Alvah's Books

Alvah Bessie’s Spanish Civil War Notebooks
Edited by Dan Bessie
The University Press of Kentucky
156 pages
$22.00

This historical and valuable first-hand personal account presents the war in Spain through the eyes of writer and volunteer soldier Alvah Bessie. Edited by Dan Bessie, Alvah’s son, Alvah Bessie’s Spanish Civil War Notebooks are a daily record of activities, which he jotted down in four notebooks (and incidentally are kept for the general public to view and read if they can decipher Bessie’s scrawl at New York University’s Tamiment Library in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives) when he was in Spain from February 3^rd to December 1^st 1938.

As Bessie fils writes, these four pocket notebooks were filled with details of his father’s arrival in Spain (via Paris, for it was illegal to travel to Spain at that time), his training, his battlefield experiences and his work for the Lincolns’ newspaper The Volunteer for Liberty and his departure from Spain.
 
These notebooks are the foundation for Bessie’s brilliant memoir Men in Battle, first published in 1939 by Charles Scribner’s Sons. These events covered in the notebooks are fully detailed in Men in Battle, but the beauty of the notebooks is actually reading what happened at the given moment or as Dan Bessie writes, “…have an immediacy that reflects the fast pace of a soldier in training and combat, jotting down impressions while on the move.”

Bessie provides a two page chronology of his father’s arrival to Spain and his departure and then kicks it off with Notebook 1. This section includes diagrams of infantry formations, letters from his children and his ex-wife, and drawings. Entries are succinct, yet descriptive. In one, he aptly illustrates fear (dated April 10, [1938]):

Fear: men who have experienced avion attacks show greatest demoralization. One man carries a stick in his mouth to prevent his teeth from chattering and equalize pressure between inner ear and outside. Others noticeably jittery when “avion” is called.

Bessie starts Notebook 2 on April 16, 1938. About the same time period that his iconic photograph at Darmos, Catalonia was taken [and is shown in the About Alvah’s Books page—editor]. In this notebook, Bessie includes a list of Spanish expressions and slang frequently used by soldiers, he writes of his budding friendship with poet Edwin Rolfe, and introduces his company commander Aaron Lopoff, a young man who will be like a close brother to Bessie and will leave a lasting mark as reflected in the writer’s work.

Bessie was a prolific letter writer and on numerous occasions he drew several panoramic diagrams of his location. These letters were met with exasperation from military censors. On May 15^th, Bessie received this handwritten letter from the Anglo-American sector of the Brigades stationed in Barcelona:

May 15 – 1938 SR 20E – C333 – Barcelona

Comrade Bessie –

This is just to inform you that thereafter your correspondence that contains any diagrams – calculations or similar items necessary for regular communication will be detained indefinitely and possible cause you some individual inconvenience. I believe you are a reliable comrade but, please use your intelligence and don’t complicate the necessary work of the censorship. 

[Signature illegible]
Anglo-American Sector
Censura Militar 

Bessie would receive several of these handwritten reprimands.

Notebook 3 starts in late July 1938; the entries are longer with more details of battles. He is close to Gandesa and is part of the Ebro Offensive. In a brief section on August 17th Bessie notes that Lopoff is wounded in the head with expectations to recover. On August 19^th, he writes:

The worst day so far, of this life. Hell broke loose at 12:30 pm . . . . artillery and mortars, preparation for a fascist attack. For 7-1/2 hours we were shelled, the shells covering practically every inch of our parapets and the barranco behind our hill. The strain, unbearable, the shells, thousands, falling in groups of 3, 4 at second intervals. . . . Whitney, translator for the company, 1-1/2 years here, scared as a rabbit, nearly hysterical with fear for weeks now, severely wounded two feet from me, together with telephonist who occupied the same shallow refugio . . . the sight of Whiney, his buttocks nearly torn off, hold them, his face dead yellow, covered with rock dust, screaming…

August 24: Word last night that Lopoff’s wound is worse than thought. At first – 3 m.g. (?) bullets in the head, which apparently destroyed the eye and may result in the loss of the other.

September 8: Tte. Aaron Lopoff, we learn, died of his wounds received on hill 666 in the Sierra Pandols the night of August 17, leading a night attack against fascist positions. He received 3 m.g. bullets in the head, which destroyed one eye. Report that meningitis set in.

Notebook 4 is the shortest of all. Here, Bessie writes of the retreat of the Brigades and his return to Barcelona and then to Paris. The journal ends on December 1^st, yet Bessie continues to make entries until December 4. His last entry is:

PS: We sailed on the Paris from Cherbourg, after going there by train. Were back in New York before Christmas. At New York we were held aboard the ship for six hours before disembarking, out passports were taken away from us. But there was a terrific welcoming committee of thousands who stood in the bitter cold from 6 a.m. (when the ship docked) till noon, when we came off.

For Bessie, Spain, was a turning point in his life and these notebooks were the first of many letters, speeches, short stories, articles and books about his time with the Lincolns and fighting to save the Spanish Republic. In 1980, Bessie commented in Peter Wedyn’s The Passionate War:

 This is the most important experience of my life, and it always has remained so, and I have never regretted it for a moment.

Thanks to his experience and his notebooks, historians and readers of the Spanish Civil War have a priceless source to add to their libraries.

Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running
By Dagny Scott Barrios
Rodale, Inc.
324 pages
$16.95

Like most women I like aerobic activity over weight-trainig. I like riding my bike, walking briskly, working out on the elliptical or stairmaster, but running has always been a challenge for me. I like the treadmill, partly because I can control the pace and the incline, but after a two mile run on the machine I get bored. Running outdoors can be less boring, but I’m dealing with outside forces like the weather, cars, dogs, bicyclists and uneven terrain.

In the past, I’ve signed up for running classes through my local sports shop and every time I’ve been sidelined either by an injury or time constraints. I’ve never reached my goal, which was to run a 5K race. This time, however, I will complete a 5K race and I will lose a minimum of five pounds.

To help me achieve these two goals, I have Dagny Scot Barrios’ book, Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running, which provides terrific advice on how to get started, stay motivated, lose weight, run injury-free, be safe and train for any distance.  Now that’s everything I want in a book.

What factors are important to me? Since I injured my calf in the past and it took a full six weeks for it to fully heal, I don’t want to sabotage my efforts. The first chapter I turned to was Chapter 16: Caring for Your Body (frankly, I think this should be the third chapter). Barrios provides a quick guide of running injuries that especially that affect women, what causes the injury and how to treat it. In my case, it was my right calf muscle bunching up into a tight ball. She explains that this may have been caused by a combination of dehydration (check) low electrolyte levels (double check), and possibly a lack of flexibility (triple check). How to treat it? Warm up and cool down, stay well-hydrated, drink a sports drink with electrolytes if you workout for more than 60 minutes. Engage in a regular stretching program.

So far so good…but I am on my third day of a running/walking program and there’s that bloom of motivation, but what happened when it withers away? How do I keep going and not get discouraged? This is the most important chapter for me, and again it comes late in the book as Chapter 12: Staying Motivated and Beyond: The Mental Aspects of Running.  Here Barrios writes of the most common factors that droop motivation these include boredom, stress, lack of results, and time constraints. When boredom strikes, Barrios recommends to fight back with some variety: Change your route, your speed, make your run an adventure, invite a friend to join you, etc.

A key factor to keep motivated, Barrios writes, is to keep positive and offers the following advice:

• For every run, find a success. Maybe you didn’t feel like running or you a had a late start, but that didn’t stop you from running.
• Write or recite positive affirmations.  Dump the negative self talk and replace it with positive affirmations. For example instead of saying I only completed ¾ of a mile, say I ran ¾ of a mile and didn’t walk any of it.
• Build a support team. Find friends who support and encourage you to reach your goals (and theirs too)
• Keep running in perspective. Sometimes our schedules don’t lend them themselves to a daily run or life just happens. Anything can shift a priority that can make running a chore instead of a fun activity. Think of running as source of pleasure, meditation, relaxation, and enjoy and think of what you want to accomplish.

Beginner runners will find the other chapters in the book valuable. Barrios provides realistic training programs that transition from walking to jogging; jogging to running; running to racing; and to conquering the marathon. She answers questions for pregnant runners, younger runners and has great chapters on body issues, diet and nutrition, and a slimming-down program.

So, for the remaining part of the summer, Runner’s World Complete Book of Women’s Running will be my bible that will help me keep motivated and injury-free and help achieve my goals. For women who want to start a running program, or restart one, Barrios book is a must-read or reread.

Republicanism and Anticlerical Nationalism in Spain
Enrique A. Sanabria
Palgrave Macmillan 2009
258 pages
$79.95

 Reviewed by Randall Radic 

In today’s world, most people have some familiarity with what is known in history as The Inquisition, which was when – during the 13^th century – the Roman Catholic Church established a tribunal called the Holy Office.  The function of this tribunal was the discovery and suppression of heresy, and the punishment of heretics.  In other words, the Church went after people who didn’t do, believe, and act the way the Church wanted them to. 

Monty Python did some great spoofs on the Inquisition, by the way.

What most people don’t know is that the Church got its comeuppance a few hundred years later.  In other words, every dog has its day.  There comes a day when the dog bites back.  During the 16^th century, the dog got tired of being kicked around and turned on its master.  The turning movement was called anti-clericalism.  Anti-clericalism is an attack on the Church, its clergy, and their power. It’s still around today, too.  Only it’s not as violent or bloody as it used to be.  Nowadays, instead of killing priests, vandalizing religious sites, and seizing churches, the anti-clerics commit a different kind of violence.  They kill their victims softly – with words.  They write books exposing them and articles that flay them.  For example, Saussy wrote Rulers of Evil, and Malachi Martin wrote The Jesuits.

In his new book, Enrique Sanabria, who is a professor of Iberian and Atlantic World History at the University of New Mexico, uncloaks the anti-clericalism that took place in Spain in 1931. The book is entitled Republicanism and Anticlerical Nationalism in Spain.  And it’s a humdinger!  Professor Sanabria knows his subject matter inside and out.  And what is most astounding is this:  for an egghead, he writes very, very well.  He keeps it interesting.  There is a small delightful spark of life in his sentences, which means his readers can set aside their stoic resignation, and actually enjoy the book and the story it tells.

The story goes like this: the Republican government came to power in Spain in 1931.  Now this kind of Republican is not like a Republican in the USA circa 2009.  No sirree, Bob.  Some of the Spanish Republicans were Communists.  You know, the guys McCarthy got apoplectic about after WW2.  Anyway, these Spanish Republicans didn’t like the Spanish Monarchy, naturally.  And they didn’t like the Catholic Church and its priests because they supported the monarchy.  In other words, the Church knew which side its bread was buttered on. 

The Republicans secularized education, which meant no more private, religious schools.  And they tossed the Jesuits out of the country.  Then they nationalized the Church’s properties and made the Church pay rent and taxes in order to use what had once upon a time been theirs. 

Payback is a bitch, isn’t it?  

It was politics is what it was.  And as usual, the political junk got out of hand and the next thing that happened was Civil War in Spain.  During the Civil War, lots of churches were destroyed.  Thirteen bishops and about 7000 priests were executed, along with 283 nuns.  Needless to say, the Catholic Church opted to support General Franco and the Nationalist forces.  From the Church’s standpoint, it was a good choice, especially since Franco won and became dictator of Spain.  The Church knows how to pick a winner.

Professor Sanabria spices up the story by focusing on Jose Nakens, who was the editor of the most important liberal magazine in Spain.  The magazine was called New Life, which is almost humorous, because the name carries its own religious connotations.  Nakens was a Communist, and part of the industrialized production of anticlerical newspapers, books, cartoons and propaganda against the corruption of the Church and the monarchy.  The fascinating result of all the propaganda was this:  hatred of the Church and its clergy was used as a unifying agent by the Republicans.  Of course, the reason it worked as a unifying agent was because it was true.  The Church and the monarchy were corrupt, and everybody knew it. 

All in all, it got kind of complicated, but Sanabria does a good job of untying the knot so the reader understands what’s going on and why.

It’s a very good story – and a true one – told in a rich voice, under exquisite lilting control.  And in the end it leads the reader to some inescapable conclusions:  for one, extravagant ambition is bad.  For two, it’s probably best for everyone concerned if Church and State never get married. 

“You gotta’ keep ‘em separated.”

How the Civil War ended with the Republic split and Franco then victorious, the fate of refugees, and Spain’s subsequent history under Franco’s dictatorship.

Inside the Revolution: The nature of the Spanish republic, the extent of the revolution that it unleashed, and how violent divisions arose creating a civil war within the civil war.

The Spanish Civil War, Part 4 — Franco and the Nationalists: How General Franco rose from being a cautious conspirator in 1936 to fusing together the conflicting ideologies of the Nationalists and becoming Europe’s longest-ruling dictator of the twentieth century.

The Spanish Civil War, Part 3-Battleground for Idealists: The international contribution to the war, from idealist volunteers on both sides to assistance for the Republicans from the Soviet Union and the policy of non-intervention held by Britain and France.

Part 2: Revolution, Counter-Revolution & Terror: How more than half the total death toll of 500,000 came not through battle but through murder, execution and massacre behind the lines.