On July 17, 1936, the Nazi-backed Spanish General Federico Franco led an armed rebellion against the Spanish government. It began a bloody civil war that would last for years.
Thousands of people left their homes and traveled to Spain to stand up and defend its democratically elected government against Franco and fascism.
Roughly 35,000 people from more than 50 countries would join the Spanish International Brigade. Of those internacionalistas, roughly 3,000 men and women came from the United States and volunteered to fight. They founded the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.
This is episode 58 of Stories of Resistance—a podcast co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, we’ll bring you stories of resistance like this. Inspiration for dark times.
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Written and produced by Michael Fox.
Resources
- Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives
- Fighting Fascism: The Americans–Women and Men–Who Fought in the Spanish Civil War – Democracy Now
- Homage to the Abraham Lincoln Brigade
- The Last Lincoln Veteran By David Rovics
- With the Lincoln Brigade in Spain
Transcript
The year is 1936. July. The Nazi-backed Spanish General Federico Franco leads an armed rebellion against the democratically elected Spanish government. That government is a union of leftist political parties. It’s called the Popular Front.
It is the beginning of the Spanish Civil War.
Thousands of people leave their homes in countries around the world and travel to Spain to stand up and defend its democratically elected government against Franco and fascism. Roughly 35,000 people from more than 50 countries would join the Spanish International Brigade.
Their slogan: No Pasarán — They will not pass.
Of those internacionalistas, roughly 3,000 men and women would come from the United States and volunteer to fight and aid the effort starting in late 1936. They would found the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. They came from almost every US state. And they came with a conviction. They came for a cause. And they would fight for it.
This was a time of segregation in the United States, but in Spain, the Lincoln Battalion was integrated. Everyone fought beside each other. African Americans, Jewish, Protestants, Catholics. United for one cause. United for hope. In defense of a free and democratic Spain.
But it was not easy. They were often on the front lines. And Franco’s forces had support. Both Germany’s Adolf Hitler and Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini backed Franco during the civil war. They provided ground troops. Air support. Bombing raids.
“We were fighting against fascism. And we were political enough to understand that.”
That is the late Abraham Lincoln veteran Clarence Kailin, during an interview with Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman many years ago. He passed away in 2009.
“So it wasn’t for an adventure. And it wasn’t for money. It was fighting against Italy and Italian fascism and German Nazism. That’s what it was about. And we felt that if we lost the war, then World War II, was pretty much inevitable, which is pretty much what happened.”
Kailin went to Spain with five friends. He was the only one to return home.
Many of the survivors and veterans of the Abraham Lincoln brigade would go on to fight in World War II. Despite their sacrifice against fascism and in defense of Spain and later the United States and the allied countries, the House Un-American Activities Committee would blacklist members of the Abraham Lincoln brigade in the United States during the red scare and Joseph McCarthy’s Communist witch hunt of the 1950s Cold War.
But the Abraham Lincoln brigade would continue to inspire. It still does today.
It is estimated that roughly 15,000 members of the International Brigade lost their lives in the war. Almost a quarter of those who volunteered to fight from the United States with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade did not return home. Many more were injured.
Delmer Berg, the last known member of the Lincoln Battalion, died in 2016 at the age of 100.
Hi folks, thanks for listening. I’m your host Michael Fox.
The international brigade and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, in particular, is such an important history that is too often lost and forgotten in the past.
If you’d like to learn more about the members of the International Brigade who went and fought in defense of Spain, I’m adding some links in the shows as well as a link to the Democracy Now! episode featuring Veteran Clarence Kailin.
As always, if you like what you hear and enjoy this podcast, please consider becoming a subscriber on my Patreon. It’s only a few dollars a month. I have a ton of exclusive content there, only available to my supporters. And every supporter really makes a difference.
This is episode 58 of Stories of Resistance, a podcast series co-produced by The Real News and Global Exchange. Independent investigative journalism, supported by Global Exchange’s Human Rights in Action program. Each week, I bring you stories of resistance and hope like this. Inspiration for dark times. If you like what you hear, please subscribe, like, share, comment, or leave a review.
Thanks for listening. See you next time.
This content originally appeared on The Real News Network and was authored by Michael Fox.