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The Abraham
Lincoln Brigade
A Profile In Courage, Honor And Hope
By Stephen Lendman
12/28/07 "ICH' -- -- 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
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
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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