Monday, April 07, 2008

Monument to Lincoln Brigade(American Communists) unveiled

Cecilia M. Vega,Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writers
Monday, March 31, 2008
David Smith was a young college student with no military training when he shipped off to Spain to fight in the brutal Spanish Civil War.

On Sunday, a throng of Bay Area history buffs gave him a standing ovation and shouted "Viva Dave!" as the now-92-year-old Berkeley resident teared up and pumped his fist in the air at the unveiling of San Francisco's newest public monument: a memorial to soldiers who fought in the lost war more than six decades ago.

About 2,800 Americans battled against Gen. Francisco Franco's forces in an international force known as the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Today, there are just 39 survivors, and 11 of them were on hand for the unveiling of the monument, which one organizer called "an antidote to amnesia."

"Our monument is to remember a group of people who stood up to take a stand," said Peter Carroll, chairman of the board of the New York-based Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.

The war, fought between 1936 and 1939, was widely seen as a prelude to World War II. The Spanish rebels fought under Franco's leadership with the support of Hitler's Germany and Benito Mussolini's Italian Fascist regime. The United States at the time was strongly isolationist, and Spain seemed far away, and its battles between the Fascists on the right and the Spanish republic on the left were difficult to understand.

The republican forces were defeated in the war and many of the Lincoln Brigade volunteers were regarded with suspicion by conservatives, particularly during the McCarthy era following World War II.

Nate Thornton, 93, remembers it well.

He and his father enlisted together and fought in Spain, where Thornton's duties included driving a truck and an ambulance to transport supplies and troops.

"I knew I was getting into a fight against the Fascists and that was the main thing," the Hayward resident said. "I was hoping I could help the Spanish government become a socialist government."

Ninety-two year old Abe Osheroff of Seattle recalled a battle in which 80 out of 250 crew members died when the ship they were on was torpedoed off the coast of Spain. On Sunday, he thanked San Francisco for erecting the country's first-ever Lincoln Brigade monument and "for making us immortal."

The monument, 40 feet long and 8 feet high, is located near the Vaillancourt Fountain on the Embarcadero, not far from San Francisco's Ferry Building.

"We picked San Francisco because the city is tolerant and progressive," said Carroll. "Standing up for what is right is a San Francisco thing to do."

The structure is made of 45 onyx panels held together by a steel structure. The translucent stone squares show scenes from the war and faces of soldiers, as well as words about the period from writers like Ernest Hemingway.

It was designed by Ann Chamberlain and Walter Hood and cost $400,000, donated by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives and Veterans and Friends of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade.

Spanish Ambassador Carlos Westendorp y Cabeza attended the unveiling and thanked the veterans for risking their lives for his country.

"It is a monument that does justice to a heroic deed," he said.
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/31/BAB6VSI4R.DTL
This article appeared on page B - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
Abraham Lincoln Brigade

I know the source is Wikipedia, but it is accurate. It can be confirmed through a simple search.
So, we have San Fransico honoring communists.

Great, like this is a shock? Need I remind all of you, that Communism, is responsible for the deaths of 100 million people in the world. This "memorial" is being dedicated with the full knowlege of the destruction, oppression, and murder enforced by communism! While San Fransico and Berkely kick out and spit on our own US millitary, they are providing a "memorial" to communists!! To me, this proves that the Liberal party, is in fact, communist! To Hell with San Fransico AND Berkely. To Hell with them.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

...To Hell with them...

I can see why you don't get many comments. Dude. These guys, and their friends, put up the money for their own monument. Sure, it's silly but they have a point, some people have forgotten about the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and so they feel free to belittle it and the men who volunteered.

Sure, the guys who fought, or worked in hospitals, were largely lefties, some of them communists. Yes, many of them were derailed by the Cold War. But, throughout it all, they were, as a group, enthusiastic citizens, voters, soldiers, and patriots. They were, yes, critical of the US but critical in the hope of a better future. Idealists but, come on, pragmatists. If you fought in a war for your beliefs, and you lost, you might have more questions than answers too.

Some fraction of the ALB, I'm sure, supported Stalin. A few may have gone to their graves supporting Stalin. But all of them opposed Hitler, Franco, and Mussolini. They didn't fight with Stalin. They fought to support democracy in Spain. Yes, political alliances shifted during and after the war but the ALB officially and vocally supported Spanish democracy.

I hate to think what you think about, oh, the American Polar Bears or the AEF troops sent to Russia. OMG, the Lend-Lease program.

... they are providing a "memorial" to communists!...

Um, no. The memorial is for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of Americans who fought for Spanish democracy.

...dedicated with the full knowlege of the destruction, oppression, and murder enforced by communism...

As a group, yes, the ABL is knowledgeable about communism and its crimes. Seems to me that if you really hold the ABL's politics, against them, you'll need to add a footnote to every WWII monument along these lines "The US military fought WWII alongside Joseph Stalin with full knowledge of his extensive crimes."

The monument, btw, is lovely and a modest but fitting reminder of lives cut short in defense of democracy.

Leftistdestroyer said...

"so they feel free to belittle it and the men who volunteered."

I certainly will.

"Um, no. The memorial is for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, a group of Americans who fought for Spanish democracy."

Who, were in fact, communists.

"The US military fought WWII alongside Joseph Stalin with full knowledge of his extensive crimes."

Sure, after the Non-aggression Pact was broken. And we also spent the next 60 years fighting them, economically, politically, and through proxy wars. The enemy of my enemy, is my friend. We did not gladfully embrace Stalin or his ideology.

They city government endorsed this memorial, but spit on the dry docking of the USS Iowa, because:

"they don't want a ship from a military in which openly gay men and women cannot serve. They also say they don't want it because they oppose the Iraq war, which city voters condemned in a 2004 ballot question."

So the freedoms presevered by that ship, and many others, is spit on, but support for a few thousand communists is memorialized? Of course, it's San Fransisco, lol

Or how about Berkely?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=scXXs4_2Ako&feature=related

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ecy0LONUjKE


They fought for leftist ideology. This in no coincidnece that San Fran is memorializing them.

Anonymous said...

I fail to see what Code Pink has to do with the ALB but whatever. Yeah, SF and Berkely are, esp. in the current climate, liberal. Peaceful protest, even disrespectful peaceful protest, against the Iraq war seems to me a positive sign of a flourishing local democracy.

I think your post makes it pretty clear that any form form of left politics is beyond your pale. Me, I'm okay with a wide range of socialist ideologies, as well as conservative ideologies, being integrated into our government. Yes, there are things about the ABL, and Code Pink, that I'm critical of but, in general, I'm happy that both groups speak up for what they believe and generally support our democratic institutions.

The ALB monument acknowledges the complexity and conflict in the Brigade's fight against fascism and memorializes brave men and women in an appropriate fashion, IMO. And, as you say, The enemy of my enemy, is my friend. I'm delighted that SF has an ALB memorial.

Leftistdestroyer said...

"I fail to see what Code Pink has to do with the ALB but whatever."

Well, allow me to explain. The ALB were communist. San Fransisco government condoned these commies with their memorial. The ideologies of the ALB, Code Pink, and the government of San Fran, are all on the same page. And they do not support freedom, unless it is vulgar, socialist, or one sided. That is what Code Pink has to do with this. If San Fran government supports the ALB AND Code Pink, then the common denominator is Communism. Or at the very least, far left socialism.

"Peaceful protest, even disrespectful peaceful protest, against the Iraq war seems to me a positive sign of a flourishing local democracy."

What in that video was peaceful? Have you been to an anti war rally? It aint peaceful. Here is one example, where I was personally involved in:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2204662681423926709

These people aren't about simple protesting, they are out to impose their views and will, upon the rest of us, via the government. They do not stop at the war in Iraq. Those nuts will protest the color of shit.


"I think your post makes it pretty clear that any form form of left politics is beyond your pale."


More or less, yes. And I would like to take the time to thank you for a civil discussion. It seems clear that you are a moderate. I actually wish that moderation was the only ideology, if you will, that was prominent. Moderation is great in all aspects of life. But as long as there is one extreme ideology out to make this nation into what it was not meant to be, then it is my opinion that an equal and opposite ideology is needed to counter them. Moderates vs. one outer fringe group, will get mowed over like grass.


"conflict in the Brigade's fight against fascism and memorializes brave men and women in an appropriate fashion, IMO."

It just makes me want to puke that the Board of Supervisers in San Fran and others, will support a memorial to Communists, but spit on their own military that enabled them to do so.

Here is part of a speech given by Luis Cancel, San Francisco Director of Cultural Affairs:

"This moral and political courage is a characteristic we can all recognize in our own Mayor, who has been leading not only our city but our nation by example - providing same sex couples the right to legally marry, the right for every San Franciscan to have health care, and providing a safe haven for illegal immigrants until such time as the federal government can find a path to integrate these families."

And this to do with the ALB, how??? It dosen't. It falsely claims "right's", that do not exist. It violates law in more ways than one.


At the actual ceremony:

"I watched Shultz and the crowd, and I thought, "They're going to eat him alive." When the band played the Socialist-Communist anthem "The Internationale," some of the vets and audiences raised their fists in salute."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/04/01/DD6NVRNQC.DTL

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