Robert D. Farber University Archives and Special Collections

Spanish Civil War Poster Collection

Spanish Civil War propaganda poster distributed by Federación Anarquista Ibérica (FAI) and Confederación Nacional del Trabajo (CNT). The text contains "ambiciones militarismo guerra," "esto es el fascismo" and "destruyelo uniendo tu esfuerzo al de los demas." This translates to "ambitions, militarism, war," "This is fascism," and "Destroy it by joining the effort of others." There is also an illustration of a white dove and a blue, yellow, white and black soldier wearing a gas mask.Brandeis University Special Collections holds a wide range of materials on the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that many historians consider to be the prelude to World War II. The Spanish Civil War began in 1936 with the far-right Nationalists’ attempted coup of Spain’s leftist, duly elected Republican government; it ended in 1939, after much bloodshed, with a Nationalist victory, Spain under the leadership of Franco and an alliance of right-wing Spanish political parties.

While much of the rest of the world maintained official neutrality during the conflict, the Nationalists received help from Hitler and Mussolini, which set the stage for the expansion of fascism throughout Europe. The Republicans were aided in their struggle by Stalin and Soviet forces, as well as by Mexico and by the interception of the International Brigades. The Brigades were composed of volunteers from other countries, including the U.S., who believed that the Spanish Republican government was the legitimate ruling power in Spain. During their time in Spain, members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade sent or brought home to the U.S. the propaganda posters created for the Republican effort during the war. Brandeis’ Special Collections has preserved more than 250 such posters, which document a conflict that resonates to this day.

Poster with 4 men and the communist flag in background. Text reads: Obreros, Campesinos, soldados, intelluales. Reforzad Las Filas del Partido Comunista. and a red star.Like all posters, the Spanish Civil War posters in the Brandeis collection are public art with a focused agenda. These posters were meant to encourage support of and participation in the effort to resist a fascist takeover of Spain. Although other posters were created for commercial ends, these were created to serve a broader purpose, to make the viewer feel the importance of a strongly held belief—for thousands, a matter of life or death.

El Rumor poster: illustration of a figure with a large head covered with numerous lips, speaking (rumors, presumably) with open windows of buildings on each side. Also wings instead of arms, and wings on each calf.The artwork, by artists both known and anonymous, is striking in its boldness and style. Many of the posters were produced by artists in the Spanish Artists’ Union (SPBA). They used graphic, arresting images, sometimes shocking, for greatest effect: gas masks, bandaged soldiers, the symbols of fascism, wounded children, weapons of war. One cautionary poster, labeled “El Rumor” (by Ramón Puyol), depicts a winged being with eight mouths, soaring through the air. Another poster, by José Bardasano, commemorates one year of war with an image of a Republican soldier punching a soldier who wears a swastika, throwing him backward against barbed wire. A Catalonian poster (by Pere Catalá Roca) pictures a foot wearing a peasant's sandal stomping on a swastika. The use of vibrant color and bold lines conveys an urgency and immediacy suited to propaganda posters, which need to be easily seen and visually absorbed from a distance.

Poster with text in Spanish that says:Construction Workers: Enlist in the Fortification Battalions. In the foreground is an illustration of a strong worker arms reaching upward holding war supplies in his hands. In the background are factories.A large hand reaches down to pluck up Spain. The hand has overlaid images of marching soldiers and the 3 stripes of the Itlaian flag. Translation of the Spanish text reads:The Claw of the Italian Invader Grasps to Enslave Us).The messages of the posters, conveyed in both the artwork and the text (in either Spanish or Catalan), were delivered on behalf of government institutions, political parties, the international volunteer brigades, trade unions, youth organizations and other groups resisting the encroaching fascists. The posters emphasized the need to volunteer in the war effort, to fight fascism, to increase productivity in industry and agriculture, to care for children and the wounded, and to band together. One poster reads “Obreros de la Construccion: alistaos en los Batallones de Fortificacion” [Construction Workers: Enlist in the Fortification Battalions]. Another reads “La Garra del Invasor Italiano Pretende Esclavizarnos” [The Claw of the Italian Invader Grasps to Enslave Us]. Another, issued by the Aragon Department of Public Order, reads: “Un Vago es un Faccioso” [A Loafer is a Fascist]. Yet another says “Los Internacionales: Unidos a los Españoles, Luchamos Contra el Invasor” [The Internationals: United with the Spanish We Fight the Invader]. The messages changed as the war raged on and the demise of the Republican effort became clearer.

A Catalonian poster (by Pere Catalá Roca) pictures a foot wearing a peasant's sandal stomping on a swastika. Despite their haunting imagery, urgent exhortations and ubiquity, the posters ultimately did not succeed in their aims. To see them today gives us a view not only of an art form put to use for an aim beyond art’s sake, but also of a tumultuous and tragic episode that formed a turning point of the 20th century.

Spanish Civil War posters in Brandeis Distinctive Collections

January 22, 2010

Further Reading

Nelson, Cary. Shouts from the Wall: Posters and Photographs Brought Home from the Spanish Civil War by American Volunteers: A Catalogue to Accompany the Exhibit Curated by Peter Carroll and Cary Nelson for the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. Waltham, Mass.: Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives, c1996.

Tisa, John, ed. The Palette and the Flame: Posters of the Spanish Civil War. New York: International Publishers, c1979.

Illustration of a man, hands behind his head, knees up, with a cap on his head covering his eyes, relaxing on the ground, cigarette in his mouth. Text reads: "Un vago es un faccioso" with
Spanish Civil War propaganda poster with a color illustration of six men (who are presumably laborers because they are wearing overalls) waving white flags in solidarity with a soldier. The text at the bottom translates to "Spain fights for its independance for the country and the solidarity between all people."
A wounded soldier being embraced by a man standing next to a desk with a typewriter. Text reads: "Liga nacional de mutilados de guerra"
Illustration of a man wearing a cap, smoking a cigarette next to wine bottles. Text reads: "Un Borracho es un parasito. Eliminemosle!
Illustration of a man with many bandages, walking with crutches with a background image of an open book. Text: "El Libro: El mejor amigo del convalesciente"
Illustration of refugees in the background and a pair of large outstretched hands in the foreground. Text below reads: Evacuad Madrid bajo la proteccion de la junta delegada de defensa y el gobierno legitimo de la republica"
A bloody hand in the foreground is impaled by a rifle while a worker in the background is plowing a field. A red banner has white text that reads: El Fruto del trabajo del labrador es tan sagrado para todos como el salario que recibe el obrero.
Illustration of a silhouette of a soldier in the foreground. Background has a large female figure wearing a can arc of sheaths of wheat in the other. Text reads: rown, with a dove in one hand and "El Frente Popular de Madrid al Frente Popular del Mundo"
Poster with the heads of 3 soldiers of different races against a background image of the earth. "Todos los pueblos del mundo estan en las brigadas internacionales al lado del pueblo espanol"
A poster, by José Bardasano, commemorates one year of war with an image of a Republican soldier punching a soldier who wears a swastika, throwing him backward against barbed wire. Text reads: 1936 18 Julio 1937.
Two International Soldiers side by side in front of a female figure holding sheaths of wheat in her raised left hand, her right arm on the shoulder of one of the men. The slogan in Spanish is stranslated as: The Internationals: United with the Spanish We Fight the Invader
Poster with 2 soldiers holding flags and fist raised, "La Unidad del Enercito del Pueblos Sera el Arma de la Victoria"
A farmer with harvested crops stands tall in the foreground with a farmer working in a field in the background. Text reads: "Campesino: Este es tu puesta"
Poster with a hammer and sickle surrounded by sheaths of wheat, a logo for the AUS and the words: Antifascisto. Amigos de la Union Sovietica
Worker with raised plougshare. In the background are war planes and tanks moving across the fields. Text reads: "Allisteu-vos per al treball voluntari"