Word: nelsons
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Nelson returned from Spain and became a recruiter for the party. Although initially the public received the veterans sympathetically. Nelson says in the late 1940s McCarthyism created an air of repression to which they fell victim. "They came into our office and just picked us up for possession of books and having ideas," Nelson says. He spent a year in jail from 1952-1953 before successfully appealing a 20-year sentence for sedition and violation of the Smith Act. Not until 1973 did the federal government remove the Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade of which Nelson is currently national...
After leaving the party for ideological reasons in 1957, Nelson returned to carpentry and built his current home in Truro. He has remained a committed Marxist, but he is quick to note the different interpretations of Marxism. He says about the Soviet Union and China. "The main thing is that they are not a model for us" and he faults them for their repression of dissidents. "A more native type of Marxism" best suits the U.S., Nelson says, and he favors the Western European Communist parties which support civil liberties and work within the democratic processes...
while having strong ideological commitments, Nelson has not allowed his intellect to paralyze his actions. The Lincoln Brigade veterans are a mixture of communists, former communists, trade unionists and other leftists and Nelson says that they have remained active in all spheres of political action, and adds, "We have been consistently anti-fascist to this day." As an organization or as individuals, Nelson says the veterans strenuously opposed fascism during World Ear II, "were represented at every demonstration in Washington" against the Vietnam War, and today oppose the Pinochet regime in Chile. Most veterans vote for liberal democrats. Nelson believes...
...Nelson and most of the other veterans still retain a special concern for Spain. He sees "a very hopeful situation there" because a variety of forces are weakening the fascists' power. Franco died two years ago, Basque and Catalonian nationalists oppose the central government, the Church has separated from the fascists, the trade union movement has gained strength, and the present government recently gave Communist party the legal right to exist...
...Nelson keeps in touch with friends and fellow radicals, and enjoys the hard earned pleasure of reminiscing about his past actions. His work to unionize the slaughterhouses, steel mills and auto plants preceded the acceptance of the Congress of Industrial Organizations and the United Auto Workers by American workers and industry. Before the went to Spain, Nelson agitated for civil rights and unemployment benefits, issues which Roosevelt could never make fully "respectable." While not ashamed about his membership in the party,* is not the subject which Nelson favors in an open discussion. It is what he did as a Communist...