the volunteer, march 2000
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...and that government of the people,by the people, and for the people,shall not perish from the earth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
TheVolunteerJOURNAL OF THE VETERANS OF THE ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE
Th eVo l u n t e e rVol. XXII, No. 2 Spring 2000
WWe Me Must Remembust Remember!er!
NNeew Yw Yorork Ak Aprpr il 30il 30WWe Me M ust Remembust Remember!er!
HHonors Fonors Fighighting Sting Spirpir it ait attBBaay Ay Arrea Vea Vet s Reuni onet s Reuni on
Peter Glazers sensational theatrical pre-sentation We Must Remember! which
headlines the annual New York reunion onApril 30, left a crowd of 900 spectators simul-
taneously cheering and weeping at the showspremier performance before Bay Area veter-ans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade on
February 27. Based onthe writings of Spanish
Civil War participantsand observers, together
with the wars legendarysongs, as well as new
Continued on page 5
TThe Judge Whe Judge Who Indicho IndicttededPPinoinochet tchet to So Sppeak aeak at NY Vt NY VetsetsEEvvenent At Aprpril 28, 30,il 28, 30, page 4page 4
Sergeant Edward CarterHonored, page 2
Boys of Williamsburg, page 6
New Robert Capa Photos Found,page 8
Sam Walters Photos, page 24Vets and supporters at the unveiling of the IB monument in BritishColumbia, Canada, (l-r) Tom Kozar, Rosaleen Ross, Joe Barrett, DaveSmith, Jack Harman, and Arne Knutsen.
PHOTO
BY
RICHARD
BERMACK
A MA Monumenonument in Bt in B.C.,.C., page 12page 12
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2 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
Sgt. EdwardCarterHonored inSacramento
The only Lincoln vet toreceive a Congressional
Meda l of Hon or, Sgt.
Edw ard A. Carter, Jr.,
received special recogni-
tion last February w hen
the California Military
Museum in Sacramento u nveiled a special exhibit as
par t of the celebration of Black History Month .
Carter's h eroic exploits occurr ed in 1945 in
Germany, but because of the army's discriminatory poli-
cies towar d African Am erican soldiers, he received only
the Distinguished Service Cross. In 1997, Presiden t Bill
Clinton m oved to rem edy that injustice by aw ardingCarter the Med al of Hon or. Carter died in Los Angeles
in 1963 at the age of 47.
Besides the racial prejudice he faced in the arm y,
Carter's service in Spa in had m ade h im susp ect to mili-
tary intelligence officers because of the Lincoln
Brigade's ties to the Com mu nist Party. Indeed, in 1949,
the arm y rejected his request for reenlistment. That
blacklisting, part of the Truman era witchhunting,
abrup tly ended his military career.
Carters daugh ter-in-law, Allene Carter, has led a
long crusad e to have his military record corrected.
The VolunteerJournal of the
Veterans of theAbraham Lincoln Brigade
an ALBA publication
799 Broadway, Rm 227New York, NY 10003
(212) 674-5552
Editorial BoardPeter Carrol l Leonard LevensonFraser Ottanelli Abe Smorodin
and Bill Susman
Design ProductionRichard Bermack
Editorial AssistanceAnne Taibleson and Ann Fraser
ProofreadingNancy Van Zwalenburg
Submission of Manuscripts
Please send manuscripts by E-mail or on disk.
E-mail:volunteer@rb68.com
JJoin the Doin the DiscussioniscussionOnlineOnline
Dur ing the p ast few mon ths, ALBAs on-line d iscus-
sion grou p has had a 20% increase in m embership,
pred ominantly due to the interest of Europ eans who su b-
scribed to the site. The wor k of the ALBA mem bers pr esent
at the Mad rid Forum on the International Brigades last
Novem ber has encouraged many newcomers to partici-
pate in the list.
There are currently 190 members, with new sign-upsevery w eek. This list is the on ly pred ominately English
language discussion group on the subject, although we d o
accept an d encourage contributions in other langu ages,
mainly Spanish an d French. By far the largest prop ortion
of members are in the United States, althou gh the
Europ ean contingent cur rently repr esents 25%, with Spain
the largest contribu tor, followed closely by the Un ited
Kingdom . The p ostings, or contributions, are circulated
as far and wide as Au stralia, New Zealand and Finland
and as close to home as Mexico and Canada.
The information circulated is on a variety of subjects,
from requ ests for d etails on specific battles or volun teers to
questions or comments concerning interpretations of the
Civil War and/ or works of famou s historians. One mem -
ber recently went to th e troub le of sharing h is extensive
bibliograp hy w ith list member s. There w as even a recent
exchange on the battle-worthiness of the Mosin-Nagant
rifle, used by m any Repu blican army un its, including the
XVth Brigade.
There are a few ru les govern ing the use of the discus-sion site: messages must be signed by the sender an d mu st
relate to some asp ect of the Span ish Civil War or to the his-
tory or legacy of the International Brigades. All messages
are previewed by the list moderator to ensure that th ey
abide by th ese guidelines. Members may join or leave the
mailing list at their convenience. The names of mem bers,
available only to the list m odera tors, are kep t strictly confi-
dential.
To participat e, simp ly send a blank e-mail message to:
join-alba@forums.nyu.edu. A passwor d w ill be assignedto enable you to read archived messages. Questions can be
directed to the list mod erator via e-mail at: owner-
alba@forums.nyu.edu.Selected correspondence from t he list is reprinted in
the Volunteer as Lett ers to ALBA. See page 3.
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THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 3
Let ter s to ALBADear brothers:
I am a Puertorican stud ying the Spanish Civil War for
the last four year s, as part of a d octoral thesis. In the book
Un m exicano en la Guerr a Civil Espaola (A mexican
in the Span ish Civil War) by Nstor Snchez Hern nd ez, I
found a ph oto where the author mentioned that theLincoln Brigade was composed of americans, cubans and
puertoricans. In another book, Voluntarios americanos en
la Guerra Civil Espa ola (Am erican volunteers in the
Spanish Civil War), by Cecil Eby, on page 57, the author
mentions that more than a dozen pu ertoricans were mem-
bers of the Cubans Column, Antonio Guiteras, of the
Lincoln Brigade. On page 45 of the last book, the au thor
men tions that all members of the Brigades gav e their
nam es, nationalities, ph otos, and filled out a qu estionaire
in Albacete, Spain.
I und erstand that for all puertoricans it mu st be an
honor to know the nam es, particularities and participa-
tions of their brothers in the Spanish Civil War, and ifpossible the photos of them.
ateneoespm ex@netservice.com.m x
Jos Alejand ro Or tiz Carrin
k-Bauza, Ulyses
k-Carbonell Cuevas, Pablo
Carbonell, Fernando
k-Carbonell Cuevas, Jorge
Carbonell, Victor A .
Cofresi, Manu el
Colon Velez, Baudilio
Cuesta Enamorado, Jose
k-Delgado Delgado,
Carmelo
Delgado, Emilio
k-Falu, Natividad
Garcia, Angel Ocasio
Gotay, Ruben (Montalro)
Gravel, Fernand ez (uncon-firmed)
Iduarte, Andre
Lopez, Jules Her man
k-Martinez, Felipe
Moll Gonzalez, Fernando
Moll Gonzalez, Francisco
Pacheo Padre, Antonio
Queipo Sanchez, Pablo
(Puerto Rican?)
Rivera, Ferdinand
Sanchez Vasqu ez, Adolfo
Seno Martinez, Pedro
Urbina, Cesar
Usera, Vincent (born in
Puerto Rico)
Yepes Manuel, Victor
I hope this information will
be helpful. I am looking for
add itional information on
all of these volunteers. Thematerial will appear in the
ALBA Biographical
Dictionary,
Christopher Brooks
Brooksarp@cs.com
By Moe Fishman
With the dw indling num ber of International
Brigade veterans all over the world causing diminished
capacity to function, several organizations have sprung
up consisting of friend s (and relatives) of the I.B. There
are currently such organizations in England , Ireland,Denmark, Germany, Poland, Bulgaria, Russia and
France. We are all awar e of the Association of Amigos
de Brigados International/ Friends of the International
Brigade (AABI) in Spain. Ana Perez, its presiden t,
writes that she is in touch with all of these associations.
It occurs to the w riter that friends and r elatives of the
Abraham Lincoln Brigade should form similar organiza-
tions in this count ry and become ALBA associates.
With our membership dow n and posts of veterans
dow n to just the N ew York and Bay Area (San
Francisco), the infusion of friends an d r elatives wou ld
give us a shot in the arm.
This from Bobby Hall in Chicago: Last night theChicago Friend s of the Lincoln Brigade co- spon sored a
pr ogram at the Un iversity of Chicago on the occasion of
African-American History Month. The main topic was
Langston Hu ghes and his experiences in Spain. It w as
attended by a m ix of about half students an d h alf com-
mu nity old-timers. There was a lively exchange. We
reached some international stud ents and w e sold some
books.
John Kailin of Madison, Wisconsin, tells me that a sa resu lt of large p ublic participation in the su ccessful
effort to erect the monu men t in that city, such a friend s
and relatives organization is being formed. Would like
to hear o f interest in su ch a pr oject in you r area. For
mor e information on h ow to becom e an ALBA associ-
ate drop us a n ote at 799 Broadw ay or look us up on
the web at http:/ / ww w.alba-valb.org
While waiting to get into the curr ent Wood y Allen
mov ie, I wand ered into the film My Dog Skip . Imagine
my su rp rise! The father of the young h ero of the film
(actor Kevin Bacon) had lost a leg in the Span ish Civil
War. Later in the film som eone says, He shou ld have
gotten a medal. How abou t that!
On December 9, 1999, in N ew York, our com rad e
Martin Balter calls me all excited: Moe you have to
watch Bill Beutel, the comm entator on Ch annel 7, ABC,tomorrow night at 6 p.m. Its going to be about me and
the war in Spain . I called a nu mber of peop le even
thou gh I was a bit skeptical, I admit. Sur e enough ,
toward the end of the news report, on comes Marty
being interviewed on wh y he volunteered to fight
Franco and wh at he did th ere, interspersed w ith shots of
the war. Later he told me how it happen ed. Seems there
is a young lady w ho lives in a hou se down the street
from him in th e Bronx. He got to talking to her and
Continued on page 10
Bri gadier New sBri gadier New s
Response from Christopher Brooks, ALBA Biographical
Dictionary . The following is a list of volun teers identified
as Puerto Ricans:
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4 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
B
altasar Gar zn , the fiercely
independ ent Spanish m agistrate
wh o defied his own conserva-tive government to bring criminal
charges against former Chilean dicta-
tor Au gusto Pinochet, will present the
third ann ual ALBA-Bill Susm an
Lecture on Friday, Ap ril 28, at N ew
York Un iversitys Law School, a pro -
gram co-sponsored by N YUs King
Jua n Car los I of Spa in Center . In h is
first pub lic visit to the United States,
Seor Garzn will also app ear at the
ALBA-VALB reu nion at the Borou gh
of Manhattan Comm un ity College
on Sund ay, April 30.We are all eager to meet Seor
Garzn and to encourage h is efforts,
remar ked VALB national officer Abe
Smorodin.
The 43-year old Spanish judge cap-
tured international attention in October
1998 when his criminal investigations
of hum an rights violations led him to
issue an arrest warrant for Pinochet
while the former head of state was vis-
iting England for medical treatment.
Charging the ex-dictator with
crimes against hum anity, including
genocide an d terrorism, and involve-
men t in the deaths of over 4000
people, Garzn requested the English
government to extradite Pinochet to
Madrid for further interrogation and
trial. The request startled m any legal
experts by claiming that n ew interna-
tional human rights treaties no longer
give government leaders imm unity
from charges involving v iolations of
human rights.
The governmen t of Chile, inwhich Pinochet enjoys legal protection
as a sena tor for life, immed iately chal-
lenged Garzns claims. Two weeks
after receiving Garzns warran t,
Britains High Court ruled that
Pinochet was imm une from arrest as a
head of state at the time the alleged
crimes were committed , but insisted
that the d ictator remain in custody
pend ing further appeals. Meanw hile,
Spains conservative governmen t, led
by Prime M inister Jose Maria Aznar,
disavowed Garzns p roceedings,though Aznar explained to the gov-
ernm ent of Chile that he lacked the
legal power to block the arrest warrant.
When Garzns app eal moved to
Britains highest cou rt, how ever, the
Law Lords of the H ouse of Lords
overturned the initial jud gment, rul-
ing in November 1998 that Pinochet
was not imm un e from international
law. Then, two w eeks later, the Law
Lords set aside their ow n ru ling,
acknow ledging that their initial deci-
sion h ad been tainted by the p ossiblebias of one of its jud ges wh o had an
indirect relation with Amnesty
International, an organization eager to
see Pinochet brough t to trial.
While Pinochet remained und er
house arrest near London , the Law
Lords reconsidered the case in March
1999, finally conclud ing th at Pinochet
does not enjoy immun ity for his
crimes against hum anity, but the same
court substantially reduced the n um -
ber of crimes for wh ich he could be
charged . This decision, perhaps the
most mom entous in international crimi-
nal law since World War II, established
a clear and p otentially wide ranging
precedent that heads of states can be
held accountable for their actions w hile
in office and despite any imm unity they
obtain from their own state.
As the British government pro-
ceeded slowly and reluctantly toward
extradicting Pinochet to Spain, the
general app ealed the d ecision, arguing
that med ical problems made an y legalproceedings against him unfair. An
examination by British doctors sup -
por ted Pinochets claims to
incomp etence. Although other coun-
tries, includ ing France, Belgium, an d
Switzerland, joined Spain in challeng-
ing that report, the British government
finally freed Pinochet from hou se
arrest in March 2000 and p ermitted
him to retu rn to Ch ile. There, hum an
rights groups have vowed to continue
the case against the former d ictator.
In app roving the release ofPinochet, Britains Home Secretary
Jack Straw neverth eless acknow l-
edged the triump h of Jud ge Garzns
legal principles. It is established
beyond question the principle that
those who commit hum an rights abus-
es in one country cannot assume they
are safe elsewh ere. This preceden t
has already led to formal proceedings
against Hisene Habre, former presi-
den t of Chad , now living in Senegal,
on charges of torture.
The real reason for doing th is isnot vengeance, observed Reed Brody
of the advocacy group H um an Rights
Watch. Rather, he said, it warns peo-
ple who are there in power now , who
havent yet comm itted these crimes,
Watch Ou t! Dont coun t on getting
aw ay with th is.
Jud ge Garzns involvem ent in
the Pinochet case began in 1996 when
he opened a criminal investigation of
the d isappearance of several Span ish
citizens in Argentina during a period
of military rule betw een 1976 and
1983. His research led h im to conclude
that the Geneva Conventions and
other intern ational law offer no sanc-
tua ry for criminals accused of serious
crimes against hum anity and th at time
limits in su ch cases do not exist. He
soon issued charges against more than
100 Argentine military and police offi-
cials and issued international arrest
warran ts against 11 senior military
officers. One Ar gentine cap tain,
Ad olfo Scilingo, now imp risoned forpar ticipating in mass executions and
tortu re, offered evidence of an elabo-
rate netw ork of international
cooperation in such crimes, involving
officials of Argentina, Ch ile, Uru guay,
Brazil, and Paraguay, know n as
Operation Condor.
Although Judge Garzns assidu -
ous investigations have drawn criticism
Spanish Judge in Pinochet CaseHeadlines April EventsBy Peter Carroll
Continued on page 7
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THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 5
mu sic and p oetry, the program tracedthe bold and p assionate story of politi-
cal activism from the 1930s to last
years demonstrations against the
World Trad e Organ ization in Seattle.
Members of the vigorou s San
Francisco Mime Troup e, led by m usi-
cal director Bruce Barthol, brough t a
gripping energy to th eir roles and
mad e music that pulsed through the
excited au dience. Barthol is bringing a
contingent to New York in Ap ril ,
where they w ill share billing with vet-
eran performers Arlo Guthrie, Pete
Seeger, and Tao Rodriguez-Seeger.
Spanish Jud ge Baltazar Garzon w ill
also appear.
The stage show stresses the links
between events of the past and the liv-
ing popu lar memory, a theme that res-onated all day as the north ern
California activist commu nity pa id
homage to the 17 vets who attended
the affair. David Smith, Bay Ar ea Post
leader, and Peter Carroll, chair of
ALBA, acted as m asters of ceremony
and rem inded the enthu siastic audi-
ence of the connections between past
and pr esent. A letter from th e Span ish
film actor An tonio Band eras, wh ich
end orsed the vets efforts to raise
mon ey for political causes, served to
evoke th e Lincoln Brigades tradition
of supp orting anti-fascist peoples
around the world.
Smith and Carroll explained that
this year the local post will sup port at
least four m ajor p rojects: the n eedy
veterans of the Interna tional Brigades
living in eastern Europe; the Soler
Pediatric Hospital in Hav ana, Cuba,
wh ich h as an international reputation
for its treatment of ailing children ; the
School of the Americas Watch, w hich
has organized p rotest demonstrationsat Fort Benning, Georgia, seeking to
close the m ilitary bases program of
instructing Latin Am erican m ilitary
police in th e art of violent interroga-
tions; and Global Exchan ge, one of the
organizations involved in protesting
the WTO.
The Bay Area Post acknow ledged
the d eath of four m embers last year,
nu rse Ruth Davidow , vets Sid Levine
and Richard Cloke, and Sophie Smith.The 17 living veterans, includ ing visi-
tors Maurice Constant from Toronto
and Julia Tello, wh o as a 16-year-old
militia volunteer fought with the
Thaelman battalion, drew a thund erous
ovation. The veterans also toasted
Treasurer Esther Hon Brown , who is
stepping dow n from the world of high
finance, with a bou quet of flowers.
Then, as a solo trump et played the
soft slow melody of Venga Jaleo, a
wom ans voice began to speak the
famous lines of John Sayles: One of
the m ajor obstacles in the w ay of
hum an progress, of human u nder-
Continued on page 7
BBaay Ay Arrea Reunionea ReunionContinued from page 1
Esther Hon Brown retires as Bay AreaPost treasurer.
Spanish Brigadista Julia Tello (l), whofought with the Thaelman Battalion,attended with her daughter, Bay AreaAssociate Victoria Parraga.
Surviving Bay Area vets take the stagePHOTOS
BY
RICHARD
BERMACK
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6 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
By Abe Smorodin
TT
here are shelves above my desk
in the office at 799 Broad way
that have accumu lated all the
detritus of 30 years of VALB activities.It was an eyesore so I decided to go
through all that junk, d iscard w hat
wasnt needed and find a prop er place
for usable material. And that is where
I found the accompan ying picture.
The aging process sharpens ones
long-term m emory. And as I looked at
that p icture, in my mind s eye, next to
the Stone br others, to Eli Biegelman ,
and Jerry Weinberg, I saw th e others:
Saullie Wellman, Lou Gordon, Joe and
Leo Gordon . We were the Boys of
Williamsbu rg; no, we w ere the Youn gComm un ists of Williamsbu rg. I wish I
had the talent of a nov elist so I could
adequa tely tell their stories.
Our hangou t was the Y.C.L. club
in a loft on Tompkins Avenu e. In this
period of rampant un employment, it
served as a second home for us. Our
evenings were usually filled with ani-
mated discussions of world events;
the evils of social dem ocracy or those
Buchar inite traitors on trial in the
U.S.S.R. Those w ere the days.
There was a w restling mat that
was mostly used by the Gordon broth-
ers, Joe and Leo. They w ent at it w ith
such gu sto, so ferocious, it was painful
to watch. A few years later Leo
Gordon an d a Finnish machine-gun
unit were surroun ded in the hills
above Caspe in the Aragon. As a run -
ner for the Mac-Paps, I was given the
message that th e Battalion was retreat-
ing and that we should get out
qu ickly. I couldn t get to Leo and his
comrad es in time, and since then Ivebeen haun ted by that m emory. Joe
Gordon su rvived Spain. During
World War II he was a seaman on a
merchant ship. A N azi U-boat torpe-
doed his ship on th e perilous
Murmansk run and all hands were
lost.
Back to the Tomp kins Avenu e
clubhouse. Tuesdays were sacrosanct.
Thats wh en ou r weekly YCL meet-
ings were held. No excuses accepted.
Well, one Tuesd ay, being passionate
mu sic lovers, Lou Gordon an d I went
to Lewisohn stadium to hear the N .Y.
Philharmon ic and no kidd ingwe
were expelled from the League. But at
the next executive comm ittee meeting
I had some ap prop riate quotes from
Lenin and ou r membership was
restored!
In the ear ly 1930s there w as a
Soviet novel called The Little Golden
Calf by Ilf and Petrov. It is long ou t of
print. It is and remains one of the fun-
niest books I ever read. Jack Freeman
and I read p assages from it, almost at
rand om, and w ed laugh un til our
guts hu rt. Jack was killed d uring a
quiet day at the front. And he w asnt
even reaching for a bu tterfly.Now , the three Stone brothers.
Look again at the p icture. As far as I
know it is the only image that we h ave
of them together.
Brun ete w as the first large-scale
offensive the Repu blic could w age.
The Ejercito Popu lar had been bu ilt up
to an effective fighting force. The
Madrid front had been stabilized and
Brun ete was the place where the
Republic thought, vainly, that the
siege could be lifted. Casu alties were
enormous; within a few hou rs both
Joe and Sam Stone w ere killed. Ou r
commissar Steve Nelson had to physi-
cally restrain H y from d ashing
toward s the Fascist lines. Shortly
thereafter Hy w as sent home.
Jerry Weinberg was my best
friend. My son is named for him. We
were rabid Dod ger fans, though root-
ing for a perennial last place team w as
no fun . Wed go to Ebbetts Field, not
far from Jerrys house, and wa tch our
team, u sually lose. There is something
to be said for nostalgia. Jerry m ade it
through Spain. Comes World War II,
he enlisted in the Army Air Corps,
where he w as a tail-gun ner on a B-17.
The squad ron was based in England ,from wh ere it took part in one of the
great air-raids over Ploesti, Rum ania,
the N azis major source of oil. Jerry s
plane was hit and cripp led but was
able to land safely in neutra l Tur key.
This meant that u nd er the Geneva
Convention he w as entitled to intern-
ment and all the perks that went w ith
TThe Bhe Booyys of Ws of Williamsburilliamsburgg
Continued on page 7
Hy Stone, Eli Biegelman, Joe Stone, Jerry Weinberg, and Sam Stone
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THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 7
stand ing, is cynicism. And then a
second wom ans voice respond s:
What about the gu ys in the Lincoln
Brigade?
And so the program raced for-
ward , blending the word s of authors
like Alvah Bessie, Edwin Rolfe, and
Pablo Neru da w ith powerful rend i-
tions of Freiheit, Jarama Valley,
and Los Cuatro Generales. The
stunning contemporary poetry of
Michele Gibbs, dau ghter of a vet, read
by actress Velina Brown, fused mag i-
cally with an improvised jazz melody,
while Michael Sullivans reading of
Ramon Durem s poem Aw ardTo
the FBI Man Who H as Followed Me
For Twenty Five Years left the aud i-
ence in s titches. Bruce Barthols
balladic Taste of Ashes now mu st
take its place among the classic songs
inspired by the Spanish Civil War.Backing the stage perform ance
were computerized projections of
black and w hite photographs that
were comp iled by filmm aker Jud y
Montell (Forever Activists) and p hotog-
rapher Richard Bermack. Here the
language of war and parad es meshed
with strong visual images. And the
litany of celebrated vets, the living
and the deadMilton Wolff, Gabby
Rosenstein, Archie Brown, Abe
Osheroff, for instancewas ma tched
by stunning p hotographic displays.
When the show end ed one hour
later, there was h ardly a d ry eye in
Oakland s Calvin Simm ons Theater.
Come back next year, cried Dav id
Smith to the cheering crowd. Come
back fighting, added Peter Carroll.
The consensus of the Bay Area
Post: The best p rogram ever!
Get ready in New York. Apr il 30,
2 p.m. Borough of Manhattan
Comm un ity College. For ticket infor-
mation: 212-674-5552.
from the governments of those coun-
tries, he has emerged w ith a
reputation as an incorruptible, princi-
pled magistrate. During the 1980s, he
exposed the q uasi-official actions of
Spains police death squads thatoperated against Basque nationalists.
His inqu iries resulted in th e convic-
tion of former Socialist Interior
Minister Jose Barrionuevo for attacks
on Basque separa tists. Yet Garzn h as
also investigated criminal activities
involving the Basque separatist orga-
nization ETA.
His appearance at the ALBA-VALB
affairs will focus on the significance of
the Pinochet case for limiting the abuses
of power in the future. Adm ission to the
ALBA-Bill Susman Lecture is free,thanks to the generous supp ort of our
benefactors. This years lecture is mad e
possible by grants from the Program for
Cultural Cooperation Between Spains
Ministry of Culture and United States
Universities and the Boehm Foundation
and by the ALBA-Bill Susman Lecture
endow ment created in 1998.
BBaay Ay Arrea Reunionea ReunionContinued from page 5
Garzn/JusticeContinued from page 4
his rank . Jerry w as a staff sergeant.
That did n ot suit Jerry, the valorous
anti-fascist, so he left the safety of thecamp an d hiked across North Africa
un til he reached som e British outfits
chasing Rommel. Jerry was return ed
to his squad ron, and on th e very next
mission his plane was shot dow n over
France. There were no su rvivors.
So Sherman w as right: War is
Hell. I wish The Volunteer w ould
mor e often reflect the reality of that
terrible experience wh ile reaffirm ing
the absolute need for The Good
Fight. We have monu ments to our
dead in Seattle and in Madison, but letus also remem ber that for each com-
rade that w e lost there is a name, a
face and countless stories.
Forgive the excessive Is in this
article. A mem ber of the editorial
board of The Volunteer urged me to
overcome my old Bolshevik ways and
drop the we and the us and make
my account more p ersonal.
WWilliamsburilliamsburggContinued from page 6
Judge Baltazar Garzn willpresent the ALBA-Bill
Susman Lecture on Friday,April 28, at 7:30 p.m. atthe Tishman Auditorium,40 Washington SquareSouth, New York.
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8/24
By Robert Coale
The H istorical Archive of the
Spanish Com mu nist Party inMadrid is about to p ublish a
selection of 100 outstand ing yet little
known photograph s of the Civil War, a small portion of
their stock of over 1,680 black and wh ite negatives from the
period , includ ing 120 depicting the International Brigades.
Over the p ast year there have been several articles in the
Spanish p ress about the photograph s and their possible
connection to Robert Capa. Most journalists even go a s far
as attributing them un dou btedly to the famous war ph o-
tograp her. While the latter claim is a leap of faith, Capa
biographer Richard Whelan concedes in his introduction to
a recent photo catalogue,Heart of Spain, that some of the
contents of the archive could w ell have been m ade by that
photographer.
Dom ingo Malagn, the first director of the archive
up on th e legalization of the Spanish Com mu nist Party in
1977, who, incidentally, was himself wou nd ed in the
defense of Madr id in 1936, can sup ply on ly sketchy infor-
mation abou t the origins of the negatives. One day, in the
late 1970s, a camarad e came to th e office and gave m e the
negatives, but n ever explained how he got th em. Vicky
Ramos, present archival director and editor of the up com-
ing book, refrains from affirming they ar e the work of
Robert Capa. In fact, there is no absolute way to prov e such
a claim, but she does like to leave a nagg ing doubt floatingin the air. She p resents you w ith the circum stantial evi-
dence, then you are left to make your ow n conclusions
wh ile examining a collection of exceptional photogr aph s.
Here are the facts: the photos w ere taken w ith a Leica
camera. The negatives are 35 mm in un nu mbered strips of
six frames each. In m any cases, the shots correspond to
places, times, sub ject matter, and even an gle of identified
Robert Capa p rints. Since there are docum ented cases of
Capa carrying more than one camera while in Spain, could
these be negatives from rolls of film that never reached h is
8 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
NewSpanishCivil War
PhotosAttributedTo RobertCapa
PHOTOS
COPYRIGHT
ARCHIVO
HIST
ORICO
DELPARTIDO
COMUNISTA
DE
ESPAA
By agreement with Archivo Histrico del PartidoComunista de Espaa we are not allowed to repor-duce these photos in the web edition of theVolunteer
By agreement with Archivo Histricodel Partido Comunista de Espaa weare not allowed to reporduce thesephotos in the web edition of theVolunteer
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THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 9
Paris laboratory? Possibly.
There are also subjective elements
to consider: who else but Cap a had
the special gift of taking such un ique
photograp hs, which capture both the
historical and the h um an element in
one fram e? Of course, not all of the
photograp hs are m asterpieces of
ph oto-journ alism. That one magic
image is not easy to captu re. Interest-ingly, the study of the series of
negatives reveals the work of an expert
photograph er and h is trial and error
process of looking for that special shot.
The photograph of the soldier in
the tank is the m ost difficult to da te. It
is most likely early in the wa r because
the soldier is wearing blue overalls
instead of a m ilitary un iform, bu t later
than October 1936, wh en Russian
material, such as this T-4 tank, began
arriving in Repu blican Spain. The
smiling worker-turned-tank-drivercontrasts with the monstrous cannon
and steel hull encompassing him.
The photograph on page 8 with
the soldiers stand ing at attention has
been mistakenly identified as a photo-
graph of the Despedida. Upon close
examination, how ever, certain ele-
men ts reveal it dates from before the
spring of 1937, when th e Popu lar
Army w as formed and the closed fist
Popu lar Front salute was replaced by
the traditional military one.
Furthermore, the IBers in the fore-
ground are using the French military
style present arms, which corre-
spond s to the early days of the war
wh en each un it adop ted the drill man-
ual m ost familiar to its officers and
men . The flag in the mid dle includ es a
French inscription to the 10th
Battalion of the International
Brigade. The fact that th e Brigad e is
referred to in th e singular wou ld seem
to indicate an early date. One last but
exceptional d etail is the figu re stand -ing just beh ind th e civilian w earing a
tie in the m iddleground . It is Andr
Marty, complete with beret and
clenched fist. This is eviden tly a pho-
tograp h taken on th e occasion of an
official International Brigade celebra-
tion som e time in late w inter of 1936
or early spr ing of 1937. In ad dition,
the civilians attending th e ceremon y
in the top right corner are also making
the clenched fist salute, meaning the
I.B. band opp osite them is most likelyplaying The International.
The photograph of the soldiers
carrying a banner is from a series
taken in Madrid in November or
December of 1936 dur ing a parade on
the centrally located Genova Street
organized to rally supp ort for the con-
tinued defense of the city. The banner
is a call for the m adrileos to join the
famous Quin to Regimiento. Of special
note are the youth ful smiles of the sol-
diers in the foregroun d, the tricolor
republican armban d w orn by the sixth
man, an d the fact that the m ajority of
the soldiers further d own the line
carry no rifles, a haun ting reminder of
the shortage of weapons for the
defend ers of the capital.
Finally, the pho tograp h of the sol-
diers in the snow , my personal
favorite. Obviously taken d uring th e
Teruel battles, it uniquely illustrates
both the sufferings and the lightheart-
edn ess of the troops. The snow
covered landscape and the heavyclothing p oignantly testify to the bru-
tal weather conditions. How ever the
smiles of the cooking d etail as they
ingeniously slide the pot along the
frozen rails portrays like nothing else
the hum an side of the mom ent. The
combination of these two elements
makes the difference between an aver-
age ph otograph of frozen soldiers and
a magic one that says much m ore.
Isnt that exactly what Robert Capa
conveyed over and over again in his
Spanish Civil War photographs and
wh at subsequently led to his interna-
tional acclaim?
Barring an unforeseen discovery,
we w ill never know w ith certainty
wh o took these remarkable war ph o-
tographs, but in the end it does not
really m atter. They w ere taken du ring
tragic times and, thanks to the efforts
of nameless Spaniards, have survived
as visual testimony of those years tohelp us better understand the struggle
of the Second Span ish Repub lic.
In closing I wish to tha nk
Vicky Ramos for gr ant ing special
permiss ion to reprodu ce the pho-
tograp hs for this ar t icle.
Robert Coale is currently a Visiting AssistantProfessor of Spanish at Washington Collegein Chestertown, Maryland.
By agreement with Archivo Histrico del Partido
Comunista de Espaa we are not allowed to repor-duce these photos in the web edition of theVolunteer
By agreement withArchivo Histrico delPartido Comunista deEspaa we are notallowed to reporducethese photos in theweb edition of theVolunteer
-
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10 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
interested her in the Spanish Civil War. So mu ch so that
she insisted to her p artnerthey are a u nit of news p eople
on ABCthat if he didnt do a segment on Marty an d th e
SCW, she would q uit her job. He hu mored her. Marty gave
him a tape of a Canad ian Broadcasting System p rogram onthe war prod uced a few years back. He used it for back-
ground and sold it to the pow ers that be on the program. It
ran for two minu tes, 18 seconds, and was qu ite impres-
sive. Way to go Marty!
In February, our comrad e Milt Felsen addressed ameeting of alum ni of Brand eis University living in south -
western Florida. His subject w as the SCW and the I.B. 200
attended. A num ber of copies of his book, The Anti-Warrior,
were sold.
From the British I.B. Association new sletter: A criti-cal situation d eveloped on th e Cordoba front in December,
1936. Nu mber 1 compan y of the British Battalion, being
formed up at Madrigueras, was sent on Christmasday,1936, to stop the fascist offensive. In the fighting at
Lopera, 19 gave their lives, among them Ralph Fox, John
Cornford and Edmu nd Burke. A ceremony hon oring all
fallen w as held on March 3 at the Marx Memorial Ha ll. The
Marx Memorial Library w ith the I.B. Archives is now op en
after extensive modernization.
Juan Mar ia Gomez Or tiz is a friend of the Lincoln
Brigade living in Barcelona. Harry Fishers bookComradesso inspired him that he is seeking a Spanish pu blisher. He
also took the initiative to go to Mad rigueras, the Spanish
town w here Harry trained, and read three chapters of
Ha rrys book in Spanish to abou t 100 of the inhab itants.
Gomez writes: One w oman r emembered you perfectly.
She said she was part of the group wh o presented you the
bann er that read : Bienvenidos Camarad as Brigadistas.
Her nam e is Caridad Serrano and I gave her your ad dress
for her to write you. An old man said that he knew w ho
the family w as that adopted you . They all applauded w ith
energy for a long while after I finished. Harry Fisher and his
family are p lanning to visit Madrigueras in May.For thr ee years th e A.A.B.I (Am igos) in Spa in ini-
t iated campaigns to help som e of the vets and
widow s in Bulgaria and Romania who are in d i re
st rai ts . They are current ly run ning a fun d-rais ing
dinn er in Madrid for this pu rpose. The Bay Area and
New York Posts have contr ibuted from fun ds raised
at our a nnu al affairs in sol idar i ty with these com-
rad es and w ill do so again this year .
DemocraticSocialistsHonorLincoln Vet
Saul Wellman , vet-eran of the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade, life-
long trade u nionist,
Purp le Heart recipient
in World War II, and
McCarthy-era
Chairman of the
Michigan Comm unist Party, was one of two peop le hon-
ored at the Second Annu al Frederick Douglass/ Eugene
Debs Award Dinner sponsored by th e Democratic
Socialists of America and held last October in Detroit.
I have always had a feeling I was never alone no mat-
ter where I was, said Wellman, in receiving the award. Iwas p art of a great movement that w ould m ove us closer
to a world w here the exploitation of man by man wou ld
be eliminatedthe m ovemen t for socialism.
Bill Fletcher, Jr., assistant to AFL-CIO Presid ent John
Sweeney, also spoke du ring the ceremony, as d id
Hor ace Small, national director of the DSA. The recur-
rent theme of their speeches was th e need for renewed
un ity of the left, signs of wh ich ar e d iscernible in revital-
ized social movements.
An invitationfor posterity
The Volunteer invites our readers to considermaking a bequest to the Abraham LincolnBrigade Archives.
ALBA is a non-profit tax-exempt organization.Contributionsand bequests provide donors withsignificant advantages in planning their estatesand donations.
For more information, contactDiane Fraherexecutive secretaryVALB/ ALBA799 Broadway, Rm. 277New York, NY10003Telephone:212-598-0968E-mail:amerinda@spacelab.net
Brigadier NewsBrigadier NewsContinued from page 3
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By John Carver Edwards
The exploits of the American air-
men w ho flew combat for theSpanish Repu blican Air Force
are less well know n than those of their
fellow volunteers. Perhaps this over-
sight is due to their limited n um bers
and , in som e cases, possibly to the
mercenary nature of their commit-
men t. But the fact remains that m ost
of these men acquitted themselves
with distinction, and a select few ou t-
classed their fascist ad versaries.
Outstand ing among these was Frank
Tinker, who record ed eight aerial vic-
tories in Spain in 1937. Hiscontribution received official recogni-
tion on N ovember 4, 1999, when he
was indu cted into the Arkansas
Aviation H all of Fame in Little Rock.
Born in Lou isiana on July 14, 1909,
Frank Glasgow Tinker, Jr. never
regard ed the Bayou State as his right-
ful home. When his family moved to
Arkan sas early in his life, the boy
began his journey th rough adoles-
cence and you ng manh ood in
perfectly normal fashion. H e pu rsued
a Huck Finn lifestyle dur ing his free
hours: hunting, fishing, exploring the
wood s and wetlands in the area.
At 17 Tinker joined the navy. He
won an appointment to the Naval
Academ y in 1929. After grad ua tion
and subsequent flight instruction at
Pensacola, he was assigned to the new
cruiser San Francisco and piloted
Vough t O2U float planes from the
warships catapults. Unfortunately,
Tinkers seafaring career w as short-
lived, as the n avy revoked hiscommission after back-to-back braw ls
in Long Beach and Honolulu. H e
quickly found himself aboard a
Standard Oil tanker plying the coastal
waters of the United States. Bored and
frustrated, 3rd Mate Tinker endured his
lot un til Spains newly declared civil
war offered him a rare op portun ity.
In Mexico City, the Arka nsan
signed a contract with the Spanish
Embassy to fly for the em battled
Republic. This new r ecruit was to
receive $1,500 per m onth w ith a
bonus of $1,000 for every fascist air-
plane shot dow n.
Tinker ar rived in Spain in th e first
week of Janu ary 1937. At first the
Republican Air Ministry assigned him
to a Breguet XIX bomber outfit. The
next month, realizing h is potential, the
Ministry sent him to a new ly-formed
fighter squadron u nder the command
of Captain Andreas Garca LaCalle, one
of the Republics top aces, with 11 vic-
tories to his credit.
During h is seven m onths in Spain
Tinker served with LaCalles airmen
in the battles of Jaram a and
Guad alajara, as well as in n um erous
aerial engagements over th e Mad rid
front. On March 14, wh ile piloting a
Russian Polikarpov I-15 Chato pursuit
(CA-056) ou t of Guad alajara, Tinkerdestroyed a Fiat du ring a two-hour
flight. Within a weeks time, w hile fly-
ing bom ber escort, he flamed a similar
Italian fighter. On p atrol over the
Teruel front on Ap ril 17, he bagged a
condor Legion Heinkel He.51. His
next victories occurred after his
assignmen t to the soviet la
Escuadrillas de Moscas (I-16s) com-
mand ed by Captain Ivan A. Lakeev.
On Jun e 2, while flying bomber escort
near Segovia, he down ed a Fiat. Two
weeks later he destroyed a CR32 in his
Mosca fighter (CM-023). On July 12,
he became the first American combat
flyer to down a German
Messerschmitt BF 109. He n otched his
next kill five days later wh en he
brou ght d own a second BF 109. His
last victory took p lace near Brunete on
July 18, when he d own ed a Fiat.
During the Brunete battle many of
Tinkers old Russian squad ron mates
were rotated home. With so few veter-
an comba t flyers to lead the
inexperienced Soviet replacemen ts,
Tinker agreed to command a
squad ron. He faced n o language barri-
er aloft as the Polikarp ovs lacked
radio commu nications and messages
were conveyed by hand signals.
In Night Before Battle, a cele-
brated short story of the Span ish CivilWar, Ernest Hem ingw ay fictionalized
Frank Tinker. Papa and Tinker had
become friend s du ring Tinkers time
in Madrid w hen they realized that they
had h unted and fished over much of
the same ground in Arkansas.
But finally the strain of daytime
bomber escor t duty an d n octurna l
THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 11
Continued on page 17
Arkie Ace
Frank Tinker Inducted IntoArkansas Aviat ion Hal l of Fame
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12 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
SSixty-one years to th e day after
they returned from the battle-
fields of Spain, the Canad ian
volun teers of the MacKenzie-
Papineau Battalion of the InternationalBrigades received public acknowledg-
men t of their valor and sacrifice with a
new bronze monument that was
un veiled in Victoria, British Colum bia,
on Febr ua ry 12, 2000.
The un veiling of the Spirit of the
Repub lica statue that sym bolizes
the d efense of Spains dem ocratic gov-
ernm ent against the fascist coup detat
led by Franco and un derw ritten by
Hitler and Mussolinifulfilled a th ree
year effort to honor the Canadian vol-
unteers. The BC Monu mentCommittee worked w ith the
Association of Veterans and Friend s of
the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion
and a broad cross-section of individu -
als, unions, the legal profession,
organizations, and members of the
provincial New Democratic Party gov-
ernment to raise money and obtain an
app ropriate site for the m onum ent. It
all came together in a won der ful cere-
mony on the grou nds of the
legislatur e in Victoria, the capital of
British Colum bia.
The ceremonies began when 11
veterans of the Internat ional Brigades
and their families and friends met
with the premier of the province, the
Honourable Dan Miller, and then
embarked on a parad e, reminiscent of
the march of the International Brigad es
down the Diagonal in Barcelona in
October 1938, to the mon um ent site.
The group p roceeded throu gh the
main floor of the Parliamen t Building
and then ou tside to the site at
Confederation Plaza.
The contingent included veterans
of the MacKenzie Papineau Battalion,
the Lincoln, British, and Danish
Battalions, and a veteran of the
Spanish Republican Arm y, who
arrived at the shrouded monument to
the cheers and app lause of an enthu si-
astic crowd of some 250 peop le. The
color party p laced the flags at the site
as a backdrop behind the speakers
rostrum.As Joe Barrett, one of the co-chairs
of the Monum ent Comm ittee, wel-
comed th e veterans, cheers for the
Volunteers for Liberty echoed
around the prestigious site, located on
the legislative pr ecinct.
Barrett then introduced Monum ent
Comm ittee Co-chair Tom Kozar, the
son of an IB volun teer. In his remarks,
Kozar referred to his father, John
Kozar, wh o had served w ith the
Lincoln Brigade, his tw o u ncles, Bruce
and Jim Ewen, who had served with
the MacKenzie Papineau Battalion,
and his mother, Jean Ewen, wh o had
served with Dr. Norm an Bethune in
the Chinese war against Japan
Kozar paid hom age to the veter-
ans of the MacKenzie-Papineau
Battalion and the International
Brigades, observing that th eir partici-
pation in the last great cause was no
longer unnoticed or u nmarked . The
new m onum ent will stand as a
remind er to u s all of their selfless
determination to fight and defend the
ideals embodied in th e Spanish
Republic.
Barrett also read a letter fromCanad as vice-regal head of state, Her
Excellency Adr ienne Clarkson, w ho
expressed regret at being un able to
attend th e ceremony . It was noted
that Ms. Clarkson had given a per-
sonal finan cial dona tion to the
Monum ent Committee in the early
stages of the project.
The next speaker, the H onourable
Dan M iller, Premier of the Province of
CCanadians Uanadians Unnvveil eil TThhe
Stan Giles, Dr. Reg Saxton, Salman Salzman, Sean McEwen, Tom Kozar,Rosaleene Ross, Joe Barrett, Dave Smith, Jack Harman, Arne Knutsen.
Jack Harman, sculptor of The Spirit ofthe Republic
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THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 13
BC, noted that the
tribute was long
overdu e, expressing
pleasu re at the assis-
tance given to theMonument
Committee by the
government in pro-
viding the site on the
Parliament Building
grounds.
A letter from
H is Excellency Jose
Cuen ca, the Span ish
Ambassador in
Ottawa, congratu-
lated those
respon sible for themonu ment. Seor
Joaqu im Ayala,
speaking on behalf
of the Span ish gov-
ernment, expressed
his app reciation to
the veterans for
their efforts in
defending the
Republic against
Francos insurrec-
tion. Ayala told th e
crowd that he and
his wife were p ar-
ticularly honored to
attend the ceremony
because members of
their families had fou ght along w ith
the International Brigad es in the
strugg le to d efeat fascism.
The next speaker, Svend Robinson,
federal member of Parliament from the
New Democratic Party, brought greet-
ings, congratu lations, and thanks from
the caucus of Canadas social dem o-cratic party. Mr. Robinson vow ed tha t
the New Dem ocratic Party w ill contin-
ue to p ush for full recognition of
Canadian volunteers by the govern-
ment of Canada.
Jack Harm an, the sculptor wh o
created the bronze statue Spirit of the
Repub lic, injected som e hum or in the
proceedings by suggesting that in tak-
ing the commission he had spent more
time in the last six mon ths with the
wom an shroud ed in the flag than w ith
his w ife.
Jim Sinclair, President of the BC
Federation of Labour, speaking on
behalf of more than 400,000 unionized
workers in the p rovince, gave thanks
and app reciation to the v eterans fortheir selfless sacrifice to defend
dem ocracy. He conclud ed his remarks
by reading the p oem To the Inter-
national Brigades by the recently
deceased Span ish poet Rafael Alberti.
The next speaker was George
Heym an, president of the BC
Government and Service Employees
Union. The BCGEU, more than any
other organization, put its resources
behind the Monum ent Committee to
ensu re the projects success. Heym an
said that the mon um ent will be a his-
torical testament to the volu nteers
wh o fought for liberty and democracy
in the Spanish Civil War.
Bob Reed, an American member ofthe MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion, rep-
resented the Veterans of the Abraham
Lincoln Brigade and reminded the
crowd of the two U.S. monum ents that
were recently dedicated at the
University of Washington in Seattle and
in Madison, Wisconsin .
Joe Barrett then brought news
from Jules Pavio, President of the
Continued on page 15
SSpirpirit of the Republicit of the Republic
George Heyman, President of the B.C.Government and Service Employees
Union
Joe Barrett, Master of Ceremonies, co-chair of Monument Committee
The Spirit of the Republic
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14 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
The PoliticalCartoons ofAlbert
ChisholmAlbert Chisholm, a native ofWashington state, was the last sur-
viving African Am erican vet w hen
he d ied tw o years ago in Seattle. As
a teenager, he became on e of the
first black memb ers of the Marine
Cooks and Steward s Union and
return ed to that line of w ork after
his service in Spain.
Recently, however, while reading
microfilm cop ies of the Moscow
Archives, ALBA archivist VictorBerch discovered another dimension
of Chisholms career. Prior to going to
Spain, Chisholm had draw n p olitical
cartoons for an African American
newspaper in Seattle, theNorthwest
From the Archives
Enterprise. After reaching Spain in
1937, the 22-year-old volun teer glad -
ly contributed h is work to the
International Brigades newsletter,
Our Fight.
Now , for the first time, we p ub-
lish tw o examp les of Chisholms
cartoons, which app eared in
October and Nov ember 1937.For the
time, they were considered politi-
cally correct. One cartoon suggests
that th e fist of the Popu lar Front
wou ld make H itler shake in his
boots. But the anti-fascists dream of
beer, meat, Camel cigarettes and a
beautiful wom an evokes a world of
simp ler pleasures. What would the
surgeon-general say today?
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8/14/2019 The Volunteer, March 2000
15/24
Veterans and Friends of the
MacKenzie Papineau Battalion, that
the pend ing national monum ent in
Ottawa at the new ly constructed
national war mu seum is expected to
be unv eiled within a year.The last speaker, on beh alf of the
BC Mac-Paps, w as Rosaleene Ross.
She served w ith the British Medical
Unit in Spain, married a Mac-Pap, and
returned to make a new home in
Canad a in 1939. She un derlined the
point th at it will always be necessary
to confront fascism w henever it arises
and that if she
had to make the
decision to defend
the Republic
again, she would
make the samedecision she did
some 60 years
ago. Ross, along
with five other
volunteers, also
served on the BC
Monument
Committee.
The d ays ceremon ies climaxed
wh en the premier and three of the vet-
erans pulled the strings to release theribbons and free the hu ge republican
flag that w as lifted off the sculp tur e.
The Spirit of the Republic was grad -
ua lly revealed to the anticipating
crowd. The sun broke through the
thin cloud s, casting a shine off the
sculptu res newly cast bronze.
Applause broke out and the m onu-
men t to the MacKenzie-Papineau
Battalion was complete.
To the sound of man y cameras
clicking and wh irring, veterans an d
guests joined together in front of
the mon um ent. Tears in a few eyes
signal led the wond erful app roval
and appreciat ion for the monum ent
that m arks British Colum bian and
Canad ian volunteers participation,
alongside volun teers from 52 other
countries, in th e Last Great Cause.
Veterans who at tended the
Victoria ceremo ny w ere: Bob Reed,
Brooke Carmichael, and Bob Ingalls
from Seattle; Dave Smith from the
San Francisco Bay Ar ea; DomingoHern and ez fromToronto, Ont; Stan
Giles, Arne Knu tsen, Frank
McElgunn , and Rosaleene Ross
fromVan couv er, BC; Reg Saxton
from England; and Salman
Saltzman from Israel.
THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 15
CanadaContinued from page 13
Vets march on B.C. capitol
On March 16, 2000, a un animou svote of the City College Faculty
Senate approved the following reso-
lution:
"Whereas, the City College of
New York has a long trad ition not
only of preparing stud ents for
careers and p rofessions, but also of
instilling civic consciousness and
cosmopolitan values, and
Whereas, betw een 1936 and 1938
well over 30 studen ts and staff (see
attached list), acting ou t of altru istic
motives, placed their lives and w el-
fare in jeopar dy to fight fascism in
Spa in, and
Whereas, on their return, man y
of these volunteers, desp ite being
subjected to harassment, intimida-
tion, and sometimes outright
persecution, largely continued to
commit themselves to imp ortant
social causes and issues, includ ing
labor un ionization, civil rights, and
campaigns for peace, and
Whereas, it is important that theCollege continue to recognize and
honor its alumni, especially those
wh o succeed n ot just in the pr ofes-
sions or business bu t also in
articulating and struggling for fun-
damen tal values like justice,
opp ortunity, and equality, and
Whereas, College alum ni (Sand i
Coop er, Class of 1957, Bob N elson,
Class of 1971, Bonn ie Nelson , Classof 1972, Renate Bridenth al, Class of
1960, George F. Nelson , Class of
1940, John Fisher, Class of 1966,
Anne Friedman, Class of 1971, John
Lee Simon, M. Ed., 1969, Elizabeth
Starcevic, Class of 1963, Marv
Gettleman, Class of 1957, Irwin
Loewenthal, Class of 1952) likewise
supp ort recognition of the veterans
and their efforts, and
Therefore, be it resolved th at the
Faculty Senate of th e City College of
New York requests that the City
College veteran s of the Spanish Civil
War be award ed a Presidential
Meda l at Commen cement 2000 to
recognize and honor their experi-
ence and to comm emorate their
association w ith the College, and
Be it furth er resolved tha t
although the Medal will honor all
the veterans, the actual recipient of
the medal awarded at
Comm encement 2000 shall be a City
College alum nus or former stud entselected by the Veterans of the
Abrah am Lincoln Brigade."
According to CCNY procedures,
the Chair of the Faculty Senate w ill
send this resolution to the President
(who w as there for the vote) commu -
nicating the Senate's desires. The
President will then decide whether to
approve the Senate's request.
CCNY Faculty Backs Vets Medal
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16 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
IIIn all the poetrythat you both w roteabout the countrysideand t he peasants workingin your writ ings
about t he cafesand boul evards
you captured Spainand the Spanish heart
and in the echoing of your wordsyou spoke of changing ti mes
ti mes changing
and the changing timestook the Republics cloak
from her shouldersstole her pridestri pped her of her identit yand flung her into the streets
homelessshe weepsby guitar light
the countr yside weepsthe peasants weepthe cafes are emptythe bombs are falli ngon MADRID
and as the people rushpush and pul l one another
both of you captured in your workhumans t ransformedint o screams and sorrow
(no one is a cowardwhen bombs are falling)Spain is burning
IIIIFederico you wrotewhen the flamesfi rst began to lick atthe hems of the rising curtainon the t heater t hat wouldbecome a civil warand you Langston wrot eas the curtain was consumedin an inferno
both of you captured in verse
in poetic languagethe tragedy of chaos
the bells tollin t he backgroundof your workswhil e the choir in
soft verse repeat
Spain is burningburning Spain
Spain is burningburning SpainSpain is burningburning Spain
Spain Burns
and thefi res cont inued
for t hreelong fi ery years.
Cranston Knight is a doctoral student in history at Loyola
University. He is the editor of Tour of Duty, an anthology ofshort stories and poetry of Vietnam Veterans. He is a mem-
ber of the Chicago Friends of the Lincoln Brigade.
TTo Fo Feederdericico Go Gararcia Lcia Lororca and Lca and Langstangston Hughes:on Hughes:Sp a i n i s Bu r n i n gSp a i n i s Bu r n i n gBy Cranston Knight
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THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 17
A bill aimed at granting official
amnesty to International Brigade veter-
ans and former World War II Resistance
fighters from Switzerland has beenrejected. The bill was sponsored by
socialist MP Nils de Dardel. Swiss
brigadistas were often in worse straits
than other volunteers from western
dem ocratic nations due to their coun-
trys strict interpretation of neutrality.
Upon return from Spain, as early
as 1937, Swiss volu nteers w ere tried
by m ilitary tribu nals for fighting to
defend dem ocracy in Spain. Their
crime w as und ermining the national
defense of Switzerland . Many served
pr ison sentences, still others wereexiled from their homes to distant
regions of the country w here they had
no family contacts and often did not
even speak th e local langu age. The
same treatment was given to those
wh o fought to liberate neighboring
France from its German invad ers a
few years later.
In recent years, members of the
Swiss parliament have honored both
brigadistas and resistance members
in official declarations, stating that time
and history have vind icated them
morally and p olitically. Nevertheless,
the Association of Sup port for Swiss
Veterans of the Internationa l Brigades
has been striving for an official legal
declaration of amnesty for the twenty-
some surviving volunteers who fought
in Spain as w ell as for the fam ilies of
departed veterans.
Upon hearing of the refusal, Jean-
Claude Lefort, CP mem ber of the
French Parliament an d co-chairman of
the French Association of Friends ofCombatants in Republican Spain, mad e
an official declaration in the Assem ble
Nationale on March 8 condemning the
Swiss governments attitude. Lefort is
currently at the forefront of a national
petition d rive to press the neighboring
governmen t to r everse its decision.
Text of the sp eech follows:
I am outraged, concerned an d
sadd ened by the new s I have just
learned. The Swiss government and
the Federal Cou ncil have rejected a
bill presen ted by th e left to grant
amnesty to Swiss volun teers whodefend ed the Span ish Republic in its
struggle against the Franquist rebel-
lion spon sored by H itler and
Mussolini. . . .
The Swiss governmen t has just
committed a veritable affront to histo-
ry at a time w hen events w e are all too
well aw are of are occurr ing in Austria.
I must vigorously p rotest this
decision. Furthermor e, I call up on the
French authorities and the p ublic at
large to react firmly against the d eci-
sion and against those wh o have takenit. Mr. Dardel, socialist member of the
Swiss Federal Cou ncil, has pu t it very
well: Switzerland only qu estions its
policy d uring the Second World War
if it is forced to d o so throu gh intern a-
tional opinion , as occurr ed in 1996
wh en pressured by the Jewish World
Congr ess concerning holocaust vic-
tims fund s in Swiss banks.
We wholeheartedly sup port the
Swiss left in its struggle on behalf of
the brigad istas. We call on all dem o-
cratically minded peop le to react
against the government and the
Federal Council of Switzerland. They
have obviously not yet accepted the
idea pu t forth by a famous native of
Geneva, Jean-Jacques Rousseau , wh en
he stated: Anything w hich is un true
and wh ich attacks justice in any way
is simply a false illusion.
Readers ofThe V olunteercan make
their voices heard by par ticipating in
the petition d rive sponsored by the
French association, ACER. Write a let-ter to the Presiden t of Switzerland
protesting the decision an d urging
him to intervene on behalf of the
brigad istas. Send your letter to:
Amicale d es Combattants en Espagne
Repub licaine, 16 Villa Comp oint, Paris
75017 France.
Despite this un fortunate develop-
men t, all is not lost in Switzerland . On
May 12 the Association of Supp ort for
Swiss Veterans of the International
Brigades w ill be unveiling its first mon-
um ent in Geneva. The sculpture is the
work of Span ish artist Manuel Torresand the p roject received official finan -
cial suppor t from the local council.
For more information, a recent
pu blication on Swiss volun teers, in
French, is : P. Bavau d and J.M. Beguin ,
Les oublies, Trois Suisses de la guerre
dEspagne. Yens s/ Morges: Editions
Cabed ita, 1998. ISBN 2-88295-219-8.
Swiss Government Refuses to GrantAmnesty to BrigadistasBy Robert Coale
fas cist raids on his airstrip frayed
Tinkers nerves. One evening, after a
day of missions totaling more than
five hou rs of flying, he n otified the
Air Ministry of his intention to resign.
Upon his arrival in N ew York City,
Tinkers passp ort w as confiscated by
the State Department.
A prisoner in his own country, he
returned to Arkansas and w rote a
book of his wartime experiences enti-
tled Some Still Live, wh ich w as later
pu blished in th e United States,
England, and Sweden. Selections from
his memoir were also serialized in The
Saturday Evening Post. With this testa-
ment behind him, Tinker became
bored and wanted to return to Spain.
His way w as blocked, however,
because of h is earlier violation of U.S.
neutrality laws. Later he briefly consid-
ered a stint with the Flying Tigers in
China, but instead succum bed to
dep ression and a lcoholism. On June
13, 1939, he comm itted suicide. Thequestion as to what th is remarkable
man and gifted flyer might otherw ise
have become in life is etched forever
on h is tombstone in DeWitt, Arkansas,
which asks: Quien Sabe?
John Carver Edwards is the Special
Projects Archivist at the University ofGeorgia Libraries
Tinker
Continued from page 11
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18 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
Book Re v ie w s
By Robert A. Stradling. ManchesterUniversity Press (distributed in USA by St.
Martins), 1999.
By Manus ORiordan
How d oes one review a book
wh en the subject matter turns
out to be not at all what it
seems? Robert A. Strad lings subtitle,
Crusades in Conflict, is very m islead-
ing. The Span ish Civil War, he argues,was not a conflict between fascism
and dem ocracy, but between
Catholicism and Commu nism.
Crusades in Conflictis an uneven
account of Irish participation through-
out the Span ish conflict. Most of the
book is devoted to the 700 Irishmen
who followed th e Irish-fascist leader
ODuffy to Spain and then left after
five month s with just a hand ful of
casualties. In contrast, the story an d
the wh ole-hearted comm itment and
sacrifice of the 200 Irishmen who left
their country to defend th e Spanish
Repub lic against fascism is relegated
to little more than app endix status.
Strad lings slant is app arent, start-
ing from his dedication: For the
Fallen: Tom H yde, Midleton-Jaram a;
Gabriel Lee, Tralee-Jarama; and Mick
Kelly, Ballinasloe-Brunete; and all
those Irishmen w ho d ied for their ide-
als in Spain. Which ideals? Of the
three men he honors two, Hyd e and
Lee, fought on the fascist side. Theinclusion of Mick Kelly is a p atroniz-
ing and nau seating attempt by
Stradling to minimize his own p ro-fas-
cist bias. And surely the Lincoln Vets
will be outraged by Stradlings inclu-
sion of their comrad e Kelly alongside
their common foes. While there are a
few brief references to Kelly in
Stradlings text, there is nothing abou t
the circum stances surrou nd ing his
death, despite Paul Burns powerfully
written eyewitness account, reprinted
by th e Lincoln v ets in their 1987 bookOur Fight.
Only regard ing Blueshirt Tom
Hyd e, who w as killed in a military
fiasco caused by his own side, does
any hu man p ersonality emerge. And
that is because Tom Hyd es nep hew
and namesake provided his uncles
jour nal to Stradling. But neph ew Tom
knew of the conflicts of the situation
in Spain, so much so that he asked me
to convey his hearty congratulations
to my father an d h is fellow
International Brigadistas when theSpanish Parliament u nanimou sly
granted them Spanish citizenship. A
well deserved h onour! said Tom
Hydes nephew.
Though Stradling p rotects many a
character witness on the fascist side,
he freely commits character assassina-
tion of an ti-fascists. Specifically, he
sets aside the requ irements of serious
research and accepts hearsay as fact.
For instance, Stradling chooses to rely
on th e racial stereotyping of the flight-
of-fancy fictional account in William
Herricks novelHermanos and ignores
the significant amount of documenta-
tion available on the Irish an ti-fascist
volunteers.
Stradlings bias ap pear s clearly
in his failure to men tion the reasons
for the rep atriation of an ti-fascist vol-
un teer Michael Lehane after the
battle of Bru nete. By this om ission,
Stradling implies that Lehane w as
sent hom e because he lacked resolu-
tion in combat. If he had botheredto check the International Brigad e
Archives in Lond on, Stradling easily
wou ld have discovered that Lehane
had been woun ded in combat.
Lehane recovered and re-enlisted.
Wound ed again in July 1938, he w as
carried to safety by my father,
Michael ORiordan, who was
wou nd ed in battle the next day.
Lehanes anti-fascist stru ggle contin-
ued until March 1943, wh en he w as
killed by a N azi torpedo w hile
serving in the Norw egian MerchantNavy. So mu ch for Strad lings sugges-
tion of Lehan es lack of resolution in
combat.
Anoth er insult is Stradlings mis-
interpr etations of my ow n ma terial. In
my pu blished writings I described
Irish comrade Jim H augheys faith in
Catholicism as p oignant, a state-
ment Stradling translates into
pathetic. He also omits an important
letter I wrote to Carl Geiser, which
later app eared in print, wh ere I fur-
ther d escribed H augheys steadfastbravery as a prisoner: Hau ghey had
been thoroughly edu cated by h is
experience and was so convinced of
the justice of that cau se (the Spanish
Civil War) that he cour ageously stood
up as a rojo before his fascist captors
and endu red an almost fatal beating
from a pick axe. And like his fellow
Irishman Michael Lehane, Haughey
continued to prov e his anti-fascist val-
our after the end of the Spanish Civil
War. In June 1941 he volunteered for
the Canad ian Air Force and was killed
in a plane crash two years later. His
name is engraved in Canad as World
War II Book of Remem brance.
Stradlings account of the Irish in
the Spanish Civil War pays tribute to
those Irishmen wh o were on the side
of Franco, plain an d simple. The final
verd ict, how ever, lies with the
Spanish p eople themselves, who com-
pelled the Spanish Parliament
un animously to confer the right of
Spanish citizenship on theInternationa l Brigad istas for coming to
the d efense of Spains dem ocratic
institutions. The obvious cann ot be
ignored by Stradling or any of his sup -
porters, past and p resent, and that is,
thankfully, our saving grace.
The Irish and the SpanishCivil War 1936-39:
Crusades in Conflict
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THE VOLUNTEER, Winter 2000 19
BOOKS ABOUT THELINCOLN BRIGADEMadrid 1937 Letters from the Spanish Civil Wared. by Nelson & Hendricks (cloth) $35
Another Hillby Milton Wolff (cloth) $25
Our FightWritings by Veterans of theAbraham Lincoln Brigade:Spain 1936-1939
ed. by Alvah Bessie & Albert Prago (pbk) $15
The Anti-Warriorby Milton Felsen (pbk) $15
Trees Become Torches,Selected Poems
by Edwin Rolfe (pbk) $10Collected Poems of Edwin Rolfe (pbk) $21
From Mississippi to Madridby James Yates (pbk) $15
Spain, the Unfinished Revolutionby Arthur Landis (cloth) $25
Prisoners of the Good Fightby Carl Geiser (pbk) $15
Spains Cause Was Mineby Hank Rubin (cloth) $29
(pbk) $15
Comradesby Harry Fisher (cloth) $25
(pbk) $12
Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigadeby Peter Carroll (pbk) $15
Remembering Spain:Hemingways VALB Eulogyby Ernest Hemingway, Cary Nelsonand Milton Wolff (audio tape & pamphlet) $15
Prison of Womenby Tomasa Cuevas $15
EXHIBIT CATALOGSShouts from the Wall, a poster albumed. by Cary Nelson (pbk) $16
The Aura of the Cause, a photo albumed. by Cary Nelson (pbk) $25
VIDEOSThe Good Fighta film by Sills/Dore/Bruckner (VCR) $35
Forever Activistsa film by Judith Montell (VCR) $35
You Are History, You Are Legenda film by Judith Montell (VCR) $25
POSTERSTwo Spanish Civil War posters (Madrid Lionand
Victoria) are available at $10 plus postage, and thanks
to Eva and Mark Fasanella, copies of five of Ralph
Fasanellas posters are available ($20 each, plus
postage). They are: Subway Riders(1960); Family
Supper(1972); The Great Strike, Lawrence, 1912
(1978); The Daily News Strike(1993); South Bronx
Rebirth(1995).
These books and tapes are available at the indicated
prices from:
Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
799 Broadway, R. 227
New York, NY 10003-5552
Tel: (212) 674-5552
Shipping cost: $2 per copy of book, album or tape.Make checks payable to ALBA.
ALBA BOOKS , VIDEOS AND POS TERS
WWe Ce Cannot Pannot Parark onk onBBoth Soth SidesidesIn England, the Reading International Brigades
Memorial Committee has published We
Cannot Park on Both Sides, an account o f
Reading's volunteers in the Spanish Civi l War.
At least five Reading men served with the
Brit ish Battalion , with o ther volunteers serving
in medical un its. Three men were ki lled.
The book features background details on
the volunteers, accounts of fund raising and
suppor t in Reading, and first-hand accounts ofJarama, Brunete and the Ebro, as well as an
account from inside a POW camp. The text
includes letters and material from the local
press.
If you would l ike details, please contact me:Mike Cooper at coopmik1@hotmail.com
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20 THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000
Adde d to Me m orys Ros te r
John L. SimonReflecting on his years in the
International Brigad es half a centu ry
later, John Leopold Simon w rote a
simple testimon ial: Spain constituteda momen t in the life of an intellectual
wh en the sempiternal struggle
between though t and action enjoyed a
respite. Reflection an d volition came
to an accord; there was one place in
the world to be, one side on one bat-
tlefield. Rarely had the issues been so
clear or the assem blage of volun teers
so universal. I have never found since
wh at I had there: a pu rpose that I had
been seeking . . . Spa in gave to m e, not
I to Spain.
He w as born in Philadelphia in1913, gradu ating from Gratz H igh
School in 1930 and from the University
of Pennsylvan ia in 1933. He entered
Philadelphias Jefferson Medical
College the following year, but left in
his third yearin February 1937to
join the International Brigades. It was
not un til he arrived in Spain that he
annou nced his med ical training, but
he was not, after all a doctor. He w as
but a 24-year-old m edical student. So
he was assigned to be a first-aid man
on the front lines.
There he would remain for much
of the war. As Edwin Rolfe would
write in The Lincoln Battalion (1939),
Simon had been a front-line doctor,
with the rank of captain, for a longer
period than an y other medical man in
Spain. The men r espected him for his
courage and competence und er fire.
That was where, for all practical pu r-
poses, he completed his medical
training. After some month s of treat-
ing major and minor wou nd s withbullets whistling over his head, he
was granted an hon orary medical
degree by h is Spanish comrad es. And
so he was Doc Simon to a ll the
American volunteers, those whose
lives he saved and those who w ere
beyond saving.
Simon kept a series of detailed
med ical diaries in Spain. They range
from p rosaic lists of peop le he treated
to riveting passages of wartime
repor ting. Here are some of the entries
from the Ebro camp aign of 1938:
July 28: At nigh t we all stopped ;
everybody went to sleep. All of sud-
den shots, panicno one know s yetwhat hap pened. Wounded w ere Lt.
Eladio Paula, comm and er of 4th Co.,
Milton Robertson, first aid man of
same, some others light, and a Span ish
boy of whom I didnt know till next
morning (who d ied). Peace again.
Morning we moved onand then
they let me know about the woun ded
Spanish fellow. We tended to him
Vallbrena and II caught up with the
battalion. More moving. Positions
taken n ear Vilella. In the afternoon ,
many w ounded. No w ay to get themout, except sending them by stretcher
bearers toward Fatarella. A truck
brought food in the afternoon, evacu-
ating woun ded , but failed to return at
night. Wounded in a little grove, cov-
ered by trees. About th irty at once,
lying on hay. Includ ing Capt. Lamb,
command er of 1st Co . . . Work all
night trying to get them out.
Mendelsohn shot in head; will die,
probably. Milton Gale wou nd ed in
abdom enin agony; sent him toward
Fatarella by stretcher. A little sleep in
post of command on hay; when I
woke u p it was light, tho not yet sun-
rise. Ghastly. Many w oun ded still left
up on the hill w ith Gayle . . . .
July 29: . . . the picture, day before
yesterday in the afternoon, of the
wou nd ed lying under the fig tree,
looking u p hun grily at the ripe figs
overhead, far ou t of reach. As if they
symbolized a u nited free Spain, to
these hu ngry, thirsty, wou nd ed men .
. . These were the w orst days for evac-uation that I have ever experienced,
except for the r etreat in March. The
afternoon and even ing of the 27th I
had about 30 wound ed with no way
of evacuating. Plane overhead. No
hou se. Some food , water. But had to
pu t them in hay to free stretchers for
more w ound ed. Schutt tried vainly to
ride on a m ule to get out. Jos
Martinez Garca, a chu nk of his arm
torn out by shrap nel, managed to ride;
we w ere able to give him morp hine
first, but with d ifficulty because of
danger of using flashlights. Gale
called for mor ph ine for ages before we
were able to give it to him. There was
panic when th e bullets whizzed near-
by . . . There w as a fascist attack all
along the line with artillery. We
though t hell had broken loose.
When Simon returned to the U.S.
late in 1938 he took u p h is forma l
med ical training again, receiving his
M.D. degree in 1940. He intern ed in
neurology at Kings Coun ty Hospital
in Brooklyn, then became a resident in
psychiatry at the New York State
Psychiatric Institute and Hospital. A
residency in neurology followed at
New Yorks Moun t Sinai H ospital in1943 and a residency in p sychiatry at
Bellevue Hosp ital in 1944. From 1944
to 1954 he taugh t both neu rology and
psychiatry at New York University
Hospital, meanwh ile maintaining a
private psychiatric practice. He pub-
lished wid ely in scientific jour nals for
30 years.
Continued on page 21
Dr. John Simon in uni form, Spain
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THE VOLUNTEER, Spring 2000 1999 21
Meanwh ile he w as wr iting exten-
sively in his personal jour nals abou t a
subject he was passionately interested
in for mu ch of his adu lt lifethe rela-
tionship between Marxism an d
psychoanalysis. Like many progres-
sive analysts, he believedpsychoanalysis could never cure its
patients unless it addressed the social
sources of illness. For Simon that
meant ad dressing the class structure
and its attendan t inequities. In the late
1940s he wr ote and edited Psychiatric
Newsletter to help those in psychiatry
contribute toward the w orking class
struggle against capitalism. The
newsletter attracted the attention of
the FBI, which kep t a file on it and
condu cted sur veillance of Simon.
The next few years saw h im activein the struggle to aid those of his
Lincoln Battalion comrades and others
who w ere victims of the McCarthy -era
witch hu nts. In 1952 he was Chairm an
of the Comm ittee to Defend Lincoln
Veterans. Some of our read ers may
remember receiving letters about
imprisoned Lincoln vet Steve Nelson
co-signed by John Simon and Moe
Fishm an. That year he w as also listed
as a sponsor on th e stationary of the
Comm ittee to Secure Justice in the
Rosenberg Case. Simon s archives
include carbon copies of the letters he
sent about these and other causes,
amon g them th ose of staff ph ysicians
being fired for political reasons. There
is also one original letter, return ed
because the federal prison authorities
refused to d eliver it: a birthd ay greet-
ing to John Gates.
A few years later Simon headed
south , first to East Lou isiana State
Hospital in Jackson, Louisiana (1956-
1958), and then to the State PsychiatricHospital in Rio Piedr as, Puerto Rico
(1958-1964). While in Puerto Rico
Simon w as repeatedly struck by the
legal imp ediments to delivering med i-
cal care. His respon se was to earn a
law d egree by studying at night; he
received his L.L.B. from the University
of Puerto Rico in 1972. He a lso taugh t
at the University of Puerto Rico in San
Juan from 1958-1959 and again from
1961 to 1974 before retu rning to p ri-
vate p ractice in New York City. His
med ical/ legal pu blications in th ese
years often took u p social issues,
including h is long essay on The
Virginity Cu lt in the Civil and
Criminal Law of Puerto Rico.Like so man y civil war veterans,
Simon lived h is life on the left, champ i-
oning p rogressive movements in h is
chosen career. He died on December 20,
1999. At the time of his death he w as
working on an au tobiography. He is
surv ived by h is former w ife, Ruth B.
Simon , by his wife Myrtle, and by six
childrenthree daughters and three
sons. Two of Simons sons were named
after vets wh o lost their lives in Spain,
British commissar Wally Tapsall and
American comm ander Bob Merriman.Simon had 13 grandchildren.
Cary Nelson
SAM WALTERSSam Walters and I had something
in common , besides fighting against
fascism in Spain . We both spent m ost
of our youth in orphan homes. Sam
had an older brother, Al, wh om he
always tried to emulate. When Al told
Sam th at he w as joining the
International Brigades in Spain, Sam
decided that h e wou ld go too. Sam, Al
and I left the United States on
February 20,1937, on th e Ile de France.
Some weeks later, after spend ing time
in France and then making our w ay
over the Pyrenees, we found ourselves
in Spain. Sadly, Al was killed ear ly on,
in a battle at the Aragon wh en the
Lincolns captu red Quinto. I remember
how d evastated Sam w as when he
learned of h
top related