Our friends at the IBMT write with the sad news of the passing of IB veteran Lou Kenton. Born on 1 September 1908 in the East End of London, Lou was a print worker and prominent anti-fascist before the start of the Spanish Civil War. He arrived in Spain in July 1937 on...
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Esperanza Aguirre, arguably one of the most important Spanish politicians in recent history, announced her resignation on Monday, due by and large to having been diagnosed with breast cancer. Aguirre, 60, served in the Spanish government for over thirty years, including a run as the head of the Spanish Senate. According to the...
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This past weekend marked the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street. Nancy and Len Tsou, intrepid photographers, were there to document. See their images here.
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According to Público, Spain's Ministry of Justice has created an archive in which one may access information about the 4,400 Spaniards who died in concentration camps in Austria and Germany during the Second World War. The database will provide names, dates of birth and death, and any relevant historical documents related to the...
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Santiago Carrillo, the historic leader of the Spanish Communist Party, has died. He was 97. An English-language obit from El País can be found here. See also coverage from MásPúblico and Público.
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Our friends in the UK at the International Brigade Memorial Trust have just sent us their latest newsletter, with articles on the new plaque at the IB memorial in London, the Pyrenees crossing, Republican refugees in Sussex, Christopher Caudwell, and much more. Read it in pdf here.
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Along with David Graeber, Richard Sennet--social and cultural theorist and proud son and nephew of veterans of the Lincoln Brigade--has an article in this week's issue of The Nation dedicated to the anniversary of Occupy Wall Street:
It’s been a year since the Occupy movements of 2011, and like other participants,...
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David Graeber--anthropologist, anarchist, one of the originators of Occupy Wall Street, and son of Lincoln vet Kenneth Graeber--writes in this week's issue of The Nation:
The idea of the “99 percent” managed to do something that no one has done in the United States since the Great Depression: revive the concept of social...
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A small but moving episode marked the regular annual meeting of the German organization Fighters and Friends of the Spanish Republic 1936-1939 (Kämpfer und Freunde der Spanischen Republik 1936-1939). It was the first such meeting without a single veteran; the last volunteer in Germany, Fritz Teppich, died last winter, and none of the tiny,...
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Check in with Democracy Now! for the latest coverage of the one-year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street:
Occupy Wall Street protesters are converging in the Financial District in Manhattan to mark the first anniversary of the movement's beginning. Similar protests are taking place in dozens of cities today. On Sept. 17, 2011,...
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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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New information about the New Zealand-born Spanish Civil War surgeon Doug Jolly (1904-1983) has emerged following the recent publication of his biography, Frontline Surgeon.
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On September 24, 1945, Dr. Barsky delivered this speech during the Spanish Refugee Appeal rally at Madison Square Garden.
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In 1944, Barsky wrote A Surgeon Goes to War, an 18-chapter memoir of his time in Spain, which was never published but can be consulted at NYU’s Tamiment Library. This is the first chapter.
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Self-effacing and shy though he was, Dr. Edward Barsky’s experience in Spain made him an outspoken activist, tireless organizer, innovative frontline surgeon, and political prisoner. “Eddie is a saint,” Hemingway wrote. “That’s where we put our saints in this country—in jail.”
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The Volunteer is thrilled to honor Dr. Barsky on the fiftieth anniversary of his death.
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For Edward Barsky, political and humanitarian activism were two sides of the same coin. Those who persecuted him begged to differ.
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The time she spent in civil-war Spain loomed large in the life of Martha Gellhorn, the St. Louis-born war journalist. “The truth is that Martha could not stop thinking, feeling, and writing about her Spanish experiences.” “Objectivity bullshit.” That’s what Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998) called the journalism of her day. Her letters to personalities like...
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Among the thousands of Jewish volunteers who joined the International Brigades were many descendants of the Sephardim. What was it like for them to “return” to Spain? Three case studies: Lini de Vries, César Covo, and Samuel Nahman, aka Manny Harriman.
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How the 22-year-old Jewish American dancer Janet Riesenfeld performed flamenco to help raise money for the Second Republic under fascist attack.
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Why did Jawaharlal Nehru, future prime minister of India, visit civil-war Spain in 1938? As it turned out, the triangular relationship between Britain, Spain, and India had deep cultural and geopolitical implications.
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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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