Letter from ALBA: Indignation and Disbelief
Dear Friends,
We know that many of you are working hard to transform your indignation and disbelief at political developments in our country into the mobilizing energy needed to build a new Popular Front against fascism. At ALBA we are well aware of the small but significant role we play as an educational organization with deep roots in the long tradition of antifascist internationalism. Our three-part mission is clear: teaching history, inspiring activism, and upholding human rights. Now that history teaching, activism, and human rights have come under direct assault, this mission is more urgent and relevant than it has been in a long time. In the years to come, we plan to shape our programming to reflect this urgency—to begin with this year’s recipient of the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism.
We’ve received many positive reactions to the special Volunteer dedicated to Dr. Edward Barsky, and we hope you’ll find this issue just as inspiring. Aaron Retish, our board chair, reports on yet another successful year in the George Watt Essay competition, with five wonderful winners across three categories. James Fernández and Luis Argeo explain how Spanish immigrant communities in the United States mobilized for the Second Republic—and how the memory of that mobilization has transformed since then. Elsewhere, we speak with Peter Stansky about the reasons that drew George Orwell to civil-war Spain, while ALBA Chair Emeritus Dan Czitrom pays his own homage to Aragón. You can also read about the remarkable life of Leo Fleischman, the first American to die in the Spanish war. G. Connor Salter shares newly discovered war poetry by Nightmare Alley author—and Lincoln vet—William Lindsay Gresham.
None of our work would be possible without your generous and enthusiastic help. We can’t tell you how proud we are to be able to count on your support. We’re in this together.
¡Salud!
James D. Fernández and Sebastiaan Faber, Editors
