As part of my upbringing, I was taught
that the men and women who fought against the fascists in the
Spanish Civil War were giants. As a child eating in Ratner's
restaurant on New York's Lower East Side, I remember being told
in reverential tones that a person I just met had fought in Spain
with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. My parents, who were members
of the Communist Party during the civil war, could not enlist
in the Brigade because they had dependents. The Communist Party,