PINS IN SUPPORT OF SPANISH DEMOCRACY: A COLLECTOR’S STORY By Roger Lowenstein
I
’m a collector of American left-wing protest pins. As a radical lefty lawyer, I’ve found it to be one way to be connected to the great social movements of my lifetime and before. Although I have 9,000 pins (www.LowensteinCollection.com), none are more valuable to me than those supporting the loyalist effort in Spain. I like to think that had I been young and able-bodied in 1936, I would have had the courage to go to Spain and fight or drive an ambulance or do something bravely antifascist. I’m also fascinated by political graphics and serve on the Board of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, an arts organization with the largest protest poster collection in the United States. As anyone who reads this magazine knows, the Second Republic may have lost the war, but they won the art. Loyalist posters are some of the best political art ever produced and played a critical role in maintaining civilian commitment during the struggle. Some of Spain’s most famous artists participated and the designs are extraordinary, often incorporating elements of cubism, fantasy, and modern technique. I have a set of postcards that were made to send to the soldiers at the front in order to maintain dedication to the cause. Very few of the American pins, however, mimic the aesthetic of the posters. Most of them simply identify the wearer as someone who sympathizes with the antifascist struggle in Spain, belongs to a local support group, or is someone who has donated. Also, many of them are designed to raise consciousness about the victims of the war—orphans, refugees, starving children, invalids. Most of the pins are small, less than an inch, with tiny writing that might require a magnifying glass to read.
LAS SOCIEDADES HISPANAS CONFEDERADAS In the same way that the Popular Front was able to win an electoral majority in 1936, the SHC was a coming together of many domestic American organizations, as many as 80 to 100, in order to fight fascism in Spain. Some of these organizations were immigrant groups based on Spanish geography, while others were from labor organizations—communist, youth, anarchist, socialist, feminist, social democrats—who together raised considerable sums at a time when the government of the United States was enforcing a cruel “neutrality.” Most groups raised money for ambulances, but the SHC also sent a ship filled with supplies. The group of 19 pins all mention the SHC directly. Two show ships. Two very fanciful pins show an ordinary person/fighter vanquishing the fascist enemies in the form of a three headed snake-like monster—monarchist, capitalist, soldier. Both say ¡Ayudemos! (Let’s help!) And both are drawn on the face of a clock, with the heroic antifascist holding back the clock hands: Obviously, time is running out. Another shows a woman’s face backed by the strawberry tree and bear, the symbol of Madrid. Yet another shows a muscular male soldier with the SHC tricolor flag alongside a female soldier carrying the red and black anarchist (CNT/FAI) flag. Others support refugees and orphans, invalids and the disabled. To learn more about the SHC and its magazine, España Libre, take a look at the book Fighting Fascist Spain: Worker Protest from the Printing Press by Montse Feu, a faculty member at Sam Houston State University, or Prof. Feu’s article in the July issue of The Volunteer. SHC MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS Many pins were made by member organizations of the SHC.
12 THE VOLUNTEER September 2020
