"Robert Merriman, never a Communist" Topic

I just finished reading Marion Merriman's biography of her husband. I'm sure I've come across this before, but this time it struck me. Merriman never joined the Communist party. In fact, many of the international volunteers, particularly the Americans were not Communists. I believe the global press at the time popularized the idea that everyone on the side of the Republic were reds, to justify the arms embargoes.

The idea has certainly been popularized by political axe-grinders later on.

Some were marxists, some were anarchists, some were liberals (in the sense of what the word actually means), some were anti-fascist and some probably went because it sounded like a grand adventure at the time.

In the end, they went to defend the legitimate government of Spain and stem the spread of fascism. One must wonder what a serious rebuke to Germany and Italy might have done to discourage their future military adventures.

"Premature anti-Fascists"

Immature, maybe, but premature?

I just finished reading Marion Merriman's biography of her husband.

Not the most objective and dispassionate source.

Merriman was what at the time was known as a "fellow traveller". He was living in Moscow when the SCW started. Volunteers for the IBs were controlled by local Communist Parties. He was vetted by the PCUS before going to Spain. He was, per force, in good terms with the political commissars, all of them Communists or with strong Communist links, otherwise he never would have been trusted with the command of the Mackenzie-Papineau, nor with the Chief of Staff position of the XV Brigade. Put it simply: you didn't receive a command if you weren't considered politically trustworthy by the political commissars, and those, in Spain, in 1937, were of Communist stock and Stalinist loyalty.

So, regardless what his widow wrote, the facts of Merriman career show otherwise. Maybe he never joined the Party -not openly, at least- but his Communist sympathies are difficult to refute. That, Weasel, is not "political axe-grinding"; it's just to see if the known facts fit the narrative or not. In this particular case, they fit nicely with the strong suspicion that Merriman was a Communist or, as a minimum, a fellow traveller.

Of course, if you don't see anything wrong in that -and I can understand the fascination of totalitarianisms, for the young men in the 30s- it is a moot point if Merriman was or was not a Communist.

I believe the global press at the time popularized the idea that everyone on the side of the Republic were reds, to justify the arms embargoes.

In most countries, volunteers for the IBs were vetted by local Communist parties, which also provided the volunteers with travel papers, money and train passages. Communist parties, through the Comitern -before it was gutted by Stalin's purges, of course- saw the advantage of taking control of recruitment for the IBs since the beginning.

Of course, that doesn't mean that ALL volunteers were Communists or sympathizers. However, many of those who were of Anarchist or Social-Democratic or -anathema!- Troskyst sympathies, were rejected during recruitment, or, if very unlucky, ended in Spain in gaols and some were even shot by orders of the (in)famous Andre Marty accused of being Fascist spies. Again, especially vulnerables were those suspected of being guilty of Troskyist "heresies".

Had the Western Powers supported the Republic, there may well have been no WWII. As La Pasionaria said to the departing members of the brigades, "You are history, you are legend."

PARP!

They were commies to the core.

they could be satanic cannibals and I'd still give them a thumbs up for killing the goons of Hitler and friends.

+1 Weasel.

They were commies to the core.

. Actually no. That is an absolute statement. I only need one anecdote to refute it. There was a Wob in Chicago who was an IB vet and a fervent anti-communist. Considering the attitude of the Abraham Lincoln battalion, which referred to Commissars as Comic-Stars (according to Alvah Bessie) and the rough treatment handed out to the Lincolns, this should not be surprising.

Weasel, exactly right! +1

+2

A thumbs up, yes. Have them over for dinner…ah, no. Thanks anyways.

Communist and nazis two sides of the same coin.

they could be satanic cannibals and I'd still give them a thumbs up for killing the goons of Hitler and friends.

Therefore, do you accept that the arguments are correct and that the existent evidence makes believable that Merriman could have been a Communist sympathizer or even a closeted Communist?

Personally? Well, let' say that I am happy that I was born 30+ years after the end of SCW. I am not fond of totalitarianisms, regardless the colors they are dressed.

I don't know anything about Mr Merriman, but I do know a little about the Spanish Civil War and the political situation in the 1930s. One thing that most posters here, especially the rabid anti-communists forget, is that the communists were viewed favourably by the Republican regular army. Most senior Spanish officers remained loyal to the Republic with Franco and his ilk being viewed as traitors and opportunists. When Soviet advisors and support arrived they impressed the regular army generals with their professionalism and discipline. It might be worth remembering this when branding anyone who fought on the Republican side as a 'commie' or some of the puerile and offensive labels you see posted.
It may also be worth remembering that 'communism' in the 1930'S was a multi-faceted philosophy. Many so-called communists were attracted to it as an alternative to the crippling economic depressions and the way capitalism had destroyed the lives of countless millions in the US and Europe. For example, the very anti-communist ex chancellor of the exchequor in the UK, Dennis Healey, was a member of the communist party at this time.

Murawski, thank you for that.

Many so-called communists were attracted to it as an alternative to the crippling economic depressions and the way capitalism had destroyed the lives of countless millions in the US and Europe.

Indeed, and many others were attracted to other totalitarian ideologies, like Fascism or Nazism. It was part of the stock and trade of the political landscape in the 30s. Liberal Democracy was under siege from the Right (Nazis, Fascists and other authoritarian ideologies, like the national-Catholicism of the Spanish rebels) and from the Left (Communists, mostly, although in Spain there was also a strong Anarchist movement).

One thing that most posters here, especially the rabid anti-communists forget, is that the communists were viewed favourably by the Republican regular army.

Actually, that is not correct. Or, to be more precise, is a narrow interpretation of the supposed pro-Communist sympathies of Miaja. What Spanish officers that remained loyal to the Republic admired was the discipline showed by the 5th Regiment, which was used by the Communist Party to train the cadres of the Communist militias. When the Popular Army was created, it was modeled on the lessons learned in the battles of July-November 1936 and in the 5th Regiment.

However, while Communist discipline and professional approach to the war was admired by regular officers -in contrast with the undiscipline of the Anarchist militias- that is not the same that saying that Communists were saw "favourably" by the regular officers. Take a look to the documents in the Vicente Rojo Archives (now digitalized, in the Archivo Histórico Nacional).

It may also be worth remembering that 'communism' in the 1930'S was a multi-faceted philosophy.

Correct, but in Republican Spain only a form of Communism was tolerated after the events of May 1937 in Barcelona. Moreover, recruitment in the IBs was, from the start, controlled by Communist parties of orthodox obeisance, loyal to Moscow.

Thanks Murawski.

Sometimes I just despair.

Some postcards from Spain in the early days of the SCW, based upon my family story:

La Coruña, late July 1936.

My uncle's grandma (in my mother' side), Paco, was a councilman in the city council. He was affiliated to the PSOE (Partido Socialista Obrero Español). He was arrested by the rebels on 19 July. Four days later he was shot, without trial. His wife was 29 y.o. She was pregnant. She was also arrested, but after a few weeks in the Penal de San Antón (a local prison) she was released on the grounds of her pregnancy. That didn't save her life. A group of four falangistas ambushed her a few days later, raped her, tortured her and then murdered her. The rebel authorities didn't search for her assassins.

Alicante, 2 or 3 August (dates difer) 1936.

A group of political prisoners are taken from the local jail to the beach. Between them was a young man of 19 years old. His name was Ramón. He was the younger brother of my granpa (father' side). His wife was safe in Alhama, Murcia. She had given birth to a girl -my aunt Leonor- just three days earlier. Ramon would never know his daughter. He was murdered at the beach, in Alicante, by a Anarchist (or POUMst, witnesses differ) that put a foot over his head and hold it under the water until he drowned.

Madrid, August 1936.

In Serrano Street. My grandma's mom -in my father' side- had a flat that shared with her youngest daughter, Teresa (14 y.o) and son, Antonio (12 y.o). She was the widow of a Forest and Parks Engineer that had died seven years earlier (a stroke, if I remember right). Fortunately for the family, he had money enough to leave his wife with a modest pension and the flat in Madrid. They weren't rich, but they weren't poor either.

That was all good and well when in the early hours in the morning a group of Communist militiamen -and a woman- kicked the door down and said my great-grandmother that they had one hour to evacuate the building, that had been confiscated by the PCE in the name of the People. When my great-grandma tried to protest she was hit in the face with a pistol butt, breaking her brow -later the wound would fester and she would lost the vision in her right eye because of the infection-. Teresa, my grandma' sister, was sick with tuberculosis. That didn't stop the Militiamen from expelling her from her house and forcing her to live in the street until my grandma could give her, her brother and her mom (she lived in Chamartin) asylum. Teresa would die -"spitting out her lungs", as my grandma said- in January 1938, in my grandma's arms. That was the straw that broke the back of the proverbial camel and her mom, my great-grandma, lost her mind. She didn't see the end of the war, dying in early February 1939.

As you say Martin, sometimes I just despair. You can't imagine how much I understand the feeling.

Seems that many here do favour satanistic cannibals to Francos regime.

Probably because you never were faced (or will be faced) with a real (and mandatory) choice between a system that kills off all they dislike, and one that kills off people because they like to kill and eat them.

Not that I do have any sympathies for Franco or Hitler, but "satanistic cannibals" pushes it into the absurd, almost comical.
I think it suffices to claim that you don't care if they fought for a World shaped by the likes of Stalin – thats worse enough if you ponder it, and only acceptable because we know the alternative.

basileus66

thank you for sharing those painful histories from your family. A bucket of cold water in the face of all that hot air.

I wargame the Spanish Civil War. Your story reminds me that our toy soldiers have nothing to do with reality, and I thank God that is the case otherwise I could not ever play another game.

I somrtimes wonder which side I would have chosen had I been alive in England at the time, had I been in Spain I guess events would have made the choice for me. There was surely some good and much evil on both sides, I envy the sharp vision of TMP members who can so accurately weigh up both and apportion blame.

John

I like to think that I would have been like those Spaniards that being real democrats did chose the path of exile, knowing that neither in the Francoist nor in the Republican Spain there was a place for them.

But that is just wishful thinking. Probably, the choice, as you say, would have been made for me; or I would have been like many young men at the time and became fascinated by some totalitarian fantasy, being in the side of the murderers.

I shared those stories to try to explain that for many people there was no agency, no decission, on what the war did to them. They couldn't chose. They were victims of violent gangs; gangs that were fanaticized by murderous ideologies that promised a paradise on Earth once all "sinners" would have been purged from her.

What drives a man to participate in the rape and murder of a young pregnant woman? How much hate do you need to have in your soul to drown a defenceless man? What makes a person to kick the lights out of a middle age woman that is desperate because she is seeing that her life and that of her children are being jeopardized by the arbitrary decission of a faceless organization?

When someone praises to me the "idealism" of those who fought in the name of one or another totalitarian ideology, I remember those stories. Because the murderers were, possibly, also idealists. They were "fighting" their "enemies". That those enemies were defenceless was, for them, probably, circumstancial. That is what idealism makes to people when mixed with fanaticism: anything becomes justifiable.

Best

basileus66

As John said, thank you for sharing such painful memories. I think of all conflicts, civil wars are the most deadly and brutal. It is very true, our wargames, though we say we strive for "realism", can thankfully never be anything more than games with toy soldiers.

basileus66,

Could you please email me directly? I have actually been considering a trip to Spain to visit some SCW locales. And would love to talk to you.

Nick
nnascati@gmail.com

A bit late in response, but central Barcelona would be a good place to see many sites. They even do guided tours in English, Spanish and Catalan.