Lincoln Brigade Honor At State House Is Inappropriate
By DEAN DEXTER
A lot of people, some rather innocently, were duped by the Communist
movement in the 1930s and before. Radical labor organizers, leftist
intellectuals and the anarchists of that era were among those who found
special inspiration in the likes of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and later Josef
Stalin, Butcher of the Gulags. At that time many in this country were being
hypnotized by the promise of a Utopian state offered by this new idea called
communism. So knowing how a plaque got approved for display at the New
Hampshire State House, honoring a very small band of men who fought in the
Spanish Civil war with the Leninist-communists of that period, ought to be
interesting.
The twelve from New Hampshire were in Spain fighting the forces of
Francisco Franco, the Generalissimo or El Caudillo as he was also known.
Franco is one of those figures in history who turned out to be somewhat of a
good guy, as dictators go, a Cold War ally of the United States, nonetheless.
Franco over-threw a regime that was in disarray and by 1936 essentially
controlled by Marxist Communists and militant socialists receiving financial
aid from Russia. While Moscow (and our New Hampshire boys) were with the
unstable Loyalists, Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy were supporting
Franco. The U.S. had decided to sit this one out.
News reports about plans to honor the New Hampshire fighters say little is
known about their politics, that is, supporters admit they do not know why they went to fight with the
Communists. It should not be hard to figure out, however. They left
comfortable granite hills to fight in a bloody civil war in a foreign land,
against the advice of their own government. Either they were highly committed
to the politics of the side they were on, or enormously -- even recklessly --
adventuresome, or both. What is known, however, is that in the end the Red
Loyalists and the New Hampshire men lost, and Franco won. Thank goodness.
Later, Franco kept his distance from his unsavory allies, Hitler and
Mussolini, staying essentially neutral during World War II. What followed was
an era of political stability and prosperity in Spain, albeit headed by a
tough dictator, which continued to the Generalissimo's death in 1975.
Today Spain is headed by the level-headed King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sophia
and all is well in the land. One can only wonder what history would have been
like had the Communists prevailed and ended up controlling Spain as a puppet
government during the Cold War.
Our boys from New Hampshire -- a part of something loosely known as the
"Lincoln Brigade" -- in the end landed on the wrong side of history.
Anti-fascist, pro-communist, maybe well-intentioned, but by verdict of
history, certainly over their heads as far as the geopolitics of it all goes.
So for this we honor them? Does such a notion not degrade the tribute we
pay others who fought the good fight and changed history for the better, and
of who's deeds and motives are without question?
It is telling that no New Hampshire veterans group has embraced honoring
the Lincoln Brigade.
To a degree we can be restrained in our criticism of such soldiers of
fortune by virtue of our later perspective of events. But putting a plaque up
to honor their misplaced zeal is another matter.
We remember the unsuccessful Hungarian revolt of 1956* when people on foot
stormed tanks in the streets trying to overthrow the communists. There's a
simple plaque in the State House that honors that heroism, near the civil war
flags and oil portraits of bonafide giants of another time. New Hampshire took
in many refugees from Hungary then.
Plaque honoring those who fought for freedom
in the Hungarian Revolt of 1956, N.H. State House, first floor
Certainly our State House is a museum of sorts and an appropriate place to
honor deeds of valor and sacrifice. But the causes have got to be the right
ones, and there ought to be a popular consensus about them as well.
It's a shame that this commemoration of the "Lincoln Brigade" -- which by
the way has absolutely nothing to do with our 16th president -- has come from
what seems to be out of nowhere. For lack of a better understanding of
history, this gesture, however well motivated, is not only an embarrassment,
but highly inappropriate, a reproach to the lives of those who suffered
miserably for generations under the tyrants these New Hampshire men were
fighting with.
The New Hampshire lads maybe didn't know any better, but we should.
Certainly the people at the State House should know better.
Note: A version of this piece
first appeared as a guest commentary in The (Laconia, N. H.) Citizen, February
20, 2001 and other newspapers. After much public comment, including a public
hearing and similar opinion articles and letters published throughout the
state, a legislative committee voted unanimously on February 21, 2001 to not
place a plaque honoring the Lincoln Brigade in the New Hampshire State House,
reversing a decision it had made earlier.
_______________
U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, center,
and U.S. Ambassador to Spain Robert C. Hill of New Hampshire, right, are
greeted by Spanish chief of state Francisco Franco at the Palace of Pedralbes.
Barcelona, Spain, June 23, 1970 (Red Grandy, copyright Stars and Stripes)
New Hampshire Senator Styles Bridges, a
dedicated anti-Communist, left, and Senator Stuart Symington of Missouri meeting with then Prince
Juan Carlos of Spain in the 1950s. Juan Carlos became King of Spain upon
Franco's death in 1975, and immediately began dismantling Franco's regime,
transitioning Spain into the constitutional monarchy it is today. An unlikely
scenario had the Marxist prevailed against Franco in the 1930s. Juan Carlos
was Franco's hand-picked successor.
Dean Dexter is a former NH state representative and Belknap County
Commissioner. He served as assistant to the late Robert C. Hill of Littleton,
NH, U.S. Ambassador to Spain (1969-1972).
*Budapest:
October 23, 1956 -- Ralph Reiland