The Abraham Lincoln Brigade - A Profile in Courage, Honor and Hope

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 http://sjlendman.blogspot.com and

listen to The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour

on TheMicroEffect.com Mondays at noon US central time.