Letter from ALBA: From Memory to History
Dear Friends,
As readers of The Volunteer know very well, the Spanish Civil War began in the early morning of July 18, 1936. The first US antifascist volunteers to join the fight left from New York just a few months later, on December 26. This year marks the 90th anniversary of those extraordinary events.
Ninety years is a particularly significant interval of time, as it matches, more or less, the limits of a human being’s lifespan. The Spanish Civil War and its immediate aftermath will soon pass from memory to history. Soon, that is to say, not a single person with first-hand experiences and memories of that time will be with us. Then what?
Those of us who have spent a long time thinking and learning about the Spanish war and its aftermath have also been witnessing this slow but steady transition. How many of us still catch ourselves realizing from time to time, with terrible sadness and melancholy, that, to clarify a doubt, or to conduct a simple reality check, we can’t just pick up the phone and call Moe Fishman, or zap an e-mail to Bill Susman or Abe Smorodin?
From its inception in 1937, The Volunteer has documented and embodied this transition, probably better than any other source. The current issue highlights recent work by ALBA, Tamiment Library, students, and educators to keep alive the memory and the values of the volunteers, as you can see in the news items, but also in our pieces on this year’s George Watt Essay Award winners, an exciting new poster digitization project, and the inspiring report from a high school teacher in Barcelona.
As always, we memorialize friends and colleagues who passed this year. Gina Benavidez retraces the steps of Fredericka Martin in Spain, and Pedro García-Caro explores the legal case put forward by the Second Republic against José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Chris Angel analyzes the resonance of the Spanish Civil War—or lack thereof—in Hollywood cinema, while Jo Labanyi writes about the Wilfredo Lam exhibition currently at the Met in NY. Mariia Guleva, in the recurring feature Arkivo, graphically illustrates how the Spanish Civil War resonated across the entire world. Our conversations with the US descendants of Lincoln volunteers who have availed themselves of Spain’s offer of citizenship are an example, heartwarming and chilling at once, of the many ways in which the past haunts our present—and how the border between history and memory is, in fact, quite blurry.
None of this would be possible without you—our loyal readers and supporters. If, more than a sprint completed once and for all in the past, the fight against fascism is viewed as an ongoing relay race, the distinction between memory and history becomes less interesting, and projects that exceed the lifespans of single individuals become possible, even necessary. You are all memory, history, and, perhaps, if we don’t fumble the baton, legend. Thanks for your support.
¡Salud!
James D. Fernández & Sebastiaan Faber
Editors
