Dear Editor
Dear Editor Kudos Many thanks for publishing Henry Kissinger's "Eurocommunism: A New Test for the West" (NL, July 18). It is by far the most cogent and best-documented analysis of this "new"...
...This brigade was, so far as I know, formed by the Yugoslavs, and consisted, in additions to themselves, of Belgians, Englishmen, Irishmen, Cubans, Canadians, Americans (USA), and Spaniards...
...The remainder (and some have said there were more Spaniards than all the rest) stuck it out to the very end, primarily under American (USA) leadership—brigade commander and brigade political commissar...
...The idea of naming 'it the Abraham Lincoln Brigade came not from those who fought in Spain, but from the pointed heads of the agit-propnicks who formed the Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to collect money for the American volunteers while they were in Spain and upon their repatriation...
...All the above can be listed as further proof, if any is needed, of American imperialism at work...
...It follows, of course, there is no such animal as Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, another misnomer, and another mistake...
...It is by far the most cogent and best-documented analysis of this "new" phenomenon...
...A personal note: I recall that after the War, a fair election was promised in Rumania...
...I voted for the Communists in that election...
...New York City Frederick V. Bauer No Such Animal In the June 20, 1977 issue of the New Leader, in which I reviewed several books dealing with Spain, I was identified as "Member, Lincoln Brigade...
...Chatham, N. Y. William Herrick...
...Somewhere along the tortuous way, again as far as I know, the Yugoslavs left for another brigade, and I think also the Belgians...
...but it disregards what everyone in Eastern Europe knows: that while force may not be necessary to get Communists into power, it is certainly needed to get them out...
...They collected a lot of money, some of which came my way, and for which I said thank you, and departed, but not before there was a ruckus of sorts...
...The current belief that we have nothing to fear may be an understandable reaction to the Cold War mentality, prevalent for so long and with such disastrous consequences...
...Unfortunately, it is also one of the few worthy of the description...
...Both were not only excellent fighters, but also very intelligent...
...I was a member of the 17th (Abraham Lincoln) Battalion of the 15th International Brigade...
...And for a very good reason: There jest warn't no such animal in the Spanish Civil War...
...Pour times...
...Since I have for some 39 years fastidiously avoided calling myself a member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, I might as well be consistent and decline to do so on this, the 40th year...
...Thus never was it an American (USA) brigade...
Vol. 60 • August 1977 • No. 16
