Lincoln Brigade veterans recall Spanish Civil War

Oakland Tribune ^ | 3/1/04

[Valin]

Ranks of those who volunteered to fight Franco are thinning

OAKLAND -- Some of the few remaining veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, who volunteered in 1937 to fight in the Spanish Civil War, gathered Sunday to listen to music and remember fellow veterans.
Each year at their annual West Coast reunion, the ranks of the brigade thin. This year 12 veterans took the stage, some with the help of walkers and canes, to take a bow in front of 450 supporters in the Calvin Simmons Theater.
According to Linda Lusting, who helped organize the event, nationwide between 75 and 100 brigade veterans still are living.

The Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936 when Gen. Francisco Franco sought to overthrow, with the help of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, the democratically elected government of Spain. Ultimately, Franco was successful but not without vigorous resistance from the brigade and other anti-fascist fighters, who fought the takeover with substandard weapons and no aid from the U.S. government.

While the veterans might move a little slower then they did 67 years ago when they took up arms against Franco, their fighting spirit is still evident.
"My heart is still in the same place, and I'd do it all over again," said brigade veteran Ben Lane, 88.

In all 2,800 Americans volunteered to fight in Spain. They came from all but two states and included seamen, students, miners, lumberjacks, teachers and artists. They fought alongside 35,000 other anti-fascists who came from 52 countries. During the 22 months the brigade fought in Spain, nearly 750 American volunteers were killed.
Brigade veterans, some of whom were members of the Young Communist League, were thought of as communists and in a foreshadowing of McCarthyism that would grip Washington in the 1950s, many brigade veterans were harassed by the FBI after returning from the war.
"Well the truth is that only some of us were communists but most of us were activists to one degree or another," said El Cerrito resident Milt Wolff, 88. "It was the heart of The Depression, and we questioned how so many people could be allowed to live in such terrible poverty. For that the propaganda was that we were tools of Moscow and it wasn't true."

San Francisco plans to erect a monument in the brigade's honor sometime in the next year.
There are dozens of monuments honoring the brigade all over Europe.
"Once McCarthyism was repudiated, the harassment of the ALB was drastically reduced," said Peter Carrol, the chairman of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade archives. "They are receiving the attention they deserve."

During the reunion, three performers read from war letters written by brigade fighters while black and white wartime photographs were projected onto a large screen. In addition a six-member band, accompanied by folk singer Barbara Dane, revived for the veterans some of the Depression-era songs that served as a call to arms for the young men who joined the brigade.

In the past, the annual anniversary has been hosted by actors Ed Asner and Martin Sheen. This year the event was hosted by MoveOn.org and Global Exchange. Media Benjamin, founder of Global Exchange, sang the praises of the veterans and hoped their political conviction and special brand of activism will exist in future generations.
"To recognize what they put on the line for justice is amazing," she said. "We need more of that kind of commitment today."

[Valin]

Naive may of been an excuse in 1936, but it has to be stupidity to hold the same views in 2004.
Communism just doesn't work, never has and never will.
No matter how much a person may want it to.

[headsonpikes]

'Homage to Catalonia' bump.

A great book!

[sharktrager]

If possible, it would be nice to avoid all caps posts in the future. Thanks.

[ClearCase_guy]

A Veteran of the ALB recently died in my little town. I read his obituary and was really surprised at what a die-hard Communist the man was, right up until the day he died.

The kicker was a letter to the editor the following week. A man wrote in to say that the deceased was a personal friend and that the obituary had not done justice to what a really, really diehard Communist the man was, right up until the day he died!

When these people drink the kool-aid, they gulp.

[okie01]

"In the end, [Franco] was among the few people involved in that civil war who behaved honorably."

There have been many novels about the Spanish Civil War, but precious little history has been published.

In those few histories, though, Franco invariably comes off as a supremely honorable man -- concerned only for Spain and its future, not for himself. It is truly a credit to him that, two generations after a bloody and extended civil war, Spain remains a united country with no debilitating residual bitterness. In this respect, the Spanish Civil War was at least as successful as the U.S. Civil War.

Yet, outside of Spain, Franco gets little or no credit for the outcome. History was on his side, not the ALB's.

[jordan8]

This year the event was hosted by MoveOn.org and Global Exchange

This pretty much outs MoveOn.

[OldCorps]

I've always wondered why FDR's administration was never held accountable for allowing these commie americans to fight for Stalin. My understanding of history is that the real penetration of the US government by the left (communist international) began in the FDR years.

[CatoRenasci]

Indeed, leftists would have been unlikely to be hired in the Republican administrations between 1921 and 1932, and even Wilson was anti-Red during and immediately after WWI.

The reason FDR's administration was never held accountable is because (1) they denied it (remember how Alger Hiss maintained his innocence and the left, and academic historians believed him, (2) most of the histories of the Roosevelt administrations have been written by liberals like Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. or Otis Graham, or radicals like Gabriel Kolko (who criticized FDR for being too conservative), and (3) average people are in denial about the possibilty that the guy who "ended the depression" and "fought WWII" could have been soft on Reds.

Actually, I think FDR was mostly a dupe of the socialists, though he was pretty blind to the dangers of the left. A bit of the old pas d'enemie au gauche attitude of the European popular fronts of the '30s.

[Levante]

"Ultimately, Franco was successful but not without vigorous resistance from the brigade and other anti-fascist fighters, who fought the takeover with substandard weapons and no aid from the U.S. government."

Well, with the Communist members of ALB saying "Once we're done in Spain, we'll do the same back home (violent revolution in the US)", why the hell should the US Government help them?"

Source: "Between the Bullet and the Lie: American Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War", by Cecil Edy, 1969.

[G L Tirebiter]

This reminds me. Must renew my subscription to "The Nation". </ sarcasm>

[Levante]

Valin,

You are correct. The Spanish Republic, brought to power by popular vote, was made up of Communists, socialists,and some genuine democracy and freedom-seekers. During the Civil War, the Republicans spent more time trying to kill each other than fight Franco. Left-wing assassination squads prowled the Republican rear, with hard-line Stalinists fighting with Trotskyites. George Orwell, the English author, who fought for the Republic, was forced to flee after being tagged for assassination by one of these groups. Mexico sent the Republic rifles; the Russians sent fighter and bomber planes, artillery, and tanks (for which the Spanish republic sent the Russians $315 Million (1936 US Dollars worth) of the gold plundered from the Americas. That's right. Spain's entire gold reserve went to Moscow. By the way, the weapons were overpriced. The Republican military was a failure compared to Franco's Italian and German assisted armies: The Russians sent superior tanks, but lousy tactics. The I-16 fighters were chewed up by the German Condor Legion's BF109s. The Germans and Italians sent Franco 60,000 personnel; The Russians sent the Republic at most 2,000 personnel. Most of these were recalled to Moscow and slaughtered in the Great Purges of the 1930's.

Source: "Between the Bullet and the Lie: American Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War" written in 1969 by Cecil Edy. An excellent book.

[Non-Sequitur]

The other units of Americans fighting for the Republicans were the George Washington Battalion and the John Brown Artillery Battery. Does that mean that Washington was a commie, too?

[The_Media_never_lie]

anti-fascists = communists???

[NYCVirago]

Brigade veterans, some of whom were members of the Young Communist League, were thought of as communists and in a foreshadowing of McCarthyism that would grip Washington in the 1950s, many brigade veterans were harassed by the FBI after returning from the war.

Imagine that!

[Erasmus]

Apparently not many members of the Oakland audience have bothered to read Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia."

By now, they're more suited to "Homage to Catatonia."

[Condor51]

"anti-fascists = communists???"

---

In this instance yes.

All the 'americans' who went there in the Lincoln Brigade and other brigades were outright communists or commie sympathizers.

BTW, it was the same thing with the French 'Resistance' Fighters in WWII, 98.9876% Commies.

[MadJack]

Well said!