THOMAS AND
STURGEON EXPELLED
In every organization there are some black
sheep; the energetic and useful organizations
are those that get rid of them. At the
membership meeting of September 20, 1939,
the New York post of the Veterans showed
that it was a useful and energetic organization
by expelling two troublemakers from its
ranks, as it had done earlier in the case of
Lou Kupperman (Levine).
Henry Thomas and Peter Sturgeon were
expelled by a unanimous vote of those
present at the membership meeting. They
were tried on charges of attempting to
organize an opposition group within the
veterans' organization and, failing in that, of
organizing a separate committee under the
misleading and false name of the Veterans'
Committee for anti-Fascist Action.
During the trial it was brought out that
Henry Thomas was the most cowardly man
in the brigade. He consistently avoided the
front, broke all discipline and carried on a
consistent campaign to encourage the men to
desert from the brigade. It was brought out
that Peter Sturgeon deserted at one time from
the British Battalion, where he served as first
aid man.
Thomas came to the August 16
membership meeting with an armful of
leaflets calling on the vets to demonstrate
against Coughlin on August 19 at Union
Square.
There is no doubt that the veterans oppose
Coughlin and everything he stands for. But,
as everyone in New York must know by this
time, the Coughlinites have been trying to
cook up a riot to get some publicity for a long
time. To go out to demonstrate against them
at the same time and place as one of their
own demonstrations would be just exactly
what they wanted. That was what Thomas'
leaflet called on the vets to do.
Who doesn't remember the Coughlinites'
provocative actions on Forty-Second Street
last spring and summer? The sales of Social
Justice have been dropped rapidly, but the
Coughlinites figure that if they can only hit
the front page of the New York Times, by
being in the middle of a riot, they can revive
interest in their organization.
The leaflet Thomas attempted to distribute
was signed by the "Independent Veterans
Committee for anti-Fascist Action."
When the vets found out what Thomas was
trying to do he left
Continued on Pg. 4
PRISONERS
SOME RETURN, SOME STILL IN FRANCO'S HANDS
Eleven of the last American prisoners to remain in Franco's hands have now come
home, and been given as warm a welcome as our scanty treasury would allow. They
all have stories to tell of the seething unrest in Spain, the people saying that they're
just waiting their chance to knock Franco over. Many of the vets have already talked
to them and of course, we are already familiar with the conditions they endured, some
of them for more than a year.
One of them told the Volunteer that the Spanish prisoners have still a very high
confident spirit. They look down on anyone in jail with them for any reason but
fighting for the Republic. "He's not a prisoner," they say. "He's in here because he had
a quarrel with Falangist, " or whatever other reason it may be. And in spite of the fact
that there is scarcely any food at all, their relatives and friends bring them parcels
with bread and other things, though they themselves are clearly hungry, half-starved:
This is just the superb spirit of solidarity that we all came to know well in Spain.
"Certainly," the ex-prisoner told us, "they can never forget the Republic, and they
will surely bring it back. Even if the war had cost in men and suffering more than the
enormous price that was paid, they would have been right, to fight. Because now the
Republic and the heroic defense of it are the greatest, moat vividly alive traditions in
the land. Neat time they will win."
The returned prisoners tell us once more that the conditions in Franco's
concentration camps are unbearable, and that we must do everything in our power to
get the last seven men out. Let every vet write to his Congressmen and to the State
Department once more. Those men must come home. Here is a list of the men still in
Franco jails:
Clarence Blair--Red Granite, Wis., Cohn Haber--New York, Anthony Kehrlicker--Illinois,
Rudolph Opara--Cleveland, Iglesias Pardo--Tampa, Larry Doran--Los Angeles, Conrad
Stojiwa--Los Angeles, Alf Anderson.
They fought with us. Now we've got to stick by them. Are you willing to make such
a little effort as writing a letter? Every vet knows the answer. Address them by name
at:
Campo de Concentracion
San Pedro de Cardenas
Burgos, Espana
