Why Would a Canadian Spanish Civil War Veteran Bike From The West Coast to New York in 1940?

I’m thrilled to have a feature article, A Mac-Pap Amongst the Lincolns, published in The Volunteer, the magazine of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in New York, Click on it, and learn why Jim Higgins ended up seeking refuge there during the winter of 1940/41.

After seeking refuge for several months in New York, Jim returned to Canada in 1941 and quickly found a job as a billboard painter in Toronto. The Great Depression was finally over.

Fighting for Democracy: The True Story of Jim Higgins (1907-1982), A Canadian Activist in Spain’s Civil War can be ordered here.

Fighting for Democracy is the latest book about the Mac-Paps, Canadians in the Mackenzie Papineau Battalion, which was part of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War. Other books about Canadians in the Spanish Civil War include Not For King or Country by Tyler Wentzell , Mac-Pap by Ronald Liversedge with David Yorke and Renegades by Michael Petrou.

2 thoughts on “Why Would a Canadian Spanish Civil War Veteran Bike From The West Coast to New York in 1940?”

  1. Chuck Bell

    Looking forward to the book! In the postcard I note his friend refers to the “Mexicanski” pavilion, not simply Mexican. I wonder if this is because of the fact that a number of rifles that went to the International Brigades were Russian Moisin-Nagants supplied via Mexico. Brigaders were apparently told to keep the Russian origin secret, and referred to them as Mexicanski. And now reflecting on the fact that the postcard is in fact from the Russian pavilion, I wonder if thats what he meant all along—Mexicanski meaning Russian.

    1. Janette Higgins Post author

      Thanks for this entirely plausible observation! That postcard is a more interesting artifact than I imagined. I had tried to google translate “Mexicans ki Casa del Pueblo,” but the meaning of “Mexicans ki” didn’t translate and was just confusing. The space was either deliberate. Or not.

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