Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Spanish Civil War - 1936-1939

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade of the Spanish Civil War

by Sam Sills

http://www.writing.upenn.edu/

During the Spanish Civil War (1936-39), 2,800 American volunteers took up arms to defend the Spanish Republic against a military rebellion led by General Franco and aided by Hitler and Mussolini. To the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, which fought from 1937 through 1938, the defense of the Republic represented the last hope of stopping the spread of international fascism. (For a general overview of the Spanish revolution, click here.) The Lincolns fought alongside approximately 35,000 anti-fascists from fifty-two countries who, like themselves, were organized under the aegis of the Comintern, and who also sought to "make Madrid the tomb of fascism." In keeping with Popular Front culture, the Americans named their units the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, the George Washington Battalion, and the John Brown Battery. Together with the British, Irish, Canadian, and other nationals they formed the Fifteenth In- ternational Brigade. ("Lincoln Brigade" is a misnomer originating with an American support organization, Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.) One hundred twenty-five American men and women also served with the American Medical Bureau as nurses, doctors, technicians, and ambulance drivers.

The conviction that made volunteering for a war against fascism possible was born from the economic calamity and political turmoil of the 1930s. Like many during the Great Depression, the young volunteers had an experience of deprivation and injustice that led them to join the burgeoning student, unemployed, union, and cultural movements that were influenced by the Communist Party (CP) and other Left organizations. Involvement in these groups exposed them to a Marxist and internationalist perspective and, with their successes in galvanizing people to conscious, political action, gave rise to a revolutionary elan.

American radicalism was spurred by the appearance of profascist groups like the Liberty League, and the expansion of fascism abroad. With Japan's invasion of Manchuria in 1931, Hitler's ascendance in 1933, and Italy's assault on Ethiopia in 1934--all accomplished without hindrance from the governments of the West--the CP responded with the coalition-building strategy of the Popular Front, attracting thousands of aroused citizens directly into its ranks or into "front" organiza- tions. When four right-wing Spanish generals, with German and Italian support, attacked the legally elected government on July 19, 1936, a desire to confront fascism in Spain swept through the progressive communities in Europe and the Americas. Within weeks, militant German, French, and Italian anti-fascists were fighting in Madrid. By January 1937, despite a State Department prohibition against travel to Spain, Americans were crossing the Pyrenees.

The Lincolns came from all walks of life, all regions of the country, and included seamen, students, the unemployed, miners, fur workers, lumberjacks, teachers, salesmen, athletes, dancers, and artists. They established the first racially integrated military unit in U.S. history and were the first to be led by a black commander. At least 60 percent were members of the Young Communist League or CP. "Wobblies" (members of the Industrial Workers of the World or "IWW"), socialists, and the unaffiliated also joined. The Socialists formed their own [Eugene] Debs Column for Spain, but open recruitment brought on government suppression.

The reaction of Western governments to the war was ambivalent and duplicitous. They agreed to a nonintervention pact and the United States embargoed aid to the Spanish belligerents, policies intended to de-escalate the war but whose selective enforcement undermined the Republic. While Germany and Italy supplied Franco with troops, tanks, submarines, and a modernized air force (the first to bomb open cities, most notably Guernica), the nonintervention policy only prevented arms from reaching the Republic. General Motors, Texaco, and other American corporations further assisted Franco with trucks and fuel. The Soviet Union and Mexico were the only governments to sell armaments to the Republic, although much of them were impounded at the French border. Throughout the war, a vociferous political and cultural movement in America rallied to the Republic by raising money for medical aid and demanding an end to the embargo. Such participants as Albert Einstein, Dorothy Parker, Gene Kelly, Paul Robeson, Helen Keller, A. Philip Randolph, and Gypsy Rose Lee reflected the wide base of support for the Republican cause.

Self-motivated and ideological, the Lincolns attempted to create an egalitarian "people's army"; officers were distinguished only by small bars on their berets and in some cases rank-and-file soldiers elected their own officers. Traditional military protocol was shunned, although not always successfully. A political commissar explained the politics of the war to the volunteers and tended to their needs and morale. The Lincoln Brigade helped ease the pressure on Madrid, giving the Republic time to train and organize its own popular army. The subject of respectful news reports by such writers as Ernest Hemingway, Herbert Matthews, Martha Gellhorn, and Lillian Hellman, the brigade helped strengthen anti-fascist opinion in the United States. Yet the Lincolns and the Republican military, fighting with inadequate weaponry, could not withstand the forces allied against them. By the end, the Lincolns had lost nearly 750 men and sustained a casualty rate higher than that suffered by Americans in World War II. Few escaped injury. In November 1938, as a last attempt to pressure Hitler and Mussolini into repatriating their troops, Spanish prime minister Juan Negrin ordered the withdrawal of the International Brigades. The Axis coalition refused to follow suit and Madrid fell in March 1939.

The Lincolns returned home as heroes of the anti-fascist cause but enjoyed no official recognition of their deed. Many Lincolns soon aroused bitterness within sectors of the Left when, with the signing of the Hitler-Stalin nonaggression pact in 1939, they supported the CP's call for the United States to stay out of WWII. Once the United States and the Soviet Union entered the war, however, many of the veterans enlisted in the armed forces or served with the merchant marine. In a foreshadowing of the McCarthy period, the armed forces designated the Lincolns "premature antifascists" and confined them to their bases. Many successfully protested and were allowed to see action. Among the core agents of the Office of Strategic Services were Lincoln veterans whose contacts with the European partisans, forged in Spain, were key to OSS missions.

In the 1950s most veterans, whether Communist or not, were harassed or forced out of their jobs by the FBI. Communist Lincolns in particular were hit hard by the repressive Subversive Activities Control Board, the Smith Act, and state sedition laws, although over time all but a few convictions were overturned. In the 1950s and 1960s the majority of Lincoln veterans quit the CP but continued to be active on the Left. Notwithstanding its exclusion from American textbooks, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade commands attention as a unique example of prescient, radical, and selfless action in the cause of international freedom.

*****

The Spanish Civil War and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade

http://www.richeast.org/

During the years preceding World War II, Europe changed. New countries formed and the older ones fell apart. One of the older countries in turmoil was the kingdom of Spain. From 1936 until 1939, a bloody, violent civil war raged within its boundaries. Stretching from the northern part of Africa to the Pyrenees Mountains, the fighting led to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Spaniards, Italians, Russians, and Americans. The Americans were volunteers who formed a little known, but well-respected legion called the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Together with the Spaniards and Russians, they fought to protect an ideal many Americans take for granted, democracy.

The War and its Causes

In the early 1900's, Spain was ruled by the monarchy of Alfonso XIII. His family, the Bourbons, had ruled since the 18th century. However, Spain had fallen on hard times. The Spanish-American War of the 1890's had created unrest in the once strong kingdom. There were calls for social, land and economic reforms. In order to restore the peace after a Moroccan revolt, King Alfonso made his army's general, Miguel Primo de Rivera, a dictator. Primo successfully stopped the rebellion, but his new power and the suspension of the constitution intensified an already serious situation. Soon, the dictator's rule came to an end "when in 1930," as Davis (1975) wrote, "Primo's brother officers turned against him, he resigned and went into exile in Paris."(p. 3)

After Primo's resignation, Alfonso again took over the government. In the next year, liberals and socialists called for a republican form of government. In 1931, no longer able to control his country, Alfonso ordered new parliamentary elections. The Republican candidates won, and the king was forced into exile.

The elections began the short era of the Spanish republic. Though the democratic style was popular, there remained powerful conservatives in Spain, supporters of the monarchy and of the Catholic Church. The republic alienated these people by ending the Church's role in education and the Cortes, Spanish parliament. (Davis, 1975)

The Republic gained in popularity in the next few years until in 1933, the CEDA party developed. The Confederacion Espanola de Derechas Autonomas (Spanish Confederation of Autonomous Rightist Parties) exposed the failings of the republic. Davis described the republic:

It had begun some land reform, increased wages, given self-government to Catalonia, established religious freedom, built a record number of new schools, expanded public works programs, and reformed the military. But in the process it had outraged the army, embittered the Catholics, frightened the middle class, and disappointed the masses of poor people who were its natural supporters by not moving fast enough or far enough to give them land and food.(p. 92)

Due to the outrage, the president of the Republic, Niceto Alcala Zamora, mandated an election. The Republicans or Popular Front won the elections again. Their victory sparked riots, protests and violence on both sides of the political issues.

Meanwhile, Spain's military and CEDA was planning a rebellion against the Republic. The soldiers rallied around their leader Francisco Franco. The relatively small revolt turned into a large civil war. In October, 1936, Franco headed the Council of National Defense, the rebel or Nationalist government.

Although, the rebellion began in southern Spain, there were small uprisings to the north. Despite the growing Nationalist or Rebel forces, many Spaniards remained supportive of the republican government. The Republicans or Loyalists maintained their strength and were often able to successfully battle against the rebels. (Hills, 1992) The Nationalists gained control of Morocco, north-central Spain, and the southwestern section of Spain, near the Portuguese border. On the other side, the Republicans maintained their grip over the Mediterranean coast, Madrid, Catalonia, and the Basque area. (Davis, 1973)
Areas under Nationalist control in early 1937
The Rebel forces quickly became strong due to foreign support. Germany saw the Civil War as a way to test new weapons. Italy's fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, pledged support through his men. He sent 70,000 soldiers to fight for the Nationalists in Spain. (Goldston, 1972)

Republican forces were not as lucky to have foreign support. The Soviet Union gave a little, but others countries preferred to maintain neutrality. Unfortunately, due to a lack of support, the Loyalist forces weakened and were unable to withstand the ever constant fighting. (Tucker, 1986)

Soon, the Rebels took control of more and more Republican lands. In 1938, they gained control of Catalonia, the northeast corner of Spain. In early 1939, their march continued south to the central area of Spain around Madrid. There the republicans tried but could not defend their capital.

Finally, in March 1939, the Loyalists were defeated in Madrid. The war ended officially in April, after three years of bitter, hate-filled fighting. Nearly three hundred thousand men and women had died, but that was only a part of the total death rate resulting from the war and its aftermath. When Generalisimo Francisco Franco became the official dictator of Spain, he imprisoned supporters of the Republic, although they had stood behind a legal institution. His new fascist government was created illegally and governed for thirty five more years.

The Abraham Lincoln Brigade

The threat of Fascism inspired young Americans to journey to the Iberian Peninsula in order to fight General Franco and his rebel forces. The volunteers came from all over America. Many outsiders considered the members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to be Communists. In reality, some were. They were dissatisfied with the state of American economics during the Great Depression and were interested in the idea of a new system. Communist organizations often paid the price of the trip to Spain for their members.

These young men and women differed greatly, their occupations ranged from idealistic jobs, like art or poetry, to more blue-collar jobs, such as mechanics. (Katz and Crawford, 1989) There was no clear definition of Abe Lincoln Brigaders. Some were fleeing the hardships of rural America while others were simply seeking new and grand adventures.(Lawson,1989) Whatever their motivation, Lincolns believed in their cause and were eager to assist in the fight against fascism.

The 2,800 Lincoln Brigaders were uniquely American. Their group was racially and economically integrated from the beginning, with members hailing from the streets of Brooklyn, from college campuses, and Native American reservations. In fact, the first black man to ever lead an integrated American military force was Oliver Law, a commander of the Lincoln Brigade who died during the Spanish Civil War. (Katz and Crawford, 1989)

In 1939, the interested volunteers began to organize. Some traveled to New York where they bought uniforms in the army-navy surplus stores. Because it was illegal to fight in a foreign war, they disguised themselves as tourists and left New York aboard the S.S. Normandie in 1936. The ship docked in France where the men and women took a train to the base of the Pyrenees Mountains. From there, Americans trekked through the mountains until they reached Catalonia, an autonomia ( a state) in northeastern Spain. Figueras, a Spanish town on the border became the center for organization, but the headquarters for all International Brigades was in Albacete, in southern Spain. (Lawson, 1989)

The number of American volunteers arriving in Spain rapidly grew from the ninety-six original people to nearly four hundred. They gave themselves the name, Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Despite the numbers, the soldiers were not ready for combat. Most had never fired a rifle, let alone seen real military training. Quickly, Robert Merriman was put in charge of training the International Brigade. He whipped them into shape and prepared the soldiers for battle.(Lawson, 1989)

The first call for the now four-hundred and fifty-man Abe Lincoln Brigade was in February 1937. The Republicans were looking to keep the important supply road between Valencia and Madrid open. The Lincolns were unable to defend the road because they were fighting alone. The battle in the Jarama Valley continued until June of 1937 and neither side left victorious. The first battle of the Lincolns was a blow to their numbers as 300 volunteers were killed or wounded. (Palmer, 1978)

In July of the same year, the Rebels advanced on the capital of Spain, Madrid. The Loyalists wished to divide rebel armies by capturing the small town of Brunete. The International Brigades were used to reinforce the successful Loyalists. However, in the process of going to the town, half of the Lincoln Brigade was killed. Fortunately, the Loyalists had captured the city. Unfortunately, it remained in Republican hands for only a short time before falling to the nationalists.

The next two battles in which the Lincoln Brigade participated took place in the late summer and early fall of 1937. They fought in Saragossa and in Belchite where the Republicans were victorious. (Katz and Crawford, 1989)

Another important victory for the Republicans came in December at Tereul. The town was occupied by the Rebels, but the Loyalists were expecting to take it back and keep their army united. In January, though, the city fell again to the Rebels and both sides lost large numbers of men to violence and winter extremes. (Katz and Crawford, 1989)

As 1938 went on, the Republican forces began to lose. The International Brigade numbers were declining sharply as were the numbers of Spanish supporters. No longer was there any hope or optimism among the Loyalist troops. The greater artillery, larger forces, and supplies of Franco's forces began to take their toll on the Loyalists. In the spring of 1938, the Prime Minister of Spain, Juan Negrin, decided to withdraw all foreign soldiers from the war. (Davis, 1973)

Soon after, the Lincolns disbanded. They left Spain as heroes and were praised and paraded through the streets. Of the nearly three thousand who fought, "less than 450 American volunteers remained in Spain," wrote Katz and Crawford. (p. 57)

The male soldiers and female ambulance drivers and nurses were remembered and honored through monuments and memories. They had believed in their cause and given all they had to fight Franco and the growing fascist regime.

The Spanish Civil War was a fight between good and evil. Unlike most movies, the good side did not win. Instead of a peaceful republic, Spain turned into a war torn country with no identity. It became just another dictatorship of the mid-1900's. Until 1975, Spain remained a country without freedom. Now, it is once again a democracy where tradition reigns peacefully.

*****

Abraham Lincoln Brigade

Harry Belafonte Pays Tribute to U.S. Vets Who Fought Fascism in Spain

Democracy Now, Monday, April 30th, 2007

Hundreds gathered yesterday in New York to honor an exhibit at the museum of the City of New York called "Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War." Across the street at the Museo Del Barrio, one of the speakers at the event was the musician, actor and activist, Harry Belafonte. We play an excerpt of his address. [includes rush transcript]

0. Harry Belafonte, musician, actor and activist.
0.

AMY GOODMAN: We turn now to the event yesterday honoring Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. As hundreds gathered to honor the exhibit at the museum of the City of New York called "Facing Fascism," across the street at the Museo del Barrio, one of the speakers was the actor, humanitarian, singer Harry Belafonte.

0. HARRY BELAFONTE: One of the great rewards in being a part of the today's ceremony was the knowledge that, having just turned eighty, that I would be sharing this platform mostly with people who are much older than I am. But even in that delight, one cannot overlook the fact that all who are gathered here represent an important part of the American soul, an important part of what this nation is really about.
0.
0. When I entered into the building just a few moments ago, a lady thrust in my hand a button that I thought would be far more fitting than a carnation. And it just simply says, "It's a man's world, until women vote." It's about today. It's about the climate of our times. It's about where we stand as a result of the remarkable sacrifices made by valiant men and women, who in the dawning of the twentieth century did much to shape the idea of an America that we've all aspired to since their time. The workers of America did much in coming together to try to shape a society that would be forever devoted to the dignity of the working class and would never -- and would try to make a nation that would be forever conscious about its diversity, about its opportunity, and would forever be committed to the idea that we lived in a world where our humanity should be the first item of our consideration, and all else after.
0.
0. When I was a youth, much was said about what went on in Spain in the war in 1936, when it started, and in 1937, when the Lincoln Brigade and the international forces from around the world came together to fight against fascism in Spain, and the great price and the great heroism that was displayed during that struggle by the men and women of the world who tried to greet the dawning of fascism in all of its vicious aspects. It was they who clearly alerted the world to the fact that the twentieth century would not be a century of calm, that unfortunately it would not be a century of peace, that the military-industrial complex was very much on the rise, and that all people, all decent people in the world, would have to be vigilant about what this union of tyranny would visit upon the nations of the world.
0.
0. It is almost ironic, but cannot be viewed without note. The last thing that Dwight D. Eisenhower said, or one of the last things in his presidency, at the end of his presidency, was, he warned that the American citizens, of all the things they must be mindful of was that they should be vigilant and mindful of what was going on with the military-industrial complex in this nation, that it is an entity that we should be most cautious of. And no words could have been more prophetic.
0.
0. It was not the first time such utterances were made. They were made constantly by all the great union leaders and all the great forces of the early part of that century that did much to try to shape the unification of a world that was emerging to find a place of dignity and a place of commonality. It was in place where colonialism for so long had dominated the affairs of the nations of the world -- Africans, Asians, people in Latin America and the indigenous. It was a place here in America where workers were constantly battling for a decent wage and a decent way of life in the midst of those who are stimulated by greed and avarice, would further try to diminish the dignities of workers and would try to do what they have done so consistently.
0.
0. That force is still in our midst and has been very glaringly demonstrated by what has happened with the Bush administration and what they have done to this nation over the last few years. I made an utterance not too long ago describing Bush as the greatest tyrant in the world. I was somewhat hasty. I was somewhat hasty in making that remark, because the truth of the matter is is that since I had not met all the great tyrants in the world, I'm not sure that he could be number one. But he's a damn good candidate.
0.
0. And as the people in the world struggle to lift the weight of oppression off of their shoulders and their backs, it is indeed a time for all of us to be of heart, for all of us to feel stimulated by what the future promises. As the left struggles to find its course for the twenty-first century, as it struggles to come together to find a purpose and to find goals that can tie us together in a much more compelling way than we've been able to do up to now, we have promise in our midst when you look at the kinds of gains that are being made by the workers and the people in Latin America, throughout Bolivia and throughout Venezuela, that the revolution in Cuba, as it continues to try to build and find its way into a greater society, still sustains and still gives hope to people all over the world.
0.
0. And as I move across the length and breadth of this country, much of my time is spent with what Frantz Fanon would call "the wretched of the earth." I spend a great deal of time among men and women who serve in the prisons of America. I'm awakened to their plight, because Paul Robeson and Doctor DuBois and others warned of this moment and told us to be vigilant and to be aware of all that would take place as we continue to struggle against the forces of fascism and against the compelling agenda of the right.
0.
0. Dr. Martin Luther King once said to me, when coming from an encounter with gangs in the ghettos of America, he said, "You know, I share more with the young men and women in struggle in the ghettos of our nation than I do with those who have attained lofty heights and who delight in their middle-class pleasures. I would gladly trade 500 prisoners in the ranks of our struggle, and I would in exchange give you 15,000 Baptist ministers."
0.
0. And so, with that rather curious and interesting remark, there came a time when I thought that the best work that I could possibly engage myself in would be to go into the darkest places of American society, to go into the heart of the Latino community, of the Native American community, where the greatest suffering can be revealed, and to go into the heart of the black community across the length and breadth of this nation and speak to the young. And although for a long time, in the last twenty-five-odd years, one could have said how youth seemed to have lost its way, somehow retreated as if the choice was exclusively theirs, but those who preceded the young of this generation did much in blundering in the way in which we passed the baton. So busy were we moving into the new successes that the Civil Rights Movement had unfolded for us that we abandoned the revolution. And while we filled seats in the legislative halls of America, while we filled new places in the economic affairs of America, we left our communities. And our young people for a long time did not know quite where to go and in the midst of their own pain and degradation did what we had to do back in the 1930s. They had to turn to themselves and look to themselves for solutions to the needs of the day. And it is in their midst that so many young leaders sit and are studying and are emerging, that I think will be very encouraging for what the future of America will look like.
0.
0. When I go across America, on the reservations of this country among Native Americans, and listen to what young Indian men and women are saying, when I move across the length and breadth of this country into California among workers, the Latino youth and newly arriving immigrants, what they have to say, when I move among the communities of the black underclass and I listen to what the young people there have to say, I am heartened and I'm encouraged that the legacy that has been left to us by the men and women who so valiantly struggled in the early parts of the twentieth century, the examples set by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and all anti-fascist forces, has indeed not died. Those flames of hope have been reawakened in the hearts and the minds of our young people, and they're coming together, they're speaking, they're seeking, they're looking for leadership, they're looking for answers. And each time I go among them and speak about the great noble things of our past, they take heart, their eyes flash brightness, their minds become awake, and they begin to dig into the blueprints of their history, and they find courage and they find purpose.
0.
0. I stand and I speak in their name, when I say to the Lincoln Brigade, thank you so much for what you have given all of us, me in my youth and the youth of today. Without your courage, without your vigilance, without your insight, America could never have hung on as tenaciously as we have done to the things that are decent about this country. It is your example, it is that what you have given us, that has helped guide us through some of the darkest times in the history of this nation.
0.
0. We defeated Hitler, but we did not defeat fascism. We defeated McCarthy, but we did not defeat fascism. And now, as George W. Bush sits in the wake of his own destruction, we are still going to have to deal with fascism, because it is not easily killed, it is not easily crushed. We still have work to do. We must still be vigilant. And all we need to do when we have moments of doubt is to look back at what was given us by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the valiant sacrifices that were made by them to know what we have to do in our time.
0.
0. Robeson, when I visited him in his last days in Philadelphia, when I asked him about the journey that he had been on, I asked him whether with all that he had achieved and the sacrifices that he had made, did he in the final analysis feel that it was all worth the pain and the anguish. And he said in a halting voice, "Never doubt the fact that the path that I have taken has served me well. It was an honorable one and one that if I had to do again, I would do it all over again." He said, "It is not the victories that we may have gained or the losses we may have experienced, but it is in fact the journey itself that makes the difference. It is the men and the women and the courageous moments that are revealed to us that makes the journey towards freedom, towards human dignity, a battle and a journey worth taking, and I'm glad I was on it."
0.
0. He said, "But I must tell you something. No matter what we may have achieved in our lifetime, the generations who come after us will always feel that we never did enough." Well, as true as that may be, he also added this. He said, "But in the final analysis, no matter what is said, each generation must be responsible for itself. And in the midst of my time and my youth, when I volunteered to serve in the United States armed forces during the Second World War as a munitions loader in the United States Navy, and then subsequently coming from that service into an America that instead of giving the veterans of our time the rewards that we deserved, having been victorious against the armies of fascism, we came back to an America that was more cruel than ever. Segregation was fanned as a new flame. The tyrants of our time came to the fore to try to maintain business as usual. And we said there will be no such -- we cannot accept such an agenda. And as we looked around the world, we found others in Asia and Africa, who also thought they would be rewarded by the success that had been achieved in the battlefields of the world against fascism, but all those nations" --
0.
AMY GOODMAN: Harry Belafonte speaking this weekend, honoring the new exhibit at the City of New York called "Facing Fascism: New York and the Spanish Civil War."

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