Remember at this moment of triumph the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Veterans and Supporters Celebrate 70th anniversary of Despedida

Farida Jhabvala-Romero, Nov 13, 2008


The 70th anniversary of the farewell or despedida to the Spanish Civil War�s International Brigades - thousands of volunteers who fought for the Spanish democratic government from 1936 to 1939 - was celebrated last Saturday November 1st in San Francisco.

�They were people who wanted to fight for international social justice,� said Richard Bermack, 58, author of The Frontlines of Social Change: Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and Art Director of ALBA�s journal The Volunteer. �They believed in freedom for everyone, that people are responsible for other people.�



Hilda Roberts, one of the few surviving veterans and a prominent Bay Area activist, and her daughter. Roberts was a nurse in the Spanish Civil War. Photo by Richard Bermack.

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In July 1936, Spanish armed forces led by Gen. Francisco Franco rebelled against the elected Republican Government. When Hitler�s Germany and Mussolini�s Italy provided military and financial aid to Franco�s forces - while the US, Britain and France declared neutrality and an arms embargo - an estimated 40,000 volunteers from 52 nations joined the war to defend the Spanish democracy.

The Brigades �were fighting against Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy�s expansion through Europe,� said Peter Carroll, Chair of ALBA�s Board of Governors and author of The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. �Obviously, they also fought against Fascist racism. The Lincoln Brigade was the first fully integrated army of Americans � long before the US Army ordered desegregation.�


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"Why I, a Negro, who have fought through these years for the rights of my people, am here in Spain today? Because if we crush Fascism here, will build us a new society--a society of peace and plenty. There will be no color line, no jim-crow trains, no lynchings. That is why, my dear, I am here in Spain."

Canute Frankson to my dear friend,� Albacete, Spain, July 6, 1937.