Abe and Selma Bluestein (see picture), New York anarchists, traveled to Spain in 1937, arriving in Barcelona shortly before the now famous "May Days," when anarchists and Marxists were confronted by Communist and government forces in a bloody battle. Abe reported on the War for Freie Arbeiter Stimme, the long-running Yiddish anarchist weekly in New York and Selma was involved with the artist’s community. Abe also served as information officer for the CNT (Confederación Nacional del Trabajo/National Confederation of Labor), gave radio broadcasts for the anarchist fighters in Barcelona and other parts of Catalonia, and sent weekly news bulletins to U.S. and British publications. Shown here is one of the letters Abe wrote to Selma after she returned home a few months before him.

The Abe Bluestein Papers were a gift to the Labadie Collection in 1997.

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