by David Horsley
Oliver Law was born in Texas in 1899. As a young man, he enlisted in the segregated American army, served in France towards the end of the First World War and then reenlisted, possibly due to lack of work. In all, he was in the army for six years, but as a Black man could not rise above the rank of Private First Class. After he left the army, he moved to Chicago and did a number of jobs, until like millions of others he became unemployed because of the great depression. The Communist Party of the USA. from 1930 onwards was laying special emphasis on the role of the Black working class who were the most deprived, suffering the most from the mass unemployment as well as the vicious Jim Crow segregation of the Southern states and the racism in the rest of the country. The Party played the leading role in the labour movement in the fight for justice, workers’ rights and anti-racism.
Chicago had a most vigorous and thriving local Party and Law attended classes and meetings and soon became one of the most active members. In March 1930, 700 unemployed Chicago workers led by communists held a meeting calling for unemployment insurance and relief . They had to pass through a double line of police who promptly arrested 113 who were handed over to the notorious "Red Squad" whose speciality was dealing with communists . After several hours, most were released but 14, including Oliver Law were now held for “special” questioning. This resulted in multiple injuries for the 14 with Oliver Law being hospitalised for a week because of the severe beating he received as Black and a Communist.
Once he was fit again, he resumed his Party duties and organising the unemployed in Chicago. He also was a leading member of the Hands Off Ethiopia campaign led by the Communist Party after Mussolini's invasion of that country in 1935.
In 1936, General Franco, with the massive military aid of Mussolini and Hitler, rebelled against the democratically elected government of Spain. With Britain, France and the USA. joining the Non Intervention Committee, thus not allowing military aid to the Spanish republic, only two countries sent help. One was the government of Mexico which did as much as it could but the bulk of aid came from the Soviet Union, with tanks, planes, armaments and a number of experts. The Communist International called for volunteers to go to Spain to fight for the Republic and tens of thousands answered the call. Among these was Oliver Law, who arrived in Spain in January 1937.
He was especially valued by the Abraham Lincoln Battalion due to his previous military experience. Many of the American volunteers were younger and less experienced in war than their European counterparts so he was made group leader of a machine gun company. He and his men took part in the bloody battle of Jarama in February 1937 and another volunteer Mel Anderson vividly remembered spending most of a day in the trenches next to the “courageous Oliver Law”. Many died in the battle and American losses were great, After the battle, he was promoted to commander of the machine gun company and Battalion Commander Martin Hourihan recommended him for officer training school .
When Hourihan fell ill soon after this, Law temporarily took his place as Commander and once Hourihan was fit he was promoted to regimental staff. Steve Nelson, Commissar of the Lincoln Battalion, along with Allan Johnson, a high ranking officer, and Harry Haywood, a leading Black Communist. chose Oliver Law as commander of the American volunteers. Nelson later stated " Law was the natural choice. A great asset, the guy who had the most experience, the most acquainted with military procedures on the staff at the moment”
Oliver Law led the Lincoln Battalion for the next three months. Here was a man who because of his race. could climb no higher than private in his segregated national army in six years, but in Spain, with the International Brigades, was commanding a battalion with a large majority of White Americans after six months. This after all was the spirit of all who had come to Spain to fight for the Republic, for freedom for all.
At the next major battle at Brunete, on 9th July 1937, Oliver Law led his troops in an attack on Mosquito Ridge. Harry Fisher, a battalion runner/messenger witnessed Law advancing ahead of his men, pistol in hand, urging them forward. On 29th July 1937 Fisher wrote a letter to his family which is reproduced in his book Legacy published in 2011. Fisher wrote the following in that letter “Once again Law was up in front urging us on. Then the fascists started running back. They were retreating. Law would not drop for cover. True he was exhausted as we all were. We had no food or water that day and it was hot. He wanted to keep the fascists on the run and take the high hill. “Come on Comrades, they are running” he shouted.”Let's keep them running”.
All the time he was under machine gun fire. Finally he was hit. Two comrades brought him in , in spite of the machine guns. His wound was dressed. As he was carried on a stretcher to the ambulance, he clenched his fist and said "Carry on boys" Then he died ".
Fisher adds “I remember that morning (the morning of the battle) at headquarters. As we were heading out Steve Nelson approached Oliver. I heard Steve say that there was no need for Oliver to lead the attack, that we couldn't take the chance of losing any more commanders. But Oliver brushed Steve off and went out with the rest of us. And that day he led the attack that would be his last. As we went over the top that morning he was shot in the stomach and fell about 30 feet in front of me. Jerry Weinberg, Oliver's runner and Dave Smith, a first aid man dragged him out of no man's land, but Oliver did not survive. He was buried under a rustic sign that read “Here lies Oliver Law, the first Negro to lead White Americans in battle”.
I have spent some time on the nature of his death because a communist turncoat, William Herrick, who was a Communist and Brigader until 1939 and then turned renegade, later suggested in a racist way that Law was unfit to be an officer and moreover was a coward. In his books and articles Herrick perpetuated these lies which have been taken up by anti-communists both on the left and the right.
A so called biography of Law by Anthony Sparrowhawk, another fervent anti-communist who declares George Orwell as “my hero” has further stoked the fire of lies and hate Herrick began and his bitterness against communists stains his book . He doubts the testimony of Steve Nelson and others who knew Law and even suggests people confused Law with another Black Brigader Harry Haywood. Sparrowhawk totally ignores Harry Fisher's two books, Comrades and Legacy, that mention Law's death even though they were published years before his own. . The hatred of these anti-communists knows no limits.
I feel this brief outline of the life of an outstanding freedom fighter can be a small contribution to the knowledge of a Black American who became a Communist and gave his life in Spain in the fight against fascism and racism.
Chicago Mayor Harold Washington's declaration of Oliver Law Day in 1987 recognised Law as “a leader of movements for the relief of the poor and for political rights for Blacks and working people in Chicago in the early 1930s. The first Black American to lead an integrated force in the history of the United States “.
Steve Nelson, Law's comrade returned to Spain with surviving Brigaders in 1986 and at a ceremony in Villanueva Pardillo in honour of Oliver Law, said these words: “The world hardly took notice at the time that among this group of people who came from the US to fight to preserve democracy in Spain there were Black people and they were treated as equals and advanced on the basis of their ability. Oliver Law was selected by myself and others to command because he was the best man for the job we didn't say much at the time, but it is important that we recognise now that it was an historic moment- a Black man was placed in charge of a largely White unit for the first time in U.S. history. We want the world to share in the pride that we feel”.
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