Laborfest: Films on Spanish Civil War-First Fight against Fascism

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Date:

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Time:

2:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Event Type:

Screening

Organizer/Author:

Location Details:

Roxie Theatre 3117 16th St., San Francisco (16th St BART)

The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, was the first battleground against Hitler and Mussolini, defending the new Spanish Republic that overthrew King Alfonso the 13th in 1931 against General Franco, who was aided by the Nazis. The US claimed to be neutral, but the workers of the world knew that neutrality was complicity with fascism and thousands joined the International Brigades, including the American Abraham Lincoln Brigade, to aid the Spanish Republic. They lost this battle, but they won their place in history and thanks to them and the millions more who fought fascism in WW2, we are here to remember and learn from their struggles with 2 outstanding movies:

(1) To Die In Madrid (58 min) 1963 By Frederic Rossif
This documentary from newsreel clips by Frederic Rossif shows the horror, disillusion and bravery of the Spanish Civil War. This masterpiece documentary is one of the most powerful made. Starring: Narrators John Gielgud and Irene Worth, William Hutt, George Gonneau, Suzanne Flon
Awards:
Robert Flaterly Award for Best Feature Length Documentary - 1967 British Academy Awards; Nominated: 1965 Academy Awards

(2) Into The Fire - American Women In The Spanish Civil War
(58 min) 2002 By Julia Newman (She will be attending)
Over 80 women joined the fight during the Spanish Civil War. This illuminating film interviews 16 of these women on why they went to Spain and what they did there. This rich story of their lives and experiences in Spain adds an important addition to our understanding of US and women’s history.
Renee Gibbons will perform.
DVD at:
http://firstrunfeatures.com/intothefiredvd.html
Event co-sponsored by Veterans of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade
See also:
Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade:
http://www.alba-valb.org/
National Monument to VALB at Justin Herman Plaza, behind fountain on Embarcadero near Market that is a must see:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jmsfrnndz/JamesDFernNdezSanFranciscoALBAMonument
and
http://www.laborfest.net/2008schedule.htm

For more information: http://www.laborfest.net/2008schedule.htm

Added to the calendar on Sun, Jun 22, 2008 7:48AM

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§What about the Spanish REVOLUTION?

by anonymous commie

Sun, Jul 13, 2008 3:07PM

The people running Laborfest (some of them, at least!) know that

1) there was a worker-peasant revolution in Spain in 1936 in response to the fascist coup,

2) that the Stalinists hid this fact from the outside world and their political heirs still try to deny that it happened, and

3) that the Stalinists led the suppression of that revolution in order to promote Stalin's goal of an alliance with "democratic" imperialism against Germany and its allies.

The people of the Abraham Lincoln brigade were heroic, but their heroism was in good part wasted by its subordination to the political-military strategy of the Stalinists and their bourgeois allies.

Actually, Laborfest participated in the same suppression of history last year, when they showed "The Spanish Earth" and "Souls Without Borders - The Untold Story of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade". Souls Without Borders - The Untold Story of The Abraham Lincoln Brigade. See their 2007 schedule at http://www.laborfest.net/2007schedule.htm for how they talked about the Civil War while ignoring the revolution.

There is, BTW, a film by Ken Loach, "Land and Freedom", that actually portrays the Spanish revolutionary struggle against the bourgeoisie and the Stalinists, but Laborfest, which has shown a number of films by and about Ken Loach, has never even mentioned "Land and Freedom" in its descriptions of Loach and his films, or anywhere else on its web site.

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