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

Vol. XXVIII, No. 2 June 2006

Vet John Penrod, with his wife Carol Giardina, carries on the spirit of the Lincoln Brigade at the New York reunion. Page 13. Photo by Richard Bermack.

NYU ALBA Archives Open for Business, page 2 VALB Reunions from Coast to Coast , page 12 Middle School Poster Project, page 4 Spanish Culture Behind Barbed Wire: 1939-1945 by Three Wars Couldn't Stop Fred Stix, page 7 Francie Cate-Arries, book review, page 16 The Shame of Spain, a conversation with Francesc Torres, page 10 Letter From the Editor This has been a season of many events. The olunteer On April 1, Tamiment Library director Michael Nash V Journal of the announced the completion of the organization of the ALBA Veterans of the collection. The full archive is now open to researchers, with Abraham Lincoln Brigade guides to the collection online (see page 2). an ALBA publication This spring, the Lincoln vets in the San Francisco Bay 799 Broadway, Rm. 227 Area and in New York City acknowledged the work of New York, NY 10003 Veterans for Peace in continuing the dissenting traditions (212) 674-5398 of the Lincoln Brigade (see pages 12 and 13). In 2002, when the current war was warming up in the corridors of Editorial Board Peter N. Carroll • Gina Herrmann Washington, Veterans for Peace voted to accept the mem- Fraser Ottanelli • Abe Smorodin bers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade into their organization, something the federal government’s Veterans Book Review Editor Shirley Mangini Administration never got around to doing. In both venues, speakers filled in that missing link by placing the volun- Art Director-Graphic Designer teers of the Spanish Civil War within the narrative of Richard Bermack antiwar soldiers. Both programs featured the musical pre- Editorial Assistance sentation, Songs Against War: Music of the Anti-Warriors, Nancy Van Zwalenburg performed by Barbara Dane, Bruce Barthol, and musicians Submission of Manuscripts of the San Francisco Mime Troupe. The tunes ranged from Please send manuscripts by E-mail or on disk. “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye” to “Si Me Quieres Escribir,” E-mail: [email protected] “Fixin’ to Die Rag,” “Cakewalk to Baghdad,” and “Bring ‘em Home”—a grand tradition of soldiers’ songs that ex- press what war survivors know better than anyone. tion, “The Ultimate Volunteers: New York City and the ALBA’s educational programs also advance. We’ve seen Spanish Civil War.” Thanks to a generous grant from the a sudden rise in the number of submissions to the annual Puffin Foundation and cooperative sponsorship from the George Watt essay contest from graduates and undergradu- Cervantes Institute of New York, the show will open in ates. The winners will be announced during the summer. March 2007 at the Museum of the City of New York. We On the high school level, this year’s National History Day hope to see it travel to Spain as well. saw two classes—one in Minneapolis, the other in Without your support none of this would be possible. Reading, Massachusetts—develop projects about the Please participate and contribute whenever you can. Lincoln Brigade, thanks to the content on our educational Peter N. Carroll website. The Massachusetts group won the state finals, ad- vancing to the national competition in Washington, D.C. This is the second time in the past few years students studying the Lincoln Brigade have made it to the national Letters to the Editor competition. Another student’s history day essay reached Dear Sirs, the finals in Pennsylvania. I am currently working on a book on the subject Meanwhile, ALBA has introduced an arts program for “Norway and the Spanish civil war” and am seeking infor- younger students in a middle school in the Bronx (see page mation regarding Norwegians or Norwegian-Americans 4). To help them along, we are continuing to develop curri- and the civil war. People who have any information, pic- cula on our website—www.alba-valb.org—and plan to tures or whatever, can contact me. unveil new programs in time for the next school year. Jo Stein Moen, Oslo, Norway In September, ALBA’s newest book will be in print: The [email protected]. Good Fight Continues: World War II Letters from the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, published by New York University Press. We offer a sample in this issue (see page 19). We are also working hard to produce our new exhibi- Letters continued on page 21 Antiwar Poet Launches ALBA Lecture Series

That bore silent witness By Joe Butwin North Dakota, and the poets of Spain To a grief as old as the ages. n January 2003, while Bush and and Latin America in the ‘30s, Pablo Blair were strapping on their hol- Neruda, Federico Garcia Lorca, and Always—in the eyes of the un- Isters, Sam Hamill, a peaceful poet Antonio Machado. bearable Bush or with this small in Port Townsend, Washington, let Hamill had lived quietly on the child—it is the eyes. Many of Hamill’s some poets know that their response Olympic Peninsula beside Port heroes—Homer, Milton, Borges—have to the mounting war talk would be Townsend for 30 years without any been blind. What he sees is what he welcome. Right away, quicker on previous invitation to read at the hears. At the end of “Eyes Wide the draw than Bush and his side- University of Washington. It was Open,” we are told to listen. kick, 11,000 poems shot through the about time. The invitation coincides But internet. The Nation, in conjunction with his charming self-description: Listen. And you will hear her small, soft, plaintive voice with Thunder’s Mouth Press, quickly “thrust on an international stage with it’s already there within you published a sampling—263 pages Poets Against the War after living 30 a heartbeat, a whisper, of poems. Since then the original years in the woods with my nose in a a promise broken submission has doubled to 20,000. Chinese dictionary.” if only you listen I’ll leave you to check in at http:// Not exactly. Poetry has its activists with your eyes wide open. www.poetsagainstthewar.org/. Feel as surely as politics do. From his post The soft-spoken poet insists on be- free to submit your own poems. on the Olympic Peninsula—Chinese ing heard, and as Abe Osheroff On March 3, 2006, just about three dictionary notwithstanding—Hamill pointed out in remarks that followed years after Bush declared his “mission has been as active in his domain as Sam Hamill’s reading, poetry, the accomplished,” Sam Hamill, the ge- Reed and Osheroff have been in theirs. kind you hear and sing, has always nius behind Poets Against the War, He is a translator and an editor, for figured in popular movements. In was invited to deliver the first annual years he was the publisher at the Spain in 1937 and in Nicaragua in Bob Reed-Abe Osheroff-ALBA lecture Copper Canyon Press, and he is con- 1985, literacy rates were low and rever- at the University of Washington in stantly a working poet. That’s activism. ence for the poets was high. In both Seattle. Sam Hamill, a Zen Buddhist Above all, it is the poetry itself cases, poetry was more frequently and a pacifist, explained that “what that gives definition to his activism. heard than seen, more frequently sung the Lincoln Brigade stood for we must “What you read,” says Hamill, “is than read. This has been a constant stand for.” There is no contradiction what you feed your soul.” His audi- theme for Osheroff. In an exhibition of between the willingness of men like ence was particularly well-fed at the Spanish Civil War posters called Bob Reed (who died in Seattle a year University of Washington on March 3. “Shouts From the Wall” and in his re- ago) and Abe Osheroff (who was very In “State of the Union, 2003” cent documentary film, Art in the much alive at the speaker’s right hand Hamill is bitter: Struggle for Freedom, poetry and picto- that night) to go to Spain together in Soon, the President will speak. rial images speak to the hearts and 1937 and vigorously oppose Bush’s He will have something to say minds of a people engaged in struggle. about bombs war 70 years later. There is no question: Sam Hamill, and freedom and our way of life. The selection of Hamill by the or- I will turn the tv off. I always do. his 20,000 friends, along with the stu- ganizers of the lecture, including Abe Because I can’t bear to look dents, faculty and citizen-activists of Osheroff, Tony Geist, and Peter Carroll at the monuments in his eyes. Seattle, are fine companions for Bob of ALBA, was entirely appropriate. In a poem called “Eyes Wide Reed and Abe Osheroff at the begin- Sam Hamill ascribes his lineage as an Open” he is tender as he regards a ning of this new series of lectures. “engaged poet” to Euripides in ancient photograph of a small girl, probably Joe Butwin teaches English at the Greece, John Milton in 17th century Middle Eastern: University of Washington. England, his friend Tom McGrath in With her eyes wide open, Deep brown beautiful eyes THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 1 NYU Archive Open and Accessible

By Michael Nash

he three-year project to preserve and catalog the entire Abraham TLincoln Brigade archive at New York University’s Tamiment Library has been successfully completed. The collection is now fully open for research. This extensive work was funded by the federal government’s National Endowment for Humanities. The ALBA collection is the largest and most important group of histori- cal materials documenting American participation in the Spanish Civil War. It contains more than 400 boxes of cor- respondence, papers, and memorabilia; 100 reels of microfilm; nearly 200 oral histories; 5,000 photo- graphs; more than 250 posters; and unteers’ experiences after they came to try to locate and identify collections several dozen artifacts documenting home, their activities during World of Lincoln Brigade materials that re- the life stories of the veterans and the War II, the McCarthy period witch main with the families of the veterans. history of the Lincoln Brigade from hunts, and political activism in the We recently acquired the photographs the 1930s to the present. 1950s, 60s, and 70s. that Benjamin Katine took in Spain The most valuable and unique The other major portion of the ar- when he was working as a photogra- portion of the archive consists of more chive is the so-called “Moscow pher for the Lincoln Brigade. If you than 240 collections of papers acquired microfilm.” At the end of the Spanish know about additional Lincoln from the veterans and their families. Civil War, the official archives of the Brigade collections that are still in pri- These materials are extraordinarily di- international brigades were taken to vate hands, please contact ALBA’s verse in content. A large number focus Moscow for safekeeping. In the 1990s, executive director, Julia Newman: ex- on the experiences of individual vol- ALBA microfilmed the portion relat- [email protected]; (212) 674-5398. unteers in Spain, while others describe ing to the Lincoln Brigade. This film For further information about the administrative issues, recruitment of contains the records of the Military Lincoln Brigade archive and access to the volunteers, organization of the Commission and Communist Party the collection’s finding aids, visit the medical corps, and battlefield strate- organizations, correspondence with Tamiment Library’s website at http:// gies and tactics. These files contain the Comintern, personnel files, and www.nyu.edu/library/bobst/re- rich descriptions of the volunteers’ re- files relating to command, transport, search/tam/collections.html#alba. lationships with the Spanish people, finance, training, prisoners, and mili- More than 1,500 photographs tak- their impressions of the political situa- tary medicine. It also contains a en by Harry Randall during the tion in Spain, and the ways in which photographic collection and records of Spanish Civil War are now available they connected the Spanish Civil War the concentration camps established in on-line through the library’s website. to the larger antifascist struggle. Many Spain at the end of the Spanish Civil The Tamiment Library is located of these collections document the vol- War, where many International at 70 Washington Square South on the Brigaders and Spanish soldiers were 10th floor of NYU’s Bobst Library in Michael Nash, an ALBA board member, is incarcerated. Greenwich Village. head of the Tamiment Library. The Tamiment Library continues

2 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 3 Middle School Poster Project By Keija Parssinen

his spring, students at Middle School 331 in the South Bronx Tgot a taste of history that is not typically covered in their 7th grade textbooks. Thanks to a grant from the Puffin Foundation, ALBA arranged with the arts-in-educa- tion non-profit Marquis Studios to provide a poster design residency that centered on studying propa- ganda posters created by Spanish Republicans during the Civil War. Students focused on the messages and ideas that defined that turbulent period in Spanish history. They then used their observations to create post- ry of the war and an introduction to better able to understand the power of ers dealing with pressing the basics of graphic design and the art in times of war. Throughout the contemporary issues. Mixing basics of purpose of propaganda. After the in- creative process, students repeatedly design and visual arts with history troductory lessons, Mr. Hudnall spent revisited the posters introduced by and politics, teaching artist Clayton four lessons working with the school’s Mr. Hudnall so they could create au- Hudnall led an unconventional but arts specialist, Ms. Jaar, teaching stu- thentic, convincing drawings and enriching series of history lessons. dents about artistic choices such as designs. Using pastels, the class brought its own posters to life. The finished products warned against By studying the persuasive techniques employed drug use and promoted cancer re- search and clean air policies, all topics in the government propaganda posters, that resonate with urban youth today. Marquis Studios chose MS 331 to participants were better able to understand the receive the ALBA funding because power of art in times of war. the students were of an age at which they could grasp the complexities be- hind both the Spanish Civil War and the very idea of propaganda and its Over the course of 13 weeks, stu- hue, value, chroma, scaling, line quali- purposes. This understanding was dents worked on crafting targeted ty and roughing out. For the last four vital to the success of the residency, messages and paired them with classes, the class worked on producing as much of the class centered on dis- graphic designs inspired by elements the posters while reviewing the causes cussion of historical events, motives, seen in the Spanish Civil War posters and ramifications of the Civil War. and outcomes. they viewed from the ALBA website By studying the persuasive tech- archives {www.alba-valb.org}. The niques employed in the government Keija Parssinen has worked with the first five classes centered on the histo- propaganda posters, participants were Marquis Studio team since 2004.

4 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 Middle School Poster Project The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Art Project: MS 331 NYC

Program Goals »»2 internal Marquis curriculum ɶɶ Understand and engage in the planning meetings use of graphic arts as a medium Innovative Curriculum Designed to to motivate and inform. Meet ALBA Goals ɶɶ Appreciate the power of protest in the context of social change. ɶɶ Inspired by “Shouts from the ɶɶ Teach middle school children Wall” exhibition. about the Spanish Civil War. ɶɶ Focused on three works to under- stand the war and the ideas that shaped the conflict: »»To the Front »»The Internationals »»Industry Agriculture, All for the and arrangement. Front ɶɶ Analyze the Spanish Civil War ɶɶ Students developed posters that and the art and design that arose examined a social issue, using from it. principles of design to maximize ɶɶ Assimilate new vocabulary and impact. use visual arts language.

The Challenge Results

Inspire and motivate the students ɶɶ Students learned about the to think beyond what they currently Spanish Civil War within the con- know. text of 20th century world history. ɶɶ Ideas about change that are im- ɶɶ Students analyzed the combat- portant to them. ants, causes and ideologies at ɶɶ Ways to communicate that are play during the conflict. original and personal. ɶ Students studied propaganda Program Outline ɶ posters of Spanish Republicans, Program Objectives The Abraham Lincoln Brigade fund- focusing on messages/ideas that ed a Marquis Studios-designed Students define the turbulent period in graphic arts program targeted to ɶɶ Create artwork influenced by Spanish history. South Bronx middle school students. Spanish Civil War propaganda ɶɶ Students created posters based on ɶɶ 4 classes/90 plus students posters. topical issues of our time. ɶɶ 13-session workshop supported ɶɶ Utilize the techniques of graphic ɶɶ Students worked on refining their by design to emphasize the message posters through a consideration »»2 pre-planning meetings held of their posters. of message, text and image. with teaching artist and MS 331 ɶɶ Learn how artists convey infor- staff mation through pictorial choices

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 5 In Brief Kudos for Clarence Kailin hen Madison, Wisconsin, voted by a better than New York W2-1 margin April 4 to call for the immediate with- drawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, Vets Cheer it was another reminder of the wisdom of Clarence Kailin. Peace and Now well into his ninth decade, this native Madisonian has always had faith in Madison’s progressive Justice potential. So it came as no surprise that he gathered more signatures than Parade just about anyone else to get the anti- war referendum to the ballot. As has been the case in every progressive struggle of the past 70 years–from the fight against Franco’s fascism in 1936 Spain to the fight against George W. Bush’s high crimes and misdemean- ors in 2006 America–Clarence Kailin has been in the lead. Tonight, his life and legacy will be recognized at the Socialist Potluck dinner at the Wil-Mar Center on Jenifer Street, beginning at 5:30 p.m. The event is open to all who bring a dish to pass and who want to cele- brate a life that has, for the majority of Madison’s 150 years, enriched and emboldened this city. Moe Fishman greets peace marchers outside the VALB office on Broadway. Matti — From The Capital Times, Mattson and George Sossenko hold banner, below. Photos by George Cohen. Madison, Wisconsin, April 8, 2006.

6 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 Three Wars Couldn't Stop Fred Stix By Dan Clare early age to work on his family’s fter a lifetime of drifting farm. By the time he was 17, he ran off from place to place, Fred Stix to join the circus in search of a more Adoesn’t have a lot of personal adventurous life. “I liked that life- possessions. As a matter of fact, he style. I was making 50 cents a day doesn’t have much more than he left and I only had to work 18-hour days,” home with more than 70 years ago. he jokes. “I’m a drifter by nature and He doesn’t ask for much. A self de- so it suited me.” scribed “hobo” (don’t call him a bum, While working in New York, an a hobo is willing to work for his keep), even more exciting opportunity en- Stix says he’s living the good life. He ticed Stix. Recruiters were looking for has three meals a day--a luxury he volunteers for the Spanish Army. He couldn’t always count on--and he’s enlisted in 1937 at the age of 23. “It pleased to have a war bed to sleep on. was a chance to get out and see the In a weathered antique footlocker, world, you know, see Europe and all Stix keeps three wars’ worth of memo- of that. I guess it was foolish at the ries. The locker holds two Bronze Stars time. We were radical. We never and a Purple Heart--the only one he thought of the danger part. And be- received out of the many that he could sides, I was always a believer in have earned. It holds prisoner of war democracy,” he says. U.S. Army uniform. He was sent to a dog tags stamped “Stalag 11.” There is During combat in the Spanish base near London and was thrilled to lead that was taken out of his hand Civil War, Stix sustained injuries to spend his liberty in the capital city, de- and shrapnel from a Chinese grenade his chest and thumb, where he still spite occasional air raids. that was removed from his hip. There has copper from a bullet. He was “I had a pretty enjoyable life,” he are telegrams written to his mother eventually captured and held as a says. “But then we found out we were declaring him missing in action. prisoner of war for two years. For her- going to be part of an invasion in The only gold in the case is from oism and service, he was awarded a North Africa. The pleasant times Stix’s time as a ’59er. He’d traveled to box of chocolates. “We were supposed were over.” Stix was part of an ill- Alaska the year it was granted state- to be fighting for an ideal, not awards. equipped, out-numbered Allied force hood and collected a few small I liked the chocolates. You know, you near Tunis. His unit was attacked by chunks as a prospector. To Stix, the get them and hand them around and Erwin Rommel’s German Panzers. items in the locker remind him that he they’re gone,” Stix says, laughing. “He hit us very hard at night with is fortunate to have survived. He returned to the United States tanks. We had nothing but rifles. Stix has returned to his hometown and continued the life of a drifter until They chopped us up. There was noth- of Suring, Wisconsin, for his final bat- World War II broke out. Impatient for ing we could do. You could shoot at tle. This time, it’s with cancer. “I’m the United States to join the war, he them if they were at their turrets-- amazed I’ve lasted this long,” he says volunteered in the Canadian infantry and I did. But you can’t do anything with a chuckle. “And these people in 1939 and was sent to Europe to fight against a tank,” Stix says. [staff at the nursing home] take care of on the front lines. With no commander and no other me real good.” In 1942, Britain agreed to transfer alternatives, Stix fled into the desert Stix’s early decisions were not un- U.S.-born soldiers back to their coun- and hid in a cave for two or three common among his generation. Born try’s military. It was the first time in days. Scavenging Arabs finally found in 1914, he dropped out of school at an his fighting career that Stix wore a Continued on page 8

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 7 Stix Continued from page 7 him. “They wanted my clothing and equipment. If I didn’t have a rifle, they would have killed me,” he says. “They went and told the Germans about me.” After four enemy troops took him cap- tive, Stix and 60 others were loaded into a boxcar under horrifying condi- tions for three days. Eventually they were flown to Sicily. His first night at the harbor near Sicily, Stix managed to survive an Allied bombing raid. Though prison camp commanders were told, based on the treatment of German prisoners in America, to treat U.S. prisoners hu- manely, conditions in the prison were horrendous. He and the other captive soldiers were fed rutabaga soup that was often rancid or infested with mag- with this civilian, and I asked him in ed by the Russians, who proceeded to gots. Stix credits Red Cross parcels for broken German if he’d seen any Jews rob them of their watches. He walked saving his life. in the town,” said Stix. “He looked 200 miles to Warsaw and took a Stix and his fellow prisoners were around, scared, and then back at me freight train to the Black Sea. Toward assigned to labor at a rail plant. and almost whispered, ‘Disappeared.’ the end of the war, Stix says, the However, after the Germans discov- And there was no one around to hear Russians raped and enslaved German ered their near-constant sabotage him. civilians, just as Germans had raped attempts, the men were sent to farm "A guard even told me that he was and enslaved their people during their the fields of Prussia. There they had talking down about Hitler one day offensive. “It was a terrible war for better living conditions and more and his daughter threatened to report that. Both sides had terrible people food. Stix says he and his fellow pris- him. ‘I have taken you into the world, trained to torture civilians,” says Stix. oners would attempt to escape and I will take you out!’ the German “The governments on both sides were frequently, even though the punish- said. It was funny, but it shows how so cruel. People in the government de- ment--15 days of solitary far things had gotten out of control.” served what they got, but not the confinement--was harsh. “[Escape] Over time, the men would look up civilians.” creates problems for [the Germans],” in the fields and see Allied bombers Stix was sent back to the States in he says. “We knew there was no en route to Berlin. “We’d cheer and the April 1945. He says he wanted to stay chance we would make it in the guards would show their fear. You in the military and go fight in the German countryside, but we knew it could see it in their faces. They knew Pacific. However, he suffered from created problems.” their time was coming,” says Stix. multiple injuries that prevented him Once he and his fellow prisoners With the Russians approaching on the from staying on active duty. He was settled in the new camp, they devel- eastern front, the prisoners were discharged and transferred to the re- oped a communications network. marched west, where Stix made his fi- serves. “If you’re not in the Army, you They’d get transmissions from the nal escape from the Germans. He hid have to work for a living. When I got BBC and chat with civilians. It was at a farm with other escapees and back, I didn’t have any skills. I could then that Stix heard rumors about the waited for the advancing Allies. only be a ‘pick and shovel man,’” he Holocaust. “I was in a field all alone His fellow prisoners were liberat- Continued on page 9

8 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 Stix Continued from page 8 says. “And besides, I liked that life.” Unable to work on a farm, Stix went to Florida where he could still Stix in Spain perform labor on yachts. But when the from the ALBA Biographical Dictionary Korean War began, Stix volunteered for four years of active duty, serving By Chris Brooks refused to answer any three nine-month combat tours on the Stix’s journey to join the questions. In a fury, the officer or- peninsula. “I felt guilty about soldiers Republican forces began dered Stix’s execution, the fighting and me not being there, and I December 11, 1937, when he set standard fate for captured always got bored in the barracks.” He sail for Europe aboard the internationals. Stix was standing says. “And to be honest, I liked [the Vollendam. In Spain, Stix joined the against a nearby wall waiting for adrenaline felt in combat]. I liked to be Lincoln-Washington Battalion of the firing squad when two around it.” the XVth International Brigades. German officers drove up and Stix saw a lot of action in Korea, In March 1938 the Nationalist forc- queried the Spanish officer about where there were many tough battles. es launched an offensive that his actions. Reminding the He was wounded by a grenade. The divided Republican Spain. The of- Spanish officer that orders had years of abuse and war had started to fensive shattered the XVth been given to hold, not execute, in- take their toll, as he headed toward his Brigade. Stix was wounded in ac- ternational prisoners, the 40th year. But his experience paid off tion near Belchite during the Germans berated their Spanish in the end. opening phase of the campaign re- counterpart and insisted that the Stix was promoted to sergeant for ferred to by the Republican side as prisoner be escorted to the his service in Korea. He was then sent The Retreats. rear. Stix was escorted back be- to Tokyo, Japan, to fix weapons. After being assisted to his feet hind the lines and sent to a “When I got home, I wanted to have a by two Nationalist stretcher bear- hospital in Bilbao. good life,” Stix says. Too old to earn ers, Stix managed to walk several When he recovered, Stix was his retirement from the military, he hundred yards to a first-aid sta- transferred to the international continued his life as a drifter. He made tion and request treatment for his POW camp, San Pedro de Cardeña a shrewd decision to purchase stock wounds. There were no near Zaragoza. The camp was a from Disney shortly after it opened in Nationalist officers present and monastery converted to hold pris- 1957. He quit work at 50 and lived off the Nationalist troops crowded oners of war. Conditions in San his stock returns. He never asked for around him, curious to see an Pedro were harsh, with indiscrim- compensation from the government. International Brigadier. Excited by inate beatings, poor food and Stix’s nephew Tom Wozniak and the revelation, one Nationalist ex- insufficient facilities to house the Adjutant Tom Rymer of Chapter 45, claimed “Artista” when a circus POWs. Oconto County, Wisconsin, teamed up union membership card was Stix was among the first pris- to give Stix a free lifetime membership found during a search of Stix and oners exchanged on October 8, in the DAV. They also made sure he his belongings. Fascination 1938. He arrived back in the was getting needed care and lodging around Stix grew. The Nationalists United States on October 18, 1938, when he returned to Suring. “His were so interested in talking aboard the Queen Mary. mind is excellent and he’s an excellent with him that they ignored repeat- Chris Brooks is an ALBA board man. I’m very proud of him,” said ed requests to retrieve and assist member and the producer of the Wozniak. another wounded American. ALBA biographical dictionary Though his Uncle Fred would al- When an officer returned and project. He has recently been ways buy gifts for Wozniak when he attempted an interrogation, Stix activated for military service. Continued on page 24

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 9 Exhuming the Shame of Spain A conversation with Francesc Torres By Richard Bermack through it will all be gone. Those who Torres got a Fulbright grant to ex- onceptual artist Francesc Torres fought in the war or witnessed it are cavate the mass graves and remains of began a project to excavate the very old. The worst part is that they the unburied victims, but his project Cremains of Spanish Civil War may be condemned to not seeing the was blocked, first by a conservative dead as a citizen activist. “I wanted to process come full circle. They may die nationalist government and then by a reduce to zero the distance between without seeing some closure.” Torres leftist government. “Both sides fear artist and activist. I was outraged. worries that if they get no closure, the the political upheaval that might result Thirty-thousand people are buried nation may never have legitimate clo- from bringing out the past,” he states. like dogs on the side of roads or un- sure, and the ancestors of those who To carry the project forward, he joined der shopping malls in unmarked experienced the war will live forever up with the Association for the graves … If you know where to look, with “corpses in their cupboards.” Recuperation of Historical Memory. you can find artillery shells mixed in Torres was born in 1948. His “They had a team and no money, and I with bones right on the earth’s sur- grandfather, a former politician, was had money but no team.” The face, just left there to rot.” And not arrested during the war and put on tri- Association is a grassroots organization only the bodies have rotted, according al with 60 other defendants. In a trial of relatives trying to find the remains of to Torres, but with them the histori- lasting 20 minutes, he was sentenced to their ancestors. Torres had intended a cal psyche of Spain, with wounds that die. Later, he was retried and the death project based on historical context and may never heal. “Time is running sentence changed to life in prison. The exhuming military sites, but he ended out,” he warns. “There is a narrow grandfather was eventually released up working with the relatives. window before the people who lived after spending 10 years in prison. Why did the progressive govern-

A photographic mosaic taken during the excavation of a Spanish Civil War common grave, July 2004. The grave contained the remains of 47 male civilians killed by a paramilitary fascist group in September 1936. The photo on the next page shows a hand holding an empty rifle bullet casing. 10 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 the people who fought and died to de- fend the legitimate government have been removed from the historical con- science.” The left has to pay the price of living with “a sequestered history, and if you don’t own your own history then you can’t deal with it properly.” And without reconciliation, the Spanish people may never have a uni- fying historical narrative. They will live like two nations, tranquil on the surface but ready to explode emotion- ally at the drop of a word. “We need to dig,” Torres states. By that he means uncovering the history of the war through documentaries and Continued on page 15 ment block his project, and why does it continue to put up obstacles? The one thing that unifies the left and the Barcelona Artist Francesc Torres right is their shame and their mutual Presents ALBA-Susman Lecture desire not to upset a delicate balance, Torres explains. “The right was moral- Francesc Torres, one of Spain’s hibition based on the holdings of ly and ethically bankrupt when most important conceptual artists ALBA, focusing on the participation Franco died, and the left had to watch and the current holder of the King of African Americans in the Spanish an enemy die [without ever being able Juan Carlos I of Spain Chair at New Civil War. to hold him acountable]. When the na- York University, presented the Torres has recently been involved tion transitioned from dictatorship to eighth annual ALBA-Bill Susman in several of the projects in Spain that democracy and held its first election lecture, “The Retrieval of Memory in aim to recover the country’s histori- after the death of Franco, there was an Contemporary Spain,” at the cal memory by exhuming the unwritten pact between politicians of Cervantes Institute in New York on unmarked mass graves from the both sides that neither would remind May 16. time of the Spanish Civil War. His the other of what was done. Everyone Torres, a pioneering figure in talk focused on one such project. could now be a good democrat, no the field of installation art, has a The lecture was introduced by matter what their history. They are long-standing interest in the James D. Fernández, Director of waiting for generations that fought the Spanish Civil War. One of his best NYU’s King Juan Carlos I of Spain war to be gone, and then the civil war known works, currently part of the Center, and Antonio Muñoz Molina, will be just like the Spanish American permanent collection of the Reina Director of the Instituto Cervantes War.” Sofía Museum in Madrid, Spain, is a in New York. But before the war passes into an- vast installation titled “Belchite/ Previous lecturers in the series cient history, Torres continues, “We South Bronx.” The installation juxta- have included Bernard Knox, need to surgically open the wounds or poses images of a Spanish city Gabriel Jackson, Baltasar Garzón, E. the patient will never heal. The right devastated during the Civil War L. Doctorow, Philip Levine, Grace had 40 years to take care of their vic- with images of urban blight in the Paley, and Antonio Muñoz Molina. tims and to preserve their history, but South Bronx. Like much of Torres’s The lecture is co-sponsored by work, it is a profound meditation on ALBA, Tamiment Library, the Richard Bermack is the art director of The history, violence, and modern ruins. Cervantes Institute, and the King Volunteer and the author of The Frontlines While at NYU, Torres has been Juan Carlos I of Spain Center. of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham developing a proposal for a new ex- Lincoln Brigade. THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 11 Lincoln Vets and Veterans for Peace Deliver Anti-War Message from Coast to Coast I remember back, before we whacked Iraq, I was watching the news. Were we gonna attack? A man named Richard Pearl Veteran anti-war folk singer Barbara Dane with Bruce Barthol. came on and talked. Photos by Richard Bermack. He said going to Baghdad Bay Area Songs Against War: Voices of the Anti- would be a cakewalk. By Martha Olson Jarocki Warriors, at the West Coast reunion ruce Barthol’s song Cakewalk of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on from Cakewalk to Baghdad, to Baghdad delivered a load March 12. The program paid tribute written and perfomed by Bof irony, while other songs to Veterans for Peace for their work on carried more truths about war, in a the front lines against the U.S. inva- Bruce Barthol remarkable musical performance, Continued on page 14

Bay Area vets (l-r) Coleman Persily, Clifton Amsbury, Ted Veltfort, Milt Wolff, Hilda Roberts, Virginia Malbin, Nate Thornton, and Dave Smith at the podium. Associate Heather Bridger holds the mike.

12 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 Lincoln Vets and Veterans for Peace Deliver Anti-War Message from Coast to Coast New York By Anne Taibleson n the gloriously bright Sunday afternoon of April O30, one day after hundreds of thousands of peace demonstra- tors marched through the streets of Manhattan, the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade gathered for their 70th annual reunion to Veterans for Peace president David Cline speaks at the New York event. honor Veterans for Peace and other antiwar activists. To thunderous ap- meaningful. On that same stage, be- president of the United States. plause, our Lincolns were honored hind the same podium, Abraham The eight heroic veterans pres- and praised by friends, family and Lincoln delivered a masterful rebuttal ent—Moe Fishman, Al Koslow, Jack loyal supporters at this celebration, to the claims of his opponents, insist- Shafran, Matti Mattson, John Penrod, held at the Cooper Union audito- ing that slavery was unconstitutional. Abe Smorodin, George Sossenko, and rium in downtown New York City. This historic speech made Lincoln his Hy Tabb—remind us of the great sac- The venue of the event was quite party’s candidate and then, of course, rifices over 3,000 young men and women made to fight fascism. Moe Fishman and Henry Foner, as always, energized the 800-plus members of the audience. The guest speakers, all major voices for peace and democracy in the 21st century, paid their respects to the Lincoln veterans, each adding his or her personal touch. Spanish Magistrate Baltasar Garzón, Veterans for Peace President David Cline, and anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan kept the audience focused on the issues of peace today. Songs Against War: Voices of Anti-Warriors, a musical performance passionately presented by Barbara Dane and Bruce Barthol, completed an- other successful celebration paying tribute to the American fighters whose legacy will protect freedom and de- New York vets (l-r) George Sossenko, Abe Smorodin, Jack Shafran, John Penrod, Al mocracy until the end of time. Koslow, Matti Mattson, Hy Tabb, and Moe Fishman (on stage).

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 13 Veterans for Peace spokesperson Paul Cox with Lenore Veltfort, Filmmaker C.M. Hardt discusses her film Death in El Valle with wife of vet Ted Veltfort, and Steve Lustig, son-in-law of vet Dave Spanish Justice Baltasar Garzón. Smith. Reunion from Coast to Coast Continued from page 12 sion and occupation of Iraq. Many of Brigade. Bay Area Post Commander the Lincoln Brigade vets who took to Dave Smith introduced the vets in at- the stage connected the fight against tendance, including Clifton Amsbury, fascism in Spain 70 years ago to the Virginia Malbin, Coleman Persily, current opposition to the war in Iraq. Hilda Roberts, David Smith, Nate This year’s event was held at the Thornton, Ted Veltfort, and Milt Wolff. Florence Schwimley Little Theater at ALBA’s Peter Carrol served as master Berkeley High School in Berkeley, of ceremonies. California, drawing an audience of ap- Three representatives of Veterans Vet Milt Wolff with Wanda Henig. proximately 500. As in recent years, for Peace spoke: Paul Cox, a Marine the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who returned from the war in beyond. Singer Barbara Dane, who Archives (ALBA) co-sponsored the Vietnam to organize active-duty GIs worked with the GI resistance move- event with the Bay Area Veterans and against the war at Camp Lejeune; ment during the Vietnam war years, Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Mike Wong, who twice refused army delivered a performance that careened orders for Vietnam, landing first in from laughter to grief. She was accom- the stockade and later in Canada; and panied by Barthol and musicians from Steve Morse, an army veteran of the San Francisco Mime Troupe in a Vietnam who was inspired to speak spirited performance that had the au- out against war when he heard about dience on its feet. the ambulances that Veterans of the Funds raised at the event will sup- Abraham Lincoln Brigade were send- port ALBA, Veterans for Peace, and the ing to Nicaragua. monument to the Lincoln veterans on The musical program, written by the Embarcadero in San Francisco, as Bruce Barthol and directed by Peter well as the Pablo Solare Pediatric Glazer, linked the anti-war sentiment Hospital in Havana, the Center for Liberty Ellman, one of the musicians in of earlier wars, from the French and Constitutional Law, Global Exchange, Songs Against War: Voices of Anti-Warriors, Indian War (Johnnie I Hardly Knew and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. with his grandmother, the sister of Ye) to Vietnam (Fixin’ To Die Rag) and Lincoln vet Wilfred Mendelson. 14 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 Torres Continued from page 11 Madrileño debates. Spanish history books need to be rewrit- by Sharon Olson ten and school children taught a balanced view of history, including the noble and ignoble acts of The man who had walked the streets both sides during the war. held a sign high in the Plaza Mayor: Paz en Irak, bring our soldiers home. This man would do anything for a change to come, puts in an extra packet of cheese, some bread, in his bag, something to share with the strangers he will meet along the way, in the same compartment, walks with a spring in his step past the Prado Museum on his way to Atocha, takes out the ticket he has purchased to validate it, a sharp, stabbing motion into the orange machine, looks up at the board to read the track number, smiles at the newspaper vendor. Could there be a socialist victory? Not a chance, he thinks, only a dream.

One of the excavation project's volunteers wears a Another man with a backpack passes him T-shirt that says "Anti-fascist Always." There needs to be a process of reconciliation. on the way to the platform, According to Torres, Spain needs a truth and a man who doesn’t smile, even as they almost collide. reconciliation commission similar to that in South Africa, eastern Europe, and South America. In He makes a mental note to find a more likely partner those countries, those responsible just need to ac- knowledge publicly what they did to their victims for the slight meal he had planned to share. and that is enough for them to be given amnesty and to return their dignity. The process is not The train arrives, one that will offer a comfortable seat about vengeance; it is about catharsis, and that benefits both sides. ”If they can do it in Bosnia, for him to dream in, arms to hold him, we can do it,” he states. The International Center for Photography is peace in this world and the next. considering including Torres’s photos of the civil war remains and excavation in an exhibit of from The Long Night of Flying, Sixteen Rivers Press, 2006 Robert Capa’s photos. “Capa photographed the war and I photographed the aftermath, 70 years later,” Torres states.

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 15 Book Reviews

Mexico sites its foundational myth and Spanish Culture in French collective identity in the shared expe- rience of the camps, Cate-Arries Concentration Camps broadly engages seven types of cre- ative texts: the autobiographical works Spanish Culture Behind Barbed Wire: Memory and Representation of the stead of political refugees. The book of Eulalio Ferrer, Luis Suárez, Manuel French Concentration Camps, 1939- also poignantly reminds its readers of Andújar, Antonio Ros, Manuel García 1945 by Francie Cate-Arries. Bucknell the dimensions of the tragedy suffered Gerpe, and Eulalio Ferrer; a play by University Press, 2004. by Spanish exiles in concentration Max Aub; the autobiographical novels camps in the years prior to the horrors or novelized memoirs of Agustí By Gina Herrmann of Mauthausen and Buchenwald. Cabruja, Victoria Kent, José Herrera Cate-Arries’s marvelous book ex- Petrete, Manuel Benavides, and Agustí t the close of Spain’s Civil War, amines the literature and art produced Bartra; essays by Joaquín Xirau; the vi- when the embattled Republic through the mid 1940s by former sual arts of Josep Bartolí and Afinally fell to Francoist forces, camp inmates who eventually immi- Remedios Varo; oral histories collected nearly 500,000 Republican refugees grated to Mexico. Focusing on works by Margarita Nelken; and the poetry flooded across Spain’s borders into exile. More than half of these exiles Instead of honoring those Republicans who had valiantly found themselves rounded up into fought against Franco, the French state fashioned the exiles improvised French refugee camps, as “red hordes,” "vermin,” and social undesirables, thus where they faced horrific condi- tions including insufficient or absent constructing the Republicans as criminal prisoners instead of shelter, starvation, forced labor, and political refugees. physical and psychological abuse at the hands of the French gendarme. Francie Cate-Arries’s book about published in Mexico, this volume com- of Celso Amieva, particularly his the cultural artifacts produced by plements Sebastiaan Faber’s Exile and beautiful and unjustly overlooked La Spanish exiles in response to the Cultural Hegemony: Spanish Intellectuals almohada de arena (1960). French concentration camp experience in Mexico, 1939-1975. Spanish Culture One senses that Cate-Arries must speaks to and arouses a sense of out- Behind Barbed Wire is a prelude to the have felt an ethical injunction to in- rage at how the French state treated Faber book in that it sets out to explore clude every piece of French the men and women who had resisted the complex, constitutive function of concentration camp literature pro- the fascist onslaught that would only the camps in exile literature as either a duced in the 1940s. The extent of the too soon swoop murderously down on key commemorative place of remem- production, and indeed Cate-Arries’s the French themselves. Instead of hon- brance; as grounds for moral authority collection of it, invites our admiration oring those Republicans who had and political legitimacy as the site of while simultaneously proving a bit valiantly fought against Franco, the creative resistance and cultural renew- overwhelming at moments. French state fashioned the exiles as al; or as an arena for a polarized, The book opens with a consider- “red hordes,” "vermin,” and social un- embattled struggle for emigration to ation of how many Spanish exiles desirables, thus constructing the America. oriented their own narratives of mem- Republicans as criminal prisoners in- The close readings of a wide range ory and loss through recollections of artistic and literary genres are one (many of them historically inaccurate) Gina Herrmann teaches Spanish of the major strengths of this work. of the highly charged symbolic death literature at the University of Oregon. Positing that the exile community in Continued on page 17

16 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 Culture in the Camps Continued from page 16 in Collioure of the great canonical poet the deleterious and the strength-giv- tions of life in the camps and in Antonio Machado. All the remaining ing effects of what Amieva and other pre-World War II France make graphic sections of the work recuperate far less- prisoners wittily called “arenosis,” both the depravity of the French in the er known works of the Spanish and Cate-Arries remarks: “Amieva’s lyrical face of the Spanish tragedy and the ab- Catalan literary exiles. imagery of the sand as weapon, the solute terror experienced by the The central thesis operative in sand as subterfuge, is not just another refugees as they confronted the dan- Spanish Culture Behind Barbed Wire is metaphor. . . .Inmate-memoirists have gers of camp life and the threat of the notion that the camps were not described their internment as being repatriation to Franco’s Spain. merely life-sapping, barren, prison buried alive [. . . but] the refugees use There is little to criticize in this landscapes, but also communal me- this same sand to transgress the limi- book. I felt the lack of a historical sum- morial sites that served to help tations of their captivity. . . .Perhaps mary of the particulars of the inmates reconstitute self and nation. This constructive, as opposed to de- structive, valence permeates the study: The central thesis operative in Spanish Culture Behind Barbed the camps are read as lived spaces “of Wire is the notion that the camps were not merely life-sapping, subversion, resistance, and agency” barren, prison landscapes, but also communal memorial sites that become memorial sites and there- fore discursive vehicles for creative that served to help inmates reconstitute self and nation. expression. Dividing her research into four major sections, Cate-Arries explores even more significant than the sand’s “concentrationary universe” estab- the camps as “lieux de memoir,” spac- capacity to externalize forms of artis- lished in France between 1939 and the es of Spanish moral authority in a tic expression is its power to aid and end of World War II. The introduction Europe (particularly France) still in abet the inmates’ efforts to cover up could have been strengthened by the denial about the threat of Fascism, forms of political or cultural resis- inclusion of a list of the camps, their universes of cultural resistance, and tance.” Through her complex reading geographical locations, descriptions of sites that manifest the fractured rela- of sand, a single trope prevalent in the conditions in each camp, and sta- tionships among the many Republican much of the exile literature, Cate- tistics on numbers of inmates released groups in exile. Arries manages to connect her close throughout the camp’s duration, in- Cate-Arries is a superb reader readings back to her overarching mate deaths, and their causes. clearly invested in the affective quality agenda to reveal the concentration Given the obvious dominance of of the texts she closely analyzes. camps as repositories of suffering and Catalan cultural production in this Evidence of this is found in her re- death, but also as spaces of political particular body of exile texts, I would markable discussion of sand in the continuity, ethical and artistic renew- have expected the author to give more chapter on the poems of Celso al, and as demarcated locales of attention to the distinctions of Catalan Amieva. fraternity and resistance. experience and expression. This is a Many of the concentration camps In addition to the chapter on minor point given the ambitious scope were located on the French shoreline, Amieva, perhaps the most remarkable of Cate-Arries’s project. She has done where the inmates faced the devastat- section of the book is the chapter de- Peninsular Studies an important ser- ing effects of blowing sand. Her voted to the stunning sui generis vice by inserting more than 50 works treatment of the various ways the “memory album” Campos de concen- of exile literature and history—many camp inmates narrate both their strug- tración, composed of 65 drawings by of them little known, if not utterly ne- gles and their inventive, creative uses Josep Bartolí accompanied by the text glected by the criticism—into the of sand echoes the very lyricism on of Narcís Molins i Fábrega. Bartolí’s frame of our discipline. which she comments. Describing both grotesque and often humorous depic-

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 17 Added to Memory’s Roster

City College in New York, receiving ca player who had rubbed elbows with his bachelor’s of science degree (Phi the likes of Patrick Clancy. In a pub, Beta Kappa). Mr. Shufer was an avid the young Spaniards were regaled as cyclist and loved the opera. He also the veterans sang to Lou’s accompani- danced at Charles Weidman Modern ment well into the night, to the Dance in New York City. enjoyment of all present and the last- In addition to his wife, he is sur- ing fame of Lou. vived by four children, Jane Shufer of Five years later, it was Lou’s turn New York City, Alicia Sundheimer of to be surprised. In 2001, during the Farmingville, Long Island, Lorraine 65th anniversary of the battle for Small of New York City, and Leslie Madrid, he made an unexpected Shufer of New York City; a sister, friendship. Over lunch, veterans of Bernice Lewis of New York City; and different nationalities were sharing four grandchildren. A memorial ser- their stories. Members of the Austrian vice will be held at a later date. Louis H. Gordon (1915-2006) Louis H. Gordon, the popular New York brigadista, passed away at Max Shufer his home on March 25. (1914-2006) Lou was born in Brooklyn, gradu- ated from Boys’ High School, then Lincoln vet Max Shufer, 91, a resi- went to work as a union organizer for dent of Pawling, N.Y., died at home on the Pulp, Sulphite & Paper Mill Friday, March 31. He was the husband Workers (today, part of the United of Shirley (Aldor) Shufer. Steelworkers of America). It was while Max sailed for Spain in June 1937. attending the Labor Relations School He was captured by the Franco army of Cornell University in 1937 that he in March 1938 and spent over a year as learned of the plight of the Spanish a prisoner of war until he was ex- people and decided to go to Spain. He changed in April 1939. served on the Cordoba and Aragon Max was a physicist and electronic fronts and was wounded during the engineer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Ebro battle. Institute in New York City for over 30 Lou was a regular attendee at re- delegation were amazed to learn that years. Before that, his service in Spain unions of the Lincoln and Lou had participated in the liberation earned him a place on the government International Brigades. During the of the Dachau concentration camp in blacklist (see The Volunteer, Winter Homenaje in 1996, he surprised the April 1945 as a sergeant in the Combat 2001). Amigos who had organized the event Engineers of the Seventh US Army. At Born in Manhattan on September in Madrid. At one point a group of the table was the daughter of an 7, 1914, he was the son of the late young madrileños accompanied Irish Austrian IB veteran who had survived Solomon Shufer and Anna Katz and American brigadistas on a night years in the camp and had been liber- Shufer. He attended the Morris School out. Little did they suspect that their ated by Lou’s unit. The daughter in New York City and later attended Lincoln veteran was a noted harmoni- Continued on page 19

18 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 Added to Memory’s Roster enthusiastically told everyone that scouting movement associated with Returning to Cork, O’Riordan re- were it not for Lou, she would never the Irish Republican Army (of which mained active in the IRA. In 1940 he have been born nor be there to tell her Frank Ryan was at that time chief took part in the attempted rescue of father’s tale. Moved and very pleased scout). He subsequently joined the Tomás MacCurtain from Cork court- by the encounter, Lou spent the rest of IRA. When the Spanish fascist revolt house. That same year he was arrested the weekend with his new Austrian broke out, Michael, then 19, used the and interned in the Curragh camp. He friends. It was truly rewarding for him identity of an older man to volunteer subsequently became a leader of the to have such tangible proof of his long- for the International Brigades. Irish Communist party, serving as gen- time antifascist commitments. O'Riordan was cited for bravery for eral secretary and national chairman. After service in World War II, Lou his efforts around Hill 481 in the In 1998 (at the age of 80) he trav- returned to his union work, where he Chabola valley, where he was wounded eled to Cuba as part of the Pastors for remained until his retirement in 1985. by shrapnel: “He carried his light ma- Peace caravan in their efforts to break He served as an international repre- chine-gun into every action, and when the blockade and isolation of Cuba im- sentative, local union president, he was ordered to withdraw he waited posed by the United States. In 2005 the instructor in contract and parliamen- until the whole company had done so. Cuban government presented him tary law, director of political He said that his weapon was worth a with its highest award for friendship education, and lobbyist. He wrote a dozen men. When he was wounded, he among the people. He spent the last column in the union newspaper for 33 refused to leave his position until oth- years of his life speaking to young years. Upon his retirement, he was ap- ers had to leave it. Even then he did not people about the Spanish Civil War. pointed director of the retiree leave until he was ordered.” program until 1998, when he became a consultant to the union health and welfare fund. Lou Gordon's Letter to Moe Fishman in During the last 8 years, Lou was a ALBA's WWII Collected Letters Book consumer advocate for the Ulster County Consumer Fraud Bureau and In September 2006, ALBA will re- received a Pride of Ulster County lease a new book based on previously award for community service. unpublished archival holdings about the Lou Gordon is survived by Anne, role of the Lincoln Brigade during World his wife of 50 years, three children, War II. The Good Fight Continues: five grandchildren, and one great- World War II Letters from the granddaughter. Abraham Lincoln Brigade was edited —Robert Coale by Peter N. Carroll, Michael Nash, and Melvin Small (all ALBA Board mem- Michael O’Riordan bers) and published by New York University Press. The book contains a (1917-2006) significant portion of the 3,000 letters in Michael O’Riordan, one of the last the ALBA collection at the Tamiment surviving Irish veterans of the Library in New York. Spanish Civil War, has died in Dublin. Here we offer a small excerpt from O’Riordan had attended many re- the book, a letter written by the late Lou unions of the International Brigades in Gordon the day after Japanese aircraft Spain in recent years. attacked Pearl Harbor. As a 15-year-old, O'Riordan be- Continued on page 20 came a member of Fianna Éireann, the

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 19 Gordon Letter continued from page 19

Fort Eustis, Virginia and I hope you’ll find time to contin- now. I’ll close—regards to all around. Dec. 8, 1941 ue them. Take care of yourself. If you want to Dear Moe [Fishman]— Should I be transferred to any know anything about anything to do Possibly recent events and the new place I will notify you of my with me, my wife is secretary and Declaration of War against Japan can new address. Also, remember how treasurer of the Paper Union Local best answer the question of my atten- important packages are away from 107-54 E. 13th Street - Gr. 3- 1469. Pay dance at the Xmas dance. I’ll try to home. After all someone has to feed her a visit—she’s a good lookin have my wife attend for me. the censors! blonde. (That should do it.) Things are happening very fast Being in Anti-aircraft will proba- Salud y Victoria in these parts, as you might well bly mean plenty of action—of a new Lou imagine. I believe the Army and type to me, but I’m used to loud nois- Btry B-6th Bn. Navy are geared high enough to es—if that’s possible. Fort Eustis, Va. (spell it right now) cope with this and any future situa- Manila is getting a taste of avion tion. Most of us here believe war with Germany and Italy will fol- low—also war between the Soviet Union and Japan. George & Ruth There is a feeling of calm, quiet Songs and Letters of the Spanish Civil War confidence in the air. No excitement, no running around, no joking—just a An intimate view of the lives of George Watt, a serious business which must be fin- Lincoln Brigade volunteer, and his bride, Ruth ished in the quickest possible Rosenthal Watt, a peace and social justice activist manner. supporting the anti-fascist struggle from New York Everyone feels that we are doing City, brings the 1930s to life. This dramatic reading the right and only thing—and since of letters exchanged between George and Ruth is the camp sent an enormous amount interwoven with rousing songs of the era that pro- of men to Pearl Harbor, Schofield vide a political and historical context to the anti-fascist struggle. Barracks and other Near Eastern bas- Music is performed by Tony Saletan, accompanied by Sylvia es it strikes close to home, it’s more Miskoe. Letters are read by Dan and Molly Lynn. Watt. personalized. I guess most of our guys will be To order the 2-CD set, go to: in the service pretty soon—those www.cdbaby.com/cd/georgeandru- that can possibly make it. You’ll th. probably have to hold up jobs for ten Or contact Dan Lynn Watt directly to men yourself. You can do it, I’m sure. order CDs or to book a performance. I appreciate greatly your letters 617-354-8242 or [email protected]

Advertise in The Volunteer The Volunteer welcomes paid advertising consistent with ALBA’s broad educational and cultural mission. For more information, contact [email protected].

20 THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 GM, Standard Oil of New Jersey Dear Sir, Letters and the German company IG Farben Some months ago I read with dis- continued from inside cover produced tetra-ethyl lead (TEL). TEL may an article written by Miguel Dear VALB/ALBA, was used to boost the octane of low- Angel Nieto criticizing Catalans and I'm writing to encourage you to grade German gasoline made from Basques for their “separatism “ in to- analyze and report on the US role on coal into high-grade aviation fuel. The day’s Spain. the side of the fascists during the Nazi planes that bombed Guernica To look after our damaged lan- Spanish Civil War. At the VALB con- may have been powered by US corpo- guages, Basque and Catalan, is ference on April 30, 2006, at Cooper rate gasoline burning in engines made “separatism?” To ask for stopping to Union, I was told by several members with US corporate parts. reduce the large amounts of money of ALBA that this important facet of Ford's wholly owned German sub- from Catalonia to the rest of Spain, history wasn't being investigated. I sidiary, Ford AG, had a similar history that have been used in large amounts think the story is important for several to GM's. for Castile and Andalusia, is reasons. The first is to underline the Henry Ford accepted the highest Insolidarity?. . . fact that fascism was a worldwide Nazi civilian medal from Hitler for his Mr Nieto ignores that more than movement with rich and powerful support dating back to the early 1920s one third of Spanish exports come supporters, not a movement limited to on July 30, 1938, Ford's 75th birthday. from Catalonia and Basque country. a couple of countries with crazy lead- Other US fascist supporters who re- Mr Nieto has been brought up in ers. The second is that US military and ceived medals from Hitler were James the mentality that Spain can only go general material support was exten- Mooney, Charles Lindbergh, Thomas ahead with the Castilian mentality sive despite the official policy of Watson, and Heinrich von Moltke. and that the Great Madrid is the only neutrality. The third, and probably the James Mooney, president of GM's power that must be submitted for ev- most important for our movement to- Overseas Divisions, was a registered erybody. (Great Madrid has been built day, is to show that the Bush Democrat and close confidant of FDR for political reasons and as city of sub- administration's policies are not even after he received the Nazi medal. sidiaries of multinationals.) anomalies but merely tactically differ- He personally approved Opel's war Madrid-Castile has never had a busi- ent approaches to expanding and materiel production. Charles ness mentality except the building maintaining the American empire that Lindbergh was an outspoken fascist speculation. began years ago. whose father was a US Congressman. Mr Nieto ignores or is not able to I've outlined some important Thomas Watson was president of IBM, accept that Catalonia and Basque points that I think should be investi- and Heinrich von Moltke was a pro- country, with their own culture and gated and expanded. fessor at Wayne State University. This language, have never accepted the President Roosevelt's Secretary of list is not complete. All these medals Castilian way based on a passive be- State Cordell Hull allowed General were awarded during the Spanish havior, laziness and narrow minded Motors (GM), Ford and Texas Oil Civil War when the Nazi war machine mentality. I see now that this man Company (Texaco) to send war materi- was using Spain as a testing ground writes again in your journal from his el to the Spanish fascists. for its latest military hardware. Great Madrid. He did nothing against GM's wholly owned German sub- On April 3, 1939, before the gun francoism. sidiary, Opel, produced thousands of barrels cooled that killed so many in- We do not agree with such a fel- its 3-ton "Blitz" trucks for the Nazi ternationalists, FDR recognized the low, so we want to unsubscribe from army. Many were sent to the Spanish fascist Franco regime. your Journal. fascists. I hope you will begin investigat- Joseph Verdaguer, carrer Pompeu GM produced airplane engine ing and reporting on US involvement Fabra, 15, 17410 SILS, Catalonia parts for the German company and I look forward to hearing from Joan Verdaguer, carrer Sant Cugat, Daimler-Benz. you. 20, 08302 MATARO, Catalonia GM produced airplane parts for Sincerely, the German Junker fighter planes, in- Edwin Krales, cluding the JU-88. [email protected]

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 21 ALBA’s Planned Giving Program Tax Advantages for Gift Annuities HOW DOES A semi-annually or annually. You CHARITABLE GIFT can also choose a one-life or two- ANNUITY WORK? life (two people dividing the income) annuity. Cash gifts al- A charitable gift annuity is a low maximum tax-free income; simple contract between you and gifts of securities allow you to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade minimize capital gains taxes. Archives (ALBA). Under this ar- rangement, you make a gift of cash DEFERRING PAYMENTS or marketable securities, worth a minimum of $5000, to ALBA. In re- If you are under 60 years of turn, ALBA will pay you (or up to age, you can still set up an annu- two individuals) an annuity begin- ity and defer the payments until ning on the date you specify, on or any date after your 60th birthday. after your sixtieth (60th) birthday. This gives you an immediate tax- deduction for your gift while still WHAT ARE THE guaranteeing you income pay- ADVANTAGES OF A ments in the future. Because you CHARITABLE GIFT are deferring payments, your an- nuity payments will be larger than ALBA’s planned giving pro- ANNUITY? if you had waited to set up the an- gram provides an extraordinary A charitable gift annuity nuity until your 60th birthday. way to make a gift, increase in- has four distinct advantages: For more information on a cus- come and slice the donor’s tax Income for Life at attrac- tomized proposal for your Charitable bill – all in one transaction! tive payout rates. Gift Annuity, please contact: The charitable gift annu- Tax Deduction Savings – A Julia Newman ity program was created for our large part of what you give is ALBA, room 227 many friends who have expressed a deductible charitable gift. 799 Broadway a desire to make a significant gift, Tax-Free Income – A large part NY, NY 10003 while still retaining income from of your annual payments is Ph. (212) 674-5398 the principal during their life- tax-free return of principal. time. A charitable gift annuity Capital Gains Tax Savings – When gives the donor additional retire- you contribute securities for a ment income, while affording the gift annuity, you minimize any satisfaction of supporting ALBA’s taxes on your “paper profit.” So continuing educational programs gifts of securities save twice! and its traditions of fighting for so- cial justice and against fascism. PAYMENTS You choose how frequently pay- ments will be made—quarterly,

22 THE VOLUNTEER June 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 Passing the Torch: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade and its Legacy of Hope The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction by Anthony Geist and Jose Moreno by Helen Graham Another Hill Member of the Working Class by Milton Wolff by Milton Wolff Our Fight—Writings by Veterans of the Fighting Fascism in Europe. The World War II Letters of Abraham Lincoln Brigade: Spain 1936-1939 an American Veteran of the Spanish Civil War edited by Alvah Bessie & Albert Prago by Lawrence Cane, edited by David E. Cane, Judy Barrett Litoff, and David C. Smith Spain’s Cause Was Mine by Hank Rubin Mercy in Madrid by Mary Bingham de Urquidi Comrades by Harry Fisher The Front Lines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade The Odyssey of the Abraham by Richard Bermack Lincoln Brigade by Peter Carroll Soldiers of Salamas by Javier Cercas The Lincoln Brigade, a Picture History by William Katz and Marc Crawford Juan Carlos: Steering Spain from Dictatorship to Democracy EXHIBIT CATALOGS by Paul Preston They Still Draw Pictures: Children’s Art in Wartime British Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War by Anthony Geist and Peter Carroll by Richard Baxell The Aura of the Cause, a photo album The Wound and the Dream: Sixty Years of American edited by Cary Nelson Poems about the Spanish Civil War by Cary Nelson VIDEOS Into the Fire: American Women in the Spanish Civil ❑ Yes, I wish to become an ALBA War Associate, and I enclose a check for Julia Newman $30 made out to ALBA (includes a one Art in the Struggle for Freedom year subscription to The Volunteer). Abe Osheroff Name ______Dreams and Nightmares Abe Osheroff Address______The Good Fight Sills/Dore/Bruckner City______State ___Zip______Forever Activists Judith Montell ❑ I’ve enclosed an additional donation of ______. I wish ❑ do not wish ❑ to have this You Are History, You Are Legend Judith Montell donation acknowledged in The Volunteer. Professional Revolutionary: Life of Saul Wellman Please mail to: ALBA, 799 Broadway, Room 227, Judith Montell New York, NY 10003

THE VOLUNTEER June 2006 23 Contributions

IN MEMORY OF A VETERAN IN MEMORY OF Fay Grad in memory of Harry Fisher $25 Estelle Holt in memory of Federico Garcia Lorca, Susan Linn in memory of Sid Linn $50 executed by the fascists $55 Bella & Murray Kranz in memory of Moishe Brier Richard Lerner & Anna M. Taylor in memory of $50 James Lerner $50 Felice & Saul Ehrlich in memory of Moishe Brier IN HONOR OF $200 Anne & Sidney Emerman in honor of Dr. Maury Thelma Frye in memory of Peter Frye $100 Klein & Sadie Klein (age 97) $20 Maria & Andres Delgato in memory of Harry Fisher $50 United Steelworkers District 4 in memory of Lou Gordon $100 Maisry Maccracken in memory of Lou Gordon $25 www.alba-valb.org Patricia Rice in memory of Louis H. Gordon $25 Keith D. Romig, Jr., in memory of Lou Gordon $50 Ada Solodkin in memory of Leo Solodkin $25 Stix Continued from page 9 Lauren Rickey Green in memory of Rebecca Durem $50 was a child, never did he marry or consider settling down Charlotte Jean Jones in memory of Louis Gordon to a family. “I didn’t want that life ever,” he is quick to say. $25 “I had a desire to be around danger. I didn’t mind it. I only thought of death when I was under a bombardment--mor- Marcia P. Thompson in memory of Louis H. tars, artillery, planes. The rest of the time, you have other Gordon $100 things to do. You soon forget about it.” Samuel Lender in memory of Lenny Lamb & It’s harder now, as he fights cancer, to see soldiers and George Chaikin $50 Marines in such a challenging battle as Iraq, he says. “They Ruth Ost in memory of Steve Nelson & Doc John don’t know who the enemy is. If I were young, I would vol- Simon $100 unteer right now [to go to Iraq]. I would go back in a second. It’s a gamble, but it’s what I’d do,” Stix says, true to Charles Bayor in memory of Lou Gordon & Max form. Shufer $25 And though he knows he won’t live forever, looking Myrtle & Helen Simon in memory of John Simon, back, he has no regrets. “I’ve lived a lot these past 90 years. M.D. and in honor of Moe Fishman $500 There’ve been a lot of wars and a lot of living. And I feel pretty good about how things turned out.” Nora Guthrie on behalf of Arlo, Joady, Nora, Marjorie & Woody Guthrie in memory of Lou Abridged and reprinted with the author’s permis- Gordon (“What a beautiful man!”) $500 sion from Disabled American Veterans, March/April 2005 Gail Rosenbloom & Family in memory of Morris pp 16-17, 35. Tobman $100

24 THE VOLUNTEER June 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

❑ Yes, I wish to become an ALBA Associate, and I enclose a check for $30 made out to ALBA (includes a one year subscription to The Volunteer).

Name ______

Address ______

City______State ___Zip______❑ I’ve enclosed an additional donation of _____. I wish ❑ do not wish ❑ to have this donation acknowledged in The Volunteer. Please mail to: ALBA, 799 Broadway, Room 227, New York, NY 10003 Using art to teach the history of the Spanish Civil War, page 4.

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