(Have you written--your congress man and
five friends telling them to write?) This is the
type of activity we will carry thru.
Another type of activity is taking care of our
own and of our comrades in arms, the Spanish
fighters and the Spanish refugees. We will plug
all petitions, demonstrations, subscription
drives, fund raising schemes and employment
possibilities. Yes, we, must depend on our
organization; THE VETERANS OF THE
ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BRIGADE, to spark
plug every undertaking for the refugees, for
amnesty, for the Americans in Franco prisons
and in France and on Ellis Island. spear-head to
raise funds to take care of our wounded and sick
and to find jobs for our men.
Let's come to the convention with proposals
based on accomplished facts. Let's make the
convention the spring-board of s strong
organization into a bigger, more effective, drive.
LOW DOWN
The Vets sent Thanksgiving packages to the men still in the hospitals... Mooch
Engels and Sidney Rosenblatt (alumnus of San Pedro de Cardenas) have started a
laundry route in Manhattan. Dave Davison has been running his shirt-and-socks
cleanery for more than six months... Ruby Kaufman is out organizing the leather
workers in New Jersey and Brooklyn.
Milt Wolff threatens to write a book on Spain... If he does, it will be the third by
a vet, the other two being Alvah Bessie's personal narrative, "Men in Battle" and
Ed Rolfe's informal history, "The Lincoln Battalion."... Not to mention a flock of
pamphlets on various phases of our days in Spain, the last two of which were by
Lou Ornitz, and by Dave McD. White & James Hawthorne.
Frank Feingersh, out in Los Angeles, is the proud father of a hefty, boy: weight,
eight pounds, four ounces... And Jack Yellen of Transport has deserted the ranks of
the bachelors to marry Ann Atlas of Brighton Beach, one of the hard workers of,
the Pinky Rodman branch... Harry Schindler is back in the vegetable trade... Angel
Vilar is now in Mexico... Maxie Katz is now living in Ellenville N.Y., working on
a highway... FLASH: Harry Schindler is out of the vegetable trade...
Roger Hargrave writes from Iowa City, Iowa: "Am out of the hospital and am on
crutches. Doctors' orders are to stay off the leg until December, and then some
weight-bearing will be started. The knee is improving day by day, and .now have
more than 50 per cent motion..." Hargrave would like to hear from other vets. His
address is 514 South Lucas Street, Iowa City... Milt Felsen has picked up a truck-
pilot's job--being personal ferry to a couple of dozen roofers working in Staten
Island... Max Parker, formerly of Transport and San Pedro de Cardenas, is a rival
of the Hoffman-Bottling Co.; he sells ginger ale...
Lou Ornitz is back with his first love -- in Pittsburgh, among the steel workers...
Joe Rehill's on the verge of marriage. The girl's name is Frances. Bill Wheeler and
Luke Hinman are still out on the coarse... Luke, former Chief of Scouts for the
Lincolns, writes from Bakersfield, Calif... Dave Thompson, our Pacific Coast
legman in informs us, has been married for almost two months...
PROBLEMS FACING OUR CONVENTION
(Continued from Page 1)
This is the time for the Veterans to preserve
their unity by building a strong National
organization. To achieve this purpose it is
necessary that we seriously consider now and at
our convention certain basic problems
confronting us.
ORGANIZATION
There are few functioning Posts in the
country. With the exception of New York,
Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco, the
Veterans have practically no organization. New
York City, quite logically, having a larger
number of men than any city in the country, can
boast of a well organized Post. Meetings are
held regularly. There is a functioning executive
committee and considerable activity. Next in
line is San Francisco, where the Veterans
opened a headquarters and show signs of life.
Chicago, one of our main centers with close to
100 men, including the outskirts of the city, is
not living up to its possibilities. In other
localities, such as Cleveland and Los Angeles,
where
the Posts are engaged in efforts to
solve the economic problems of the
men to the exclusion of every other
activity, the Posts practically
deteriorated into business
establishments. In Cleveland, the main
concern of the Post seems to be the
Cooperative Cleaners Inc. Los Angeles
appears to be moving in the same
direction. This development shows that
the leadership in these localities lost
their perspectives.
A great number of our veterans are
spread all over the country without
contact with any center. Efforts must
be made in every locality to establish
closer ties between these detached
veterans and their immediate center.
PROGRAM
Our constitution, which was drawn
up while the Republic was still fighting
against the Interventionists and Franco,
is now out-dated. The constitution will
have to be revised in the light of
present events. There are now in this
country men of all na-
tionalities who fought in the Spanish
Republican Army. These should be
members of our organization. Our
attitude with regard to those who left
Spain in an irregular manner will have to
be defined more clearly. Our attitude
must be based on a realistic and specific
approach in every individual case. We
want to gain as many sound members as
we can and our only demand from a
prospective member is agreement with
our present program and policies and
active participation in all our activities
and a conviction that past weaknesses
have been recognized honestly.
Now
is
the
time
to
begin
experimenting with the possibilities of
organizing groups of supporters around
the different Posts in the country that
will have the function of an auxiliary to
the Veterans. Since the FALB will cease
to exist at the end of his year, ways and
means must be found to replace that
organization by another whose functions
will be complementary to the Veterans'
organization. Al-
(Continued on Page 3)
THE VOLUNTEER FOR LIBERTY
organ of
The Veterans of the
ABRAHAM LINCOLN BRIGADE
NATIONAL NEW YORK CITY
HEADQUARTERS:
LONGACRE 3-6213
55 WEST 42 ST.
"... AND THAT GOVERNMENT OF THE
PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE
PEOPLE, SHALL NOT PERISH FROM THE
EARTH." -- LINCOLN
