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The Battle Lost, the War Won

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The Battle Lost, the War Won The Battle Lost, the War Won The Enduring Success of the Popular Front Narrative of the Spanish Civil War Ted Sweetser History Department Dr. David Barclay 201112012 A paper submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of · Arts at Kalamazoo College 2 Acknowledgements I would like to thank Dr. David Barclay, Who suffered unbearable punctuation in the line of duty, I could not have done this without my family, Thank you Mom, Dad, Grace, and Asa. 3 Table of Contents 1. Glossary of Terms 4 2. Introduction 6 3. Historiography 13 4. The Soviet Leaders 14 5. Painting A Picture: The Backdrop, Spanish Civil War, and its Narratives 21 6. Literature Of The War 30 7. The Narrative in the Air: Radio 47 8. The Dueling Narratives in the Papers 53 9. The Red Tinted Celluloid Screen 61 I 0. The Cold War and Popular Front Narrative 67 11. Conclusion 76 12. Appendix 81 13. Bibliography 82 4 I. Glossary of Terms ALBNALB- (Veterans of) The Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The American volunteers of the International Brigades, some 3800 or so in total, who served in the army of the Spanish Republic. Half were casualties by the end of the war, and during the Cold War the group was listed as a subversive communist front organization. During the war there was not in fact a brigade, but several battalions which were collectively referred to as such. F AIICNT- The anarchist party and union of Spain, this secretive organization had a membership of roughly one million and was aligned with the Republic at the start of the conflict. In 193 7 the Republic began a crackdown in Barcelona, one of the centers of anarchist organization, to reign in the attempts of this group at social revolution. JAFRC- Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. A group formed to support the 200,000 or so refugees of the war who had fled to France and other countries. Membership included a number of protestant clerics and physicians. Persecuted in the late 40s and 50s by the US government, its leaders were jailed on charges of communism and contempt of congress. PCE- Partido Communista Espafiol, or Spanish Communist Party. Initially rather small, the strong discipline and effectiveness of the group as well as the talent of its great orator, La Pasionaria, led the group to blossom in size ·over the course of the war. Popular Front- A political umbrella organization of leftist parties which cooperated to fight fascism. Popular Fronts were endorsed and used by the Soviet Union in many democratic countries, and legitimated communist parties 'by linking them to other, less suspect, parties. POUM- Partido Obrero de Unificaci6n Marxista. A small, anti-Soviet party led by Andreu Nin, former secretart of Leon Trotsky. George Orwell served in the militia wing of the group. In 193 7, under Soviet pressure, the Spanish government falsely accused the group of being a fifth column for the rebels, and broke up the group by force. Nin was killed by a Soviet assassination squad during the ~rackdown. Rebels/Insurgents- A coalition of generals supported by the aristocracy, clergy, and nobility which ·Overthrew the Second Spanish Republic. Gradually came to be referred to as the Nationalists. General Francisco Franco ultimately ascended to the position of Caudillo, or dictator, within the group. Republic- The Second Spanish Republic. Created in 1931 by peaceful decree of the Cortes, or parliament, of the Spanish monarchy. Governed by the Popular Front until its destruction in 193 9. 5 SACB- Subversive Activities Control Board. A United States government body created by the McCarran Act, this group and the Attorney General's list of subversive organizations were the primary tools for government persecution of anti-Franco groups and individuals. UGT- Union General de Trabajadors, the socialist workers union of Spain. At the time of the revolution it claimed a membership of approximately one million. Politically supportive of the Republic, its members formed a major part of the workers militias which checked the Rebels. 6 2. Introduction The great enemy oftruth is very often not the lie-delib­ erate, contrived, and dishonest-but the myth-persistent, persuasive, and unrealistic. -John F. Kennedy1 On 7 December, 1941 the United States was forced into war with the Axis nation of Japan and, three days later, Germany and Italy. The titanic struggle that was the Second World War has often been framed as a conflict between good and evil, between democracy and fascism. This narrative of the war has not gone unchallenged, particularly by those who note the important role of the Soviet Union in defeating the Axis. The fact that the USSR lost forty times more people than the U.S. in a war popularly considered a defense of western democracy and morality is more than a little ironic when viewed through this conventional narrative. Such claims form an essential element in maintaining support for foreign policies, particularly in a war as herculean as World War II which required enormous increases in government spending and significant sacrifices on the home front. The construction of a narrative which identifies one's own side as the heroic protagonist o~ victimized party is vital to a state's foreign policy. The American narrative of World War Two is extremely positive: the country went to war in self-defense after an unprovoked act of aggression, and the enemies were arguably the most evil states ever to exist, with the possible exception of the Soviet Union, which the USA allied with to defeat it. Foreign policy typically ranks fairly low on public priorities in the USA, and domestic population tends to generally only take interest in international affairs when their state is involved. They become dissatisfied with foreign policy when they perceive that costs outweigh benefits or the actions of the state are morally unacceptable, and in 1 DePalma, Anthony. The Man Who Invented Fidel. Perseus Books: New York City, 2006. Opening Page 7 democracies such dissatisfaction can spell the end of a government that fails to respond. Thus the state takes an active interest in shaping and disseminating narratives which are amenable to their goals. Public awareness and attitudes towards foreign affairs are shaped by state involvement. Before World War II another conflict had inflamed the minds of millions of Americans: the Spanish Civil War. The Spanish struggle shares many similarities with and has been called a prelude to World War II. There is a notable difference between the two wars though: the government of the United States took no side and played little role in shaping the narrative of the Spanish Civil War. In 1936 when the civil war began in the form of a failed coup d'etat, the U.S. refused to sell arms to the Spanish Republic, the only time in U.S. history that weapons sales to a recognized, democratic state have been banned. The policy objective supporters of both sides sought to influence was the embargo on the sale of arms, a key factor in the war. The Spanish Republic's inability to obtain aircraft, tanks, or munitions from the western democracies is credited as one of the primary causes of its defeat. This policy of neutrality would prove contentious and was challenged by the American political left, now united by the communist created Popular Front. Polls can help us tell the story: In February of 1937, support for the loyalists was at twenty two percent and the rebels at twelve percent. By 1938 the numbers had changed dramatically: support for the rebels (now referred to as Franco) was at twenty four percent, but seventy two percent now sided with the loyalists (now referred to as the Republic). 2 From these numbers it is clear that sympathy for the beleaguered Spanish Repubiic was a phenomenon not confined tQ the fringes of American politics but rather a 2 George Gallup, The Gallup Po/11935-1971 (New York: Random House, 1972). 49 and 75. 8 hallmark of many Americans' foreign policy beliefs. A pro-Republican narrative became widespread without the government's involvement, in spite of the prevailing mood of isolationism. A second element makes the Spanish Civil War unique among foreign wars that did not involve America: in spite of the passage of time the war and the American perspective on it have retained a place in American history greater than would be expected of a foreign civil war. The tragedy of the Spanish Republic and its valiant resistance to the onslaught of fascism were resurrected as a parable for the New Left in its resistance to the Vietnam War. The question arises then: How did the Spanish Republic gain such a large base of support in the United States? Several factors explain this development, all o( which share a core attribute: they project the goals and beliefs of the observers of the war, not the realities of the complex struggle then unfolding in Spain. The degree to which these false understandings of the conflict took hold is a result of subtle and effective propaganda efforts to spread a sympathetic narrative, a campaign in which supporters of the Republic proved highly effective. To many Americans, the Spanish Republic appeared a sister in democracy, and thus deserved aid in fending off a military insurgency. Supporters of Franco viewed him as the only defense against godless communism in one of the bastions of the Catholic faith. The Catholic narrative was grounded in anticommunism, and represented the war as a struggle between Spain, championed by Franco, and International Communism. The central tenet of support for the Republic was the .
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