ART FOR A CHANGE - Posters of the Spanish Civil War

BACK TO SPAIN

This poster by the artist, Parrilla, celebrates the International Brigades, the thousands of volunteers who rushed to the defense of the Spanish republic from around the world. The poster reads, "All the Peoples of the World are in the International Brigades on the side of the Spanish people."

Largely working class and simply anti-fascist rather than communist... many in the Brigades came from countries where fascism had stamped out the light of liberty. Germans, Italians, Poles, Czechs, Hungarians, and Serbs joined in droves, but it was France that had the largest number of fighters in the International Brigades (10,000).

Thousands of combatants organized as the legendary Abraham Lincoln Brigade came from the United States. There was even a small number of Chinese and one Japanese fighter in the International Brigades. At their high point the Brigades numbered some 40,000. The three pointed red star shown on the poster was the symbol of the International Brigades.