Testimonies in Art and Action Exhibition Catalogue
This is one of the donation cards that were distributed by the Society of Friends. It is titled “Spain’s Children Are Hungry: Help Us Feed Them.” The card is folded into three, each section conveying a different message from the other. The first part of the folding, once you open it, focuses on the work that Quakers have been able to do. This include setting up of canteens and temporary hospitals and distributing milk and food to children and nursing mothers. The second section focuses more on those who are still in need. It describes a number of challenges that are still being experienced in the camps which include the increasing number of refugees, lack of enough food, children suffering from malnutrition, and lack of blankets and diseases. It is because of all the ongoing challenges that the Society of Friends still needs funds. This leads to the third section of the card requesting for donations to help feed the children who happen to be the most vulnerable in the camp and also to cater for the other people’s needs. A photo of one of the children in the camps is printed on the same side, a sad, young girl carrying a doll. On the side of the photo is a statement, ‘The hand of friendship that you stretch to the suffering people of Spain will create a better relationship between them later on.” It is clear that the card not only served to request donations but also to show the effect of the war on the children of Spain and what can still be done to save the situation. This naturally draws a lot of sympathy from the reader and would help them to be more willing to support those in the refugee camps in any way possible.
“Recall to religion: £2,000,000,000 spent on battleships, aeroplanes, tanks, poison gas, submarines, bombs - Can “Thy kingdom come on earth” this way?”
This anti-war poster calls attention to the obscene sums of money spent on war preparations, and simultaneously suggests that military stockpiling inhibits God’s kingdom from flourishing. It calls to mind the Quaker peace testimony, which states that war is an affront to humans living together lovingly, for war destroys the goodness and light within us all. This poster links money to war and argues that money is to blame for war. The taxes paid to a government allow that nation to fund the production of war machines. It also evokes a view on war deeply embedded in a Christian reading of the peace testimony. The Northern Friends Peace Board’s poster, published in England, is addressed to a primarily Christian audience, and incorporates the peace testimony into Christian language by pointedly stating, “Can ‘[God’s] kingdom come to earth’ this way?” In other words, the poster suggests that God’s intended world cannot exist in a world dominated by war.
Northern Friends Peace Board and the Friends Peace Committee
Jesus said - love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you - is war forgiving?
This poster printed for the Peace Committee of the Society of Friends in 1936 incorporates an image of Jesus riding a donkey with a child in hand. This poster fosters a sense of humanity and condemns the types of atrocities that were induced and later escalated by the Spanish Civil War. The inclusion of Jesus’ teachings attempts to justify the opposition of war through religious virtues. The religious connotation in conjunction with the question, “Is war forgiving?” reiterates the inhumane nature of war and the opposition of Christian values. By raising this query, this poster aligns religion against war, thereby emphasizing how Jesus wanted people to resolve discord through forgiveness and peaceful rectitude. The visual of Jesus sitting on a donkey symbolizes humility. God’s choice to be one with the masses calls into question the exploitation and suffering that are consequences of war. The graphic of Jesus walking with a child morphs into the notion of an ideological society, in which children are guided into a harmonious world. The duality between the innocence of children and widespread civilian death by violence, calls upon an urgent need for pacifist retaliation. This artistic piece’s ability to resonate as anti-war propaganda showcases pacifism’s concordance with Christianity and humanity.
During the twentieth century, Quakers were active in publicizing peace-related concepts and striving against remilitarization. This poster, calling for a coordinated international effort in peace-building in place of force to deter war, sheds light on early explorations of what peace studies now call “positive peace.” Positive peace emphasizes the conditions necessary for peace, such as conflict resolution and peace-building. By presenting “new world conference” in red capital letters, the poster highlights the importance of this new mechanism. In accordance with the Quaker effort to foster conditions for peace, contemporaneous pacifist writers such as Virginia Woolf wrote about the role of socio-economic injustices (specifically financial and gender inequality) in the perpetuation of war. These features of pacifism manifest a paradigm shift during the modernist era, transforming pacifist activism from passive resistance of unethical wars to active promotion of peace. Therefore, this poster attests to the Friends’ active pacifism alongside the societal trend towards peace-building based on investigations of social justice issues.
This Quaker poster criticizes conscription, the compulsory enrollment of persons for military service, and denounces war altogether. By claiming that, through conscription, the state has control of the collective human consciousness, which is rightfully God’s alone, the poster implies that the learnt practice of humans to destroy other humans is unvirtuous. Furthermore, the poster exposes war’s terrible nature with violent language: the use of “destroy” creates a powerful image of annihilation. Devastated by malnutrition, disease, bombing raids, and combat, the casualties of total war beg the question, “How do we end war?” For the Quaker community, the answer could be found within the creation of peaceful conditions, complete reconciliation, and abstinence from fighting—thus conquering total war with total peace. Ultimately, this poster encourages pacifism by condemning the morality of both conscription and war.
Around the world the message send - ‘World justice means world peace’
The Society of Friends attempted to remain neutral during the Spanish Civil War, and conducted relief work for both the Republicans and the Nationalists. In Quaker Service in Modern War, Howard Kershner writes, “I maintain that when one undertakes to do relief work on both sides of a civil war he must be prepared to be impartial to his attitude, and even in his thinking, where need is concerned.” This poster created by the Northern Friends Peace Boardembraces the idea of neutrality, and emphasizes the importance of global peace. The words “justice” and “peace” are connected without the promise or even the notion of winning the war in Spain (or any future war) —which is the goal that people on either side of the argument may associate with the word “justice.” In Quaker Relief Work in the Spanish Civil War, Farah Mendlesohn quotes Alfred Jacob as he states, “Our effort is simply to do the works of peace in the midst of war, affirming the right of the human personality which war denies”. By recognizing the “human personality” of either side, one is embracing neutrality and recognizing the similarities of either side. By showing that justice and peace are in fact the same thing, as well as using the image of the entire world, the poster helps depict humankind as a single, unified force. The Quakers recognize human togetherness by not dividing the poster into states or political parties, and depicting instead a unified world, and one common humanity.
Through Loyalist and Insurgent Spain: The Journal of Sylvester Jones
Sylvester Jones’ journal records his experiences travelling through Spain and his participation in relief work during the Spanish Civil War. Sent by the American Friends Service Committee in order to decide their level of involvement in the relief work, his writings describe the aid work of different organizations, including logistical issues such as the lack of resources. Sylvester’s descriptions of living in wartime Spain work towards uncovering the nature of Quaker pacifist views, which emphasize deliberate thought. This entry, describing his reaction to a play, showcases his hatred of propaganda, the opposite of deliberate thought: “It was obviously propaganda and not art… I do not refer to the war propaganda…[but] one which…[carries] on with a basis of hate for any who disagree with them.” Jones disapproves of the play’s message, militant or not, because it promotes homogeneous thought. The rejection of thoughtlessness echoes a defining aspect of Quaker pacifism, which draws upon their religious belief, which is centered around the need for conscious and deliberate thought.
The Spanish Civil War marked a new period of modern warfare, as we can see through observing the pamphlets that were used to spread awareness of the war and the actions the Quakers were taking to aid those suffering. This pamphlet, written by Dr. Richard Ellis, focuses on the everyday influence of war on Spanish society. This reading speaks to the notion of total war, a concept addressed by Paul Saint-Amour in Tense Future. His work is mainly concerned with exploring the definition of total war as war affecting “political, economic, and cultural domains.” Extending upon the purview outlined by Saint-Amour, the pamphlets are able to speak to the mentality of civilians once such merciless war had become the standard of life. Specifically, Dr. Ellis retells the comments of a refugee he had encountered. The refugee said that “the war... taught him you could be constantly cold in bright sunshine and feel tired before the day’s work had started.” His remarks highlight that the totality of war affected normal routines for extended periods of time, thereby extending and reshaping our understanding of absolute warfare. This is crucial to explore because for those lucky enough to live, total war wasn’t one passing moment of panic, but rather, in the case of Spain, three years of heavy mental and physical deterioration.
The Friends’ Service Council (FSC), a Quaker relief organization in Great Britain, published and distributed this pamphlet in 1939 after Nationalist forces had overthrown Republican Spain. Despite the change in government, the FSC, in conjunction with the AFSC (American Friends Service Committee) continued relief work to help Spanish people and refugees in need on both sides of the conflict up to 1942. Unfortunately, the infrastructure and supplies needed to provide food and milk and to support hospitals were expensive; thus relief organizations distributed pamphlets such as this one to ask for financial help. The FSC aimed to “bring material and moral help” through their relief work: materially through food and milk, and morally through their support and solidarity. Through advocacy of both material and emotional support, the FSC attempted to build “the surest foundations for peace” with altruistic deeds that promoted pacifism and protested war and violence.
This bulletin, released days before the end of the war on April 1, describes the desperate situations in both Republican and Nationalist Spain and pleads for money to transfer surplus wheat to Spain. It includes the warning that “if the remainder of Spain is to soon come under Nationalist control they will have a food problem that even propaganda will not be able to hide.” According to the bulletin, the food shortage in a Nationalist Spain would be so severe that even propaganda could not mask its effects from the public. As the nationalists gained territory, hundreds and thousands of refugees would also come under their jurisdiction. Towards the end of the war when it became clear that the Nationalists would win, the actions of the relief workers focused on preventing starvation instead of promoting peace, their original purpose. The workers felt frustrated that they lost the power to construct a society that created conditions for peace and, rather, were caught working to prevent starvation where they still had control.
Committee on Spain, American Friends Service Committee
Recall to Religion - Peace and righteousness are inseparable.
By proclaiming that “peace and righteousness are inseparable,” and that if a “conflict should arise between the claims of Christ’s service and that of the State, it is to Him that our supreme loyalty should be given whatever the consequence,” the authors of this poster challenge the viewer’s understanding of morality by insinuating that to support the state’s war efforts is to turn one’s back on Christ. The poster’s last words, “whatever the consequence,” reinforce the Quaker conviction that pacifist thought and loyalty to God must never be sacrificed in the name of conflict and material goals. This poster forces these concepts into a complete dichotomy: one must choose between faith and support of the war, and to remain neutral or undecided is to betray God. The formal, intimidating appearance of the poster (no images; capital letters; bold-faced, red and black text) frames the message as a command, an imperative. Friends believe that the power of God to overcome evil can be accessed through a true desire for good; this poster aims to confirm that those wishing to conquer the evil of war must seek the guidance of Christ rather than that of the state.
The Diaries of John F. Rich, AFSC Worker
In his capacity as public relations director and relief administrator for the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), John F. Rich traveled to Spain in 1939 to wind down the AFSC’s refugee and child feeding relief facilities. During the trip, Rich recorded images of the bucolic countryside, juxtaposing it with the destruction of the Civil War. The diaries also include personal musings on his sadness at seeing the refugee children, work-related to-do lists, and first drafts of AFSC memos. Here, one can see Rich’s thoughts on what Quakers can do “to Make Nations Friendly to Spain”; he suggests that Quakers should use their “connections in high places” and publicly endorse Spain’s desire for diplomatic contact with North America. This action entails political involvement, and to an extent, taking sides. Hence, Rich’s suggestion that Quakers attempt to influence international politics even after the conflict has ended in this manner is contrary to some Friends’, such as relief worker Howard Kershner’s, belief that in order to impart effective relief, neutrality is essential. Rich and Kershner’s conflicting views towards political intervention represent contemporary debate within the greater Quaker community about the place of politics in relief work.
Letter from Lucille H Stevens to Daniel and Elizabeth Jensen
During the Spanish Civil War and for several years after, international relief efforts were coordinated between various Quaker and non-Quaker organizations, in the hope that the refugees and displaced peoples from the conflict could receive direct aid. Sometimes, the route to aid extended through other countries, as is specified in this letter from the American Friends’ Service Committee to representatives of the YMCA in Mexico City, on behalf of Alfred Jacob in Spain. The state of total war that had taken place within Spain led to extraordinarily high rates of hunger, poverty, and displacement, some of the conditions which no doubt led to the AFSC’s request to locate a Spanish refugee’s family member. The Quaker relief effort, encapsulated here in the plea to reunite a family, was guided by the belief in service and aid. Quakers not only fed the hungry and displaced within Spain, they also coordinated relief efforts beyond these into France and Mexico.
In this compilation of selections from letters, Esther Farquhar Kamp, a social worker and Quaker relief worker with the American Friends Service Committee, discusses the physical, mental, and emotional stresses on the Spanish children and the ways in which the AFSC attempted to combat such issues. Promoting the wellbeing of the young victims of the Spanish Civil War was a matter on which Quaker relief work placed strong emphasis, based on the recognition that children were victims of the combat who were highly susceptible to the violent ideals of war and would act as fodder for further conflict as they transitioned into adulthood. Close to 700,000 children took refuge in the children’s colonies or “colonias infantiles,” including the Bosque in the Woods, to which Esther Farquhar Kamp refers in this letter.
This painting from Estampas de la Revolución Española promotes a false sense of heroism established by society, a sense of heroism that traps humanity in a closed cycle of victims. It depicts a stern-faced man; clad in rolled pant legs and a polo with his hands squarely on his hips, shoulders back, head held high, and rifle at his side, he is the new Achilles. He is the hero whom young men revere and attempt to emulate. He is viewed as a figure of strength and bravery. However, in actuality, he personifies the Achilles’ heel of society: its tendency to exalt war. He exemplifies a war-glorifying system that has bound the minds of people. The paintings presented in this book by the Propaganda Offices of the CNT-FIA engenders positive feelings toward the cause of the Spanish people in fighting against the Fascist insurgents in Spain; it emphasizes the vivacious humanity of the Spaniards through endearing narratives and colorful imagery. Paradoxically, this painting screams for freedom in tones of war.
Oficinas de Propaganda de la Confederación Nacional del Trabajo y de la Federación Anarquista Ibérica
The artistic depiction of a helpless figure being persecuted is ubiquitous in times of Spanish agony. This is evident in both the Offices of Propaganda of the National Confederation of Workers’ “Estampas de la Revolución de Española” and Goya’s “Third of May”. The Offices of Propaganda of the CNT and the FAI created this book of stamps to bring color and glory to the war. While Goya’s work depicts a submissive Spanish man during Napoleon’s invasion of Madrid in 1808, the stamp takes an antithetical approach to the subject by casting the shooters in the foreground in a virtuous light. Unlike Goya’s emphasis on humanity, the “Brothers in Battle” stamp romanticizes inhumanity by depicting the death of a powerless man as an epic aspect of war. The stamp artist accomplishes this by painting two distinct, colorful shooters in the foreground and concealing the identity of the defenseless nationalist by facing him away from the viewer. While Goya commiserates with the innocent, surrendered man, the stamp artist celebrates his death as an act of “comradeship” among Republicans. Thus, these two pieces with similar subject matter present opposing perspectives that shed light on the multifaceted experience of war.
“Cuando el arte se trueca en intérprete de la emoción popular, el arte se sublima… Se hace a un tiempo carne y espíritu.” “When art becomes the interpreter of some great national sentiment, it is sublime… [It is] a mingling of the flesh with the spirit.” —“The Doorway,” Preface to Estampas de la Revolución Española, 19 Julio de 1936 A collection of vignettes from the Spanish Civil War, brought forth within the realms of images with wide brushstrokes and trilingual captions, Estampas de la Revolución Española, 19 Julio de 1936, remains a testament to the many emotions and contradictions of the era. In this image, “El último abrazo,” a man lays down the dying body of his lifelong companion. Humanity’s looming mortality consumes this painting, leaving only a blurry conception of hope lost. While the artist—known solely as “hijo del pueblo” or “son of the people”—was featured in this volume for an anarchist, proletariat pursuit, his work transcends war’s partisan boundaries, serving as a traumatic reminder of war’s true victim: humanity, abandoned for the ether and painfully pieced together through art. Ultimately, El último abrazo confirms that ceaseless, unjustified violence fails to usher in prosperity, and that destruction never yields peace.
Puños en alto [Clenched Fists Held High]
Republican Spain published many propaganda items during the Spanish Civil War in order to promote their cause. This piece, “Clenched Fists Held High,” is part of a book of stamps published by the anarchist Office of Propaganda. This image represents the war as a glorious fight for social justice, motivating readers to support the fight against fascism. Its use of blurred, but colorful visuals portray the war as active and positive. The caption, which uses socialist rhetoric like “comrades” to illustrate the valiance and brotherhood of those fighting, demonstrates the goals of social justice and equality which motivated the war. All the captions in the book are printed in Spanish, English, and French, indicating that the government intended for it to be read abroad in order to encourage neutral foreign powers to join the side of of the Republic. Unlike many other materials in this exhibit, this piece is unique in its portrayal of violent means as effective.
Letter from J. Passmore Elkinton to L. Hollingworth Wood
The letter written by J. Passmore Elkinton, the chairman of the AFSC Spain Committee, is addressed to L. Hollingworth Wood, an active member of the Spanish Child Welfare Association (SCWA) in New York. In discussing the benefits of Quaker aid in Spain, Elkinton references the Book of Exodus, comparing the mission of the Friends to the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. In this Biblical passage, God’s partiality towards the Israelites leads Him to intervene on their behalf to deliver them from slavery. Elkinton implies that the difficulties of work in Spain were to be overcome through divine guidance. The letter demonstrates that relief work of the Friends in the 1930s was informed and strongly influenced by religious rhetoric and grounded in Christian faith. The desire to act out of moral and spiritual responsibility directed the Friends towards humanitarian aid, resulting in the distribution of the funds the SCWA raised for Spanish relief. In thanking Wood on behalf of the “Divine Master,” Elkinton makes clear his conviction in the correctness and support of his committee’s mission due to the gravitas which accompanies invoking divinity.
Chicago Tribune by Diana Forbes Robertson
The bombings during the Spanish Civil War not only destroyed buildings and land, but they destroyed families. Children of all ages were victims of fascist attacks, and because of the numerous children who were left orphaned and who were in harms way of future bombardments and starvation, children’s colonies were created to provide them a place of refuge during the war. In this newspaper clipping Diana Forbes Robertson, the wife of journalist Vincent Sheean, writes of her time in Spain. This clipping was found in a folder titled L. Hollingsworth Woods Papers, in which there were many miscellaneous documents and letters either written by Woods himself or documents that referenced the Spanish Civil War. Woods was a co-founder of the American Friends Service Committee, which was a Quaker organization that worked to help the refugees and victims of the fascist attacks during the civil war. While the exact date of publication and the newspaper from which this article by Diana Robertson came from is unclear, based on evidence found in the article, along with a second newspaper article written by Robertson that can be found in the same folder, it can be inferred that the article was written around April of 1938 and that it was originally published in the Chicago Tribune. This article depicts several colonies in which children are hungry; yet their lives must continue as they “attend school, get their hair cut, and dance ballet.” In this piece Robertson provides an outsider’s perspective of the lives of child refugees during the Spanish Civil War.
“Behind the Battle Lines in a Devastated Spain”
New York Times Magazine by Alfred Winslow Jones
This article, published in the weekly New York Times Magazine on April 3rd, 1938, demonstrates how journalism brought the Spanish refugee crisis into the eyes and minds of American society. The focus of this article is the mass migrations of Spaniards within Spain as a result of the devastation of the Civil War. The vivid descriptions in the article, by Alfred Winslow Jones, of his experience in a “tour of inspection with the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)” brings his experiences alive to his readers in the US. His detailed portrayal of the terrible plight of the Spaniards and the underfunded work the AFSC is doing in Spain is a humanitarian, emotional appeal. The inclusion of the photograph depicting the huddled masses wandering through the streets is another attempt to bring the horrid conditions refugees must live in to life for average Americans. Juxtaposing the text and photograph allows the story of the refugees to transcend the contemporaneous situation and resonates with readers many decades later.
This journal entry from January 1st, 1937 is found in a Quaker weekly journal from 1937 where it informed other Friends how the Friends Service Council (the British corollary to the American Friends Service Committee), together with the Save the Children Fund, were providing relief for Spain. Along with specifying where concerned Friends can send donations, this journal discusses who the Quakers were helping as well as why they were helping. It explains how the Quakers were giving relief to the children of Spain regardless of which side they were on. To the Friends, it did not matter if the Spanish refugees were on the Nationalist or Republican side; the article emphasizes the need for “impartiality” in the Quakers’ wartime relief work. The article goes on to explain that their “neutrality was a neutrality of active intervention on behalf of those whose chief enemy was war,” underscoring that the primary goal was to aid those who were the victims of the war (i.e. the women and children). By assisting the children of Spain, the Quakers were attempting to raise a new generation devoid of hate, one that could then hopefully bring an end to war once and for all.
Heart of Spain: Robert Capa's Photographs of the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War was a product of the clash between the opposing ideologies of the left-wing Republic and fascist Nationalists. In 1938, photographer Robert Capa captured scenes of the International Brigades, volunteer fighters for the Republic, in Montblanch. This photo feature throngs of men in military fatigues, raising their hands towards something off-camera, affirming their affiliation with the Republic. The unity of action portrayed in these photographs embody the belief that to protect their own convictions is to initiate the destruction of the opposition. Much like the photograph Falling Soldier, the photographs in this book expose the effects of war both on and off the battlefield. Capa sought to capture Spanish lives at the time and showcase his impressions to a global audience. This leads the viewer to imagine that prioritizing the coexistence of conflicting beliefs in a society can eventually lead to the collapse of the senseless hive-mind that perpetuates the cycle of war and violence.