[ 40,000 mostly young leftists from 50 countries joined in the
military effort to defend democracy. Some 3,000 Americans traveled to
Spain to fight fascism. They became known as the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade.]
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PORTSIDE CULTURE

BRIGADISTAS!: A REVIEW  
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Harry Targ
September 15, 2022
Diary of a Heartland Radical
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_ 40,000 mostly young leftists from 50 countries joined in the
military effort to defend democracy. Some 3,000 Americans traveled to
Spain to fight fascism. They became known as the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade. _

Monthly Review Press,

 

_From this valley they say we are going_

_But don’t hasten to bid us adieu_

_Even though we lost the battle of Jarama_

_We’ll, set this valley free before we’re through_

_(words by members of the International Brigade_

_Sung by Woody Guthrie; posted with a graphic in_

_Brigadistas!)_

_ _

The 1930s was a time of political ferment. Communists, socialists,
pacifists, anarchists rose in opposition to poverty, racism, and an
ideology that only capitalist markets could serve humanity.

Michael Denning wrote about a “cultural front.” For him the moving
force behind the ferment was working class mobilization, particularly
in the newly formed trade union confederation, The Congress of
Industrial Organizations (CIO). Communists played a leading role in
promoting and developing working class militancy in the CIO and on the
streets. And Denning suggests, the spirit of militancy, even the idea
of class struggle, permeated a broad spectrum of political culture:
folk music, jazz, proletarian fiction, photography, paintings, and
murals. It was a revolutionary age; at least a potential one.

Some of the radicalism was inspired by worldwide revolutionary
ferment, perhaps an idealized image of the former Soviet Union, rising
anti-colonial struggles in Asia and Africa, and struggles to defend
democracy from the threat of growing fascism. No struggle captured the
imagination of radicals everywhere more than the desperate effort of
Spanish loyalists who rose to protect their fragile democratic system
from the counter-revolutionary forces of General Francisco Franco who
fought, ultimately successfully, to overthrow Spanish democracy.
Franco’s support came from large landowners, the leaders of the
Catholic Church, the military, and most important, fascist regimes in
Germany and Italy.

Brigadistas! An American Anti-Fascist in the Spanish Civil War
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Written by Miguel Ferguson
Edited by Paul Buhle and Fraser Ottanelli; Art by Anne Timmons
Monthly Review Press; 120 pages
Paperback:  $12.00
May 23, 2022
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 158367960X
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1583679609

And it is the desperate effort of the defense of democracy in Spain
that 40,000 mostly young leftists from 50 countries joined in the
military effort to defend democracy. Some 3,000 Americans traveled to
Spain to fight fascism. They became known as the Abraham Lincoln
Brigade. In a brief forward to this volume Fraser Ottanelli (“The
Civil War in Spain and the American Volunteers”) provides a succinct
background to the Spanish struggle.

Following the forward this engaging graphic
novel, _Brigadistas! _tells the story of three young communists from
Brooklyn who believed the struggle for socialism at home was
inextricably connected to the fight against fascism in Spain. And they
came to the view that they had an obligation to join the campaign to
defeat fascism and racism in Spain.

The graphic novel takes the reader through the life of Abe Rubinoff
and his two Communist friends from street protests in Brooklyn and
fighting housing evictions by landlords, to debates about pacifism
with the iconic Catholic pacifist, Dorothy Day, to the battlefields of
Spain. Set against this background the story is largely taken from
real characters, real events, and real passion for justice. And the
graphic novel, the words and images, brings to life this historic
moment that planted the backdrop for political movements in the United
States and Europe to follow: defeating fascism in World War Two,
supporting communist revolutions in China, Vietnam, and later Cuba,
joining the anti-colonial struggles from the 1940s until the 1960s,
and defending progressives from anti-communist campaigns in the United
States. Survivors of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade became involved in
virtually every campaign against imperialism since the 1930s.

The reader/viewer becomes engaged in the organizing efforts of members
of the Young Communist League, Catholic pacifists (“Catholic Workers
Against Nazi Fascism”) against rising fascism in Europe, and the
growing consciousness of young activists about the inextricable
connections between war and fascism abroad and the threats to workers
at home. The combination of the text, written by Miguel Ferguson, and
the artwork, by Anne Timmons, take the reader vicariously back to
those days of struggle, triumph and defeat, a consciousness of class
and racial solidarity, and internationalism.

As an educational and activist tool, _Brigadistas!_ is first-rate.
Virtually every graphic image and piece of dialogue lends itself to
thought and debate. For example, on page eleven, Abe and his comrades
discuss the international situation, displayed in one panel image, At
a political meeting comrades proclaim that “Hitler’s gotta be
stopped,” “Mussolini aint just sittin’ around neither,” (as
Italy was mobilizing for invasion of Ethiopia) and “Roosevelt
ain’t gonna do nothin.” Abe in the panel reports that he read Mein
Kampf and says that Hitler “means every word he says.” And
finally, he says to his friends that despite Roosevelt’s inaction
“that don’t mean we’re gonna sit on our asses while Hitler
carries out his plans.” Virtually every panel, as this one, is rich
with insight, history, and a topic or topics for discussion.

Paul Buhle, a co-editor of _Brigadistas! _(with Ottanelli), provides
a useful afterword, “The Comic and the Spanish Civil War.”
concentrating on the graphic novel genre. It gives a succinct history
of the comic format, with its historic artistic roots as far back as
Goya’s war paintings, to the war comics of the second World War, to
the profusion of graphic novels in our own day. He makes an important
point about graphic novels and documentaries of relevance to educators
and activists alike: “The emergence of nonfiction comic art as a
medium in which to describe historical events and personalities is
recent, by most measures, and within the culture of people under
thirty, the genre has taken on new and important roles.” (He notes
recent publications of a Black Panther Party comic and a three-volume
graphic history of the life of John Lewis).

In sum, _Brigadistas!_ is a valuable, accessible textual and visual
representation of history. It is recommended for those who are
familiar with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the Spanish Civil War, and
the left of the 1930s and would find refreshing a reminder of its
history. And, even more, _Brigadistas!_ can serve as a vibrant tool
for political education for those who would be new to the subject. The
volume is a useful both for the classroom and the study group.

_[HARRY TARG is a retired Professor of Political Science, Purdue
University. He has written books and articles on US foreign policy,
international political economy, and issues of labor and class
struggle. He blogs at Diary of a Heartland Radical
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* Spain
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* Spanish Civil War
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* Abraham Lincoln Brigade
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* Fascism
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* Anti-Fascism
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* Franco
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* 1930s
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* political ferment
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* Communists
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* socialists
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* socialists
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* anarchists
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