Back Issues
In 1939, the VALB began issuing the Volunteer for Liberty in New York. Appearing every other month, the 4-page publication explained the organization’s official positions, disseminated information about Spain and Spanish affairs, and passed on personal information about the vets. One early editor was veteran James Benet, a professional journalist.
In 1941, the Los Angeles Post of the VALB issued a similar publication titled the Western Volunteer, but suspended publication after half a dozen issues. After World War II, the publication appeared more irregularly, and during the 1950s VALB changed the name to The Volunteer. The largest run of the periodical exists in the ALBA collection at New York University’s Tamiment Library.
Beginning in March 2010, the Volunteer also appears as an online magazine, at www.albavolunteer.org, featuring the full content of the print version, plus the ALBA blog, videos, podcasts, etc.
For recent back issues–of both the online edition and the print edition–please consult the archives page of the online edition at albavolunteer.org/archive/
Some older issues can be viewed and downloaded through the links below:
1938: January
1941: February (part 1), February (part 2), March, April
1942: January
1944: January, February, March, May, October, October supplement
1945: January, January supplement, February, March, May, June supplement
1947: April
1975: December
1976: December
1980: March
1981: December
1989: March
1991: Summer
1994: September
1996: March
1997: December
1998: March, September, December
2000: January, March, September, July
2001: March, September, December
2002: March, September, December
2003: March, June, September, December
2004: March, June, September, December
2005: March, June, September, December
2006: March, June, September, December
2007: March, June, September, December
2008: March, June, September, December
2009: March, June, September, December
2010: March, June 2010 [issued online only], September, December
2011: December, September, June, March
2012: December, September, June, March
In 2007, The Volunteer began publishing a comic titled Robeson in Spain, detailing Paul Robeson’s adventures with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in 1938. Three years later, the vets made him an honorary member of VALB. The comic is produced by Joshua Brown and Peter Carroll. This project is brought to you in part by a grant from the Puffin Foundation, Ltd. Created in collaboration with the Bay Area Paul Robeson Centennial Committee.
In June 2009, ALBA compiled the series into a special Robeson in Spain issue of The Volunteer.