Hugo Oehler: Factional Documents and Spanish Civil War Reports, Correspondence and Ephemera

Series I: Spanish Civil War: Letters, Reports, and Printed Ephemera, 1936-1937is made up of two parts. The first consists of reports made by Hugh Oehler and R. Martin to party offices in Chicago and New York. These letters narrate the political developments of the war in Spain in 1937, with particular focus on Catalunya, Valencia, and Aragon. Written from a Trotskyist perspective, they describe both specific events, such as the Insurrection of May 3-6, 1937 in Barcelona, and the more general and theoretical dynamics of the politics of the region. Oehler's reports are detailed first-hand accounts and reflect upon cultural, political, and socio-economic activities with the utmost descriptive specificity. Also of note are accounts of meetings of the "Friends of Durruti," and accounts of logistical problems that Oehler confronted during his visits to Spain and Paris. The second part of the series consists of propaganda distributed by a variety of left-wing groups from Eastern/South-Eastern Spain. Several groups of propaganda photographs, distributed by the "Comissariat de Propaganda de la Generalitat de Catalunya," depict the aftermath of fascist bombardments in Barcelona and children killed by fascist bombs (possibly from the air-raid at Lérida). Three folders of propaganda flyers represent the spectrum of leftist organizations vying for power in Barcelona; best represented is the Partido Obrero de Unificación Marxista(POUM), but also included are the Federación Anarquista Ibérica(FIA), the anarcho-syndicalist group Confederación Nacional del Trabajo(CNT), the Alianza Internacional de Trabajadore(AIT), the Sindicat de la Frustaand various radical youth groups, including the Juventudes Libertarias. Some of this material is harshly anti-Republican and nationalist/separatist in nature.

Series II: International News "Special Issues," 1932-1936, consists of compilations of material intended for internal distribution to members of the Workers Party (U.S.)'s Left Wing Group. Each issue consists of documents, such as position papers, correspondence, draft proposals and resolutions, minutes, etc., often on a single theme. Most of the documents are concerned with practical and theoretical developments in the Workers Party and in closely related left-wing groups active during the period. Most are written by members of the Left Wing Group, including Oehler, Tom Stamm, Louis Basky, and Arne Swabeck. Some of the material contained in the "Special Issues" was included in the version of International News produced for wider distribution by the Left Wing Group beginning in 1935. Note that the dates listed for folders in Series II reflect the dates of individual documents included, not the dates of distribution of the "Special Issues."