Alvin Warren Photographs
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Abstract
Alvin R. Warren, born in 1913, joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. In time he rose to the rank of lieutenant, and was eventually made Quartermaster of a training base in Spain. The Alvin Warren Photograph Collection consists of images taken by Warren in Spain, and includes individual and group portraits of soldiers, scenes of front-line combat and behind-the-lines relaxation, war damage in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Quinto and Teruel, and daily life among the Spanish people.
Historical/Biographical Note
Alvin R. Warren was born to Jewish parents in Brooklyn in 1913 and raised in Mount Vernon, NY. Frustrated by the racial and ethnic prejudice he experienced in this small, predominantly white middle-class town, Warren left home at age 13, spending the next few years riding the rails and "talking left-wing politics" with those he met on the road. At age sixteen he joined the Young Communist League and later became a member of the Communist Party. In the early 1930s he worked with groups agitating for labor reform and was soon appointed a full-time labor organizer for the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO).
Warren volunteered for Spain and joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade soon after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936; he quickly rose to the rank of lieutenant. When the International Brigades left Spain in 1938, he returned to America and continued his activity on behalf of left-wing, pro-labor, and anti-fascist political causes. Upon the United States' entry into World War II in 1941, Warren fought off charges of "suspected disloyalty" to join the U. S. Army, and eventually participated in the D-Day invasion and in ground battles in both France and Germany.
During the 1950s and 60s Warren continued his political activity despite harassment from the FBI. In the 1970s he became an outspoken opponent of the Vietnam War, and later denounced American acts of aggression in Cuba, Panama, Grenada and Kuwait. On the local level, he remained active in the struggle to end civil rights violations and racial discrimination in towns in New York State.
Warren remained a member of the Communist Party to the end of his life. "I am convinced that Socialism is the wave of the future," he is quoted as saying; "[T]he Communist party is the only party that has the ideology, ability and background experience to lead this movement through."
Arrangement
Files are arranged alphabetically by topic.
The files are grouped into one series:
Missing Title
- I, Spanish Civil War, 1936-1938.
Scope and Content Note
The Alvin Warren Photograph Collection consists of photographs taken by Warren during his years as a volunteer fighting in Spain; although most are undated, they can be assumed to date from the period 1936 to 1938. The collection contains 22 photographic prints depicting individual soldiers and groups of soldiers, scenes of front-line combat and activity behind the lines, street scenes and views of Madrid, Barcelona, Quinto and Teruel, and daily life among the Spanish people.
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Access Restrictions
Materials are open to researchers. Please contact the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives for more information and to schedule an appointment, tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Use Restrictions
Any rights (including copyright and related rights to publicity and privacy) held by the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA), were transferred to New York University in November 2000 by the ALBA Board of Governors. Permission to publish or reproduce materials in this collection must be secured from the Tamiment Library & Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives. For more information, contact tamiment.wagner@nyu.edu or 212-998-2630.
Preferred Citation
Published citations should take the following form:
Identification of item, date; Collection name; Collection number; box number; folder number;
Tamiment Library/Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives
Elmer Holmes Bobst Library
70 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012, New York University Libraries.
Provenance
The Alvin Warren Photograph Collection came to New York University in January 2001 as part of the original acquisition of Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives collections, formerly housed at Brandeis University.
