On Beards –A Reply, By M. H. The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 2, January 13, 1938 In a recent issue of “The Volunteer for Liberty” we find a scholarly article deriding the many beard wearers in the International Brigades. A very astute and interesting article –to the beardless. But to the man...
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What’s In A Beard? Unattributed The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 1, No. 28, December 27, 1937 Beards were introduced by Sampson an ingenious Easterner who put over the slogan “Hair for Strength” and made big money. Like other speculators he wrecked his career on a woman and ended his life in an orgy of...
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Look Pretty Please by Harry Randall, Brigade Chief Photographer The Volunteer for Liberty, V.2, No. 32, September 17, 1938 When the photographic section of the XVth International Brigade Commissariat was established, its tasks were seen as threefold: first, to make a photographic record of the XVth Brigade –where we have been, what we...
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![Aaron Lopoff by A. C. B. [Alvah Bessie]](https://albavolunteer.org/wp-content/themes/volunteer/thumb.php?src=https://albavolunteer.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Lopoff-Wolff-Watt-and-Brandt-300x184.jpg&h=80&w=80&zc=1&q=80)
Aaron Lopoff ~ Alvah Bessie The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 2, No. 33, October 6, 1938. During the days when we used to joke about withdrawal of the volunteers and wonder when the car was coming down the road with the...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V. 1, No. 9, August 9, 1937. Lincoln Battalion Commissar by H. A. “Don’t let ‘em get Steve!” This is the word that travels like a flash of lightning through the Lincoln-Washington Battalion lines before and during the attack. Steve Nelson, Political Commissar of the Lincoln-Washington Battalion, tireless worker. At...
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Manus O’Riordan, son of international brigadista Micheál O’Riordan, was interviewed in Catalonia about talks about the spirit of those who voluntarily fought fascism in Spain. “My father always remembered carrying the Catalan flag across the Ebro”. The painting by Pere Piquer was unveiled by Manus O’Riordan at the Museu de Gandesa this July 28....
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V.2, No. 33, October 6, 1938. Among the unsung heroes of the Ebro action are the Brigade chauffeurs who bring the men food, munitions, and material. Because they work unostentatiously and efficiently, they have become accepted in a matter of fact way, as a cog in the war machine. And...
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The Volunteer for Liberty, V.2, No. 35, November 7, 1938. Nick Myers, Commissar of Co. 1, Mac-Pap Battalion was wounded in the attack on Asco by the same shell that laid out Lionel Edwards the Company Commander. “I heard it coming” he says “but I was in a hurry and kept going. I ran...
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Ukes and Finns of the Mac-Paps, The Volunteer For Liberty, v. 2, No. 29, August 13, 1938. Our battalion has them too. We mean the Ukes and the Finns. They come from Canada too, but most of them have not only experienced the class struggle in Canada but have received an even more adequate...
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Notre Combat, Journal de la 15ème Brigade Internationale, No. 32, August 19, 1937, p. 7. Dimitrov Heroes by Ivan Gosnjak The First Section of the Matija Gubec Company of the Dimitrov Battalion is almost wholly composed of comrades coming from Canada. These comrades are, in the main, Croats who were compelled by economic circumstances...
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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) is an educational non-profit dedicated to promoting social activism and the defense of human rights. ALBA’s work is inspired by the American volunteers of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought fascism in the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). Learn more at our website or
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I. In the Beginning Second child, Bernard, born March 1, 1915 Older brother, my father, Jacob (Jack), born June 3, 1912 Younger sister, Roslyn, born (June 1, 1922) disabled, hospitalized, died February 10, 1942 Their father, Abraham, died March 21,1930 Their mother, Nettie, died April 29, 1953 Bernie Brilliant student, graduated High...
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The title of this new occasional feature of The Volunteer is the Esperanto word for “archive.” In it, we will present, translate, and contextualize iconic non-English language documents related to the anti-fascist struggle in Spain.
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In recent years, citizen groups in Leipzig and Madrid have fought to preserve the buildings that were backdrops in two of Robert Capa’s best-known photographs. Their steadfast dedication has created two sites of historical memory whose significance extends far beyond Capa’s original images.
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On November 8, 1937, Salaria Kea, a 26-year-old African American nurse from Ohio, had been in Spain for seven months and one day. The country was in disarray. Half its territory was controlled by fascist rebels. Cities were being bombed, and civilians were killed by the thousands. Thousands more were forcibly displaced. But Kea...
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The graphic novelist Paco Roca was honored this summer with an exhibit at the Instituto Cervantes. His latest book tells the true story of a woman who goes in search of the remains of her father who was executed by the Franco regime and buried in a mass grave.
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The Jewish Museum in New York City is presenting the first U.S. retrospective in nearly half a century dedicated to social realist artist and activist Ben Shahn (1898-1969). Curator Laura Katzman reflects on Shahn’s social justice work as it relates to the antifascist struggles of his day.
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The African American veterans of the Lincoln Brigade who joined the US armed forces during World War II were demoralized and embittered by the gross inequalities and color lines they experienced daily. The purported stakes of World War II—crushing fascism and saving democracy—intensified their outrage, which turned into militancy.
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In the spring of 2024, while cleaning up an old family home, Kate Fogarty came across the typescript of a play about the Lincoln Brigade written by her grandfather, Charlie Nusser, who served in Spain from February to October 1937 and fought in the US Army during the Second World War. Ten months after...
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In this new occasional feature of The Volunteer, whose title is the Esperanto word for “archive,” we will present, translate and contextualize iconic foreign language documents related to the anti-fascist struggle in Spain. If you have a favorite document in a language other than English, let us know!
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A dossier on the lies and deceptions surrounding the Spanish Civil War could fill a library, and it’s become commonplace to underscore the mendacity of the journalists reporting on events in Spain. Still, a careful analysis of the way that major international news agencies covered the war tells a more complicated story.
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ALBA's project to provide a complete list of the more than 2,800 individuals who left from U.S. territory to fight with the Spanish Republic
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