ALBA Visit #6

During this visit I read the Joseph Kleinman Papers, which consist of eleven letters written by Joseph to his friends Morris and Nettie Srebnick, and Morris, Pauline and Demos Eitzer, who all lived in New York City. The letters begin July 15, 1937, shortly after Joseph’s arrival in Paris, and end June 28, 1938. Joseph died in September 1938 at Sierra Caballs.

Of all the correspondence I’ve read so far, Joseph’s is the least frequent, averaging less than one letter per month, but at the same time it is very consistently optimistic about the fighting and his involvement with the ALB. Despite Joseph’s exceptional morale, his letters end up following the same trend as all of the others I’ve read thus far. His tone starts off confident, even jubilant, and remains confident for a long time, but by his last letter he is battle-hardened (if not weary) and he is pleading for the repeal of the U.S. Neutrality Acts of 1937. It seems like this tonal trend is evident throughout the ALBA collections.

Joseph is minimally apologetic about the infrequency of correspondence, citing how busy he is and how essential his work is (although he laments the lack of incoming mail especially towards the end). Also, his writing style is akin to stream-of-conscious, which makes me wonder if he was in a big hurry even when he took the time to write, or if he just had a unique style, or perhaps both. Most interesting to me is Joseph’s emphasis on the need to undo American neutrality, which only comes about in his last letter, June 28, 1938. He says:

…my dear comrades you have got to work a little harder to get the now infamous neutrality law annulled, so the republican government can buy material to defend its people and cities… if you can get this damnable law done away with you will have done more for democracy and the Spanish Republic than all the international brigades.^[1]

It surprises me that this crucial plea only occurs in Joseph’s last letter. I wonder what made Joseph take up this issue at this time. Did the need for materials grow especially dire? Were previous shortages not severe enough to inspire his writing against neutrality? Was this topic suggested by the chain of command? Neutrality was certainly a prevalent topic of conversation among the volunteers, but when did a coherent anti-neutrality movement develop? I also wonder: if Joseph had acknowledged the issue of neutrality earlier, could he have been more effective? I would like to do more research at some point, to gain insight into these questions and help illuminate the issue of neutrality.

Citations

1. Last Letter to the Srebnicks and Eitzers, June 28, 1938; Joseph Kleinman Papers; ALBA 271; box 1; folder 4

Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives

Elmer Holmes Bobst Library

70 Washington Square South

New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.