One Man's Education: A Testimony to Internationalism

Bill Bailey was working as a union organizer in Hawaii in 1936 when the Spanish Civil War broke out. Fascist troops led by Franco rebelled against Spain's democratically elected Republican government. The U.S. government declared a policy of nonintervention that prohibited the shipment of arms to the Republican Loyalists and banned travel to Spain. This policy contributed to the Fascist cause and outraged many Americans, including Bailey. Early in 1937, Bailey joined a group of American volunteers forming the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, an unpaid and nonprofessional troop of men and women who chose to fight with the International Brigade alongside the Republican Loyalists. In this article, the complexity of internationalism is expressed through Bailey's commitment to support the Spanish democracy, a decision in which he places the international cause of fighting fascism above his nation's choice not to participate. Bailey shares his memories of that period and describes his reasons for choosing the path that led him to Spain.