ABSTRACT
The typical volunteer was optimistic enough to have the vague feeling that the United States could change without violence, and he looked upon the New Deal as a first step being taken in the direction of a socialized state. Despite the great power of the "big interests," the men of the Lincoln Battalion were not pessimistic over the future of the United States. In the brigade press arid the lectures of commissars, Russia was always bathed in a rosy light. Coupled with the actual Russian aid, the propaganda had a marked effect upon the Lincolns. News of the revolutionary actions of the Anarchists and Partido Obrero de Unificacion Marxista (POUM) filtered to the Lincolns through publications and lectures. Since the POUM was thought to be Trotskyist, its tactics were considered typical pro-fascist disruptions. For the men of the Lincoln Battalion, at least until late in the conflict, the Spanish Civil War was a time of optimism.
