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The Abraham Lincoln Brigade: the Historiography of the American soldiers in the Spanish American War
,→The Third Generation
Carroll’s The Odyssey of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade is an attempt to provide an up to date and comprehensive history of the members of the Lincoln Brigade both before, during and after the Spanish Civil War. Carroll states that “[f]or forty years, from the time the first American volunteers had journeyed to Spain in December 1936, they had stood outside the mainstream of society.” It is clear from Carroll’s work that these men and women stood outside of mainstream of society even before they journeyed to Spain.
Carroll makes it clear that most of the volunteers went to Spain primarily for political reasons. The veterans were overwhelmingly Communists. Carroll never states that Landis attempted to hide the volunteers’ true political beliefs, but he makes it clear that Communism played a vital role in a number of the volunteer’s lives. Not surprisingly, Carroll starts his book with Moscow sending a secret communiqué to the American Communist party leadership in New York to start recruiting Communists to fight in Spain for the Popular Front government.<ref>Carroll, 9</ref> Unlike Rosenstone, Carroll makes it clear that the men and women recruited by the Communist party were for the most part radicals who “nearly all accepted the leadership of the Communist party, at least for the war’s duration.” He asserts that most of the veterans had little interest specifically in the Spanish War. They were good Communists, who for various reasons decided that the fight in Spain against fascism justified their sacrifice.<ref>Carroll, 3, 19</ref>
Not only were the volunteers overwhelmingly Communists, they were much older than previously believed. The average age of Americans serving in the Brigade was twenty-seven years old. This supports Carroll’s contention that these people made an informed political decision to go to Spain. These men and women were not impressionable youths.
In addition to clarifying the actual political affiliation of the veterans, Carroll attacks a number of important myths surrounding the Lincoln Brigade. Not surprisingly, a number of questionable stories had circulated about the Lincoln Brigade. Some of these stories were told by members of the brigade in their first narratives or in testimony before legal bodies. After the war, several veterans became anti-Communists and circulated stories about the Party. Some of these stories were true and others exaggerations. Additionally, Carroll was extremely critical of a number of stories circulated by deserters. At times, he essentially argues that a number stories told by deserters were fabricated in order to justify their failure to continue fighting in Spain.
Carroll highlights some of the statements by Abraham Sobel and Alvin Halpern made to the House Committee on Un-American Activities. At the hearing, Sobel and Halpern claimed that the Americans were virtual prisoners. While the veterans denied those accusations back in 1938, Carroll argues that their statements were an attempt to cover up their desertion of their fellow volunteers. While one American soldier, Paul White, was executed for desertion after the Battle of Belchite., executions by the Popular Front of American soldiers were exceedingly rare. Not surprisingly the Americans were outraged by the execution and one day after White’s execution, the Spanish command reversed its policy of executions. Carroll could only find two other confirmed cases of executions. Those executions appear to have both been for criminal activity. Even when you include the cases of two soldiers, Albert Wallach and Bernard Abramofky, who appear to have been murdered for insubordination, few Americans were killed outside of combat. Carroll argues that in the case of the American soldiers remained in their units because they felt responsible for fighting for Spain, unlike Orwell’s claim in Homage to Catalonia that discipline was enforced by the use of terror. The difference between Orwell’s and the Lincoln Brigade’s experiences may have differed because the Americans never experienced the same type of political purges that Orwell’s force faced.<ref>Carroll, 180-181, 183, 188.</ref>
Carroll makes it clear that the Communist party did not order any American Communist party members to Spain. Instead, the Soviet archives indicate that several of the Communist party members were considered too valuable to be sent to Spain. Carroll does make it clear, that after the volunteers arrived they were expected to stay until they were no longer needed. Some Communist party members, such Harry Haywood, Steve Nelson and others, were deemed too important in the United States to Communist Party to risk in Spain. Ultimately, a number of these individuals went to Spain and assumed leadership positions in various units.
Carroll also tried to restore the reputation of Oliver Law, the first African American officer to lead white Americans into battle. A number of the first person stories told by some surviving battalion survivors were highly critical of Law’s capabilities and abilities as a commander. Carroll argues that even though there is little documentary evidence to support the various viewpoints of Law; there appeared to be sufficient collaborating statements to resolve some of disputes. Law’s leadership, like many of his poorly trained soldiers, essentially depended on the battlefield situation. Like many of the veterans, Law displayed extraordinary courage, but at other occasions he was undone by lack of training, but died with the respect of his men. Carroll believed that most of the negative stories about Law where disseminated by the anti-Communist, novelist, veteran William Herrick. Unlike Herrick, Carroll claims that the men who served under Law and with him when he was killed disputed the stories that Law was fragged by his troops or that his body was desecrated after his death. <ref>Carroll, 135-138</ref>
Carroll’s story does not end with Spanish Civil War; he follows the veterans through the last half of the twentieth century. Almost five hundred of the veterans fought again in World War II. It is clear that Carroll has an enormous amount of respect for the veterans who continued the fight against fascism. In fact, Carroll dedicated the Good Fight Continues to the twenty four Lincoln Brigade veterans who were killed in combat during World War Two. Carroll does an excellent job highlighting the problems that the “premature fascists” faced after the war in the United States and he does not hide his sympathy for several of these individuals.
