The
Abraham Lincoln Brigade -
A Profile In Courage, Honor And Hope
By
Stephen Lendman
28 December,
2007
Countercurrents.org
The
Abraham Lincoln Brigade was an American contingent of about 2800 volunteers
who fought on the side of the Second Spanish Republic during the country's
1936 - 1939 Civil War against the fascist Nationalist rebellion under
General Francisco Franco. From 1937 through 1938, it aimed to stop international
fascism under Hitler and Mussolini that led to WW II. This essay explains
who the "Lincolns" were, why they're important, and what their
relevance is to America today under George Bush. First a look at the
Spanish Civil War and why these Americans fought in it.
The war began
when Franco's troops invaded Spain in July, 1936 to unseat an unstable
Republic that developed from the social dislocations after WW I. Post-war
saw a wave of revolutionary unrest that led to the military dictatorship
of General Primo de Rivera in 1923. Rapid decline followed under him
after the boom years of the 1920s. It weakened Spain's monarchy, returned
the country to republican rule, but things weakened when a liberal-Socialist
coalition tried addressing agrarian problems that beleaguered all Spanish
governments for generations. Reforms failed and so did the coalition.
It came apart after an attempted military coup on the right and an anarchosyndicalist
insurrection on the left that culminated in the Casas Viejas massacre
of Andalulsian peasants in January, 1933.
By summer,
Spain's many parties and organizations began regrouping and polarizing.
In November, the Spanish Confederation of Right Groups (CEDA) coalition
replaced the liberal-Socialists. Positions then hardened on the left
and right leading to the 1934 "October Revolution" when Asturian
miners in northern Spain became the epicenter of a general uprising
throughout the country. It brought "Army of Africa" commander
Francisco Franco from Spanish Morocco to the mainland for the first
time in five centuries to defend "Christian Civilization"
from "red barbarism." It was the start of class and regional
conflict that became the Spanish Civil War two years later.
It pitted
an alliance of Nationalist forces on the right under Franco against
a "Popular Front" Republican/Loyalist coalition consisting
of trade unionists and their political organizations:
-- the General
Confederation of Workers (UGT), a labor federation of the Socialist
Workers Party (PSOE), and an anarchosyndicalist General Confederation
of Labor (CNT);
-- they,
in turn, were allied with the Workers Party of Marxist Unification (POUM)
coalition of Spanish Trotskyists, Communist Left (ICE), and Workers
and Peasants Bloc; the United Socialist Party of Catalonia (PSUC); and
the small Communist Party (PCE).
Few in America
remember the Spanish Civil War, its significance or even that it happened
which says a lot about the state of education in the richest country
in the world. It should be the best anywhere but instead opts for mediocrity,
ignorance and an effort to produce good citizens, most barely literate,
to serve the nation's ruling class and not the greater good. That, however,
is a topic for another time.
The
Spanish Civil War - July 17, 1936 - April 1, 1939
Like all
extended wars, this one was ugly. Before it ended in April, 1939, hundreds
of thousands died and many by mass killings that included Hitler's infamous
fire-bombing of Guernica on April 26, 1937 that destroyed the town and
killed an estimated 1650 people. An eye witness described it as follows:
"The only things left standing were a church, a sacred tree, the
symbol of the Basque people....There hadn't been a single anti-aircraft
gun in the town. It had been mainly a fire raid....A sight that haunted
me for weeks was the charred bodies of several women and children huddled
together in what had been the cellar of a house. It had been a refugio."
The same scene was repeated throughout the town. Guernica was in flames,
but it was just a warmup, a prelude for what lay ahead.
April 1,
1939 marked the end of the Spanish Civil War. Five months later in September,
Hitler invaded Poland, and the world again was at war with Spain staying
out of it this time. Franco instead concentrated on solidifying power
at home while nominally supporting his fascist allies. He imprisoned
and slaughtered tens of thousands of his opponents in a post-war bloodbath/reign
of terror. The Spanish war, while it lasted, however, was an historic
revolution, and how different things might have been had the other side
won. A radical working class movement, never seen before or since, lost
out to a fascist alliance that became dominant and is now resurgent
in America.
Back then,
it was a rare time when oppressed workers, peasants and leftist intellectuals
stood on one side and were aided by Soviet Russia, the international
Socialist movement and the International Brigades. Against them were
centralized state power elitists that included monarchists, the Catholic
church, and the landowning and industrial fascist right supported by
Germany, Italy and Portugal. Workers wanted a classless, stateless social
democracy with implications far beyond a civil conflict in Spain.
They were
attracted to it when Franco invaded and threatened their vision. Spontaneously
they seized factories and other workplaces, collectivized the land,
formed workers' militias throughout the country, dismantled the pro-fascist
Catholic church, confiscated its property, and established political
institutions run by workers' committees. It was a remarkable event for
a short-lived social transformation toward a genuinely autonomous, free
and democratic society until Franco finally prevailed.
In a decade
of economic depression, disillusion, the rise of fascism, torment and
turmoil up to WW II, the Spanish revolution was a sign of hope for working-class
emancipation across the world, including in the US. It inspired intellectuals,
trade unionists, and others as well as freedom-fighting men and women
of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They went Spain to support the type
government they wanted at home and hoped would emerge if the "Popular
Front" prevailed.
The
Abraham Lincoln Brigade
They were
around 2800 American volunteers who fought alongside the "Popular
Front" Republican Loyalists as the American contingent of the International
Brigades. From 1937 to 1938, they joined with 35,000 others from 52
countries to defend the free Spanish Republic against Franco's Nationalist
fascist alliance.
They were
mostly young men and women from across America, deeply affected by the
The Great Depression's despair, and they feared the fascist scourge
engulfing Europe could affect them back home. They were ordinary people
- working class, students, teachers, artists, dancers, athletes, the
unemployed and others unified in a common belief that it's "better
to die on your feet than live on your knees."
Most were
members of the Young Communist League (CP). They allied with Industrial
Workers of the World members ("Wobblies"), socialists forming
their own (Eugene) Debs Column, and unaffiliated others. They were all
committed in a common struggle. Some sought escape from The Great Depression,
others went to fight for a better world unavailable at home, but all
wanted to defeat fascism and risked their lives to do it. They also
risked arrest or recrimination back home by defying a State Department
prohibition against traveling to Spain so by doing it they broke the
law.
It was worth
it for what many saw as the quintessential struggle between democracy
and tyranny. British author, social critic and journalist Eric Arthur
Blair, aka George Orwell, felt the same. He went to Spain in 1936 to
be with the Republican side and joined with the POUM coalition. He later
wrote about it in what some call his finest work - "Homage to Catalonia."
It sold just 50 copies in his lifetime, but another to it with a copy
owned, read and admired long ago by this writer. It was more about social
revolution than a civil war and centrally about tyranny against socially
democratic forces on the left.
The allied
groups on both sides, however, had their own agendas. On the left, the
socialists (POUM) wanted a worker-controlled government, the communists
(PSUC) a centralized one, and the Anarchists/Anarchosyndicalists (CNT)
one that was decentralized. On the right, Franco loyalists wanted a
fascist Spain like in Germany and Italy, latifundistas (big landowners)
wanted a feudal system, and the Roman Catholic Church supported the
monarchy and had its own elitist, pro-fascist conservative agenda.
The "Lincolns,"
wanted democratic freedom and fascism defeated. Its volunteers became
known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade although fighting units chose their
own names and identities. In keeping with the "Popular Front"
culture, they became part of the Fifteenth International Brigade along
with nationals from other countries. They called themselves the Abraham
Lincoln Battalion, the George Washington Battalion, and the John Brown
Battery that included 125 doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers and technicians
with the American Medical Bureau. They were all volunteers for a noble
cause and among them was the first ever racially integrated unit in
US history and first one ever led by a black commander. Most never fired
a rifle or had military training, but they were committed to learn and
they did fast.
They also
practiced what they believed in the ranks and created an egalitarian
"peoples' army." Rank-and-file soldiers at times elected their
own officers and generally shunned traditional military protocol. With
them were well-known, or aspiring, writers, artists, composers and filmmakers,
including James Lardner (son of Ring Lardner Sr.), Joseph Vogel, Ralph
Fasanella, Conlon Nancarrow, Edwin Rolfe, Alvah Bessie, Phil Bard, William
Lindsay Gresham and famed author Ernest Hemingway. He supported the
"Popular Front," went to Spain in 1937 to report on the war,
and spent most of it with the International Brigades.
After the
war in 1940, he wrote his famous novel, "For Whom the Bell Tolls."
It became a Hollywood film in 1943 and was the top box office hit of
the year even though it failed to tell what really happened on the ground.
It's the story of a young American in the International Brigades attached
to an anti-fascist guerilla unit. The novel's theme is how the main
characters react to the prospect of death in a struggle for their vision
and how they bond and are willing to die for its sake. It was how Hemingway
felt. He spoke publicly on it to raise money for the Republican side
he supported.
The "Lincolns"
fought bravely and took casualties, including at the town of Brunete
near Madrid where half its contingent was wiped out. But they gave as
much as they took until Republican forces began losing later in 1938.
It took a great toll on both sides, including on the International Brigades
as the war continued. It finally ended for the "Lincolns"
and other International Brigades volunteers in late 1938. Spanish Prime
Minister Juan Negrin struck a futile deal with Hitler to repatriate
captured forces and ordered them withdrawn. He didn't understanding
what others later learned that Hitler didn't make deals. He imposed
them.
Of the 2800
"Lincolns," around one-third perished. Survivors came home
heros, got no official recognition for their efforts, were lucky to
escape recrimination for breaking the law, but were later harassed and
hounded as explained below.
One survivor
was its last commander - freedom-fighter, novelist and well-known peace
and civil rights activist Milton Wolff. Hemingway described him as "23
years old, tall as Lincoln, gaunt as Lincoln, and as brave and as good
a soldier as any that commanded battalions at Gettysburg. He is alive
and unhit by the same hazard that leaves one tall palm tree standing
where a hurricane has passed." He was part of Spain's bloodiest
battles at Brunete, Quinto and Belchite but managed to emerge unscathed.
Wolff arrived
in Spain in 1937, trained as a medic, became a machine gunner with the
Washington Battalion and then its leader. When Commander Dave Reiss
was killed, Wolff took over and led its great offensive across the Ebro
and Sierra Pandols. He then went home when the International Brigades
left Spain in 1938 but continued fighting fascism as an activist, speaker
and novelist in spite of being branded a "premature anti-fascist"
and getting caught up in the post-WW II anti-communist hysteria. It
affected anyone of prominence who was accused of leftist leanings along
with many other "Lincolns" hounded by the FBI, Committee on
UnAmerican Activities, and Subversive Activities Control Board (SACB).
They lost their jobs and were prosecuted under the Smith Act and state
sedition laws although few had convictions hold up.
This was
how a nation that defeated fascism rewarded them and then wiped them
from the historical record for added shame. They're remembered, however,
in the official Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA). The effort
was founded in 1979 by Lincoln Brigade living veterans as an "educational
and humanitarian organization devoted to the preservation and dissemination
of the history of the North American role in the Spanish Civil War....and
its aftermath."
It's committed
to preserving the memory and record of these heroic freedom fighters
and their sacrifices by "continually expanding archival collections
in exhibitions, educational programs, publications, and performances
(to preserve) the legacy of activism and commitment as an inspiration
for present and future generations in working conscientiously and effectively
toward a better and more just society" - the one "Lincolns"
fought and died for 70 years ago without success.
On the eve
of the great war, the Spanish Republic ended on April 1, 1939 when Madrid
fell to the Nationalists and then Valencia. It held out under great
pressure but gave it up the next day. In the end, the revolution failed
from its own divergent ideologies and internal conflicts. They frustrated
Orwell enough to say "Why can't we drop all of this political nonsense
and get on with the war." It also lost to a more powerful Nationalist
force that outmanned and outgunned them because Hitler and Mussolini
supplied many more aircraft, artillery pieces, tanks, bombs, small arms
and ammunition to give Franco the edge.
It let him
outlast Spanish Republican forces that got less aid from the Soviet
Union while countries like Great Britain, France and the US stayed technically
neutral. But a careful look shows otherwise. Britain and France refused
to supply arms or assist the Republican side. Even FDR's government
was duplicitous. It pressured the Martin Aircraft Company not to honor
an agreement made prior to the 1936 insurrection to sell aircraft to
the Republic and also strong-armed Mexico not to ship Republicans war
materials that were bought in the US for that purpose. The Mexican government
complied and instead sent some financial aid.
Roosevelt
said companies supplying the Republic were unpatriotic, but had no such
feeling for those trading with the Nationalists like General Motors
and the Texas Company, now part of oil giant Chevron. It cancelled contracts
with Republicans but sold oil to Franco much like the dealings Charles
Highham described in his 1983 book, "Trading with the Enemy."
He documented how US corporations like Chase Bank, Standard Oil, Ford,
GM and IBM did business with the Nazis in WW II in direct violation
of the law. They betrayed their country and got away with it.
The
Spirit of the "Lincolns" in the Age of George Bush
In their
day, "Lincolns" were anti-facist freedom-fighters who are
still respected by their admirers. Since the Reagan era, however, they'd
be called "terrorists" because they oppose unfettered capitalism
and all its harshness.
Reagan launched
his war on "international terrorism" that was a precursor
for what lay ahead. In 1981, his Secretary of State, Alexander Haig,
announced the new administration would shift from Jimmy Carter's so-called
"human rights" agenda to one focused on anti-terrorism without
saying what it was or that it existed. Unexplained then or now is that
the US is the world's leading exponent of the very scourge it claims
to oppose. Empires have that privilege. They get to have it both ways.
They make the rules that others ignore at their peril.
They weigh
on many today under George Bush who makes Reagan's era look tame by
comparison. Post-9/11, the administration declared permanent war on
the world without boundaries in space and time that won't end in our
lifetime. It's against any designated countries we target with ones
with the most energy reserves and independent leaders topping the list.
It isn't
just countries that are in jeopardy. Any group, organization or individual
qualifies if they dare challenge US dominance or have views opposing
ours. As an anti-fascist group, the "Lincolns" would be targeted
because they wanted democratic freedom, not tyranny. During the Great
Depression and rise of Nazism, they were galvanized to go to Spain to
"make Madrid the tomb of fascism." They'd now target Washington,
their struggle would be nonviolent, but it would put them at risk in
an unfriendly environment to dissent and a passion to express it.
Today, there's
a serious threat at home no different from the extremist ideology "Lincolns"
fought against in Spain - the scourge of fascism now in America. It
mirrors the Nazi kind that was based on corporatism, patriotism and
nationalism; a claimed messianic Almightly-directed mission; authoritarian
rule; bipartisan support; iron-fisted militarism; and thuggish "homeland
security" enforcers.
It illegally
spies on everyone, conducts warrantless searches and seizures, makes
unwarranted mass arrests and incarcerations, and can designate anyone,
anywhere for any reason an "unlawful enemy combatant" with
no corroborating evidence needed. It tolerates no dissent at a time
the law is what the executive says it is, and checks and balances, separation
of powers, and equal justice for all no longer exist. It's called fascism,
despotism or tyranny that masquerades as a model democracy in an America
only beautiful for the privileged, no one else. It's what "Lincolns"
fought against in Spain, now threatening the US 70 years later.
The dominant
media support it and are part of the problem. They use hard right commentators,
pundits, and talk show hosts like CNN's Glenn Beck who also hosts a
nationally syndicated radio program as a platform for his type extremism.
Media giant Time Warner put him in prime time (starting May, 2006) to
boost ratings and billed him as "an unconventional look at the
news." It barely disguises a hateful hard right agenda. Beck is
one of many right wing hawks. He and the others attack anyone opposing
the "war on terror" that includes the Bush agenda of iron-fisted
militarism, permanent war, repression at home, and gutting social services
so the most vulnerable are on their own and out of luck.
Muslims top
their target list in the age of "terror." They're demonized
mercilessly on-air overtly and by innuendo as well as being harassed
and persecuted through mass witch-hunt roundups, detentions, prosecutions
and deportations. So are Latino immigrants with Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE) shock troops the enforcers and media hosts like Lou
Dobbs fully supportive. This writer called him "CNN's Vice-President
of Racism" in an August, 2006 article that included others like
him. They target others anyone voicing dissent at a time getting along
demands going along.
The "Lincolns"
would be targets if they were active and and similar groups as well.
They'd be savaged in a typical Beck comment like this one about Muslims:
"We need to be....lining up to shoot the bad Muslims (meaning all
of them) in the head (and) with God as my witness....human beings are
not strong enough, unfortunately, to restrain themselves from putting
up razor wire (meaning concentration camps, Nazi-style) and putting
you (Muslims) on one side of it....(meaning locked up inside)."
He's serious
and is backed by an administration targeting any perceived opposition
with hardball tactics that include secretly constructed homeland concentration
camps. They're for tens of thousands of aliens and anyone considered
a threat to absolute rule.
It's extremely
threatening because all media giants are supportive. They fill their
programming with Beck-like people while opposition voices are silenced.
The scheme is to instill fear and demand loyalty of a government that
may have in mind ending the republic, replacing it with tyranny, and
it's arguable they've already done it.
Renown print
journalist George Seldes saw it emerge during the golden New Deal era
under Franklin Roosevelt. If fascism threatened then, its could happen
any time, and no democracy is secure without constant vigilance. Seldes
monitored it around the world as a foreign correspondent and at home.
He was one of the great independent journalists of his time and did
what's practically extinct today outside alternative spaces.
In his 1934
book "Iron, Blood and Profits," he wrote about a "world-wide
munitions racket" citing WW I militarists and weapons makers in
Europe and America as proof. Fascism was spreading in Europe, and he
saw it emerging in America with powerful corporatists behind it. They
included munitions makers, industrialists and Wall Street bankers promoting
wars for profits. Seldes called them "merchants of death"
financing "patriotic organizations" promoting "imperialism
(and) colonization - by means of war....the healthfulness of their business
depends on slaughter. The more wars (they got) the richer the profits."
They traded
with the enemy, sabotaged disarmament efforts, promoted war scares in
newspapers, supported dictators, and lobbied and bribed government officials
for continued conflict. "The war to end all wars" was just
a slogan as new dark forces arose in the 1930s.
Seldes returned
to the theme in his 1943 book, "Facts and Fascism," that explained
"Fascism on the Home Front" in the book's Part One called
"The Big Money and Big Profits in Fascism." In Parts Two and
Three, he went into "Native Fascist Forces" in US industry
and the media of his day that had far less reach and influence than
now.
Seldes was
an archetype crusading journalist. He was a "witness to a century"
(the title of his 1987 book) until he died in 1995 at age 104. He saw
it all by covering the greats and infamous like Benito Mussolini who
expelled him for exposing truths he wanted suppressed. So did Lenin
after Seldes interviewed him in 1922. He was very hostile to Seldes'
honesty that was forbidden by Russian journalists.
Seldes also
covered the Spanish Civil War and believed it was a dress rehearsal
for World War II. In "Facts and Fascism" he wrote: "Fascism
in Spain was bought and paid for by numerous elements who would profit
by the destruction of the democratic Republican Loyalist government."
He cited generals wanting glory, the right wing conservative Catholic
Church, the aristocracy wanting the old order back, and the "force
of (big) Money" in Europe and America that wouldn't let social
democracy interfere with business. He named names, knew the risks, but
was a rare journalist who did what few others ever do - their job.
Seldes passed
before the George Bush era, and the "Lincolns" are just a
memory in the ALBA archives collection at New York University's Tamiment
Library. It's the largest and most important resource available for
study that includes their papers, oral histories, films, photos, posters,
and selections of the microfilmed records of the International Brigades.
They're maintained to preserve a historic record of their achievements,
memory and spirit and as an inspiration to others. They represent courageous
freedom-fighters who volunteered to fight and die for equality, justice
and social democracy. It's never handed to us, is always imperiled,
and is only gotten and kept when men and women like "Lincolns"
risk everything for it. That spirit more than ever is needed now with
America's freedom imperiled.
Sinclair
Lewis feared it in his 1935 novel, "It Can't Happen Here."
It was about a charismatic self-styled reformer, populist and champion
of the common man senator who became president. It was all a front to
hide his alliance with corporate interests and the religious extremists
of his day. He takes full advantage of The Great Depression, supports
a strong military, and gets unconstitutional laws passed during a national
emergency. He further convenes military tribunals for dissenters who
are called unpatriotic and traitors.
Fast forward
to the current era when we're all potential "unlawful enemy combatants,"
there are no freedom-fighting "Lincolns," and the threat of
full-blown tyranny may be one more real or contrived "terrorist"
attack away. Stopping it needs the same spirit of sacrifice "Lincolns"
made when they risked everything abroad for what they wanted at home.
Something to reflect on over the holidays. Something to act on in the
new year.
Stephen
Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at [email protected].
Also visit
his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen
to the Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com
Mondays at noon US Central time.
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