Bill Susman/ by Bob Doyle, an Irish veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives Spanish Civil War, about the perils of Lecture at NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of global oppression. “I am not here to Spain Center on Tuesday, December 12, make you sad with tragic recollections at 6:15 p.m. in the Center’s auditorium of a heroically fought war, or to make at 53 Washington Square South. you happy with my survival into old Casanova is a professor of contem- age,” said Doyle. “I am here to make porary history at the University of you boil with anger; the powers that Zaragoza, Spain, and is currently the support Franco in Spain are still ac- Hans Speier Visiting Professor of tive, and today their reach is global.” Sociology at the New School Another speaker, Carl Nyberg, a University. He is the author of several graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy major books on Spanish anarchism and member of Chicago Veterans for and the role of the church during the Peace, warned of recent threats to con- Spanish Civil War and the Franco dic- stitutional liberty from the tatorship. During the recent and ongoing controversies surrounding the government in Washington. Poet question of Spain’s historical memory—heated debates about how the Cranston Knight, whose son currently country remembers and memorializes the Spanish Civil War and its af- serves in the U.S. military in Iraq, termath—Casanova, a frequent contributor to the Spanish paper El País, spoke about the price of the war today. has emerged as one of the country’s most clear and courageous public ALBA Chair Peter Carroll present- intellectuals. The title of his ALBA/Bill Susman lecture will be “The ed the keynote address, “The Legacy Spanish Civil War: 70 Years Later.” of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade,” in- The ALBA lecture series is named in honor of Bill Susman, a U.S. sisting that “history matters” in a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and one of the founders of ALBA. country that too often prefers amnesia Previous lecturers have included Bernard Knox, Gabriel Jackson, to confronting the past. He stressed Baltasar Garzón, E. L. Doctorow, Philip Levine, Grace Paley, Antonio the value of organizations like ALBA Muñoz Molina, and Francesc Torres. to preserve the past and inform cur- Spain’s Ministry of Education and Culture is also co-sponsoring rent affairs. this lecture, which will serve as the capstone of an intense semester- Radio programmer Marta Nichols long series of events held at the King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center acted as MC with a deft touch. exploring the legacy of the Spanish Civil War in today’s world. Roosevelt University’s Center for New —James Fernandez Deal Studies co-hosted the event, with

6 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Irving Fajans Papers Acquired by Tamiment

By Michael Nash In 1942, he Tamiment Library is pleased Fajans volun- to announce the most re- teered for the Tcent addition to the Abraham infantry and Lincoln Brigade Archives, the pa- was wounded pers of Lincoln vet Irving Fajans. in the landing Fajans was born into a working at Anzio (Italy). class family in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1932, While in a hos- he joined the Young Communist pital recovering League. About that time he took a job from his as a stock clerk at the Macy’s depart- wounds, Fajans ment store in Manhattan. Fajans soon was visited by became an organizer for the Lincoln vet Department Store Employees Union, Irving Goff, Fajans returns to New York City after World War II. where he served as a shop steward who was work- and strike leader in the campaign to ing nearby for the Office of Strategic zinc miners’ strike in New Mexico. organize New York’s retail workers. Services (OSS). The two arranged for The film, released in 1953, was spon- He describes this experience in an un- Fajans to transfer into OSS, where he sored by the International Union of published autobiographical novel that joined Goff, Vincent Lossowski, and Mine, Mill, and Smelter Workers, one is part of the Fajans collection. Milton Wolff building ties with the of the unions that had been expelled Like many other YCLers, Fajans Italian partisan movement. from the CIO for alleged Communist- was recruited for the Lincoln Brigade After the war, Fajans served as dominated leadership. Salt of the and set sail for Spain in 1937. He executive secretary of the Veterans of Earth, which depicts the struggles of served on the front lines at Jarama and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He miners’ wives for recognition, digni- Brunete, where he was severely was instrumental in producing a fac- ty, and equality, is now viewed as a wounded. After he recovered, he re- simile edition of The Volunteer for major landmark in documentary turned home in 1938 and resumed Liberty, the brigade’s wartime news- filmmaking. union and political work. paper. He also acted as editor of a By the early 1960s Fajans, like When Pearl Harbor was attacked, literary anthology about the Spanish many of the blacklisted filmmakers, Fajans volunteered for the U.S. Army. Civil War titled The Heart of Spain. But began to find work as a free-lancer. He moved quickly from basic train- when Communist Party leaders per- During these years he also taught ing to officer candidate school at suaded the vets to expunge Ernest filmmaking in the School of Visual Camp Benning, Georgia, where he Hemingway’s homage “To the Arts in New York City. He died pre- was at the top of his class. Just before American Dead in Spain,” because maturely in 1968 at the age of 52 of a graduation he was abruptly assigned the celebrated novelist had criticized heart attack, at a time when his film- to laundry work when military intel- party leaders, Fajans refused to go making talent was being recognized. ligence labeled him as a possible along and resigned from the VALB. The Irving Fajans papers describe security threat because of his Spanish Fajans then built a new career in Fajans’ service in the Spanish Civil Civil War service. Some of his letters filmmaking. Having used the GI Bill War and World War II and his subse- on the subject of political discrimina- to learn film editing, he joined with a quent career as a writer and tion in the army appear in the new group of other blacklisted filmmakers filmmaker. book, The Good Fight Continues; others on the production team of Salt of the remain in manuscript as part of the Earth, a revolutionary and critically Michael Nash is head of the Tamiment ALBA collection. acclaimed documentary film about a Library at New York University.

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 7 Lincoln Vets at Peace Convention

By Joshua Farris told the crowd that the night was politics of anger will bring that about.” one of the happiest of his life, and Towards the end of the evening Lt. that the plaque given to him by the Watada took the stage, surrounded by VFP means more than a Medal of dozens of young members of the new Honor, though he doubted that a pre- Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was mature antifascist such as himself genuine and clear as he spoke with would ever receive such a medal. conviction about the immorality of the Osheroff gave a short and power- war and the need to support other sol- ful speech about where he saw the diers like himself who are refusing to world going in the near future. He fight in Iraq. The youthful spectacle assured us politics would once again was an emotional and encouraging come from the gut rather than from end to the convention. academic idealism. “A new world is Joshua Farris is an Iraq War veteran. necessary and possible,” he said. “Is it probable? Only hard work and the hampions of peace Abe Osheroff and Lt. Ehren Watada Cwere honored at the annual summer Veterans for Peace What’s New on the Website Convention in Seattle last August. The three-day national convention This summer, we’ve added two African Americans during the inter- brought veterans and peace activ- new multimedia educational pro- war years and learn about the ists together to learn and to network grams to our website. Written by factors that motivated 90 of them to for the struggle for peace and jus- Melvin Small, “World War II Letters defy U.S. law and to risk their lives to tice. Guests at the dinner generally from the Abraham Lincoln Brigade” join the International Brigades. were galvanized and happy as they gives students and educators a close Since it first went on line over 10 reflected on their experience and and personal account of the con- years ago, www.alba-valb.org has newly forged friendships. One vet- tinuing fight against fascism abroad helped build a global community of eran said, “I came to the conference as well as the political discrimination hundreds of thousands of people in- to figure out how I can get a chapter and segregation in the U.S. armed terested in and inspired by the going back home in Florida…I think forces. The second program was de- international struggle against fas- I know what I need to do now.” veloped by Sandy Simpson, an cism. In order to increase our Osheroff and Watada received award-winning teacher from the audience and to provide new and special attention that evening. One Boston area who has recently joined expanded services, we will soon un- made history by living a life that has the ALBA Board. Drawing on her veil a completely redesigned effected change. The other is making classroom expertise, she has pro- webpage. Combining beautiful history by refusing what he consid- duced a complete lesson plan to graphics with updated interactive ers “an illegal and immoral order” introduce high school students to features, www.alba-valb.org will ex- to be sent to fight in the Iraq War. the experience of African Americans ponentially boost ALBA’s Antiwar poet Sam Hamill intro- in the Spanish Civil War. Based on educational activities for students, duced Osheroff as “one of the true materials from the ALBA website, educators, and activists. heroes of the 20th century.” Osheroff students explore the experiences of was nearly overwhelmed when a plaque was presented to him honor- www.alba-valb.org ing his life’s accomplishments. He

8 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 THE GOOD FIGHT CONTINUES: World War II Letters From the Abraham Lincoln Brigade An ALBA Book Edited by Peter N. Carroll, Michael Nash, & Melvin Small

The Veterans of the Abraham ans had served in the U.S. armed Lincoln Brigade (VALB) began cam- forces, in most every function from paigning aggressively for U.S. entry the medical corps to the Seabees, and To Order The Good Fight into World War II after the German another 100 in the merchant marine Continues: World War II Letters From invasion of the Soviet Union. Pearl and nursing corps. the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Harbor gave the vets what they want- Most of the letters in this volume visit the ALBA Bookshelf: ed. On December 8, 1941, Milton were selected from thousands more www.alba-valb.org/albabook.htm Wolff sent a one-sentence telegram to that may be found in the Abraham or use the order form below. the president: “We who fought the Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) col- Also see ALBA’s World War II curricu- Fascist Axis in Spain proudly volun- lection in New York University’s lum on the web! teer to march shoulder to shoulder Tamiment Library. Others came from http://www.alba-valb.org/curricu- with our fellow Americans for the fi- the personal collections of individu- lum/index.php?module=8. nal crushing of this menace to the als and their families that can be independence and democracy of found in the ALBA collection or in America and all peoples.” By the end other depositories. of the war, at least 425 Lincoln veter-

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 9 Capturing Memory: Film and History Converge By Shirley Mangini n 1948, Francisco Redondo, along with his friend Florentino IFernández, was assassinated by the civil guards in El Valle, a village in the León province of Spain, for allegedly running a safe house for members of the anti-Franco resistance. Tossed into an unmarked grave like thousands of others, Redondo’s life was erased from the annals of history; that is, until nearly 50 years later, when his granddaughter, photographer C. M. Hardt, began asking questions about his mysterious death. She vid- eotaped the reactions of family and neighbors when she questioned them about the taboo subject, and thus her film Death in El Valle was born. What is most remarkable about the film is that her probing unearthed all the fear and hatred stemming from the war and its aftermath that had remained buried along with her grandfather. Although Hardt completed the film in December of 1996 in collabora- tion with Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, when she approached Spanish television stations, her documentary was constantly rejected. film in Madrid in 2002. After that, then UCLA and USC in the fall. People told her that they were afraid word spread, as well as bootlegged Hardt will participate in the round- “to touch this theme,” despite the copies of Death in El Valle. Since then, table discussions. (For more nearly 60 years that had passed since Hardt has been invited to show the information, see their website: www. the war’s end. But finally Hardt’s film both here and in Spain. Recently, imagenescontraelolvido.com.) promise to her grandmother that she the film was featured as part of the This past summer, Hardt showed would, in her words, “let the whole documentary film series, “Imágenes her film in Santiago de Compostela, world know what happened to my contra el olvido,” whose young direc- Mallorca, and the León province, grandfather,” is becoming a reality. tors are working toward the where she found receptive audienc- Emilio Silva, president of the recuperation of memory through es. Universities in Spain have Association for the Recuperation of film. The series debuted in June 2006 begun to use the film as a tool for Historical Memory, first showed the in Madrid and will travel to NYU, Continued on page 21

10 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War ALBA’s newest exhibition opens in March 2007 at the Museum of the City of New York. Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War examines the empire city as a center of political engagement and public debate during a critical period in world history. Through historic photographs, original documents, works of art, video presentations, and ar- tifacts, the exhibition tells the story of how New Yorkers from across the political spectrum re- sponded to the crisis in Spain. Major funding for the exhibition comes from The Puffin Foundation, Ltd., and the Instituto Cervantes. NYU Press will pub- After the Spanish Civil War, Dr. Barsky became an outspoken advocate for the lish a catalogue, including 15 Spanish refugees. original essays and illustrations, edited by Peter N. Carroll and “Someone Had to Help” James Fernandez. Dr. Edward Barsky Editor’s Note: Among the jewels of he deck space reserved for third or even to pull up the blankets. There the ALBA collection at the Tamiment class passengers on S. S. Paris is was that steamer smell of rubber, li- Library is an unpublished autobiography of Tnot very big but from it you can noleum, clean greased engines and Dr. Edward Barsky, co-authored with clearly see the skyline of New York as paint. For a second I thought about my Elizabeth Waugh. Titled The Surgeon it piles up into the biggest castle in the fantastic situation and then, as if anes- Goes to War, the memoir describes world. But I could not look at it; I was thetized, I fell into a dreamless sleep. Barsky’s activities as head of the American too tired to see. I did not want to say This was the afternoon of the six- Medical Bureau to Save Spanish good-bye again to anybody or to blink teenth of January, and the engines Democracy and his later work with the in the glare of flash-bulbs or to answer which had begun to shake me gently Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, the questions of any more reporters. I were taking me to Spain. Nothing which earned Dr. Barsky the enmity of the went below and crawled into my dark would have seemed more impossible House Committee on Un-American berth, alone for the first time in the to me three months before than that I Activities. For refusing to turn over the thirty seething hours. Let the others should be sailing away to a country at names of donors and recipients of humani- watch to see the last of our shores. My war at the head of a medical mission. tarian aid, Edward Barsky spent six throat was sore from talking—and my For I had been very busy; a typical months in prison and lost the right to prac- clothes hurt my body which was sore New Yorker, I suppose. I was absorbed tice medicine in New York. We offer here from fatigue. It was too much trouble in my work. I had not time enough for an early chapter from the autobiography. to undress, or to get a drink of water Continued on page 15

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 11 n 1950, San Francisco’s M. H. de Young Memorial Museum removed a painting from an exhibition because of obscen- Lincoln Vet Irving Norman’s Dark Metropolis on Exhibit Iity for the first time in its history. The piece was deemed too raw for public viewing, with eight scenes of prostitution or sexual activity. This painting was Big City by Irving Norman. Norman’s paintings have continued to inspire controversy since his death in 1989. His massive canvases—often over 10 feet high—abound with teeming figures that are drone-like and me- chanical in their repetition, yet stubbornly and hauntingly human. Norman’s portraits of our modern condition compel the viewer to confront issues such as the horror of warfare, urban anomie, and the ravages of industrialization. At the same time, the combination of jewel-like colors, transcendent messages, and technical virtuosi- ty make his work incredible to behold. Critical in the development of Norman’s visions were his experiences as a machine gunner in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. Norman was deeply scarred by his experiences with war. He turned to painting as a form of therapy and painted most of his life outside the artistic mainstream. He supported himself as a part-time barber. Although his work has been included in important exhibits and collections throughout his career—his Refugees is part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum—Norman worked in relative obscurity in Half Moon Bay, California, until nearly the end of his life. Dark Metropolis, a beautiful volume of Norman’s work, has been published in conjunction with the Irving Norman Trust and the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento to accompany an ambi- Big City, 1948, detail tious retrospective of the art of this important contemporary painter. The show runs from September 23, 2006, to January 7, 2007.

Nightlife, 1947 12 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Lincoln Vet Irving Norman’s Dark Metropolis on Exhibit

Dark Metropolis: Irving Norman’s Social Surrealism. Edited by Ray Day and Scott A. Shields. Essays by Michael Duncan, Charles C. Eldredge, Patricia Junker, and Scott A. Shields. Berkeley: Heyday Books, $35. Supreme Justice, 1974 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 13 Liberation War Prisoners. 1970-1971

PUFFIN FOUNDATION LTD. ANNUAL GRANT SEARCH

The Puffin Foundation encourages a continuing dialogue between “. . . art and the lives of ordinary people.” We are resolute in our support of those artists whose work, due to their genre and/or social philosophy might have difficulty in being aired. We especially encourage new artists to apply for a grant. Grants are made in all fields of the creative arts, including music, dance, theater, docu- mentaries, photography, fine arts, etc. . . . Applicants may apply for a year 2007 grant in writing prior to Dec. 30, 2006. Average grant awards range between $1,000.00 to $2,500.00. SASE required. The Puffin Foundation Ltd. Department V 20 East Oakdene Avenue Teaneck, NJ 07666-4111 Armies 2, 1944 14 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Someone Had to Help Continued from page 11 my friends or for my family. Also I fleet sailed away from the port of New North American Committee had been was supposed to be threatened by York eastward down Long Island organized for the purpose of sending some sort of breakdown due to over- Sound—not as much freedom as that. clothes and food to Spanish refugees. work. Afterward in Spain everybody In Spain they wanted only liberty to Then one October night at Dr. Miller’s had a good time laughing about it. think each according to his conscience, house the American Medical Bureau How had it started? not to starve in fertile fields untilled, to aid Spanish democracy was born. It First of all there was an interest in to live un-menaced by secret police. was under the auspices of this com- Spain, a country trying, after years of This modest liberty, this democracy mittee that all our work in Spain was black repression, to be a democracy, which the Spaniard had won legally at conducted. and in a measure succeeding. So much I had read in newsprint. Then the Spanish government had sent a dele- It was my job as head of the personnel committee to see that gation to beg for American help, we picked only the right sort of people. They must not be American sympathy. I went to a meeting. Yes, that was the beginning. sentimentalists, yet we could take only persons ready to die if Two persons, neither at all typical necessary for their convictions. of a new Spain, spoke movingly: a woman lawyer, and a Catholic priest from the Basque provinces. There the polls without civil war, seemed as Soon we had a Purchasing and a were not many women who had be- valuable to me as it did to them. Why Personnel Committee, for we envis- come lawyers even in Republican should it be taken away by force, by aged the plan of sending a medical Spain, and persons who associate the foreign force? unit to Spain. Most of us were profes- Spanish Catholic Church with Fascism The next thing I remember was sional people; we had slender and nothing but Fascism forgot the that a group of us met at Dr. Louis resources, yet the end of it was that we Basque Catholic clergy who were sol- Miller’s house. Dr. Miller knew a good raised more than a million dollars. idly on the side of the people. deal about American medical missions November and December were busy These two spoke to us in such a to various foreign lands. He knew months. The work of raising money way that we saw a clear issue. A about the services they had rendered went on with enthusiasm. We had peacefully elected government made and a little about their organizations. many meetings in New York and also up of many factions trying to balance American medical practice, he said, in nearly all the big cities of the coun- itself, trying to restore a measure of was never more needed. Others spoke try. Our appeal was heard from Maine social justice, had been attacked by a of the American Quaker relief work to Florida and west to the coast. There perjured army, by generals who had done in Germany during the famine was much interest in Spain, all over first sworn alliance to the government which was the result of the blockade at the country. We set as our immediate and then enlisted foreign help against the end of the Great War. objective the complete equipment of a it. But their coup d’etat had failed. The I was a member of a group of doc- seventy-five bed mobile hospital. people themselves had wanted to keep tors who met together to talk about all It was more difficult to find the their newly won freedom. They fought sorts of things. One night at a meeting personnel than equipment. Nurses desperately. Sometimes unarmed, men of this informal group we were talk- and doctors of the type we must have and women together, in overalls, un- ing about Spain. The government had were more apt to be busy people with trained militia fighting machine guns almost no medical service. Somebody jobs they could not leave. Yet in the with picks and stones. They fought for said, “That sort of thing ought to be end just these people came. They were freedom. Not only the sort of freedom our meat.” motivated by the idea of service and which was won for the United States The American Friends of Spanish willing to do their bit in this fight for of America when in 1778 the British Democracy had been formed. The Continued on page 16

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 15 Someone Had to Help Continued from page 15 democracy. To come with us these people were in some cases to give their health; some gave their lives; in all cases they gave their jobs. “To come with us,” but at this time I had no intention of going. I worked all day and we had meetings all night, sometimes two or three meetings, and then we finished the small hours in some coffee-house perfecting our plans. Towards the end of December contributions began to fall off. We had to face the fact squarely that our plan of sending a seventy-five bed hospital to Spain looked beaten, for the present anyway. Yet we knew what time must mean in Spain. We felt that if we could once get that hospital across the seas and in action contributions would continue to support it. It would be something concrete. The hospital must sail: We still lacked essential equipment and essential personnel. As head of the purchasing committee it was my job to figure out everything needed for this new kind of hospital. We had to buy everything; mattresses for the ward beds, surgical equipment, etc. etc.; in fact everything from a safety pin to a special operating room light running on dry battery (af- Also, most essential, they must be per- use for and these came to us in droves: terward, by the way, to be known as sons of proven skill in their present writers. We had a very impressive per- the “Light that Failed”). Lister bags for professions. In the matter of chauf- mit from the State Department carrying water, etc., etc., etc., besides all feurs, it meant nothing to us if a man licensing our work and permitting us sorts of special medications, serums, could drive a car; he must also be an to send personnel overseas, and these antitoxins. From the start we were very all round mechanic, perhaps an order- literary gentlemen were anxious to careful about paying our bills; we only ly, with the right stuff in him to make ride on this magic carpet. The writers paid those we had to pay. a nurse if necessary, and he must be soon learned that in their particular It was my job as head of the per- young and healthy and mentally well- capacity we had no use for them. But sonnel committee to see that we balanced. We had to have a they, as might have been expected, picked only the right sort of people. pharmacist, and laboratory techni- were men and women of imagination They must not be sentimentalists, yet cians. The nurses to be enlisted must and more, of histrionic ability. They we could take only persons ready to be in better than average good health. came disguised as chauffeurs—it die if necessary for their convictions. One type we had no particular Continued on page 18

16 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 r ContinuedLetters from to page the 2 Edito reveal his past associations, which Dear Editor Muscala, who left a simple inscription would be “forgiven” in exchange for Thank you very much for sending in a deserted hermitage which is still unspecified services. the complimentary copies of The visible. I discovered this by chance in Further details belong more to the Volunteer. It is great to have “evidence” September 2004, and only recently re- history of the Cold War than to that of of receipt of the George Watt Award in pair work has been begun on the the SCW and ALB. print, but also to read of the various hermitage. I am worried that the lack of However, there is one factoid that additions to the ALBA Archives, and interest by the local people may result may be of interest. In 1954 there were of the conferences and events current- in the obliteration of this unique piece five long-time so-called “security ly taking place. As always, I was very of graffiti. I have talked with a local holds” in the Replacement Company moved to read the accounts of the vet- historian but they prefer to leave it in at Ft. Dix, NJ. Their processing for erans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, its fragile state, slowly deteriorating. General Discharge Under Honorable and more generally to remember the Over Easter 2006 I took Alun back Conditions was abruptly speeded up commitment to, and sacrifice for, so- to Aguaviva for the first time in 69 in the summer of 1954. A few weeks cialist principles of so many of their years and showed him the inscription. later, the Replacement Company got a generation internationally. Many He was greatly moved by this link new, temporary, member: Pvt. G. thanks to all at ALBA for your own with his past . . . . Sadly, as readers of David Schine, whose treatment by the commitment to preserving the histori- The Volunteer will know, Alun died on Army there and elsewhere led directly cal memories of the vencidos; I feel July 2 this year. to the Army-McCarthy hearings and very honored to have my own small My research into Edward Muscala the political demise of Sen. Joe contribution included in your journal through ALBA has allowed me to dis- McCarthy. and archives. cover certain salient facts, but more Hershl Hartman My very best wishes to all in “the needs to be known, and therefore I am good fight.” writing to The Volunteer to see if any Dear Editor, Judy Neale. readers can help and maybe even lo- My Dad, Samuel Carsman, was in cate members of Edward´s family still the Brigade, John Brown Battery. The Dear Editor alive in the USA. legacy of and importance of this anti- Christmas Day 1937, Spain According to the ALBA fascist fight needs not only to be Between March and June 2006 I Biographical Dictionary Project by memorialized as an event, but needs had the privilege of hosting Alun Chris Brooks, Edward Muscala was to be shown as a failure on the part of Menai Williams in my native country born on February 7, 1912, in the U.S. to prevent Fascism. If the of Catalunya. I had assisted in the Minneapolis, Minnesota. His passport Republic had won this war that never translation of his autobiography, From listed his address as 1812 5th Street should have started, the world would the Rhondda to the Ebro (Warren & Pell South, Minneapolis, Minnesota. He be a very different place today. We Publishing) into Catalan under the ti- sailed for Europe on August 7, 1937, need to honor the people who went to tle of I vaig tornar a creuar l’Ebre aboard the SS Georgic. He rose to the Spain. We also need to connect what (Warren & Pell Publishing). By some rank of Cabo. Another document states happened in Spain with what hap- strange coincidence my family hailed his rank as Soldado. He was listed as pened in Nazi Europe and what is from the small village of Aguaviva in killed in action on April 3, 1938, during happening now in the George W. Bush Aragon, where Alun and the Abraham the Great Retreats. He was married and dominated world. Thanks for being Lincoln Battalion had been based over had one child whose sex is unknown. I there. Is there a possibility that we can Christmas 1937 before the horrific would dearly like to contact any mem- get the money to produce and distrib- Battle of Teruel. Called “The Limey bers of his family still alive and pass on ute widely a documentary? Doc” by the Americans, Alun must photographs or even give them the lo- Claire Carsman have shared the same experiences on cation of the inscription. Grass Valley, CA that Christmas Day with Edward Continued on page 18

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 17 Someone Had to Help Continued from page 16 would usually turn out that they shook hands and decided that the hos- We had between five and six thou- drove a car—as ambulance drivers, as pital would sail on that date. How, was sand dollars and the next day we mechanics, as male and female nurses another matter. would sail for Spain! and, I regret to say, sometimes as doc- The outfit would sail. Things, as The rest of that night was spent by tors. But we managed to pierce all we had foreseen, moved along faster doctors, nurses, pharmacists and labo- these disguises. Perhaps it was no after we had made our big decision. ratory technicians, in crating and wonder that things went slowly or that But one important thing was still un- packing the stuff in the warehouse. At we thought they did. decided. Who was to head the outfit? one time we were afraid we would Things were now so retarded that When late one night someone suggest- never get that done in time either but our whole project hung in the bal- ed that it might be myself, the idea at at last some bedraggled individuals ance. I was beginning to feel the first seemed ridiculous. How could I who had been doctors and nurses got strain of carrying on my practice and even think about it? on the boat and we heard the whistle continued lack of sleep. There were so “How can any of us?” they asked. which meant all aboard for the many things to worry about, even if I Then somehow all at once I realized Spanish Front. did get to bed. One thing was that we that I had been eager to go from the Bands were playing and every- had not yet found the right man to start, perhaps in some deep part of my body waving and crying and cheering. head the expedition. I knew how mind I had known that I would go all It seemed that we would never, never much depended on him. along. Yet for days I could not get over leave that dock. When in the end we One night after we had had three my sense of surprise. did, I went below and let the others meetings and our contribution had On the morning of the fifteenth of watch for the Statue of Liberty. been far less than we hoped, a small January the equipment which we had One of the other doctors woke me group of us talked frankly about our spent months collecting was in a up. He told me that on board were difficulties. We admitted to each other warehouse, not yet completely packed, about ninety young men in plain for the first time that the whole thing we had our personnel together, we clothes. It was whispered that they was still uncertain. had very becoming and serviceable were gong to enlist in the Lincoln- “Look here,” somebody said, uniforms—but we had no money. We Washington Brigade. My worries were “we’ve got to go! The way to go is to could not sail without at least three now few as compared to the load I had go. We set a date right here. Tonight. thousand dollars—this was not extra been carrying but I had to see that our When do we go?” money, you understand, it was to pay outfit did not openly fraternize with “Well, make it January sixteenth.” among other things for our third class these men. We were a non-partisan And then very solemnly we all passages and our food. unit. Also I was worried about a little That night there was to be a mass box in my pocket. Just as the whistle meeting in the Manhattan Opera blew a friend had opened my hand Letters to the Editor House and on the collection taken in and put the little box in it. Continued from page 17 our fate depended. The Spanish “Here, Eddy, take this,” he had said. In addition, I would be grateful for Consul was there, there were two I opened the box. It contained advice and assistance on the correct bands and we wore our new uniforms about six grains of morphine. If I and proper way of preserving and with “A.M.B.” (American Medical were to be caught with this contra- saving this unique piece of history of Bureau), on the arm-bands, for the band in my personal possession I the International Brigades and espe- first time. Everybody thought we were could easily be returned to the United cially the Abraham Lincoln Battalion going to Spain; we hoped we were States—yet it was hard to throw away during the Spanish Civil War. ourselves, desperately we hoped. And even this much of the stuff I knew Anna Martí then when the tumult and the shout- would soon be very precious to us. I [email protected] ing died away we counted the spent a good deal of time worrying collection. over this trifle.

18 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 ALBA BOOKS, VIDEOS AND POSTERS ALBA EXPANDS WEB BOOKSTORE Buy Spanish Civil War books on the WEB. ALBA members receive a discount! www.alba-valb.org Books about the LINCOLN BRIGADE Poems about the Spanish Civil War Ghosts of Spain: Travels through a Country’s Hidden by Cary Nelson Past Passing the Torch: The Abraham by Giles Tremlett Lincoln Brigade and its Legacy of Hope Dark Metropolis: Irving Norman’s Social Surrealism by Anthony Geist and Jose Moreno edited by Ray Day and Scott A. Shields Another Hill The Good Fight Continues: World War II Letters from by Milton Wolff the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Our Fight—Writings by Veterans of the edited by Peter N. Carroll, Michael Nash & Melvin Small Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Spain 1936-1939 The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction edited by Alvah Bessie & Albert Prago by Helen Graham Spain’s Cause Was Mine Member of the Working Class by Hank Rubin by Milton Wolff Comrades Fighting Fascism in Europe. The World War II Letters of by Harry Fisher an American Veteran of the Spanish Civil War The Odyssey of the Abraham by Lawrence Cane, edited by David E. Cane, Judy Lincoln Brigade Barrett Litoff, and David C. Smith by Peter Carroll The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the The Lincoln Brigade, a Picture History Abraham Lincoln Brigade by William Katz and Marc Crawford by Richard Bermack British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War EXHIBIT CATALOGS by Richard Baxell They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Art in Wartime by Anthony Geist and Peter Carroll The Wound and the Dream: Sixty Years of American The Aura of the Cause, a photo album edited by Cary Nelson ❑ Yes, I wish to become an ALBA Associate, and I enclose a check for VIDEOS Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil War $30 made out to ALBA (includes a one Julia Newman year subscription to The Volunteer). Art in the Struggle for Freedom Name ______Abe Osheroff Dreams and Nightmares Address______Abe Osheroff The Good Fight City______State ___Zip______Sills/Dore/Bruckner ❑ I’ve enclosed an additional donation of Forever Activists ______. I wish ❑ do not wish ❑ to have this Judith Montell donation acknowledged in The Volunteer. You Are History, You Are Legend Judith Montell Please mail to: ALBA, 799 Broadway, Room 227, Professional Revolutionary: Life of Saul Wellman New York, NY 10003 Judith Montell

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 19 Book Reviews

portunity for reconciliation and that it Changing at Breakneck Speed was unnecessary, even dangerous, to rip open “scarred wounds.” Spain’s smooth and peaceful tran- Ghosts of Spain: Travels through a Country’s Hidden Past. By Giles institutional break with the dictatorial sition to democracy, long considered Tremlett. London: Faber & Faber, 2006. past. As Paloma Aguilar has explained to be exemplary, is now increasingly xxiv + 433 pp. in Memory and Amnesia (2002), this de- viewed as flawed, potentially illegal, cision to leave the past alone was and at the very least unfinished. Once By Sebastiaan Faber orchestrated by the political elites, but at the forefront of post-dictatorial de- it reflected the desires of a majority of mocracies, Spain now finds itself The aim of this book is to explain how Spain has become what it is today, with a special focus on the past One of the charms of Tremlett’s book is the delicate balance the six or seven decades. Tremlett starts writer maintains between his vast knowledge of the country’s out from two paradoxes: How is it that people and history . . . and his textual reenactment of the one of the loudest people on earth decided to be so silent about its recent newcomer's surprise and fascination. dictatorial past? And what explains the fact that a nation characterized for Spaniards, fearful of another civil war. catching up to developments in Chile, centuries by the almost complete ab- Even those who had opposed Franco Argentina, South Africa, and Eastern sence of social and cultural change were willing to forego the opportunity Europe, with their truth commissions, has come to embrace, even embody, to denounce, judge, or convict the pris- persecution of former dictators, and the new for its own sake? on guards, police commanders, revocation of amnesty laws. Ironically, One of the charms of Tremlett’s censors and politicians who had dam- as Tremlett points out, it was in part book is the delicate balance the writer aged their lives. Spain itself that helped propel the in- maintains between his vast knowl- The foundations of this pact began ternational developments allowing edge of the country’s people and to crack five or six years ago, around other nations to confront their repres- history—a correspondent for The the time that the conservative Aznar sive pasts. Key in this process has Guardian, he has been writing about government began its second term. It been Baltasar Garzón, the ambitious Spain for close to 20 years—and his wasn’t that the political class was and fearless investigative magistrate textual reenactment of the newcomer’s ready for a change; the urge for more who, among other things, helped ini- surprise and fascination. openness came from below, and from tiate the prosecution of Chile’s Tremlett’s first three chapters, of the younger generations. It all began Augusto Pinochet. most interest to Volunteer readers, deal when journalist Emilio Silva founded Continued on page 23 with the gradual breaking of the “pact the Association for the Recuperation of silence” that accompanied Spain’s of Historical Memory (ARMH), which transition to democracy after Franco’s was soon followed by many other Advertise in death in 1975. There were no truth grassroots initiatives aiming to locate The Volunteer commissions, no trials, no calls for ac- and exhume tens of thousands of bod- The Volunteer welcomes paid countability—not even a clear ies buried all over the country and to advertising consistent with ALBA’s restore their good names. Aznar re- broad educational and cultural Sebastiaan Faber teaches Spanish and fused to support these efforts. mission. For more information, Latin American literature at Oberlin Typically dismissive, he declared that contact [email protected]. College. the Transition had provided ample op-

20 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Book Reviews

But longer than time dreams Sancho Books of Interest the peasant, Stronger than trees and the strang- er’s strange reckoning. By Shirley Mangini work on heavy machinery for the oil pipelines. In 2000 he was honored See: Many nations have put on Australia’s Spanish Knight. with the Knight of the Order of Civil spring’s joy robe, Fourteen Months. Sixty One Years. Merit of Spain. She is still shrouded in black of her By D. L. Speight. Seacliff, Australia: slavery D. L. and K. L. Speight, 2004. Poems from Spain. British and Irish And the night of her eyes is dark in the morning, This biography of British-born me- International Brigaders on the Spanish Civil War. Jim Jump, Editor. Mourning her sons, red tears for chanic Richard Smith (who took the London: Lawrence & Wishart, 2006. their bravery. surname Bryant when he moved to Australia and became an Australian Sponsored by the International We said we will return to the house by the crossroads, citizen) by his friend D. L. Speight is of Brigade Memorial Trust, this slim vol- From the corners of the earth we interest to ALBA readers primarily be- ume not only recovers the poetry shall come again. cause of Bryant’s heroic work in the about the war written by 33 brigadiers, Years shall not master us, we will war as an ambulance driver. Injured but also gives a brief history of the master them. in a bomb explosion, Bryant was sent participation of the IBs in the war, as We said: He is waiting. We will come to the monastery hospital at Huete, well as a biographical sketch of each back to Spain. where Nan Green was an administra- poet. In his introduction, anthologist Add horror to terror, add fighting to tor. (See Paul Preston’s Doves of War, Jim Jump—who is the son of the waiting, 2002, on this subject.) After recover- Basque exile and writer James R. Add manhood to childhood, add ing, he created a vehicle repair shop at Jump, who fought in the Ebro offen- singing to weeping; Huete and met the British nurse Joan sive—tells his story with the passion O hill of Jarama, White House over Harrison, whom Speight uses as a nar- of someone close to the heroic efforts Morata! We have said that the hour will not rative device to tell the story of of the International Brigades and to Richard’s difficult childhood. The cou- their need to speak out about the war find us sleeping. ple set up an emergency ambulance through verse. David Martin (1915- team with the help of the famous sur- 1997), who served in the medical Death in El Valle geon, Dr. Edward Barsky, and traveled service at Jarama, Brunete, and Teruel, Continued from page 10 around the countryside aiding is one of these “poet heroes,” as is visi- wounded soldiers. At that time, at ble in his poem “Jarama”: the recuperation of memory. Amnesty Joan’s suggestion, they were married International in Spain has officially by a commissar from the British Children unborn then have forgotten recommended the film and is selling it Battalion. Richard was discharged be- their dolls now. on its website. These are all signs of The small green olive trees are no cause of stress and sent back to the winds of change. The movement longer small. England to acquire more ambulances White House over Morata! Twice for the recuperation of historical mem- for the cause. When he returned to chalk has healed over ory is impacting Spaniards in Spain, the situation was so dire that Bullet scars traced into shutter and profound ways, and the atrocities both he and Joan were dispatched wall. committed during and after the civil back to England. The rest of the biog- war can no longer be silenced. The Bishop was hard then, he is fee- raphy is dedicated to their emigration For more information on the film, ble and cold now; to Australia and his travels around the His vintner was eager, now the devil visit: www.deathinelvalle.com. world, especially in the Middle East, to is beckoning.

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 21 Added to Memory’s Roster

Dutch worked as a longshoreman noted for his contributions in histori- until 1973 and received an award from cal anthropology and particularly in the ILWU for saving the life of a union Andean studies. His loss will be felt brother. Jews in longshore work were in a wide range of communities. rare, and Dutch had to deal with anti- Born Isak Lipschitz in 1916 in Semitism, open and veiled. After Odessa, Ukraine, Murra grew up in many scraps, Dutch won the respect of Bucharest, Romania. Expelled from his fellow workers. his last year at the lycée for belonging All through his working life, to the Social Democratic youth, he Dutch’s main passion was wood sculp- eventually received his federal bacca- ture. He used the GI Bill to study in lauréat as a privately prepared Switzerland, Italy, and England. After student. He worked in paper factories his retirement from the docks, he in Romania and in Croatia. He also worked full time at his art until an au- had several short stays in jail in 1933- tomobile accident at age 94 finally 34, once as the only “red” in a group stopped him. of Iron Guardists, which he survived But there was so much more to in part through his knowledge of soc- this crusty old guy, with his salty lancer. Murra’s fluency in many guage. Though he had little formal languages later resulted in his ap- education, Dutch acquired a broad pointment to the headquarters staff of range of knowledge through his life the International Brigades in Spain. experience. He was a great lover of na- Murra enrolled at the University ture, and he liked to go hiking. One of of Chicago in 1934 and gravitated to his great loves was birding. the social sciences, where he found Elias “Dutch” Above all, Dutch was a mensch, particular interest in anthropology. Schultz an authentic human being, whose He graduated in 1936. But as he re- thoughts, words and deeds were cut called later, “nothing in academic life (1910-2006) from the same cloth. compared with the urgencies of poli- Shortly after his death in August, In recognition of his long-standing tics.” That fall, Murra went to fight in both major Seattle newspapers ran support for the Red Eagle Society—a the Spanish Civil War. He later said, substantial stories on Dutch and his Youth Theater group—Dutch was “I did not graduate from the extraordinary life. The memorial ser- honored at his memorial as a fallen University of Chicago. I graduated vice, held September 24, was packed warrior by a Native American Color from the Spanish Civil War.” After with a broad spectrum of people who Guard of Veterans of Past and Present the war he was interned in camps in respected and loved him. So who was Wars. France. He was divorced from his this short, wiry guy? All in all, many people from dif- first wife during the war, dissolving He was born and raised in ferent walks of life joined in his formal connection to the United Harlem, New York, a son of immigrant celebration of a life well lived. States, and leaving him something of Austrian Jews. During the Depression, —Abe Osheroff a man without a country. he was drawn to left-wing causes and Finally able to return to Chicago served in the Lincoln Brigade in Spain. John Murra in 1939, Murra—who began to use that In World War II, he served in the 87th name around this time—completed Mountain Infantry as a ski-trooper. (1916-2006) his Master’s degree in 1942. During Wounded in the Aleutians, he later John V. Murra died in his home 1942-43, Murra worked with John fought in Italy. on October 16 at the age of 90. He was Dollard and Ruth Benedict interview-

22 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Added to Memory’s Roster ing Abraham Lincoln Brigade veterans President of the American Society for are available to researchers at the for a project involving soldiers’ reac- Ethnohistory (1970-71), the American National Anthropological Archives. tions to battlefield conditions. The Ethnological Society (1972-73), and the Murra’s legacy will be found in many results were published in 1943 under Institute for Andean Research (1977- fields, in many individuals, in the the title Fear in Battle. 83). In 1969 he gave the Lewis Henry Andes, the United States, and else- In 1946 Murra was turned down Morgan Lecture, “Reciprocity and where. for U.S. citizenship on the ground Redistribution in Andean —Frederic W. Gleach, Department that he had fought with the Spanish Civilizations.” of Anthropology, Cornell University Republican Army. This cost him a Murra was married and divorced grant that would have funded his dis- twice, leaving no children. His papers sertation research in Ecuador. He was eventually granted citizenship in 1950, after a lawsuit, but he did not Breakneck Speed receive a passport until 1956. Denied Continued from page 20 the possibility of travel to South America, he ultimately chose to write Tremlett covers these issues in an Spain—hip, design-conscious and, a dissertation that did not involve admirably complete and engaging above all, new—reflects on Spain as fieldwork. He defended his disserta- fashion. the longstanding object of foreign fas- tion, The Economic Organization of the Like the rest of his book, his chap- cination. As Tremlett points out, past Inca State, in 1955. ters on Spain’s troubled relationship books by foreign writers on Spain, es- During this period, he taught at with its political past are driven by an- pecially British and American, have several universities, including the ecdote. We relive the tribulations of preferred to emphasize that Spain was University of Puerto Rico and Vassar Republican victims Tremlett has inter- an unspoiled repository of values that College, where officials defended viewed and accompany them and the had long disappeared in the industri- Murra from the government’s efforts author on their quest to disinter alized West. Tremlett’s book, by to have him deported. He spent two Spain’s past and understand its pres- contrast, while mindful of its distin- years in the late 1950s teaching and ent. But we also hear the arguments of guished predecessors, is about rapid doing archival research in Peru. In the old—and young—Francoist right. change—a change that Tremlett, as an 1968 John Murra joined the faculty at The remaining 10 chapters of the extranjero in love with the country, Cornell University, where he contin- book cover the cultural and financial seems to have a harder time accepting ued to study Andean societies. The impact of the tourist industry; Spain’s than the Spaniards themselves. innovation at Cornell of which he was culture of nepotism and corruption; Given that Tremlett has obviously most proud was a course on the histo- the magical but drug- and crime-rid- documented himself very well, it is a ry of U.S. anthropology as an den world of flamenco; gender pity that his book lacks any reference institution and a craft, rather than as a relations; and Spain’s proliferating sex materials. Ghosts of Spain serves as a survey of ethnological theory. Not industry. Chapter 9, the most journa- wonderful introduction to contempo- known for his patience with anyone listic of all, covers the March 11 rary Spain, but readers who find he saw as naïve, facile, or selfish, Al-Qaeda bombings in Madrid. Then themselves turned on to the topic are Murra nevertheless could be quite follow three portraits of the strongest given no clear indication where to go generous, and is he remembered of Spain’s 16 “autonomous communi- next. Copious footnotes might under- warmly by many former students and ties”: Basque Country, Catalonia, and standably have weighed the text colleagues. Galicia. down, but a few pages of back matter, After he retired in 1982, Murra re- The last chapter, opening with an including a short list of references by mained active in international analysis of Pedro Almodóvar’s role as chapter, would have made this book professional societies. He served as the public, artistic face of post-Franco even more useful than it is.

THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 23 Contributions

IN MEMoRY oF A VETERAN Nancy Phillips in memory of Ed Phillips & Paul Wendorf $30 Thelma Mielke in memory of Ken Bridenthal & Sam Spiller $100 Ulrick Kolbe in memory of Harry Fisher $100 Luis Lazaro Tijerina in memory of David Alfaro Sequeiros, Mexican volunteer in the International Brigade $60 Jordi Torrent in memory of the 100th anniversary of James Yates’ birth $100 Norma Van Felix-Skye in memory of William Van Felix $100 M.G. Bailey in memory of Bill Bailey & George Kaye $50 Norman Eisner in memory of Bill Susman & Milt Felsen $500

IN MEMoRY oF Laura Falb in memory of Ann Newman $30

IN hoNoR oF David and Suzanne Cane in honor of the marriage of their daughter, Rachel Cane, granddaughter of Joe Bianca, 1942, by Irving Norman, from Dark Metropolis Veteran Larry Cane, to Joshua Kramer $200

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24 THE VOLUNTEER December 2006 Preserving the past… to change the present. Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an independent, nonprofit educational organization devoted to enlightening the American people about our country's progressive traditions and democratic political values. Over the past twenty-five years ALBA has created the largest U.S. collection of historical sources relating to the Spanish Civil War, including letters, diaries, public documents, photographs, posters, newspapers, videos, and assorted memorabilia. This unique archive is permanently housed at New York University's Tamiment Library, where students, scholars, and researchers may learn about the struggle against fascism. For more information go to: WWW.alba-valb.org

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DECEMBER 12 ALBA-SUSMAN LECTURE

MARCH 23 FACING FASCISM OPENING (SEE PAGE 11) Julián Casanova will deliver the ALBA-Susman lecture. See APRIL 29 page 6. VALB REUNION, NYC

The Volunteer Non Profit org c/o Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives 799 Broadway, Rm. 227 US Postage New York, NY 10003 Paid San Francisco, CA permit no. 1577