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Spanish Civil War Vet Recalls 40 Tears Fighting

Spanish Civil War Vet Recalls 40 Tears Fighting image Spanish Civil War Vet Recalls 40 Tears Fighting image
Parent Issue
Day
1
Month
October
Year
1976
OCR Text

Forty years ago, during the night of July 17-18, fascist elements of the Spanish army and government launched a rebellion against the legally elected regime. The rebellion, which became the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, drew the attention of anti-fascists throughout the world.

Among those who responded to the call for an anti-fascist resistance were volunteers who formed the International Brigades.

Seven months after the outbreak of the fascist rebellion the 15th International Brigade, better known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, made its first combat appearance.

The Lincoln Brigade consisted of three English-speaking battalions- the Saklatvala (British and Irish); the Mackenzie-Papineau (Canadian); the Lincoln (U.S.); and a Spanish-speaking battalion made up of Cubans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and South Americans.

Among the North American volunteers was a 23-year-old truck driver named Saul Wellman. Wellman, who was at that time a member of the Young Communist League, served in Spain with the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion.

After returning to the U.S. Wellman held the position of Chairman of the Communist Party of Michigan for a number of years. In the early 1950s he was prosecuted under the reactionary Smith Act and was sent to the federal prison in Milan, Michigan. Upon resigning from the CP in 1957 he remained active in his local lithographers union.

Today Wellman is retired and resides in Detroit where he is active with the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and the Detroit Committee for a Democratic Spain. The following interview was conducted by Al Treska, who covers the Detroit area for the Guardian newsweekly.

Sun : Was there a consensus among leftists in the mid-1930s that the rise of fascism throughout the world meant a world war was imminent?

Wellman: Yes. There was danger of world war, and the main task for all radicals then was to prevent it. There were three questions that concerned the left then: the prevention of world war; stopping fascism from taking power anywhere it appeared; and taking care of the profound social issues which were being fought out in each nation.

Sun: What were the political conditions in Spain in 1936 that led to the Lincoln Brigade being formed and sent to the aid of the Spanish Republic?

Wellman: In July, 1936 when the fascist insurrection was launched against the legally elected government, the entire army went over to the side of the rebellion.

The Republic was then faced with the problem of defending itself by the device of the various political parties that existed at the time, who insisted that their members receive arms.

This resulted in political armies coming into being: an army of communists, of socialists, of anarchists, and so on. But you can't fight a war successfully with a group of novices.

The Republic was then faced with the problem of rebuilding an army. The situation was very grave and precarious, and quite spontaneously there carne into being a foreign military volunteer force.

But actually it wasn't spontaneous, because what happened was that the world communist movement placed a certain political value on the Spanish struggle and said that this was the first opportunity to militarily defeat Hitler and the international fascist movement. This was the general feeling throughout the world by anti-fascists, as well as communists.

What's interesting is that the men and women who went to Spain weren't professional soldiers. But because we were highly politicized, we mastered military techniques in a relatively short time.

As a matter of fact, I came from a pacifist background, but because the issues were so clearly defined I quickly shed my pacifism and was able to learn how to become a soldier.

Sun: What motivated you to go to Spain in 1937?

Wellman: I suppose the same thing that motivated the 6,000 young people who went into the South during the voter registration campaigns in the 1960s. We were the tip of an iceberg of a mass movement for Spain. In a sense, those who wanted to pick up the gun were a little more committed than the rest.

Sun: What was the political spectrum of the Lincoln Brigade?

Wellman: It was strongly influenced by the Communist Party, U.S.A., but we had members of the Socialist Party, anarchists, IWW people, and people who were just decent, who were aroused about Spain.

There were even a number of adventurers. Errol Flynn, for example, came over to get some publicity.

Sun: What percentage of the Lincoln Brigade were Communists?

Wellman: We estimated that between 30 and 50 percent were Communists and Young Communists.

Sun: What was the total commitment of anti-fascists from foreign countries?

Wellman: Forty-thousand came from some fifty countries. There were 1,200 Canadians, 3,200 Americans, about 8,000 French, 3,000 British.

Sun: What roles did women have in the Brigade?

Wellman: They were mainly nurses in the sanitation services, although we had one woman who was a truck driver, Evelyn Hutchins.

Sun: How were the relations between brigade members and Spanish civilians?

Wellman: Those relations were unique. Whenever harvest time came around we would go into the countryside and help the peasants. We were sensitive to them, as opposed to the traditional soldier/civilian relationship. We were not looked upon as foreign invaders.

Sun: Upon your return to the U.S., how did the government react?

Wellman: The F.B.I. was waiting for us in New York, but they couldn't do much. Going to Spain and using U.S. passports was an open act of defiance, but since the American people were divided on the question of the Spanish Civil War, we were harassed but never prosecuted.

Sun: Were many Lincoln Brigade members red-baited in later years?

Wellman: A lot of them were red-baited, but again you have to understand that the treatment we received was mixed.

For example, 400 of us volunteered for the U.S. Army right after the outbreak of World War Two. During the war the army set up a camp for fascists and communists in Wisconsin-Camp McCoy. Quite a few brigade vets and communists were put into Camp McCoy.

On the other hand, when I went into the Army I had no trouble. As a matter of fact, I served with Maxwell Taylor in the 101st Airborne and he made special use of six of us brigade vets. Brigade vets were also used by the O.S.S., the forerunner to the C.I.A., in Yugoslavia, Italy, and Burma.

During the war Walter Winchell was trying to make a big todo about the fact that communists were being "coddled" in the army. The general in charge of personnel testified to a congressional committee that Lincoln Brigade vets were upholding the constitution by force of violence, instead of trying to tear down the constitution by force of violence. So, in a sense, the government was divided on how to deal with brigade vets.