This past week, I have been reading the Edward Barsky Papers, the Fredericka Martin Papers, histories of the American Medical Brigades in Spain, and James Neugass's memoir War is Beautiful. I have gathered a lot of information on the medical advancements made in Spain, the organization of the Medical Brigade in Spain, the activities of the medical volunteers after Spain, and the characters of three remarkable people, Edward Barsky, James Neugass, and Fredericka Martin. I have therefore decided to write my research paper on how and why the character of these volunteers (exemplary of so many who went to Spain) made possible the great medical successes in Spain.

From Edward Barsky's memoir, I have gathered a lot of the information about medical innovation in Spain. In Chapter 11 "Some Notes on Military Surgical Practice," he relates in fair detail about the techniques he invented while working in Spain that he found more effective than the standard text-book techniques. He learned better ways to treat head injuries, limb fractures, lung punctures, intestinal damage, and soft tissue damage. He also relates the evolution of modern blood transfusions in Spain. Also, he relates the usefulness of the auto-chir to front-line surgery.

A continuous theme in Barsky's memoir is mental health. Even in the chapter on surgical practice, Barsky emphasizes the importance and sacredness of the human mind. In fact, he devotes all of chapter 5 to "Some Aspects of War Psychology." In this chapter, Barsky argues that in war, it is essential to maintain mental health and always act rationally. He argues that this is the most important weapon in modern warfare. He asserts that because of their rationality and optimism, he and the Medical Brigade were able to construct a hospital overnight.

James' Neugass's memoir War Is Beautiful is a very interesting memoir of the Spanish Civil War because Neugass wrote it when he was there- in fact it is probably better classified as a diary. Neugass was the ambulance driver for Edward Barsky and throughout the memoir, Neugass mentions his relationship with "Major B." and the mutual support and respect that they had for each other. Neugass describes driving over a mountain during a snow storm and how they would take turns driving even thought Neugass's job was to drive and Barsky's job was to operate. Several times, Neugass relates conversations with "Major B." in which they support each other's morale with optimistic thinking. Neugass's writing throughout the memoir is quite beautiful and he explores many different aspects of the war, from politics to the meaning of life. Throughout the book, he reiterates the question "Why did I come to Spain?" After reading his descriptions of the many difficulties volunteers experienced in Spain, the answer to this question sometimes becomes unclear. Neugass's point is that despite all of the hardships and tragedies of war, he wants to fight for freedom and democracy- he possesses the undying optimism that makes the idealist's dreams possible.

I still need to look at the Daily Worker and find articles on the American Medical Brigades to find evidence of optimism in propaganda and how this helped raise money and make the accomplishments of the medical brigades possible.

August 13, 1938- This postcard is written to Ring. It is very short and just says that he has come close to death in battle and is wounded. This other side of the poster portrays a hospital room. There is a strange wire bed-looking apparatus, a more familiar looking white hospital bed, and lots of iron rods. the room is empty and looks cold. It is labeled "Departamento de hidroterapia."

August 18, 1938- This postcard is written to his his mother. He briefly tells her that his wound is healing slowly, that hes getting better, and hes looking forward to returning to the battalion and seeing if he has any mail. The other side of the post card has a picture of "Un aspecto del Parque." It is a very pretty picture of a park in Spain. It is appropriate that he sent this gentle, reassuring image to his mother, rather than the bleak hospital picture that he sent to his brother.

August 2, 1938- In this letter written to his mother, James described his experience of being wounded and taken care of. He says that he is "going to write a piece on my recent adventures."

August 23, 1938- Another letter to his mother, telling her that he goes to the town to see American movies and go to the open market for food. He tells her that he expects to return to the International Brigades in a few days for a week of rehabilitation work. he says that "I believe there is a small piece of shrapnel in my leg, but the doctor says it doesn't matter," which suggests the limitations of the medical services in Spain. He says that he is unhappy because "this is really too luxurious a life and I want to get out of it before I grow spoiled."

September 2, 1938- This is a typed letter to his mother that he writes when he gets back to the International Brigades and spends a weekend in Barcelona. He describes visiting wounded friends, eating with friends, and many "luxuries of city life." He seems very happy and writes: "One things that makes me more satisfied with life than ever is that i have a very good idea of what i am going to do with my life."

September 14, 1938- This is a short letter to his mother which says that he is too overwhelmed to think and write coherently because he has been through some rough battles. He assures her that he is safe, however.

September 19, 1938- This letter is even more dreary. He decribes the heavy bombardment and constant need to dig trenches to protect oneself from shells and bombs. He says that "I never was so well paid for hand labor as by that feeling of comparative safety."

The fifth folder of this collection contains one letter written by Juan F. de Cárdenas to James Lardner's mother, in which he empathizes with her and says that he hopes to be able to give her good news very soon. This is obviously correspondence discussing James' disappearance.

The sixth folder contains one letter written by David Gordon to James' brother Ring on February 9, 1948, almost ten years after James' death. Gordon's letter explains that he is sending Ring James' activist card, which he had salvaged and kept all of those years. He says he hopes that Ring "will find it nice to possess a special memento of your brother James." He had made the card out to Jimmy posthumously. He says that he knows the card is safe with Ring because of Ring's own reputation as an activist in Hollywood.

The seventh folder contains a telegram from Hemingway to Jim's mother Ellis Lardner telling her how to find out "where Jims held." The telegram is written on a Western Union telegram.

The eighth folder contains letters written by Ellis Lardner.

June, 1938- In this letter, Ellis is writing to someone other than James and she relates all of her travels. It is clear that she is vivacious and has a lot of spirit. It is clear why James adores his mother and why he addresses her as "Darling." She writes that "I am too restless to stay any where long." She also writes that it is very difficult for her to let her sons live their own lives, "especially when they differ from our own ideas." She relates that she saw Ernest Hemingway and that he said Jim is safe and in a machine gun batallion that rarely goes to the front line.

May 1938- In this letter to the same person, Lane, Ellis writes that Jimmy "is a strange combination of ruthless logic and romantic idealism...but I am proud of him for doing what he thinks right."

The ninth folder contains one letter written by John Murra to Mrs. Lardner, written on November 12 (no year). He describes his friendship with Jim and tries to console Ellis by assuring her that Jim died for a good cause which he and his comrades will continue to fight for for the rest of their own lives.

The tenth folder contains a letter from Elman Service to Mrs. Lardner which explains that he was a very good friend of Jim and that, if she wishes it, he will visit her as soon as he returns to the states. He writes, "I'll not try to tell you in this letter how i personally feel about Jim's loss, or how sorry I am for you. I am writing this only to introduce myself and to tell you I am coming to see you."

The eleventh folder contains a typed letter from Diana Sheenan to Ellis Lardner relating to her news of Jim and that he is very happy. She also assures her, from personal experience with her own son, that Jim will be happier and better for having volunteered in Spain. She says that when she visited Spain, all of her own uneasiness disappeared because "there was a feeling of confidence and faith that Spain gives you, the thing there is there that makes people like Jim make these great decisions...." There is also a telegram that relates news of Jim and says that she has nothing to worry, at least for several weeks, because "all action is taking place elsewhere."

The twelfth folder contains letters from Diana Sheenan's husband, Vincent Sheenan, primarily to Ellis Lardner. In a letter dated May 15th, he writes to Mrs. Lardner and writes: "his friend Walter Kerr here in Paris tells me he thinks the idea was in Jim's mind beofre he ever left here" (joining the International Brigades). This gives us a better perspective on Jim's story than Jim's censored letters to his mother did in the first few folders. Vincent is a friend of Jim's in Paris and in this letter sets up correspondence with Ellis so as to assist in communication between her and her son in Spain. Also in the folder is a letter from Vincent to John N. Wheeler, President of the North American Newspaper Alliance and a neighbor and friend of Mrs. Lardner. This letter is written after Jim's death and in it he writes about housekeeping things that needed to be done (dealing with Jim's belongings) and also that the Friends of the Lincoln Brigade wanted to make a memorial to Jim called the Jim Lardner Memorial, but need Mrs. Lardner's permission to do so. He writes postscript that he is writing a book that will include Jim and which Mrs. Lardner may read before he publishes it if she would like.

The thirteenth folder contains the activist card that Joe Gordon sends to Bill Ring. It says: "Ejemplo para todos sus camaradas de disciplina, de trabajo, en la defensa de la Causa del Pueblo contra la reacción y la invasión eztranjera." It lists the goals of activists after this.

The fourteenth folder contains newspaper clippings that have to do with James. In one clipping entitled "It Seems to Me," there is a picture of James, and he looks much older than I imagined him to be. The article writes "I imagine he was the only man of genius i ever met." The article also says that his brother Ring was not political at all at the time. This means that the activism in Hollywood that Joe Gordon relates in his correspondence to Ring was inspired by his brother Jim's efforts, and probably his death, in Spain. There is also a clipping of a story written by Vincent Sheenan about Jim entitled "Jim Lardner's Farewell to Arms." The article is a part of the chapter "The Last Volunteer" in his book "Not Peace, but a sword." In this he relates Jim's story from his time in Paris to his death in Spain. He writes, " What makes (Jim) not exceptional, but characteristic of much wider phenomena, was the wayin which the objective and subjective were mixed, so that his personal reasons could not be separated from the social purpose to which they thus powerfully contributed."

Thus ends the manuscript collection on James Lardner. Although short, due to his short time in Spain, it is dense with information and beauty- yet another truly remarkable and inspirational story of an American volunteer in Spain.

Yesterday, I read the first three folders of the James Lardner. In the finding aid, I found his short bibliography and learned that he belonged to the upper class in New York City. He attended Andover and Harvard and after school was hired as a reporter for the New York Herald Tribune. He transfered from the office in NYC to the office in Paris in 1938. A few months after arriving in Paris, he traveled down to Spain to report on the war, and after witnessing an aerial battle on the Ebro, decided to enlist. I got a better sense of this story from Lardner's personal letters.

January 28, 1938- The first three folders contained outgoing correspondence written by James, mostly to his mother and also to his brother Ring. The first letter of the first folder is addressed to Ring. It mentions that Ring sent James a newspaper called The New Masses. James is happy to receive because he says it is very difficult to learn of news in the U.S. in Paris. James mentions two books that Ring should read, The Life and Death of a Spanish Town and Ends and Means. He writes that the second book, which was written by Alduous Huxley, "does not impress me very much." James tells Ring of the political affairs in France. He says that the only strong force in France that wants to back Spain was the Communists and that "they have pretty much given up the idea." He also says that Radical Socialists are "sincerely anti-fascist," but not sincerely Popular Front. Interestingly, he relays accurate predictions made by a French reporter, Genevieve Tabouis, as so what is happening or is about to happen in Germany. James disregards her prediction of the German take-over of Czechoslovakia.

February 18, 1938- The second letter in this folder is also addressed it Ring. James makes an interesting comment about the efficiency of communication and its affect on the way we perceive world events. He writes " If you were not so many days away, I should indulge in some amazing predictions on the course of European events, but am afraid that by the time you get this letter, the situation would be so different as to make me look kind of silly.”

March 23, 1938- The third letter is addressed to his mother and is much different from his letters to his brother. It is obvious that James tries very hard not to worry or distress his mother in any way. He says that he is going to Spain for his vacation and talks about how nice the weather is down there. He talks about trivial things like baseball and family gossip.

March 31, 1938- This letter is a short, one page letter to his mother saying that he is going to Spain to do some reporting (and also a little vacationing) and that he will be under an assumed name and won't be able to correspond for the time being.

The second folder contains correspondence entirely to his mother.

May 3, 1938- This is a particularly interesting and beautiful letter. It contains a moving list of reasons for his volunteering that he sent to his mother. This strategy for "breaking the news" is the best I have found yet. Rather than lie to his mother, he explains to her exactly what he believes in and who he is so that she can understand him better and better accept his potential self-sacrifice.

May 8, 1938- In this letter, James relates that he couldn't get in to the ALB on his first try because they were too disorganized and that he is going to keep trying until he does. He also tells her that she can check on his safety by cabling to the American Consulate in Barcelona.

May 22, 1938- He addresses his mother as "Darling" and relates that he hasn't been in battle yet, but is currently listening to a battle in the distance. He is very anxious to get into battle and actually accomplish something.

May 27, 1938- In this letter, James writes that he is about to go in to action and that he was been promoted to corporal with command over four men. In this letter, distances and locations are blotted out completely. I wonder who this was done by? James ends the letter inquiring after his pregnant sister and her baby.

The third folder also contains only letters written by James to his mother.

July 20, 1938- In this letter, James says something very interesting and useful for me. He explains to his mother that "there is no better way of finding out what goes on here in the International Brigades than by reading the Daily Worker.” Also in this letter, he discusses the difficulties of getting through Spanish customs and then ends the letter talking about two parties that he went to and how nice the weather was.

July 6, 1938- This letter is a response to a letter he received from his mother in which he defends his belief in Communism and explains to her why what she thinks and is told about Communism is wrong. Then, maybe to make up for the shock or the harshness of the first part of the letter, he writes beautiful descriptions of the Spanish food and landscape which sound almost Plutonic.

June 27-28- In this letter, James describes his experience at the rigorous school for corporal that he attended for 12 days. He also talks about his friends and defends Communism by saying that his friends are good guys, the best soldiers, and Communists.

June 12, 1938- In this letter, there isn't much more news, but James describes his "appearance as a Spanish soldier." He writes: "Face and hands are bronzed, more than ever, I think, and my arms and body above the waist are quite brown. I have a short haircut, so that I don’t have to comb my hair. It is about an inch long now. My weight is down a little, but I am stronger.”

June 2, 1938- James writes "this is a busy, yet uneventful life."He still has not gotten in to battle. In this letter, he tries to get his mother used to the idea that he may never come home, at least not until the war is finally over.

July 13, 1938- In this letter, James doesn't say much else, but that he still wants her to try to send a package and he still wants to know about the expected child of his sister (sister-in-law?)

Last Saturday, I spent a great deal of time using the microfilm machines and looking at the microfilm records of The Daily Worker in 1936. Unfortunately, the archivists could not find the bound copies of the newspaper; however, I am glad I got to use the microfilm machines because, as I discovered, there is a vast amount of material which is only stored on microfilm in the archives.

As already stated, I looked at papers from the year 1936, specifically the papers of January 1, 1936; January 2, 1936; and January 3, 1936. The Daily Worker was a prominent Communist Party newspaper in New York City, one which most of the members of the ALB from NYC whom I am learning about in the archives probably read on a daily basis. Therefore, reading this newspaper is a great way for me to learn about what prompted the New Yorkers to volunteer in Spain. The first thing that caught my attention was the density of the newspaper. This may have been a microfilm technicality, but the print that I was reading was very small and close together. On normal sized newspaper, over several pages, it seems like a daunting amount of text. Perhaps this says something about the slack in journalism since those days. There may be a direct relationship between the number of readers and the amount of text in newspapers, explaining the change in journalism over the years.

On January 1, 1936 alone, there were many interesting stories in The Daily Worker. On the front page is a head line that reads: "Capitalist Parties are Company Unions in the Political Field." The article is promoting the Communist candidate for office in the Senate elections. The article puts both mainstream parties (Republicans and Democrats) in the same group, under the title of "Capitalism." This seems to contradict the doctrines of the Popular Front which the party and, most likely, the paper, will ardently adhere to after the beginning of the Spanish Civil war in July of that year. I wonder if they continue to put down Capitalism in articles in later months or if there is increased censorship for propaganda purposes.

Another article is entitled "What Does the Congress of the Communist International Mean to You?" This is another propaganda piece, not surprising in a Communist publication, warning of war and calling for action. The article says "We sing songs of peace at this holiday season- and there is no peace!" The article goes on to describe the solution to the problem: Communism. "While the rest of the world is decaying, the Communists have leaped forward to achievement on one-sixth of the globe." It exalts the Soviet Union and describes in details all of the successes of that country under Communism.

In a related story, entitled "No Artificial Joy," the author directly relates alcohol consumption with happiness. This "happiness meter" means that "If then the Russians are drinking less than half of the amount they drank in 1913...the Russians are more than twice as happy and similarly less bored with life." A drop in alcohol consumption in the USSR is then compared to the increase in alcohol consumption in the United States. This argument obviously has many wholes and flaws.

It also seems inconsistent with the fun-loving people I have gotten to know who volunteered in Spain, such as Bill Bailey and Leo Gordon. Neither of these American Communists seems like they would care about alcohol consumption or find a fundamental relationship between alcohol consumption and quality of life.

In another section of this page, it is written "Today opens a year of grave events in the American labor movement. It is clear that in 1936 organized labor will fight for its life against an irreconcilable enemy, who has all the power of government in his hands." Again, the Communist party sees, or at least ignores for political purposes, any differences between the two mainstream American political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats.

In another article entitled "Party Life: Pittsburgh District Organizer Addresses a Letter to Old and New Members," the doctrines and values of the Communist party are reiterated and enforced. The author writes "Don't allow yourself to slide along without studying or reading. A Communist must learn to understand the great things that are happening today." This value of education and awareness is probably an important one for the Americans who volunteered in Spain. They must have had a great deal of awareness of the news and of international ideas and debates in order to have made such a revolutionary and dangerous life decision of going to Spain to fight fascism. The idea of "paying your dues" must have been another important doctrine which influenced the American volunteers. An overwhelming feeling of social responsibility for liberty and basic human rights led them to Spain; this force of civic "duty" was probably enhanced and enforced very much so by the proactive, disciplined Communist party. Unlike the adversity to alcohol, these doctrines and values of awareness and duty do reflect the personalities of the men in Spain whom I have come to know through my work in the archives.

The January 2, 1936 paper continues to put out news about the Soviet Union, with a picture of Stalin on the front cover. The front cover article accompanying it reports on Stalin's physical agricultural skills and knowledge and his political policies which support agriculture as well. The collectivization of agriculture is extremely important in the doctrines of Communism. How does this doctrine relate to American Communism, which is so concentrated in the urban working class of New York City?

Also in this paper was an article entitled "Roosevelt Social Law Bars all Benefits to Those Now Jobless." The article criticized the Social Security bill which was passed on that very day. The article claims that the bill does not do enough, in fact does very little, for the unemployed and that more progressive, radical legislation needs to be passed in order to solve the social and economic issues.

Another article entitled "City Hall and the White House- Put Main Efforts in Pro-Olympic Drive" includes a very ironic and rather amusing interview conducted by Communist journalist Liston Oak and American National Socialist (Nazis) Anton Haegele. At one particularly ironic part of the interview, Haegele admits that if a person is of the Olympic calibre, she or he should be allowed to participate, regardless of race; then, his friend cuts in and says "Please don't print that. We must uphold purity..." As the article rightly points out, although the article was funny, "this is no laughing matter." Fascism is a real threat in America, just as it is in Europe, and Oak urges Americans to take a more proactive stance against the ridiculous doctrines and forces of Naziism abroad before it attacks America.

I will continue to read and analyze these newspapers and gather a better understanding of the thoughts, ideas, and concerns of Communists in America before and during the Spanish Civil War.

Last night, our class saw The Good Fight, a documentary on the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. One of the parts of the documentary that stayed with me most was the part where one of the veterans asked "Is it possible to win 'The Good Fight'?" He argues that the defeat in Spain can symbolize the tragedy of the human condition- the defeat of the romantic and ideal. It was a tragedy which none of the veterans seemed to ever get over, even though fascism was eventually defeated and democracy prevailed. At the very end of the movie, a young boy in the 1970's says to one of the veterans in a parade: "I hope my generation has as much courage as your generation had." I began wondering why my generation isn't as politicalized, and even as aware, as the youth of the 1930's. I know that I have not yet been very politicized myself, even though oppression of liberty still occurs throughout the world, such as in Darfur, and threats to American democracy and safety occur, most prominently Al Qaeda and 9/11. It is probably because although these things still exist, the Great Depression has been overcome, and I feel like I can afford to ignore world, and even national issues of safety and politics. In many ways, "the Good Fight" has won. Democracy defeated a terrible streak of fascism and genocide in Europe in the 1940's. If the people could be inspired to force the national government to be more socially responsible and active in other countries, it seems possible that "the Good Fight" could be won. However, if the apathy of today's youth continues (including myself) it is possible that "The Good Fight" of tomorrow could be lost.

Today in the archives, I found Edward K. Barsky's unpublished manuscript and read the first few chapters on his personal accounts of Spain. I really enjoyed reading the novel and wish I had more time to sit down and read the entire thing this afternoon. Since I am currently considering applying to Medical school and becoming a doctor, his story was even more interesting to me. He writes beautifully on the art of medicine, beginning in the forword when he says: " The suffering of other human beings has come so near to us that we can no longer be indifferent; we must put our souls in their soul’s stead.” In Chapter One, he reflects on his response to seeing a man with his entails falling out, recalling " I felt blinding anger against creation; this man ought to have been unconscious, instead he was so sensitized that he read my soul.”

At one point in Chapter One, Dr. Barsky writes about his reasons for going to Spain. He remembers he was moved by the Spanish Republic's desire for a "modest liberty," modest in that it was a democracy won by legal means. This he contrasts with the rather brazen and immodest American revolution, which called for radical changes in the meaning of liberty. This comment leads me to believe that Dr. Barsky wasn't a radical Communist, although he was a member of the Communist Party of America. He was more of a moderate, American Communist who joined the party as a resort for desperately needed social assistance during the Great Depression, not because he fervently believed in a revolution of the social class structure. He wanted to fight for a more "modest liberty."

When I read Barsky's comment further on in Chapter One that the International Brigade men spoke so many different languages, I thought again about the meaning of this integration of different nationalities, in New York, in America, in the International Brigades, and in the world at large as we entered an international modern age of diplomacy, cooperation, and conflict. Can the seemingly perfect balance between nationalism and internationalism demonstrated by the International Brigades be attainable world-wide? If this balance is attained, will there be peace? How does this balance shape an American national identity? How do the American International Brigade volunteers contribute to this national identity?

I just started on Chapter Four, "A Soldier's Story," in which Barksy relates the story of one of the Spanish Republican soldiers. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the manuscript. So far I have found many moving passages. I have also gotten a better understanding of the perspective of a moderate Communist in Spain, which can be useful in my research on the Communist Party of America.

Before I began my archival work yesterday, I thought about what was most interesting me in the archives and what I want to research for my final project. I am most interested in what it meant to be a Communist in America in the 1930's and how this movement influenced the lives of the citizens of New York City. Perhaps I could do a case study of a soldier in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, such as Bill Bailey, and come to some conclusions about the the New York City left culture from his story. Furthermore, I would be able to come to some conclusions about the place of leftist ideology in modern American; how new ideas have roots in fundamental American tenets and also how new ideas change America in the modern age.

In the archives yesterday, I continued to explore different stories, in search of a case study for this research. I opened the files of Doctor Edward K. Barsky, the famous New York City doctor who volunteered in Spain. In the first folder, however, I didn't find many things pertaining to the Doctor and his own personal story. Instead, there were many interesting government documents of war relief committees in World War II. The first document was a report on the President's termination of the War Relief Control Board and the establishment of the Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid in its place. This committee, which still exists today, shows proactive governmental support of war volunteerism, a little too late for the Spanish cause. The document records the net income of the committee and how much of that income is sent overseas and shows that about $90,000 is not sent each year. This begs the question, did the establishment of governmental regulation of volunteered money through this committee decrease the efficiency of monetary aid? What were the benefits of this committee? Did they outweigh the drawbacks?

The next file I looked at contained papers from the International Committee of Coordination and Information to Aid Republican Spain. There was a booklet entitled All Free Men of the World for Republican Spain. The booklet outlines in detail how people internationally can best help Republican Spain, including "Aid to Children," "Aid to Refugees," "Aid to the Civil Population," "Aid to the Combatants," and finally "Medical Aid." There is a strong emphasis throughout the booklet on children and the destruction of the next generation. Second most prevalent is the destruction of women, elders, and the innocent civilian population. There is also a clear attempt in the booklet to make Spain seem like a modernized and capable nation. It says that "For 120 pesetas a month, or 5 dollar, the life of a child is assured in these Colonies where the most modern education is provided.” Also, “It is not through lack of organization that the Spanish Government meets with difficulties in providing for all these people, but only because of the painful conditions foced on it for the import of these products of prime necessity." The Spanish strategies to gain international support that were described in Peter Carol and Heather Grahams' books are clearly present in this book.

Therefore, I found many interesting documents of Spanish propaganda and U.S. Governmental actions during WWII, but very little about Edward Barksy's own story and little of what I want to research in the future. I hope to have more luck next time.

I finished listening to Bill Bailey's in depth interview in the archives yesterday. The majority of the tapes consisted of his war time experiences. He recalls witnessing many tragic deaths that obviously have stayed with him for the rest of his life. For example, he remembers the mayor of some Spanish city in a field trying to run back to fascist lines and Republican soldiers taking their time, waiting until the mayor was "about 100 yards away" and then shooting him down in the back with a machine gun Bill remembers the death of his friend Arie, a fellow seaman and "a really great guy." H remembers sending Arie's personal belongings back to his sister and the entire account is cloaked in a solemn tone. He remembers that the three guys in his battalion who had fought in World War I "were killed right off the bat- boom." He uses a lot of onomatopoeia in his descriptions, like "boom!' and "bang!" and it is clear that these war images are still extremely vivid in his mind. He describes "the worst shelling I've ever seen in my life," recalling all of the sensations associated with shelling, including "the sound of it-'whoof!'"

The most interesting tape i listened to was the final tape, in which Bill commented on the current political situation of the 1980s and reflected on how his political ideology and affiliation changed his life. Commenting on the new conservative political surge, Bill says "there must be something wrong with the people" for them to have voted for Reagan. He predicts (correctly) that "we're gunna go through a stage before liberals can get a hold again." He asserts that liberals "hands are tied" at the moment (1988).

When Gerassi asks Bill if Spain was the biggest part of his life, he gives a more complicated answer than "yes" or "no". He believes that Spain was one of the major accomplishments of his life, but that the "biggest part" of his life would have to be his dedication to the Communist party. His dedication to this ideology changed not only his thoughts, but his actions, and therefore shaped his entire life. He has always rejected material things and in his rejection of materialism, he rejected a settled, comfortable American life. Instead of settling down with a woman, getting a decent job, working, paying bills, buying a house, and raising a family, Bill lives by himself in a rented apartment, always with an anxiety that his landlord will kick him out at any moment. Sometimes he worries that he made a mistake and should've done some things differently in order to "get more material things." However, he, Gerassi, and I know that Bill Bailey was a product of his time and place and could not have done things differently. Even when he is talking about his mistakes, there is an underlying pride for his Communist ideological convictions and lifetime commitment to the causes that drove him to Spain in 1936 and led him to his solitary apartment life as an old man.

Today, I finished the second tape of Bill Bailey's interview, which contains an hour long account of his participation in the Bremen demonstration.
Listening to Bill Bailey speak is quite delightful. He is a very well-meaning, blunt, energetic old man. In a rough voice he repeats phrases like "Dem Nazi bastards" and "Dem sons o' bitches." I found myself smiling at his vivaciousness, which remained strong even 50 years after his service in Spain. I want to clarify that although Bill Bailey lacked a formal education, he was very intelligent and was able to learn quite a deal through his life experiences. Listening to him narrate the Bremen story, he uses large words like "belligerent" and refers to things like "Murphey's law." He generates great metaphors; for example, when describing being arrested at the Bremen story, he says "Police tripping on their own big feet." I could see this sensitivity and intelligence in Bailey's letters to Marjorie Polon as well. As I noted in an earlier post, some of the passages in those letters are quite beautiful, despite occasional spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.
I listened to a very descriptive account of Bailey's Bremen experience, feeling almost like I wa s there myself. From his narration, I realized that despite his gruffness and passion, Bailey was quite shy and sensitive. He recalls feeling almost "stage-fright" when he was on top of the ladder holding the Nazi flag in front of hundreds of people. He also recalls resentfully that their entire operation was rather brazen and arrogant, a "Hollywood production." It is interesting that despite inherent qualities in Bailey's personality, such as shyness and sensitivity, he becomes a part of this brazen and dangerous demonstration against the Nazis and in fact the central figure of the entire operation. It shows once more how forces of the community and life experiences impact a person, sometimes despite that person's inherent personal characteristics and inclinations.

I am still not sure what I want to research or even in which direction my research is going. However, I am interested in the questions of posed in my last post concerning the societal forces that led to New Yorkers to volunteer to fight in Spain. Today, I searched through the online ALBA archives and found an extensive oral history collection of interviews with veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade created by the journalist and scholar John Gerassi in 1980. Gerassi was the son of a Republican General and after the war, the his family emigrated to New York City, where Gerassi attended Columbia University.

The interviews are a few hours long and therefore, I chose to focus primarily on Bill Bailey's interview. I have already read his letters to Marjorie Polon and find him to be a fascinating character. When I saw his name in the list of interviews, I was extremely excited. I hoped to get a better sense of his personality by listening to him speak. I also hoped to learn his own story and identify any forces that led him to join the Abraham Lincoln Brigadge.

The first thing I noticed when the tape began rolling was Bailey's thick New York accent. This combined with terrible grammar made him sound very uneducated. I could somewhat tell that he was uneducated from the many spelling mistakes in his letters. Nevertheless, it was still odd to match a voice to the words of a man I had already constructed in my imagination. Bill Bailey was definitely different from what I had imagined. I could feel his presence with a better sense of reality than I had by reading his letters. I think that I might have romanticized Bill Bailey slightly when I read his letters. Listening to the audio tapes was a great way to sharpen my image of Bill Bailey, although it by no means makes his character or history entirely clear.

In my time at the library, I managed to listen to only one and a half of the five tapes of Bill Bailey's interview. In the first tape, he describes his parents and siblings. His father was English and his mother was Irish. Bill was born in Jersey City in 1910. He was the second youngest child. Seven of his siblings died before the age of one. The remaining six children consisted of three boys and three girls. Bill tells us about his oldest brother, who joined the navy, in part because "they gave him three meals a day." Similarly, Bill thinks the only reason his father went to political meetings was because politicians "bought you left and right." The families poverty is emphasized even more by the story of Bill's younger brother, who stole milk and bread from stores and in this way "kept the family going for quite some time." Bill recalls bitterly that his brother was eventually caught, arrested, and put into juvenile reform school from the age of 14 to the age of 20. When his brother got out of this institution, he was completely illiterate.

Bill himself was school only through the fifth grade. Then, his mother took him out of school to work for the family. He remembers his first job at the boxing factory, which he hated, and then the job at the waterfront. He remembered that out of the 21-or-so dollars that he earned each month, his mother would allow him to keep only 52 cents. Bill bitterly laughed at this and said "man, that was hard to take!" At this job on the waterfront, Bill acquired an interest in sailing and built his own boat.

In the next chapter of Bill Bailey's life, he travels around the United States, recalling many struggles caused by poverty that continued to build up his strong left political polarization and lead to his volunteerism in Spain.

For example, as a stowaway on a ship to Florida, Bailey was arrested and sent to jail for thirty days. He remembers how unfair the entire situation was and how difficult prison was, describing the claustrophobic bunk beds, the crummy food, and the hard labor. Once he got out of jail, he took a box car to San Francisco, where he found it to be "just as bad" as New York. There was just as much unemployment, poverty, and suffering. On a trip in to London, Bill recalls the sad story of an Indian man who was not allowed to travel back to Indian to see his dying mother because of his lack of identification. Bill says he wrote about this story in a leftist magazine when he got back to the states.

It is clear that there were many forces and experiences in Bill Bailey's early life that shaped his personality and developed his Leftist political ideology- particularly poverty during the Great Depression. I think that the relationships that Bill Bailey developed as he grew up with both his family and his friends were extremely important to his political development because their suffering evoked a human compassion stronger than any selfish sufferings could evoke. Once again, the community becomes most important to the development of personal and political ideologies. I hope to learn even more about these forces from listening to the rest of the tapes.

Today, I watched the video Facing Facism: New Yorkers Remember the Spanish Civil War and learned a lot about the impact of the war on the people in New York, both family of soldiers and activists.

From watching interviews with two women who grew up during the Spanish Civil War, Luz Castaños and Vara B. Williams, I got a better sense of how young people were affected by the communities in which they grew up. Liberalism and activism was very prominent in New York City at this time and it's prominence seemed to have created a circular affect in which those growing up in such a highly liberal community became impassioned by the same concerns and beliefs themselves. Thus, support for the Spanish Civil War was spread not only through political activism but through community solidarity as well. Vara B. Williams recalls that her active support for the Spanish Civil War was "wreathed in a certain romanticism"- she believed she was "supporting heroes" and fighting "bad guys" and never really understood the larger political situation and ideological conflicts involved. The community created a simple romanticism which youth in particular could stand behind. Luz Costaños's first childhood memory, in fact, is a Republican song that she sang at the age of one and a half that has the words "salieron por la calle gritando: Liberta! Liberta! Liberta!" This shows how children were shaped by their families and communities. However, Luz also recalls how families and communites were split by political beliefs. Her father was a Republican and second cousin, whom she loved very much, was "the most right wing person in all of New York City".

Other stories in the video seem to demonstrate this idea that the people of New York City were shaped by their communities, not just their personal political beliefs. Milton Wolff says that he was in the Youth Communist League because "I was an activist" and "there were very nice girls there too." Abe Osheroff admits that it was "easy to get politicized" in his hometown of Williamsburg because he was "living it all the time" and "reading left press all of the time." He admits that one of the main forces that led to his departure for Spain was shame. All of his friends were going, and he knew that if he didn't go he would be ashamed for the rest of his life. For many of these people, being politically left and activist was a way of life, not just an ideology; their ideological beliefs and actions were fostered and nourished by a community of people who could share and live together. Could New York City activism have been as strong if this community did not exist? How essential is a community to the formation of political and personal identities?

Today, I continued to research the correspondence between Marjorie Polon and some of the men in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. I read the rest of the mens' letters to Marjorie, including those of Nat Gross, Harry Haken, George Kaye, Bill van Felix, and the Spaniard Ernesto. I found these correspondences with Marjorie to be different than that of Bill Bailey with the young girl. The one letter written by Nat Gross seemed to me the most respectful letter that Marjorie received from any of the men. In this letter, he praises her for being so "wise" and for sending the cigarettes to the men. He tells her "one of the boys told me that his life was saved by your cigarettes." He does not make love to the girl, but rather treats her how she ought to be treated, as a kind person and dear pen pal. He ends his letter with "The boys send their regards and love to a strong anti-fascist and true friend of the Lincoln Brigade."

By contrast, Harry Hakam's letters use strong, provocative, aggressive language. He sexually harasses the girl: " So watch out for I have big teeth and generally have a little red riding hood with my eggs for breakfast." He is even less subtle with the fact that he uses her for cigarettes. He writes: "P.S.- mucho love pero much más cuando it gives some more cigarettes pronto." His unsubtle writing is brutal and disrespectful- at least that is how I would feel if I were Marjorie.

However, it is suggested that Marjorie provoked this kind of response by being rather flirtatious herself. Harry wrote "From the way you write, I am tempted to call you my cute little provocative sweetie."

Therefore, it is very difficult to determine how these correspondences between Marjorie and the American soldiers reflects gender relation issues inherent in American culture in the 1930's. Perhaps Marjorie's flirtations with the soldiers were purely acts of compassion made by a remarkable young girl and the soldiers' aggressive and disrespectful attitudes were simply reflections of the unique condition of the disillusioned soldier. Perhaps not. Perhaps American gender relations factors in to the sometimes disturbing and inappropriate correspondence between this American teenage girl and the adult soldiers.

Yesterday, I explored a new facet of the archives: photographs. I had read the essay in Facing Facism: New York and the Spanish Civil War which discussed the importance of the photograph as war time propaganda and was interested in observing the Republican propaganda for myself. I looked at a box of original photographs taken by the Photographic Unit of the Fifteenth International Brigade spanning most of the war. I learned from the box description that many of the photographs taken by this unit were used in the Brigade's newspaper, Volunteer for Liberty. Therefore, I expected to find photographs intended to boost soldier morale and foster sympathy and support for the Republican Army abroad. In my search for propaganda photographs, I too realized how difficult it is to discern between the truth and a staged photograph.

In one picture of Anti-Tank Unit Leaders, everyone's facial expressions are serious, but their body language conveys mixed signals. One of the older soldiers is standing at attention, with his feet shoulder width apart, his hands behind his back, and his shoulders pulled back. Other men are standing less erect, while one standing man even has his hands at his side. Still others are casually hunched down on their knees in front of the rest. Perhaps the body language of the men is meant to convey both their serious attitudes and their physical exhaustion. This could be used as propaganda, showing in some ways the need for physical strength and military assistance for the Republicans. In the background of the photograph is a partially destroyed doorway and a corroding wall, which add to the disintegrative tone of the entire photograph.

In another group photograph, one of Spanish cooks in the MacPap unit, the scene rather than the body language of the men conveys the political message. The men look healthy, although noticeably dirty, and they seem to be earnestly working hard at their jobs. However, they are cooking in what seems to be the ruins of a building in a large field, perhaps in the aftermath of a battle. This scene may have been chosen to portray the destruction of the rural agricultural elite by the Republican Army. Also, what they are cooking draws a lot of attention. The food looks like giant mounds of grainy muck, which again draws attention to the Republican needs for supplies and foreign aid.

In another photograph of a sound truck, dated August 1938, I saw another picture of determined men looking rather physically worn out. One of the men is sitting on the hubcap of the truck and the other man is leaning on the truck with his left arm. This body language contrasts ironically with their helmets and the scene, which suggests that they are ready for war at any moment.

A photo of American Engineers repairing a road to Quinto which was cut off by Fascists in August of 1937 again conveys the Republicans severe lack of supplies and need for external support. There are lots of engineers present on the work site, but only a few are actually helping to repair the road because there are a limited number of tools available and the men can't help without the proper tools.

A photo entitled "Tanks Going into Action" shows two small Republican tanks in the distance driving into a vast, foggy field. The enemy is not distinctly seen. This makes the two small tanks seem even smaller and meager, as they travel into a great abyss of enemy territory, where it is known heavy artillery awaits. This photo again exemplifies Republican propaganda aimed at garnering external support for the Republican cause.

A photo entitled "Internationals and Republican tank after action" is a posed group photo depicting the soldiers in a line in front of the tank, looking happy and proud. I spent a few minutes trying to figure out whether this photo was planned in this way as propaganda to boost volunteer morale or whether the men genuinely felt happy. I realized after some thought that the mere fact that the photo was taken is a clue that it was intended for political purposes. As supplies were low, I'm sure that taking photographs was reserved mainly for special events and propaganda. As the essay "Images at War: Photographs of the Spanish Civil War in New York City" asserts, photographs were very powerful as propaganda during the Spanish Civil War because with faster technology, photos were imbued with a new perception of truth. Therefore, photographs were special, especially at the end of the war when the Republicans were desperately low on supplies. I would like to find out just how many of these photographs made their way into news papers, who viewed the photos and what kind of emotions they evoked from those viewers. As of now, I can only speculate based on what I see in the photos and logical assumptions based on historical facts about the photograph, propaganda, and the Republican condition.

Saturday, I decided to explore a different story for the time being. I read the letters some soldiers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade wrote to a 14 year old New York girl named Marjorie Polon. These correspondences presented a new and unique angle on war-time correspondence and the thoughts and feelings of the soldiers. The men had never known Marjorie, which gave the letters a different tone, especially those of Bill Bailey, the chief correspondent.

Bill Bailey's letters were both honest and romantic, qualities which I feel lacked in the Gordon letters. In a letter to Marjorie on September 16th, 1938, he describes how the soldiers marched toward the River Ebro without knowing where they were going or what they were doing. He describes how he has to fight lines of Moors and says that after the fascists charged with a front line of Moor soldiers and then retreated back, "we found that they had left plenty of their dead behind." He answers her questions about Spain honestly and thoroughly. Answering her questions concerning the relations between the soldiers and the farmers, he writes "we learn their songs and they learn ours." He says the one word to describe Republican Spanish/American relations is "healthy." In a letter a week later, Bill describe for Marjorie an air raid that "killed and wounded hundreds, mostly women and children."

It is clear that Bill uses these letters as his outlet for romance and comfort. He romanticizes the situation, pretending that he writes to a great love, thereby giving more beauty and joy to his tough army life. He writes beautiful things like: "What a coincidence we must of had, me reading about you paddling a boat and not knowing where you were going to stay the night. And me, the same way, of course we had a little idea that we were going to sleep among the Angels, or on some cold ground underneath a Olive tree." He also signs the letters endearingly, for example with "Loads of Love."

In his later letters to Marjorie, after the war, the bitter tone reflects his resentment of the unrequited love. Marjorie was writing to other men as well as Bill, out of curiosity and compassion. After the war, she went to Vassar College, built a career, married, and created a life for herself. It was rather sad reading Bill's two bitter, lonely letters to Marjorie after the war.

By contrast, Syd Levine's letters were brutally realistic. He facetiously attacks all of Marjorie's questions about himself and about Spain because, he explains, "from your letter, I gather you had a romantic idea of Spain." In answer to her query as to his age, he writes that "every day in Spain is equal to a year in some former life- if that is so, then I am over 400 years old." In answer to her query as to why he left for Spain, he writes "I leave that to be answered if I ever see you personally." Syd does not use correspondence with Majorie romantically to satisfy some inner longing. He is completely realisitic. This shows how psychological reactions to war time conditions can vary from person to person- from personality to personality.

Today, I returned to the archives to continue reading the letters of the Leo and Joe Gordon. I learned from a newspaper clipping entitled "Gordon and Gordon" that the brothers were Jewish; and very kind, energetic, intellectual, humorous men. This source reinforced the impression I got of the two men from reading their personal letters by describing them as "animated with such beaming humor and wit." The newspaper told me that Joe is the more aggressive brother who likes to fight and read satire, whereas Leo is the "less aggressive member of the firm" who "reads poetry and classical literature."
I got an even better sense of their personalities by reading Leo's letters from 1931 to 1937. During these years, he traveled around the states working for the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). These letters were more light and humorous than the letters written in Spain which I read yesterday. In a letter to Gus on April 25, 1933, he pokes fun at his situation, saying that the only reason he left home was so that he could receive packages of goodies from his family. He goes on to say "The truth is I'm lonely here. Nobody loves me. X marks the spot a tear fell." Then he adds "Boloney. I never was happier in all my life." He gives himself titles like "The Wandering Jew" and "Leo the Great." I found myself lauging out loud in the middle of the Tamiment library at his words. It really was quite funny.
Within these love-able letters, Leo touches upon serious matters as well. He mentions that his friend Puny and he were "fast developing a criminal record" and were pink slipped for participating in labor strikes. At the end of this letter written on July 19, 1937, he writes "One of the kids from our section recently kicked the bucket in the Madrid offensive. And if that isn't a fitting end for this letter, I don't know what is." In this collection of Leo's letters from 1931 to 1937, I could trace his political development in the course of his experiences. The fact that he can laugh at his problems does not decrease the weight of his problems. He must wander across America from job to job to survive, all the while missing his family and suffering from poor living conditions. Therefore, it is clear that Leo became more aggressively and passionately Left through his struggles in the Great Depression.
Leo's own political beliefs and passions were most likely influenced by his aggressive brother Joe. I learned today that Joe was more the leader of the two brothers. He described being elected President of Cannery Workers Union and elected as an official delegate to the California State Convention of the American Federation of Labor. He writes to Gus telling him to get their friend Rose "into the party" as well. I got an even better sense of his aggressive personality from these letters, but I feel I have much more to read and to learn about this second brother Joe Gordon. I hope to better understand what happened to Joe after Leo is killed in battle and what he did after the war.

September 21, 2009

Today in the ALBA, I read the letters of Leo and Joseph Gordon, two American brothers who fought in the Abraham Lincoln Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. By reading their letters, I learned about their participation in the war and, more importantly, I learned about what that participation meant to them personally.

In fact, Leo Gordon confesses to his friend Gus in one letter: "I can't tell you anything about the war that you don't know. In fact, you are in a better position to get this information than I am." I feel as though Leo might as well have been speaking to me. In his letters, I learn, as his friend Gus learned, about his psychological and emotional responses to war, rather than simply the facts. In one letter Leo wrote to his cousin Gus, the soldier tells his friend to say hello to one of his comrades who recently returned home. Leo writes: “He might remember me- modest little me.” Statements like these remind me as I read the letter that the author bears the psychological burdens of war. He could die at any moment and naturally tries to appease his ego by seeking human love, respect, and recognition. He tells Gus that he has to walk miles to get water and asks his family on Staten Island to “appreciate the water a little more for [his] sake.”

Despite this occasional forlornness, Leo does not reveal any regret or contempt for his duty. On the contrary, he is extremely dedicated to and even inspired by the Republican cause. He passionately describes his experiences with the Spanish people and optimistically asserts that “before long, Spain may be the quietest spot on the globe.” This passionate dedication to the cause undoubtedly dominates over the hardships which Leo recounts to his cousin Gus of lice, malnutrition, and death. Leo Gordon seems to be one of the disciplined and dedicated soldiers described in Peter Carroll’s The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Leo’s brother, Joe, seems to be even more politically driven than his brother. He was one of the soldiers in the first volunteer group that went to Spain and he was one of the wounded soldiers that returned to Spain after the Great Retreats to fight in the Ebro offensive. From his letters recounting political fights with the California State Federation of Labor, it is clear that Joe is a passionate Communist. In fact, he signs all of his letters “Comradely Yours.” Therefore, his story reflects the accounts in Carroll’s The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade that the Communists were predominant and crucial driving forces in the fight against fascism. Joe writes as passionately about the progress of the modern Spanish army as he does about labor law disputes in California.

I have more to read and to learn on these two soldiers. I look forward to getting to know all of them better through their personal thoughts and accounts. Through such intimate means, I hope I really begin to understand the human phenomenon called the Abraham Lincolns Brigade.