“...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. XXV, No. 4 December 2003

Vets return to Marsa. Story on page 10.

Dispatch from Madrid, p. 3 A Lincoln in Argentina, p. 4 Premature Anti-Fascists, Again, p. 5 Lorca: Symbol of Spain’s Victims, p. 6 Archie Brown Collection at theTamiment Library, p. 9 Malraux, Hemingway, and the Spanish Civil War, E.L. Doctorow, p. 11 Children’s Art in New York, p. 12 Women of the Falange, p. 17

Clifton Amsbury at the San Francisco Bay Area annual picnic. Story on page 19. Photo by Richard Bermack. Letters

Dear Editor, My father-in-law (Mr. Alun Menai Williams, of 57 www.alba-valb.org Shakespeare Road, Barry, South Glamorgan, CF82 9TP, England) has asked me to pass on his thanks to you for sending him The Volunteer. He is now aged 90, a veteran of Make a donation on line. the Spanish Civil War, and very much enjoys reading your journal. I understand that he is the only remaining veteran left in Wales. We now accept credit Thank you again and best wishes. Jenny Menai-Williams. cards. Support ALBA's Dear Editor, I would like to enlarge on the welcome comments of important work. Freda Tanz, widow of Al Tanz, a veteran of the ALB and the American Army in World War II (The Volunteer, September 2003, p 21), written in response to Michael Donations are tax Nash’s warm and insightful review (The Volunteer, June 2003, p 140) of Fighting Fascism in Europe: The World War II Letters of an American Veteran of the Spanish Civil War, by my deductible. father, Lawrence Cane. The book, which I edited in collaboration with histori- ans Judy Barrett Litoff and David C. Smith, presents some 180 of more than 300 letters written by my father to my mother, Grace Singer Cane, during his service in the American Army in World War II. Among his many experi- The Volunteer ences, my father landed on Utah Beach on D-Day with the Journal of the first wave of combat engineers assigned to carry out the assault demolition work as part of the Allied invasion of Veterans of the Europe. As mentioned in a number of his own letters, and Abraham Lincoln Brigade to the best of our current knowledge, he was the sole ALB an ALBA publication veteran who fought in World War II to land with the assault wave on D-Day. In his otherwise excellent review, 799 Broadway, Rm. 227 Mr. Nash stated less precisely that Lawrence Cane was the New York, NY 10003 only veteran of the ALB to participate in the D-Day inva- (212) 674-5398 sion of Normandy. In her letter, Mrs. Tanz has accurately pointed out that Al Tanz also participated in the D-Day invasion, parachuting into France prior to the landings as Editorial Board part of the OSS in order to sabotage electrical lines near the Peter Carroll • Leonard Levenson village of Sainte-Mère-Église. In fact, Al Tanz’s role in the Gina Herrmann • Fraser Ottanelli D-Day invasion is explicitly mentioned in a footnote (p Abe Smorodin 202) to Lawrence Cane’s letters of 3 July, 13 July, and 16 Book Review Editor July 1945. In these letters, my father describes getting Shirley Mangini together in France with fellow vet, Lt. Al Tanz, then serv- ing in an engineer depot outfit, as well as another veteran Design Production of the ALB, Bill Pike, reunions in which they exchanged Richard Bermack news of the Left and “... had a real old-fashioned bull-ses- Editorial Assistance sion. We beat the Spanish War to death.” Nancy Van Zwalenburg David E. Cane Website: Submission of Manuscripts http://www.chem.brown.edu/faculty/dec/Fighting_Fasc Please send manuscripts by E-mail or on disk. ism_in_Europe.html E-mail: [email protected]

2 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Dispatch from Madrid: Freedom is Worth the Struggle

By Miguel Ángel Nieto

Editor’s note: With this issue, The Volunteer begins a new regular column, “Dispatch from Madrid,” by Miguel Ángel Nieto, one of Spain’s leading investigative journalists. The column will focus on issues in Spain of interest to our readers. osé Couso was a splendid young Spanish news cam- Jeraman who, until it can be proved otherwise, was shot and killed by a U.S. tank on May 8, 2003. Legally speaking, this is called a war crime. Couso had two children, one six years old, the other three. Every month hundreds of people demonstrate in Madrid, in front of the U.S. embassy, demanding an explana- tion of the shameless official version of in any public program in Spain. The This cameraman’s blood becomes his death offered by the Pentagon, memory they have taken from us our tears, welling up from our hearts which claims that from the perspective holds an explosive mystery: the truth. night after night. Madness possesses of the tank commander, Couso was Men and women committed to free- each of us on the eighth day of every holding not a camera but a gun, and dom, to a tolerance that knows no month. How can we explain to our was turning it on the invading army. borders, to respect for the will of the children, to Couso’s children, this Truth, as a concept, is the main majority. monumental example of human stu- enemy of those who begin wars. And The current government of Spain, pidity? How are they ever to pictures, as instruments, have such an like the government imposed in 1939, understand the freedom we long for if immediate and undeniable truth value prefers a version without witnesses. we are defeated by the loss of a single that the only way to silence them is by Yesterday’s witnesses are dying out, life? How must we tell the children, pulling the trigger. In the Iraq war, as those museum pieces who travel tire- our children, that this accident we call in all wars, that’s what they have lessly despite the fact that the official life is governed by someone else’s pri- done: murder the witness. memory refuses to recognize them. orities? And how are we to explain to So much material concerning the Today’s witnesses are also falling, ourselves that living is worth the loss Spanish Civil War remains classified with no credible explanation, in of a life? that when it is made public our chil- Afghanistan, in Baghdad, in Sarajevo. War is a heinous act, except to dren will finally understand of what Had he been born earlier, Couso those who declare it. The rest of us try that first great, barbarous act of the could have lived another life, captur- to protect ourselves from having the 20th Century consisted. The estimate ing with his camera images of another winners’ agenda shoved down our is a million dead. A million. We don’t invading army, one that held Spain throats. In this context the defense of know how many journalists were captive for nearly four decades. But he an individual choice can only be per- killed, or how many languished in lived in 2003, and he wanted to docu- severance, the confidence that time silence, choking back what they had ment another country unjustly will eventually offer a clear explana- seen and lived. Our memory has been invaded. He only photographed one tion. When that happens, and it is rifled through so thoroughly that the shot, the one that ended his life. The already happening, then freedom will International Brigades are presented picture he took of his own death is, always be worth the struggle. as museum relics when they take part simply put, brutal. THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 3 A Lincoln in Argentina By Moe Fishman Republic, which continued to assist ura of the Cause,” ALBA’s refugees after the Republic fell. traveling photo exhibit, One of those I interviewed was “A opened at the Palacio del Carlos Pareda, of Spanish origin, who Artes in Buenos Aires on September traveled from Rosario, about 4 hours 26. Thanks to the Puffin Foundation, I by car. Similarly, I met Luis Alberto spoke at the gallery about the origins Quesada, a well-known Spanish poet of the pictures, the Spanish Civil War, who fought for the Republic and spent and the Lincoln Brigade. 17 years in prison afterwards. He was A number of clippings and articles kind enough to present two books of appeared in newspapers promoting his poetry to be turned over to the the exhibit. I had two interviews with archives. Much to our pleasure, he reporters and spoke on a radio pro- also arranged a visit to the hotel room gram during my stay. where Federico Garcia Lorca lived for From the Palacio, the photo exhi- eight months when he visited Buenos bition will be shown at Avila, a Aires in 1929. Argentinians have nightclub owned by the son of an great pride in his visit and keep the Argentinian veteran living in Spain. A room as a memorial. Moe Fishman, photo by Richard Bermack third venue will be in the headquar- ters of the Federation of Spaniards from Galicia, residing in Argentina. Paco Lores, president of the In Brief Federation, invited me to address its annual banquet on October 5. This Luxembourg Vets was a sit-down dinner for over 600 Rehabilitated tion held in San Francisco on August participants. In my talk, I outlined 8-10. Hosted by many of the many actions VALB has been engaged On April 10, 1937, the parliamen- California chapters, 400 veterans in over the past 60 years, such as the tary government of Luxembourg from around the country attended. I campaign that raised over a quarter of passed a law forbidding citizens was very pleased to attend, knowing a million dollars for ambulances for from participating in the Spanish that the organization has accepted all Nicaragua. There was applause for Civil War. But nothing lasts forever. of the Lincoln Veterans as members; our stand against the U.S. blockade of This summer, in an act of historical special thanks are due to Moe Cuba. When I spoke of our actions to rehabilitation, the country’s Chamber Fishman for his work on this. There close the School of the Americas, there of Deputies unanimously enacted a were workshops during the two days was great enthusiasm for our efforts. new statute that abrogated the ban on topics such as “Alliances between A commemorative plaque dedi- and thus rehabilitated the 102 Anti-War and Justice Struggles: cated to the Veterans of the Lincoln brigadistas who had violated the law Vieques/Building a Multiracial Brigade by the Federation now hangs to fight in the International Brigades. Veterans Movement; Domestic in the VALB office. In officially rehabilitating these “sol- Repression and Constitutional I learned that more than 1,000 diers for freedom,” the government Rights; and Countering Recruitment Argentinians and Spaniards living in paid homage to the courage and pre- of Youth (“No Child Left Argentina participated in the Spanish science of those who first tried to Unrecruited”)/Veterans Speaking in Civil War. About 60 percent fought for stop the spread of fascism. On Schools.” the Republic, the other 40 percent on October 18, 2003, Luxembourg’s Two outstanding projects of the the side of Franco. Most of the volun- prime minister joined Les Amis des group were “The Campaign to Bring teers went to Spain via freighters that Brigades Internationales at its annual Them Home Now” and “Military ran regularly between Argentina and commemoration held at the “No Families Speak Out.” Among the the Spanish Republic from the begin- Pasaran” monument in Dudelange. notable speakers were William ning of the war through the end and Rivers Pitt, Congressman Jim beyond. Many returned to Argentina Vets for Peace McDermott (a VFP member), and by this method. I was told of an orga- Defeating Militarism and the Dennis Kucinich. Most of the pro- nization of Argentinian anti-fascist Politics of Fear was the theme of the ceedings were broadcast on C-Span. veterans. It later merged into the orga- Veterans for Peace annual conven- Continued on page 18 nization of the Friends of the 4 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Premature Anti-Fascists, Again

By Peter Carroll, with assistance ernment break diplomatic relations of Madrid was the start of the Axis from Daniel Bertwell with the Franco regime in Spain. war against the free world; how Congressman Coffee placed the they pledged that if we aided them n Denial: Historians, Communism & rally in its historical context (as quot- then, the Spanish people would Espionage, a recent collection of ed, in part, from the Congressional come to our side when we were Iessays by John Earl Haynes and Record, with my italics added): attacked by their German and Harvey Klehr (San Francisco: We meet tonight as allies of the Italian invaders. Encounter Books, 2003), raises the argument that the term “premature anti-fascist” was not used by the U.S. government during World War II to classify, pejoratively, the veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who served in the armed forces. Rather, the authors say, the term was invented by Lincoln veterans “in a proudly sardonic way” to conceal the fact that they actually opposed U.S. intervention in World War II during the era of the Nazi-Soviet Pact (September 1939-June 21, 1941). They base their claim on the absence of contemporary documentary evidence showing the use of that phrase by wartime government officials. Indeed, for failing to provide adequate evidence in my book, The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Americans in the Spanish Civil War, they charge me with “schol- arly malpractice.” Never mind, for the moment, that the destruction of nearly all military personnel records from World War II in a fire in a St. Louis archive in 1975 precludes the discovery of likely doc- umentary sources. Never mind, too, Vet Bill Sennett served as a training instructor at Keesler Field, Mississippi. that U.S. intelligence agencies, such as the FBI or Army intelligence, have not rushed to divulge their full archival democratic peoples of Spain, and Later, to these Spanish voices, holdings. Such documents may or we meet in a hall which echoed to were added the voices of may not exist to enlighten future the heroic words of the Spanish Americans who had gone to Spain detectives. However, there is at least people during the years 1936 to to fight the Nazi monster, and who one plausible document on record that 1939. Perhaps some of you still returned, wounded, to tell us of attributes the origins of the phrase remember how, in 1936, the peo- what they had seen. They, too, “premature anti-fascist” to the federal ple of New York filled this very hall were voices crying in the night. The government. to greet the first delegation of Spaniards and the Americans told On January 2, 1945, as U.S. troops spokesmen for the Popular Front us that if Madrid fell, Paris and were recovering from the German Government of Spain…. London—and Pearl Harbor—were counter-offensive known as the Battle I recall how this pioneer delega- next. Here at Madison Square of the Bulge, Representative John M. tion from embattled Spain pleaded Garden, and at hundreds of similar Coffee, a Democrat from Washington, for our aid; how for night after meetings throughout the United spoke at a public meeting in Madison night they told new American audi- Square Garden to urge the U.S. gov- ences that the fighting in the streets Continued on page 6 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 5 Premature Again Continued from page 5

States and Canada, the rafters rung political dilettantes have dubbed a years. On August 24, 1945, for with the cry of the Spanish premature anti-fascist. He grew up instance, Archie Brown was stationed Republic—the cry “Make Madrid fighting fascism. He fought it in in France when the People’s World the Tomb of Fascism.” Germany and in Spain and he died arrived with “an article about the Perhaps our voices were not fighting it on Leyte Island.” investigation of the ‘premature anti- strong enough…. There is nothing sardonic in that fascists’ by a congressional I know that it is a hard thing to committee….The funny part is that we say, but these are hard times, when had been discussing the thing today only cowards refuse to face facts. about discrimination.” From the For the fate of Spain, we have no beginning of the war, the military had one to blame but ourselves. treated the Lincolns as subversives, We, who saw; we, who knew; denying them opportunities to we, who understood—did we real- become commissioned officers, to ly fight hard enough? obtain overseas assignments, or to There is, of course, no honor attend technical schools where they high enough for those few thou- might gain skills useful for civilian sand gallant American men and life. (As ever, military bureaucrats boys (they call them premature were not always efficient in screening anti-fascists in some nasty out these alleged subversives, Washington circles today!) who enabling some Lincolns to slip made their way to Spain and fought through the system.) When the and suffered in the ranks of the Lincoln veterans questioned the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They denials, commanders told them the more than did their best to stop the orders came from higher up. Brown’s third [sic] world war before it hit first sergeant blamed military intelli- their native land. Never in the his- gence (G-2) for keeping him out of tory of our nation has a group of radio school. In this way, “premature Americans fought so heroically and anti-fascist” foreshadowed the discrim- received so little recognition from ination, harassment, and persecution our own people as have the men of associated with the anti-communist the Lincoln Brigade. I am indeed crusade of the Cold War era. moved tonight to know that among For historians like Haynes and the organizations sponsoring this Klehr, the claim that the Lincolns meeting is included the Veterans of invented and glorified the term “pre- the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. mature anti-fascist” reflects the They, of all Americans, did their veterans’ duplicity in concealing their share. opposition to U.S. intervention in Coffee proceeded to appeal to the Vet Al Tanz trained as a parachutist World War II prior to the German 16,000 people in attendance to express (above) and jumped behind enemy invasion of the Soviet Union. They are their opinions directly to their congres- lines before D-Day. correct in stating that the Veterans of sional representatives. With enough the Abraham Lincoln Brigade (VALB) public pressure, he said, “the appeasers statement. And as Bernard Knox, a participated in the Communist Party’s will run for cover quicker than you can say veteran of the British battalion who campaign, “The Yanks Are Not premature anti-fascist.” was also labeled “premature anti-fas- Coming.” They err in assuming that After this speech, the phrase “pre- cist” by a Yale professor, has said: “If all Lincoln veterans, or even all mature anti-fascist” first began to you were not premature, what sort of Communist Lincoln veterans, adopted appear in public statements and in anti-fascist were you supposed to be? that position. Some, like Syd Levine, private letters by Lincoln Brigade vet- A punctual anti-fascist?” left the Communist Party but erans. For example, when vet Herman remained active and in good standing Bottcher was killed in action in the Why is this tempest important? in the VALB. Others, like Jack Shafran Pacific later that month, vet Bob For the Lincoln veterans who and Harry Schoenberg, ignored the Thompson, himself a decorated World served in the U.S. Army during World jeers of their Communist comrades War II hero, declared: “Herman War II, “premature antifascist” put a Bottcher was a man whom cynical tag on what they had experienced for Continued on page 8 6 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 LORCA: SYMBOL OF ALL SPAIN’S VICTIMS By Mary Kay McCoy the Recovery of Historic he exhumation of the remains of Memory (ARMH) last sum- Federico Garcia Lorca, the poet mer to solicit their help to Tkilled in the early days of the open the grave. To date the Spanish Civil War, could take place Association has recovered before the end of the year if his family the remains of over 210 vic- does not interfere. Lorca’s biographer, tims of the Civil War and Ian Gibson, claims the “poet belongs postwar executions that to humanity, not to his family.” took place during Franco’s Though there are still some loose dictatorship. The ARMH threads concerning the motives immediately started with behind Lorca’s execution, few doubts formal petitions. However, remain about the circumstances of they soon confronted oppo- how it happened. After being badly sition from Lorca’s six nieces beaten at his family’s home one day at and nephews, who claim the end of July 1936, Lorca sought pro- that disinterring his body tection in the home of his friend, the will contribute nothing new poet Luis Rosales, member of a promi- to what is already known nent falangist family. Targeted about the poet’s death. They because of his homosexuality and left- add that disturbing the wing sympathies, he was arrested place where Lorca is buried August 16 by Ramón Ruiz Alonso (I could lead to a loss of his- use his name so he, too, is remem- toric memory because bered), ex-representative of a people will forget what hap- right-wing catholic organization pened at the location. They (CEDA). Subsequently Lorca was also fear that once the grave is opened their wounds. And it is exactly this, driven to the provincial government the land will be used to construct new healing the wounds, that is in ques- headquarters commanded by the homes. Nevertheless, the procedures tion here. Judge Baltazar Garzón said, falangist general José Valdés Guzmán. to secure the necessary legal permits when referring to Chile: “If a cut or He was executed under the orders of in order to exhume the bodies contin- wound is not sewn up or healed as it General Queipo de Llano sometime, it ue and by late November there should should be, … one day it will inevitably is believed, during the early morning be an answer. The mayor of Alfacar, burst open.” The same is true in the hours of August 19 and left unburied socialist Juan Caballero, supports the case of Spain. in a place between Viznar and Alfacar, exhumation, and the Judiciary Council Too much about the Spanish war not far from Granada. The probable of the Andalusian government has and the Franco regime has been location of the grave was revealed to authorized the digging. Also, the local silenced. Today it is clearer than ever Ian Gibson many years ago by the government has decided to declare the that this silencing of the past has been man who was forced to bury the bod- area where the grave is located as a serious mistake. German kids learn ies. Three other men were also “Patrimony of Cultural Interest” so about Hitler and nazism at school, murdered that night and are believed that the risk of future building on the Italian kids study Mussolini and fas- to be lying in a common grave with spot can no longer justify the family’s cism, but Spanish kids remain in the Lorca: Francisco Galadí and Joaquín concern. It is believed there are thou- dark about their country’s recent past. Arcollas, both banderilleros and mem- sands of bodies lying in common Ask most any Spaniard in his 20s or bers of the anarchist trade union CNT, graves in the area of Viznar. 30s about Franco and the Civil War and Dióscoro Galindo, a local school Yet if Lorca’s remains are found, it and the likely answer is that he never teacher. will not be because of the wishes of studied it. And that is true. Most high The grandchildren of Galadí and his family, but rather because of those school history classes never get to the Galindo contacted the Association for of the Galadí and Galindo families, Civil War; the school term always con- who want to recover their loved ones veniently comes to an end somewhere Mary Kay McCoy is a translator and dia- and give them a proper burial. They Continued on page 8 logue coach living in Madrid. say it is the only way they can heal THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 7 Premature Again Continued from page 6 and enlisted in the army. Still others sure, many veterans, including the dangerous subversives. So did FBI entered the army as draftees. VALB leadership, actively supported Director J. Edgar Hoover. Congressman Whatever their motives, what they the Communist Party’s pro-Soviet Coffee’s “nasty Washington circles” had in common was the same discrim- line. Yet even within those ranks, they may well refer to these architects of the ination by the military leadership. articulated various positions about red scare. Against their allegations of My critics err more grievously in their opposition to intervention. For un-Americanism, however, stands a claiming that veterans who opposed most, Spain remained the touchstone small mountain of World War II let- U.S. intervention were, as they put it, of their politics. “If you ask yourself, ters in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade “interim profascists.” Such language who were the enemies of Spain,” vet- Archives that demonstrates a remark- simplifies to distortion the complexi- eran Alvah Bessie advised a writers’ ably intense commitment to ties of the period before U.S. entrance and artists’ congress in June 1941, democratic, anti-fascist beliefs. That is into the war. Having seen the conse- “you will know your enemy today.” why the Lincolns were so indignant at quences of British and French Some even considered aligning with the discrimination they faced in the non-intervention in Spain—and, the conservative non-interventionist military. That is why they pulled America First movement. Others every string they could to obtain bat- expressed ambivalence about war in tlefield assignments. That is why they general. These were hardly “profas- served so bravely, so heroically, in cist” sentiments. every theater of the war. And that is Yet the Lincoln veterans paid why, eventually, they grasped the dearly for their political sentiments. term “premature anti-fascist” as a Texas Representative Martin Dies, badge of honor. chair of the Committee on Un- American Activities, considered them Copyright by Peter Carroll Lorca Continued from page 7

at the beginning of the 20th Century. not just a far-fetched dream. Even if some kids are introduced to However, not much can be expected the war, it is usually to learn the from a conservative government that names of the most important battles, has again granted subsidies to the and then the subject is readily dis- Francisco Franco Foundation, an orga- missed by saying, “Atrocities were nization whose objective is to praise Al Tanz during World War II. equally committed on both sides.” the dictator and the achievements of The recovery of Lorca’s remains, his political regime, but has given equally important, having seen the since he is widely recognized as the absolutely nothing to the ARMH to continuing brutal treatment of most read and admired Spanish poet help them in their search to uncover Spanish refugees in French concentra- of the 20th Century, would help to the graves. Undoubtedly, for the gov- tion camps after the fall of the Spanish recover that silenced truth. Hopefully erning party the truth still hits a little Republic—many Lincoln veterans had it will mean the recognition of all of too close to home. no sympathy with the plight of the the tens of thousands of anonymous Even though Lorca’s family has western Allies. In November 1940, for victims of the war and Franco’s expressed opposition to the exhuma- instance, Lincoln veterans were trying repression. They, too, have identities; tion, they have declared that they will to raise money—futilely—to send an they are the Emilios, Juans, Enriques, not impede the digging if the other American Rescue Ship to liberate Franciscos, Anas, Saras, Antonios, families decide to go ahead. Ian Spanish refugees from Vichy France. Manuels, Josés….And maybe, just Gibson, who has spent over 30 years In February 1941, a veterans’ delega- maybe, the “victorious” could admit studying Lorca, eagerly awaits the tion tried, without success, to meet their culpability, say they were sorry. exhumation. He hopes that some of with the British ambassador in It might be their last chance to do so the unknowns concerning Lorca’s Washington to arrange for the SS since those who are still able to hear death will be answered. Gibson says Lovcen to take 450 Spanish refugees them are dying out. Lorca “is a symbol, he gave his life for from French Morocco to Mexico. To be It would be good to believe this is Spain, he is a martyr.” 8 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Archie Brown Collection at the Tamiment Library By Michael Nash

ast winter, Esther (Hon) Brown donated Archie Brown’s papers Lto the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive at New York University’s Tamiment Library. Archie Brown was a prominent Lincoln Brigade veteran, active in the VALB’s Bay Area post and in the labor movement on the San Francisco waterfront. The Archie Brown collection describes his career as well as the varied contributions that VALB made to progressive causes during the last half-century. Brown was born in Sioux City, Iowa in 1911. In his early teens, like many of his contemporaries, he rode the rails to California seeking adven- ture and opportunity. When he arrived in San Francisco, Brown became a newspaper delivery boy, but he soon lost this job because he joined a group of striking newsboys demand- ing union recognition. During the 1930s he became a longshoreman, and he played an important role in organiz- ing the west coast dockworkers. As a member and officer of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union (ILWU), he worked on the waterfront until the 1970s. Archie Brown’s passport photo. In 1938 Archie Brown went to Spain to fight Fascism and joined the During these years he was an active and vets’ involvement in the struggle Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He also visible member of the Communist Party, against McCarthyism in the 1950s, the served in World War II and fought in running for state and national office on civil rights movement, the anti-war the Battle of the Bulge. His papers the Communist Party ticket many times. movement that opposed United States include several folders of letters that In the 1950s Archie Brown played a involvement in Vietnam, support of he wrote to his family from Spain leading role in the California campaign revolutionary Cuba, opposition to the describing the war, the political situa- to end the House Un-American Pinochet government in Chile, aid to tion, and his impressions of the Activities Committee’s witch hunts. In the Sandinista movement in Nicaragua, country and its people. His World 1959 he was arrested for violating the and Salvardoran medical relief. War II letters to his wife, Hon Brown, provision of the Landrum-Griffin Act For information about the Archie describe his experiences in the Army; that made it illegal for Communist Party Brown collection or the Abraham his long period of stateside duty when members to be trade union office hold- Lincoln Brigade Archive at NYU, con- Lincoln veterans were being held out ers. He fought this law up to the United tact Gail Malmgreen at the Tamiment of combat; and finally, his deployment States Supreme Court, which struck Library, [email protected], in Europe in 1944 and 1945. down this ban on First Amendment 212-998-2630. After his return from Europe, grounds in 1965. Michael Nash is head of NYU’s Tamiment Brown went back to work as a long- Beginning in the 1940s, Archie Library. shoreman and was elected to the Brown was a leading figure in west Executive Committee of the ILWU. coast VALB. His papers describe the THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 9 Marsa Remembers the Vets By Robert Coale

n recent years, there has been a ris- ing wave of interest in Spain to Irecover the historic memory that 40 years of Francoism attempted to erase. During the period of transition from the dictatorship, the public placed a priority on creating a democratic state and allowed a veil of silence to be drawn over the past. Now, there is more interest in documenting and recovering ties to the struggle of the Spanish Republic and the postwar anti-Franco movements. This urge to rediscover and pre- serve the past is especially felt in the regions of Terra Alta and Priorat because of the epic proportions of the Ebro battle and the considerable contri- Heather Bridger, producer of the new CD Spain in My Heart, and Bruce Barthol, bution of Catalonians in the war and writer of the song “A Taste of Ashes,” with Milt Wolff at Marsa. the region’s special ties to the International Brigades. A vivid exam- memory in a more academic setting, Asked what it was like to return, ple is the weekend of events sponsored with conferences open to the public. Milt mentioned feeling the ghosts of in the agricultural village of Marsa on Topics included the IB in film, the last the young Catalan conscripts march- the north side of the Ebro River, about 15 days of the IB in Spain, the figure of ing behind him. Flowers were laid at 15 miles from Corbera, on October 31- Juan Negrín, the cave hospital of the the mass grave containing 92 civilian November 2. The local association “No Ebro campaign, and research into the and military dead, including 10 inter- Jubilem la Memoria” (loosely translat- famous Capa photographs. Milt Wolff nationals, near the tunnel of Pradell, ed as “Let Us Not Forget”) organized took time to speak and answer ques- which had protected a surgical train. this homage to the IB. Three Lincoln tions from an enthusiastic and Back in Marsa, Clarence Kailin pre- vets attended: Milt Wolff, Clarence admiring audience. All events were sented his biography and collection of Kailin and Harry Randall, the latter well attended. John Cookson letters, just published in returning to Spain for the first time in Sunday brought a tour of sites Spanish. The two days of events 65 years. closely related to the IB presence in the ended with the official inauguration of Friday evening saw the inaugura- area. It began in front of the Town Hall the International Brigade monument tion of a photography exhibit where the inscription over a door, on the outskirts of Marsa. The symbol- including many prints shot by Robert “Intendencia 15 Brigada,” has incredi- ic representation of the dove of peace Capa in 1938 as well as several sent bly withstood the passing of time. In is the second monument to the IB directly from the ALBA collection at front of this former quartermaster store unveiled locally this year. NYU that had been made by Harry Milt Wolff recalled with dread the Congratulations should go to Randall, the official brigade photogra- brigaders’ monotonous diet of “gar- those who made the events possible, pher. Randall immortalized IB scenes banzos y bacalao,” which brought especially the mayor of Marsa, coun- in the town such as the local farewell sympathetic laughs from the local selwoman Enriqueta Muntane, Angela celebration, a brigade formation and crowd. Next, Wisconsinite lieutenant Jackson, Rachel Ritchie and Antoni visits by a JSU (United Socalist Youth) John Cookson was honored at his Orensanz. The events received consid- delegation. Older locals enthusiastical- grave by friend and veteran Clarence erable regional and national press ly scanned the documents and shared Kailin. After passing through coverage. For more information on the their memories, both happy and sad. “Chabola Valley,” where internation- activities of the local association see Quiet and discreet, Harry consistently als camped during the months of www.nojubilemlamemoria.org reminded those who congratulated training, the tour came to the exact Robert Coale teaches Spanish literature him that he was simply one of three spot where Capa photographed Wolff in Paris. brigade photographers. with Donald Thayer and George Watt Saturday was dedicated to historic in 1938. 10 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Malraux, Hemingway, and the Spanish Civil War By E. L. Doctorow

Editor’s Note: E. L. Doctorow is the author of many acclaimed novels, includ- ing The Book of Daniel, Ragtime, and World’s Fair. This essay is an edited ver- sion of the fifth annual ALBA-Bill Susman Lecture, which Mr. Doctorow presented at the King Juan Carlos I Center of NYU in October 2002.

will talk this evening about two major works of fiction that were Iinspired by the Spanish Civil War: L’Espoir (Man’s Hope) by Andre Malraux, a Frenchman, and For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway, an American. I hope to make these remarks relevant to this occasion that honors the memory of the Abraham Lincoln battalion as well as to the political situation, still amorphous, that we are facing today. Malraux and Hemingway were similar in many respects as authors who were men of action and wrote from life, which is to say they com- posed their novels out of their immediate experiences. Some novel- ists think about things for years. These two were writing their war-in-Spain Ernest Hemingway (right) in Spain, with Lt. Rollin Dart. novels while the war was still going Malraux was not himself a pilot but he Alliance. He wrote the script for a doc- on. They both were active supporters flew with 65 missions over Toledo, umentary film, The Spanish Earth, of the Loyalist cause. Madrid, and Guadalajara. After that he produced to aid the Loyalist cause. He Malraux arrived in Spain in the came to the United States to raise spoke for the Loyalists to a left wing summer of 1936. He had earlier money and support for the Loyalists. Writer’s Congress at Madison Square arranged for French tanks to be And in the meantime he was writing Garden in New York, an act that put shipped to the Republicans, before the L’Espoir. He published it in Paris in him on J. Edgar Hoover’s surveillance embargoes of non-intervention were 1937 with the war in Spain still raging…. list for the rest of his life. All told he instituted, and he had gone about Hemingway, too, was fervently was back and forth to Spain four times Europe buying airplanes for the for the Loyalists, even though as he during the war, staying famously at Republic as its representative, having learned more about the various left the Hotel Florida in Madrid during understood the importance of an air factions fighting Franco he came to the insurgent bombardment, where he arm in a war that was becoming pro- understand that the Communists, who wrote his war play, The Fifth Column. gressively mechanized. He served in were by far the best organized and On his last trip, understanding that this air arm he had organized—the disciplined elements among the with the fall of Barcelona and Madrid, Escadre Espagne, made up of pilots Loyalists, had an agenda of their own the Loyalist cause was lost, he returned from France, America, England, and and could not be trusted…. to the U.S. and wrote For Whom the Bell Germany, who were for the most part Hemingway covered the war for Continued on page 14 veterans of the first World War. the North American Newspaper THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 11 Children’s Art i “They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Art in Wartime from the Spanish Civil War to Kosovo” will exhibit at the AXA Gallery (787 - 7th Ave. at 51st St.) from February 19 to April 3. During this period, ALBA will be hosting a series of public events, co-hosted by NYU’s King Juan Carlos I Center and co-sponsored by Spain’s Consul General of New York and the University of Washington. Focusing on the theme “Children of War,” a symposium of lectures and panel discussions will explore issues related to children, trauma, artistic expression, and contemporary wars. ALBA’s Tony Geist, who spearheaded the exhibition project, will join psychologists, historians, and exiled children in these public events during the weekend of February 20-21. For full information, see www.alba- valb.org, or contact ALBA: 212-674-5398. The exhibit also coincides with a Thursday night film series dealing with children, the Spanish Civil War, and its aftermath. Among the films are Spirit of the Beehive, The Devil’s Backbone, and Children of Russia. All screenings will be held at the King Juan Carlos I Center (53 Washington Square South, between Thompson and Sullivan Sts.) at 6:15 pm. For complete schedules, call 212- 998-3650.

12 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Children’s Exhibit Stirs Illinois Community

By Michael Batinski description of the project, a glance Bring “They Still Draw at the exhibit catalog, and financial- Pictures” to your community and ly stretched administrators lent the effort will be rewarded by the their support. While my own public responses. At Southern department gave generously, criti- Illinois University’s art museum, cal support came almost people saw the drawings and spontaneously from the deans of shared their memories of the the Schools of Law and Medicine, Spanish Civil War, sometimes tear- the Office of the Provost, and from fully. When Lillian Adams told me former Senator Paul Simon and the that she had worked in Boston rais- Institute of Public Policy. ing funds to support the During its stay in Carbondale, International Brigades, I was not “They Still Draw Pictures” became surprised. She and her late husband a community meeting place. One Ed have kept faith and worked for Sunday morning the Unitarian every decent cause I can remember Fellowship offered me its pulpit to during my 35 years in Carbondale. speak on the significance of the Meanwhile, young peace activists exhibit. Campus ministries and sev- Scott Schuette and Yuki Kobiyama eral peace and Green groups in organized a public forum with chil- town sent the word out. University dren and adults sharing their classes from the art, psychology in New York thoughts about war in our lives. and history departments met in the Doctoral student Deidre Hughes gallery to discuss the drawings. I took time from preparing for exams took my students, who were read- to write an article that ran in a local ing Uncle Tom’s Cabin, to see how alternative newspaper and to set up the violence of slavery can be During its stay in Carbondale, “They Still Draw Pictures” became a community meeting place.

publicity at the public radio station understood by looking at our own WDBX. Such good citizens, young times. My colleagues from Black and old, came together around this American Studies, History, exhibit. Communications, and Art volun- Healthy civics is something that teered as speakers to enrich the many of us needed to see after the discussions that circulated around grim disappointments of last this exhibit. And perhaps most sat- spring. Preparing for the exhibit’s isfying, Scott Schuette and Yuki arrival in Carbondale was time well Kobiyama assumed the initiative spent. Raising money is not easy in for bringing children and adults times when funding for education together in the gallery. is slashed routinely. During the two As I write, the exhibit is about years I collected money for this to be dismantled and sent on to show, I reached my goal twice–only New York City’s AXA Gallery. It is to see the money withdrawn. genuinely hard to say goodbye. Though discouraged, I was grati- Michael Batinski is a professor of his- fied to discover how many people tory at Southern Illinois University in stepped forward to lend their sup- Carbondale. port. The show sold itself. A brief

THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 13 Malraux, Hemingway Continued from page 11

victimization, individual deaths by Hernandez, captured by the Fascists, bullet, by flame thrower, by bomb walks to his execution by firing squad shrapnel, the action suspended every though he has an opportunity to now and then for serious discussions escape. of ideological matters. The war is This is a big, wide-focus, panoptic described exclusively from the novel, and like many such ambitious Loyalist point of view, but that works it seems thrown together on doesn’t make things less complicated. occasion, with excuses found for Fighting for the Republic are left wing extended political and philosophical socialists, right wing socialists, anar- conversation. But its technical flaws chists, socialist trade unions, finally don’t seem to matter—what Trotskyists, anarcho syndicalists, and comes through as an ultimate effect is Republican Army Officers—and as the the agony of the country, the terrible war progresses, a major theme of the chaos and terror of war, the brutality book is that these variegated forces of Fascist warfare, an authentic repre- must of necessity organize themselves sentation of this moment in time with and suspend their internal differences all of Europe in the balance. L’Espoir is in order to fight the Fascists. At the in every sense a collective novel. If beginning the anarchists, implacable there is a major character, it is the foes of the Communists, are fighting country, and the fate of the many peo- for their revolutionary ideals. At the ple in the book who are given voice or end, they, and everyone else, are fight- action—soldiers, commanders, jour- ing to free Spain of Fascism. Malraux, nalists, doctors, aviators, refugees, Andre Malraux as an airman, writes of the sputtering peasants, anarchists, Communists, for- air war as the Loyalists struggle with eign volunteers, children, and Tolls, which was published in 1940, less old equipment, against the superior insurgent Fascists—will be a common than a year after the war had ended. more modern and more numerous fate, the fate that thunders down upon But given the similarity of their German and Italian aircraft. Scenes of an ideologically disfigured world commitments and passions, and their aerial war and bombing raids are almost to stamp out the idea of a pro- demonstrated personal bravery—the interspersed with accounts of the gressive civilization founded on way each of them was drawn instinc- ground war. We see inexperienced justice and human decency. tively to where the action was, the recruits being installed as “shock Those of you who have read way they both liked to get into the troops” on the front lines, we go to Hemingway’s For Whom the Bell Tolls middle of things—what is most hospitals, to executions, we are at the will anticipate the contrast with remarkable is how different their nov- siege of the Alcazar in Toledo, we are Malraux’s novel….Hemingway had els are. It will be my contention that under terrible bombardment and then published a novel in 1937, To Have and this difference is not merely a matter street fighting in Madrid, we watch Have Not, in which the hero, a smug- of personality or aesthetic principle the Republican stand at the gler off the Florida coast, came as but goes to something deeper. Manzanares River, we follow the long close as Hemingway ever had to artic- Malraux’s L’Espoir begins in the line of fleeing refugees as it is fire- ulating a communal sentiment. His summer of 1936 with the confusion in bombed by the fascists. Above all we name in this book is Harry Morgan, the Loyalist headquarters in Madrid are shown how people behave, coura- and he’s made to say, “A man alone and the anarchist defeat of the insur- geously, or cravenly, fatalistically, ain’t got no bloody fucking chance.” gents in Barcelona. It ends with the they are enraged in battle, or This is a revolutionary insight coming Republican victory at Guadalajara in numbed—the book is filled with peo- from the younger sibling of the March 1937, what is to be the last ple but very few realized characters, romantically self-involved heroes of major resistance of the Loyalists to the some are no more than names, but Hemingway’s earlier 1920’s novels. overwhelming Nazi supported and they flash into existence momentarily Yet with his deep involvement in supplied forces of the Spanish Fascists from the dire situation they are in and the Spanish Republican cause, it under General Franco. This is a novel their response to it. Two men are would have seemed likely to some without a plot; it is the war itself that given repeated attention, each in com- critics that Hemingway would go carries us along. And like the war it is mand, one in the air war, one a leader even further in his next novel in the filled with battles and human suffer- of ground forces. The airman Magnin direction of a collectivist ideal. He ing, scenes of brutal fighting, civilian survives to fight on; the heroic knew the situation in Spain for what it 14 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Malraux, Hemingway Continued from page 14 was—an assault by a religiously untrustworthy…, and while he grants inflamed coalition of Spanish royal- the average enemy soldier the same ists, clerics and insurgent military simple humanity as his own side’s, seeking to overthrow a democratically and crosses political lines to defame elected government that intended to the Spanish character in general as lift the Spanish people out of feudal given to mercurial feelings and a pen- poverty. Like most everyone else, he chant for betrayal—for all of these also understood the outcome of the nuances, FWBT is finally a romance war in Spain as predictive of a Europe embodying the American ideal of that would either come under Fascist rugged individualism: Robert Jordan control or overcome it. He had seen ends up dying alone, heroically, hav- the war first hand; he was more ing taken over the leadership of the worldly and more in touch with partisan band he’s joined and sent things than his co-generationists them away to live on, his own code of Faulkner or Fitzgerald. But when we honor seeming to be the only endur- read For Whom the Bell Tolls, we dis- ing value of the Civil War of the cover that a man alone may have no Spanish people. This most internation- bloody fucking chance, but it can be al of American writers was, morally very beautiful that he hasn’t. speaking, an isolationist. War is the The Hemingway hero is named means by which one’s cultivated indi- Robert Jordan, and he’s a young vidualism can be raised to the heroic.

This most international of American writers was, morally speaking, an isolationist.

American volunteer on the Loyalist And therefore, never send to ask for side, and though somehow connected whom the bell tolls; it tolls so that I to the International Brigades, he’s a can be me. demolitions expert, a sapper, who has So what, finally, shall we say of come alone to the mountains north- these two novels of two such different west of Madrid, behind enemy lines, approaches. We can easily describe to blow a bridge held by the L’Espoir as a political novel, that is, a Falangists….The novel covers just novel that addresses the political three days in time. There are five well nature of historical events, that subju- drawn characters in Jordan and the gates its characters to forces beyond members of the guerrilla band who their control, and casts its storied con- help him…including Maria, a beautiful flicts in ideological terms. But we can young woman…with whom Jordan also recognize Hemingway’s novel as falls in love. a political novel in that it recasts its A far more brilliant and technical- given politics in purely literary ly adroit writer than Malraux, terms—terms that submit history to Hemingway portrays the big war the independent will of the individual. symbolically with his little one….[But] So that the one novel emphasizes while it is true we extrapolate some of experience in such a crisis as collective; the political complexities of the war in the other delineates experience in such Hemingway’s comments about the a crisis as a test of a single person’s leadership of the Loyalists, portrayed moral stature. And both are making a as cynical and careless of the ideals of political statement. Malraux’s charac- war, the landscape, and the interac- the ground forces they lead…, and ters are barely realized as the action tions among them occur mostly in a though he is sharper than Malraux in flows through them to give them their setting, a secret cave and the woods his perception of the Russian momentary animation; Hemingway’s around, that is as closed and as confin- Communist leadership as essentially characters dominate everything, the Continued on page 16 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 15 Malraux, Hemingway Continued from page 15 ing as a drawing room in Jane Austen. out to use the Spanish Civil War to ical issues that rise in our national And I would suggest there is de facto propagandize for the American myth debate and the identity that our politi- political meaning to be derived when a of rugged individualism, of course cal leaders choose for themselves….We writer creates from the momentous not. He is a supreme artist whose can tease out our sustaining national materials of the Spanish Civil War a work will outlast Malraux’s if only myth in the actions of this president novel of sensibility. because it more clearly honors the lit- who has not patience for the U.N., I like to think about the problems erary act for its intrinsic value. who…was determined to go to war of writing, the minds of writers as But Hemingway’s social vision, as alone, who rejects the concept of an they write. You may remember that any writer’s, is necessarily reflected in International Court of Crimes Against Hemingway makes Robert Jordan a his conception of what a novel should Humanity, or an environmental college professor of Spanish who has be, and it is a very American concep- accord signed by 170 other nations, come to fight from a love of Spain and tion. His writing strategies happen to who wants to deregulate industries, her culture. He has no identifiable accord perfectly with the American defuse government agencies meant to political philosophy motivating him. abhorrence for political theorizing, for control excessive business practices, Why is that? As a writer with a prob- big systematic solutions, utopian pro- and who smirks when he hears the lem, and most writers’ problems are jects. His aesthetic piety places the phrase gun control. Behind all of this self-created, Hemingway wanted to artist’s idea of himself centrally in the is the romance of rugged individual- get his hero to Spain in a way that American heartland. The notion that ism, a good and fruitful idea in didn’t define him as most young we are the independent entrepreneurs itself—after all who wouldn’t like to American volunteers who came to of ourselves is a national heritage. It be self reliant and make his way Spain to fight for the Republic were has been noted by more than one through life by his own effort. But defined—not only as antifascist, that social critic that working people in the though self reliance may be a virtue, if was the broadest category that could U.S., unlike their European counter- clutched too tightly and to the exclu- contain them, but as communists or parts, refuse to identify themselves as sion of the community virtues it socialists of one variety or another, as a class. They tend to define them- mutates grotesquely into a philosophy I’ve said, many of them Jewish, nearly selves not by their work but by what of Social Darwinism…. 100 black, all categories that made they own from their work, their prop- As the lineaments of a new global them marginal to the image of the erty, their ethnic background, their contest can be seen in the concerted ideal American. And they came over social activities, by anything, in short, attacks of fundamentalist terrorists together, in groups, collectively; and that points up their distinction from against us, it would seem a time for their membership in the same units the larger community. For the inde- reflection, requiring a degree of self- made their experiences of the war col- pendent entrepreneur of himself there less thought, perhaps not the strongest lective. Casting Robert Jordan as a can be upward mobility, at least suit of our current leadership. I would Spanish professor and as a lone guer- across generations, and there is the not mean to imply that anything I rilla, Hemingway proposed the road–he can hit the road when things have said so far about our American Spanish Civil War as a test of one’s go bad, pull up stakes and move on. predilection for the romance of the self reliance, not only in the face of an All this, including the writer’s idea of Self suffices for an analysis that may armed enemy, but also in the bosom what he can allow in his art and what be critical to our survival. The political of a native population that could not he cannot, expresses our great opera- reality is that with strong support entirely be trusted to act properly in tive myth of individualism. And so we from the religious right and a compli- the cause of its own freedom. Robert have to consider if Hemingway’s long ant judiciary this president was put in Jordan might have been antifascist, standing popularity with the public office by a very wealthy and powerful but Hemingway didn’t want him to be and among young writers who fol- business consortium that does not a premature antifascist. So that was lowed him might be in part due to his appear to understand the difference his solution—to make him a Spanish serving as a repository of American between democracy and plutocracy. professor to justify the degree of con- myth…. The entrepreneurial self had But the problems we face require a cern that would allow him to leave his come in for some rough treatment new way of thinking about America. country and put himself in harm’s from Melville in Moby Dick and from We may have to stop romancing way, though not a Marxist; whereas Dreiser in Sister Carrie. Hemingway ourselves, and the empire we have pro- the degree of concern of the men of found its most romantic face. jected, if we are to be, as Lincoln said, the Lincoln Brigade was inculcated by [The American romance of the the “last best hope of mankind.” their political convictions as Marxists. Self] is predominant [not only] in our Now, Hemingway is a great writ- works of art and our popular cultures, Copyright by E.L. Doctorow er. I am not saying he deliberately set but is, of course, operative in the polit- 16 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Book Reviews

herself demanded and nearly always Women of the Falange managed to sustain a prominent— though limited—role in Spanish politics). The goal was always “to turn Women and Spanish Fascism. The productively and thus help their fami- back the clock,” as Richmond empha- Women’s Section of the Falange l934-l959. lies—was based on a false premise. sizes, on the goals achieved for and by By Kathleen Richmond. London: This “humanitarian” work was orga- women during the Second Spanish Routledge, 2003. nized by women of wealthy families Republic: a voice and a role in public who strictly adhered to the goals of life, and in some cases, professional By Shirley Mangini the Franco regime—to suppress and skills and jobs. punish those who did not follow The SF effectively supported In 1934, Falange leader José Francoism. But while the SF claimed Franco’s determination to cleanse Antonio Primo de Rivera founded the to identify with the poor, ironically, Spain of the left. Though Richmond Sección Femenina (SF). A Nazi- the principal victims of the regime remarks on their role in prisons as inspired group, the Falange believed were its indigent citizens. reformers and educators, she does not in a “Revolution” that would cleanse The author traces Pilar’s strict elaborate on the fact that the female Spain of its Marxist leanings and rid adherence, in the 1930s and even 40s, prisoners who rejected the SF’s “help” the country of its “inferior” citizens. to her brother’s ideology. (He became were often punished severely. Also, Once the civil war began, the singular a “martyr” of the Falangist cause at those who were not in prison were goal of SF was to help the insurrec- the beginning of the war.) After l939, equally persecuted if they were not tionists crush the Republic and replace the SF combined relief efforts with practicing Catholics and/or had “sus- it with a dictatorship. educating and proselytizing among pect” political ideas, or belonged to a Kathleen Richmond sets out not Spain’s female population. La Mota family that did. Interestingly, the only to define the goals of the SF, but castle in Medina del Campo (Castile) author emphasizes that the SF was also to analyze how the push and pull was remodeled to house the elite “above” the estraperlismo (black mar- of political agendas during the Franco trainees and endorsed by Franco him- keteering) that plagued Spain and that regime influenced and shaped the self. The Generalisimo had a cordial made so many Francoites into million- group under the watchful leadership relationship with Pilar, though he aires. Yet Richmond also notes that of José Antonio’s sister, Pilar Primo de always kept the SF on a shoestring the SF accepted the black market as a Rivera. In addition, Richmond high- budget. According to Richmond, the necessary evil, as they did the cruelty lights the contradictions within the SF’s penury made the members feel and suffering inflicted on the van- elitist infrastructure of the group; the morally superior because of the abne- quished as part of the “moral healing” SF preached subservience and self- gation they had to practice to carry and “regeneration” of Spain. sacrifice and insisted that woman’s out their “good deeds.” Richmond downplays the fact that role was that of the “angel of the Always imbued in Catholic ideol- social service in the SF was required hearth.” Yet the mandos (leaders) of SF ogy (they had taken on one of by law by citing statistics that proved were largely of the upper classes and Franco’s favorite saints, Teresa of that many women did not comply mostly single; they became somewhat Avila, as their patron) and notions of with this compulsory service. As she independent thinkers and lived a German eugenics, the SF believed that notes, those who did not comply were modern life within a society that pre- they could help the spiritual and eco- barred from many jobs; in addition ferred women to be ignorant nomic reconstruction of Spain by they could not leave the country if homebodies. They were not practicing educating women in housekeeping, they wished to and were heavily fined what they preached, but then the childcare and the cultivation of crafts for their dissidence. Any woman who entire enterprise of SF—to educate and small agricultural projects. In wished to better herself knew she had poor women and help them live more those first years, education was limit- to submit to the SF. ed to household skills, since the Richmond successfully shows Shirley Mangini is a professor of Spanish Joseantonian premise was that women how the waning of interest in José at California State University, Long should never interfere in the male Antonio’s “Falangist Revolution” Beach, and author of Memories of sphere. Throughout her life, Pilar affected Pilar’s leadership and how by Resistance: Women’s Voices from the would uphold the secondary role of the mid-1940s, the SF had become Spanish Civil War. women in Spanish society (though she Continued on page 18 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 17 In Brief Continued from page 4

The vets also attended an antiwar demonstration at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratories. Through the years the VFP has consistently partic- ipated in such activities as SOA Watch, Chiapas Delegation, Columbia Support Network, Cuba Friendship Trips, Iraq Water Projects, Veterans Vietnam Restoration Project, and many more. I was very moved by the presen- tations and discussion about domestic repression and constitution- al rights and the many activities CD release party for Spain in My Heart, Songs of the Spanish Civil War, at La opposing the repression that are Peña Cultural Center, Berkeley, California. (l-r) Jim Musselman (Appleseed ongoing throughout the country. Records), Nate Thornton, Milt Wolff, Heather Bridger and Joe Weed (producers), We are proud to be members of Dave Smith, Sylvia Herold (musician), and Bruce Barthol (songwriter). such a fine group of former military individuals. campus in Seattle, where he diner at one of the city’s oldest —Dave Smith addressed students, faculty and staff Spanish restaurants, El Faro: “They in a Speak Out against the Patriot have a long way to go to beat the Act. Abe reassured the audience of restaurant’s oldest patron, who about 100 that dissent is patriotic, and fought with the Lincoln Brigade in promised to be back on his 90th. The the Spanish Civil War and has been crowd responded with a spontaneous coming to El Faro for 62 years.” and heartfelt round of “Happy “I thought we’d lost him,” owner Birthday to You!” Mark Lugris told Grimes, “but just —Tony Geist last night he came shuffling in.” We suspect that anyone who Vet’s a Monument to Good could survive the garbanzos of Taste Brunete is bound to appreciate dishes New York Times (October 22, like barbequed pork with almond 2003): Restaurant columnist William sauce or veal corunesa with tomato, Grimes cited the perseverance of a sherry, and butter.

Women of the Falange Continued from page 17

somewhat antiquated in its views women during the regime, a glance given their adherence to Jose into how the Caudillo covered all of Antonio’s precepts, which had by his bases. As the main policewoman then become irrelevant to the dicta- of Francoism, Pilar Primo de Rivera torship. She also illustrates how served the regime well. As Abe Osheroff, photo by Jaffe some SF goals seemed subversive to Richmond sets out to prove, she did the puritanical church; its programs, so with a religious fervor that was A Birthday Soapbox which highlighted the diversity of inspired by her unconditional belief Abe Osheroff spent his 88th Spanish culture through dance and in the precepts of Spanish birthday probably pretty much the regional costumes, and their promo- Falangism and her desire to keep way he celebrated his 28th: on a soap- tion of sports for women were met the memory of José Antonio alive, box. This time, 60 years later, it with fear and mistrust by the but her dedication was also fueled wasn’t on a Brownsville street corner, church. by her complete adherence to but on the University of Washington Women and Spanish Fascism is a Franco’s methods for controlling welcome addition to the study of Spanish society. 18 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Annual San Francisco Bay Area Post Picnic

THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 19 ALBA’sALBA’s PlannedPlanned GivingGiving ProgramProgram Tax Advantages for Gift Annuities HOW DOES A (two people dividing the income) annuity. Cash gifts allow maxi- CHARITABLE GIFT mum tax-free income; gifts of ANNUITY WORK? securities allow you to minimize A charitable gift annuity is a capital gains taxes. simple contract between you and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade DEFERRING PAYMENTS Archives (ALBA). Under this arrangement, you make a gift of If you are under 60 years of age, cash or marketable securities, worth you can still set up an annuity and a minimum of $5000, to ALBA. In defer the payments until any date return, ALBA will pay you (or up to after your 60th birthday. This gives two individuals) an annuity begin- you an immediate tax-deduction for ning on the date you specify, on or your gift while still guaranteeing after your sixtieth (60th) birthday. you income payments in the future. Because you are deferring pay- ments, your annuity payments will WHAT ARE THE be larger than if you had waited to ADVANTAGES OF A set up the annuity until your 60th CHARITABLE GIFT birthday. For more information on a cus- ANNUITY? tomized proposal for your Charitable A charitable gift annuity has Gift Annuity, please contact: four distinct advantages: Julia Newman •Income for Life at attractive pay- ALBA-Room 227 ALBA’s planned giving pro- out rates. 799 Broadway gram provides an extraordinary •Tax Deduction Savings – A large NY, NY 10003 way to make a gift, increase part of what you give is a (212) 674-5398 income and slice the donor’s tax deductible charitable gift. [email protected] bill – all in one transaction! •Tax-Free Income – A large part of The charitable gift annuity pro- your annual payments is tax-free gram was created for our many return of principal. friends who have expressed a desire •Capital Gains Tax Savings – to make a significant gift, while still When you contribute securities for a retaining income from the principal gift annuity, you minimize any during their lifetime. A charitable taxes on your “paper profit.” So gift annuity gives the donor addi- gifts of securities save twice! tional retirement income, while affording the satisfaction of sup- PAYMENTS porting ALBA’s continuing educational programs and its tradi- You choose how frequently tions of fighting for social justice payments will be made – quarterly, and against fascism. semi-annually or annually. You can also choose a one-life or two-life

20 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 Added to Memory’s Roster

later helped form the Fair Play for Cuba Lending in 1962, adopting her son John Rossen Committee that protested the U.S. Lloyd (Elad), and settled on Harbor embargo of the island. Isle in Island Park, Long Island, New (1910-2003) For such positions, John was sum- York. Ed and Florence had a son, John Rossen, one-time coal mining moned to testify before the U.S. House Clifford, who died of Tay Sachs dis- organizer in southern Illinois, veteran Committee on Un-American Activities ease. He took over his ailing brother’s of the Mac-Pap battalion in Spain, and in Chicago. When asked questions, he textile factory a few years before his ground crew supporter of the Flying responded, “This committee can go retirement in 1978. Ed and Florence Tigers in India during World War II, right straight to...the Constitution.” retired to Singer Island, Florida, later passed away in July at the age of 93. A He was amused to discover one of the moving to Boca Raton. native of St. Louis, Missouri, John congressmen accused him of reading Lending had no formal higher moved to Chicago after World War II Russian works by “Anton Cheevok.” education, but he was considered a and operated a group of movie the- John remained receptive to the man of letters by his peers. He wrote aters. In 1954, his projectionist was rise of the New Left in the 1960s. numerous articles and letters for pub- kidnapped by union officials trying to Indeed, he provided office space and lications such as The New York Times, support to the newly formed Students The Sun Sentinel, and Jewish Currents. for a Democratic Society. In the 1970s, Many had to do with the Jewish con- John wrote a pamphlet, The Little Red, tribution to the war against fascism. White and Blue Book, a collection of rev- He is survived by his wife olutionary quotations from founders Florence, son Elad, daughter-in-law of the U.S. He also started a newspa- Erica, and grandchildren Chava, Gadi, per called Maverick and later one and Assaf. called The New Patriot. He is survived by his widow, Lupe, and three children from his first marriage. The Dream By Edward Lending Edward Lending I dreamed (1912-2003) They’d been restored to life – Edward I. Lending died at the age Our comrades – of 91 on September 24 at Hospice by the Sea in Boca Raton, Florida. He was By the fascists, themselves, born in New York City on March 24, 1912, as Isaac Edward Lending. Later Waving resurrecting wands. he switched first and middle names. Lending served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Our old comrades- Civil War and was wounded in action. prevent the screening of the blacklist- Not long after his return from Spain Blank-faced masses, now- ed film, Salt of the Earth, but John took he was drafted into the U.S. Army, over the duties and the show went on. where he was denied Officers’ Struggled up through the His was one of the few sites to exhibit Training School, despite his battle the picture. experience, because of his association earth, During the 1950s, John sent funds with the Communist Party. He was, to six men in the mountains of Cuba. however, among the first of his com- In quiet. They called themselves the Movimiento rades to denounce Communism after 26 de Julio after their abortive attack on the Ribbentrop-Molotov agreement. In palpable quiet…. the government’s Moncada barracks. Lending spent a year or two in When Fidel Castro led these rebels to Mexico around 1949-50, returned to victory in 1960, John was invited to the United States, and worked mostly Cuba as a guest of the revolution. He in advertising. He married Florence THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 21 Contributions

In Memory of a Veteran Lincoln Brigade Veterans in Chicago in memory To make an online contribution to ALBA, visit of John Rossen $50 www.alba-valb.org. Click on Contributions. Credit information is secure and confidential. Ilse Halperin in memory of Curly Mende $50 Fred Warren in memory of Al Warren $50 Alvin E. Winder in memory of Eugene Loveman $25 When drafting your will, please In Memory of consider making a bequest to the Beatrice Siegel in memory of May Brooks $100 Contributions Abraham Lincoln Brigade Jose Emilio Benjamin $35 Archives (ALBA). For information contact: ONLINE CONTRIBUTIONS Executive Director, ALBA Saturnino Aguado, Alcala de Henares, Spain - $25 Fraser Ottanelli, Temple Terrace, Florida - $25 799 Broadway Room 227 Luigi Paselli, Zola Predosa, Italy - $25 New York, NY 10003 Nigel Morgans, Cardiff, Wales - $25 212-674-5398 Gina Herrmann, Eugene, Oregon - $25 Florence Chakerian, Albuquerque, New Mexico - $25 Arthur Mink, Seattle, Washington - $25 Mora Gregg in memory of Joe and Rose Leff Gregg, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - $50 Gilbert Hartle, Kent, England - $50 Ronald Noel Stevens, Barcelona, Spain - $25 Morton Frank, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - $25 Tor Inge Berger in memory of Einar Juul Petterson Gamle, Fredrikstad, Norway - $25 Bill Moser, Michigan - $25 Parkie Parker, Santa Barbara, California - $25 Judith Schoenherr, Madison, Wisconsin -$50 David & Suzanne Cane in memory of Lawrence Cane, Providence, Rhode Island - $125 Dorothy Bracey, Santa Fe, New Mexico - $50 22 THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 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 The Triumph of Democracy in Spain by Paul Preston The Selected Poems of Miguel Hernández edited by Ted Genoways The Lincoln Brigade, a Picture History by William Katz and Marc Crawford The Wound and the Dream: Sixty Years of American Poems about the Spanish Civil War EXHIBIT CATALOGS by Cary Nelson They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Art in Wartime Passing the Torch: The Abraham by Anthony Geist and Peter Carroll Lincoln Brigade and its Legacy of Hope by Anthony Geist and Jose Moreno The Aura of the Cause, a photo album edited by Cary Nelson Another Hill by Milton Wolff VIDEOS Our Fight—Writings by Veterans of the Into the Fire: Women and the Spanish Civil War Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Spain 1936-1939 Julia Newman edited by Alvah Bessie & Albert Prago Art in the Struggle for Freedom Spain’s Cause Was Mine Abe Osheroff by Hank Rubin Dreams and Nightmares Comrades Abe Osheroff by Harry Fisher The Good Fight The Odyssey of the Abraham Sills/Dore/Bruckner Lincoln Brigade Forever Activists by Peter Carroll Judith Montell You Are History, You Are Legend ALBA’S TRAVELING EXHIBITION Judith Montell THE AURA OF THE CAUSE

ALBA’s photographic exhibit, “The Aura of the Cause,” has been shown at the Puffin Room in New ❑ Yes, I wish to become an ALBA York City, the University of California-San Diego, the Associate, and I enclose a check for $25 Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, the Fonda made out to ALBA. Please send me The Del Sol Visual Center in Washington DC, and the Volunteer. University of Illinois. This exhibit, curated by Name ______Professor Cary Nelson of the University of Illinois, consists of hundreds of photographs of the Lincoln Address ______Brigaders, other international volunteers and their Spanish comrades, in training and at rest, among the City______State ___Zip______Spanish villages and in battle. ❑ I’ve enclosed an additional donation of For further information about “The Aura of the ❑ ❑ Cause” exhibit, contact ALBA’s executive secretary, ______. I wish do not wish to have this donation acknowledged in The Volunteer. Diane Fraher, 212-598-0968; Fax: 212-529-4603; e-mail [email protected]. The exhibit is available for Please mail to: ALBA, 799 Broadway, Room 227, New museum and art gallery showings. York, NY 10003 BRING THIS EXHIBIT TO YOUR LOCALITY.

THE VOLUNTEER December 2003 23 SaveSave thethe Dates:Dates: •February•February 21,21, 20042004 ChildrenChildren && WarWar Symposium,Symposium, NYCNYC •February•February 29,29, 20042004 BayBay AreaArea ReunionReunion •April•April 30,30, 2004,2004, GraceGrace PaleyPaley presentspresents ALBA-SusmanALBA-Susman Lecture,Lecture, NYCNYC •May•May 2,2, 2004,2004, NYNY VetsVets ReunionReunion

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 December 2003