Biography
Blackwell, Russell (Negrete, Rosario; Soto, Fernando); b. March 24,1904, Brooklyn, New York; POUM; Married (Edna Negrete Blackwell who was living at 511 E. 6th Street, NYC); Journalist; Revolutionary Workers League; Traveled to Spain on a Spanish Passport; Was arrested in France for stowing away on the Normandie; Because of his Spanish Passport he was able to convince the French court to deport him to Spain; On his return he received passport # 57, Valencia series, on July 27, 1938 which listed his address as 326 West 13th Street, NYC; Arrived in Spain in November 1936; Fought with POUM and Anarchist militias during May Barcelona events; WIA in thigh; Arrested and held in Madrid prison, released to American consulate on July 26, 1938; Valencia Gray informed State Department that Blackwell was taken off of a British ship on August 1st in Valencia by Secret police; Consul officer visited Blackwell on August 12, but he was not released until December 31, 1938; Stayed at American Consulate in Valencia; Departed Spain on an British warship and went to Marseilles January 20, 1939; Returned to the US on February 4, 1939 aboard the President Harding; d. August 1969, cremated in Bergen, New Jersey.Source: Scope of Soviet Activity; RGASPI Fond 545, Opis 6, Delo 865, ll. 4; Opis 6, Delo 953, ll. 8 (under Negreti, Rosalio[?]); USSDA (under Negrete, Russsell) 2:0788, 58:001-0276 file includes manuscript “Nine months in the Prisons of Republican Spain.” Code A
Photograph: Russell Blackwell post Spain. Photograph from Alison Blackwell downloaded from Our Daily Bleed http://www.eskimo.com/~recall/bleed/0324.htm