Yesterday, I decided to read into the Marjorie Polon papers. Specifically, I chose to read and focus on the letter from Bill Bailey to Marjorie Polon. Here's a recap of what it said:

Bill Bailey talks to Marjorie about how the soldiers from the United States are actively waiting for the time when they will be able to return to the United States, although nobody knows when this time will be. This statement from Bailey leads me to wonder how much the soldiers actually knew of their fate and actions in Spain. What were they told by the leaders, and what was kept secret?

However, the thing that struck me most about this piece was the description Bill Bailey gave of the way that the soldiers were received in Spain. The picture that he painted made it seem like the U.S. soldiers were almost god-like. He described the Spaniards as throwing rose petals among them as they marched through the streets. The divide between the Spanish people and the government is thus emphasized and made very apparent. But if the Spanish people knew that the government was so corrupt and hated it why didn't they do more to help, and why didn't the U.S. legally intervene. This letter made me upset and happy for the soldiers that went all at the same time.

A City Mobilized

Because my time is rushed, and it is hard for me to get into the library, I decided to watch the DVD on the Spanish Civil War. The first section that I decided to watch was entitled "A City Mobilized". It was interesting to hear the stories of these people who were teenagers during the time of the Spanish Civil War. In the section called Subway (Re) Collections, they talk about how they would take tin cans (or Jewish pushkeys) and beg for money in the subway. Though little coinage was collected during theses Depression times, people were still donating to the aid of the Spanish Veterans and Republicans. Likewise, many people pushed to "Lift the embargo" and allow the United States to aid the Spanish Republic.
I think that a main reason that these people even helped in times of depression was because they wanted to make sure that no nation fully accepted fascism; likewise, I feel as though the US citizens thought that by changing Spain, they could change their own nation, making Hoover's destruction unapparent. The Great Depression also made people very radical and there were many people unelmployedd, contrastingly enough hurting the progress of the Revolution. Towards the end of the war, their were strong anti fascist movements, etc.

Question:

If so many people were interested in aiding Soanish Civil War effort, why didn't they join groups, getadd, or get a job??

Frances Patai Papers

Today was the first day i spent in the archives. After much deliberation, I finally decided on Box #1 one of the Frances Patai Papers. After rummaging through the documents, I finally found two things in particular that stuck out: the Hilda Roberts Bell and the Ruth Davidow interviews and stories; I had decided to focus on women in the war effort, particularly nurses.

The picture included in this blog is of Hilda Bell, a nurse in Murcia who, in her spare time, wrote fictional stories about her life in Spain during the rise of fascism. Born in Pennsylvania in 1915, Bell was born into a poor, Jewish family speaking primarily Yiddish. During her late teen years and early twenties, she began to develop an interest in the conflict in Spain for not only political reasons but also for her humanitarianism reasons. Bell left the United States when she was only 21, having just joined the Communist Party in the United States.
In Spain, Bell worked primarily as a nurse for the wounded and injured soldiers. Interestingly enough, the United States' nurses were the primary people who taught the Spaniards how to read and write their own language. Through her work. Bell realized that the Spanish people took pride in every little thing that they did to help the war effort, even if it was just scrubbing down the hospital floors.
According to Bell, "The most difficult part of (her) Spanish Experience (was): Ingenuity, Improvising." Short of many necessary supplies, nurses had to make do with what they could. In regards to blood transfusions, many Spaniards had syphilis, and therefore, Bell had decided to give her own blood to the soldiers in need. However, despite the disadvantages and poor living conditions of Spain, Bell found more sexual equality in Spain rather than in the United States, as the doctors in Spain treated er more equally and fairly. Bell has also said that she has "no regrets. (She) would go again."

Ruth Davidow, like Hilda Bell was a nurse who was born in Volkasvik, Russia and emigrated to Brooklyn. Davidow was born into a poor, Jewish family, and had to work to put herself through school. Of her intervention in the war, Davidow said, "I don't think both sides are right; you have to take sides. There is only one side for me, the side with the people who are oppressed."
Upon arriving in Spain, Davidow came down with malaria, however, she claimed that she only cared about the soldiers' well being and not her own. When she completed her service in Spain, she too like Bell related that she would go back to Spain in an instant to be with the doctors and nurses she cared for and missed so much.

With the study of these two women and their role in the Spanish Civil War, many questions come to mind:

1. Why did these women feel this way about war when it was tearing apart the country?
2. Why did people in the US show so much opposition to them going to Spain, when they were helping fight against fascism?
And lastly,

Why does it seem like women were only given seemingly domestic roles and little gratification when the things that they did are equal to the fighting that many men did?