Honoring Lincoln Brigade Inappropriate -- By Dean Dexter

Lincoln Brigade Honor At State House Is Inappropriate

By DEAN DEXTER

A lot of people, some rather innocently, were duped by the communist movement in the 1930s and before. Radical labor organizers, leftist intellectuals and the anarchists of that era were among those who found special inspiration in the likes of Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and later Josef Stalin, Butcher of the Gulags. At that time many in this country were being hypnotized by the promise of a Utopian state offered by this new idea called communism. So knowing how a plaque got approved for display at the New Hampshire State House, honoring a very small band of men who fought in the Spanish Civil war with the Leninist-communists of that period, ought to be interesting.

The 12 from New Hampshire were in Spain fighting the forces of Francisco Franco, the Generalissimo or El Caudillo as he was also known. Franco is one of those figures in history who turned out to be somewhat of a good guy, as dictators go, a Cold War ally of the United States.

Franco over-threw a regime that was in disarray and by 1936 essentially controlled by Marxist Communists and militant socialists receiving financial aid from Russia. While Moscow (and our New Hampshire boys) were with the unstable Loyalists, Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy were supporting Franco. The U.S. had decided to sit this one out.

News reports about plans to honor the New Hampshire fighters say little is known about their politics, that is, why they went to fight with the communists. It should not be hard to figure out, however. They left comfortable granite hills to fight in a bloody civil war in a foreign land, against the advice of their own government. Either they were highly committed to the politics of the side they were on, or enormously -- even recklessly -- adventuresome, or both. What is known, however, is that in the end the Red Loyalists and the New Hampshire men lost, and Franco won. Thank goodness.

Later, Franco kept his distance from his unsavory allies, Hitler and Mussolini, staying essentially neutral during World War II. What followed was an era of political stability and prosperity in Spain, albeit headed by a tough old dictator, which continued to the Generalissimo's death in 1975. Today Spain is headed by the level-headed King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sophia and all is well in the land. One can only wonder what history would have been like had the communists prevailed and ended up controlling Spain as a puppet government during the Cold War.

Our boys from New Hampshire -- a part of something loosely known as the "Lincoln Brigade" -- in the end landed on the wrong side of history. Anti-fascist, pro-communist, maybe well-intentioned, but by verdict of history, certainly over their heads as far as the geopolitics of it all goes.

So for this we honor them? Does such a notion not degrade the tribute we pay others who fought the good fight and changed history for the better, and of who's deeds and motives are without question?

It is telling that no New Hampshire veterans group has embraced honoring the Lincoln Brigade.

To a degree we can be restrained in our criticism of such soldiers of fortune by virtue of our later perspective of events. But putting a plaque up to honor their misplaced zeal is another matter.

We remember the unsuccessful Hungarian revolt of 1956* when people on foot stormed tanks in the streets trying to overthrow the communists. There's a simple plaque in the State House that honors that heroism, near the civil war flags and oil portraits of bonafide giants of another time. New Hampshire took in many refugees from Hungary then.

Plaque honoring those who fought for freedom in the Hungarian Revolt of 1956, N.H. State House, first floor


Certainly our State House is a museum of sorts and an appropriate place to honor deeds of valor and sacrifice. But the causes have got to be the right ones, and there ought to be a popular consensus about them as well.

It's a shame that this commemoration of the "Lincoln Brigade" -- which by the way has absolutely nothing to do with our 16th president -- has come from what seems to be out of nowhere. For lack of a better understanding of history, this gesture, however well motivated, is not only an embarrassment, but highly inappropriate, a reproach to the lives of those who suffered miserably for generations under the tyrants these New Hampshire men were fighting with.

The New Hampshire lads maybe didn't know any better, but we should. Certainly the people at the State House should know better.

Dean Dexter is a former N.H. state representative and Belknap County Commissioner. He served as an assistant to the late Robert C. Hill of Littleton, N.H., U.S. Ambassador to Spain (1969-1972). _______________ U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird, center, and U.S. Ambassador to Spain Robert C. Hill of New Hampshire, right, are greeted by Spanish chief of state Francisco Franco at the Palace of Pedralbes. Barcelona, Spain, June 23, 1970 (Red Grandy, copyright Stars and Stripes) _______________ *Budapest: October 23, 1956 -- Ralph Reiland Note: This piece first appeared as a guest commentary in The (Laconia, N. H.) Citizen, February 20, 2001 and other newspapers. After much public comment, including a public hearing and similar opinion articles and letters published throughout the state, a legislative committee voted unanimously on February 21, 2001 to not place a plaque honoring the Lincoln Brigade in the New Hampshire State House, reversing a decision it had made earlier. Return to NH Commentary Home Page

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