Joe Dallet

Joe Dallet is a very important figure when one discusses the history of Canada's activities in Spain. The intention of the publishing of the Letters from Spain and Letters From Spain: American Nurses Write was to give Americans a more personal and intimate view of the Spanish Civil War. The goal was to propagandize Americans and other countries around the world to understand the international consequences for the civil war. The heroic nature of his death in the war made Joe an obvious candidate for a martyry. They wanted to use his stories to gather support for their cause. It is noted that many people did not like Joe Dallet's leadership or personality style. In his letters he admits to putting on an intentionally exaggerated personality. He would use a speech style that was intentionally hard to understand.

Joe Dallet
Dallet in October 1937
Born	Joseph Anthony Dallet Jr. (1907-02-18)February 18, 1907 Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Died	October 13, 1937(1937-10-13) (aged 30) Aragon Front, Spain
Cause of death	Killed in action
Alma mater	Dartmouth College
Political party	Communist Party USA
Spouses	Barbara Rand ​ (m. 1929)​ Katherine Puening ​ (m. 1934)​
Military career
Allegiance	Spanish Republic
Branch	International Brigade
Years of service	1937
Unit	Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion
Battles/wars	Spanish Civil War

Joseph Anthony Dallet Jr. (February 18, 1907 – October 13, 1937) was an American industrial worker, labor and communist organizer. From a wealthy family, Dallet was involved in the American labor movement early on, taking industrial jobs such as docker or steel mill worker. He joined the Communist Party USA, and ran for local U.S. House Of Representatives seats. In 1937, he volunteered for the Republican army in the Spanish Civil War. Dallet was killed in his first battle, on the Aragon front near Fuentes de Ebro.

Biography

Dallet was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Woodmere, Long Island. His parents were Hilda Dallet (née Stern) and Joseph Dallet Sr, a wealthy silk manufacturer. He attended Woodmere Academy, Lawrence High School, and in 1923 he enrolled at Dartmouth College. He left college in 1927 without graduating and took a job in insurance with Massachusetts Mutual Life.

In 1928 he became active in the labor movement and began working as a longshoreman. He then worked in steel mills in Pennsylvania and Ohio while organizing for the Sheet and Metal Workers Industrial Union. Dallet worked to hide his wealthy upbringing and Jewish background. In 1929 he joined the Communist Party and married Barbara Rand, who he later divorced. Dallet became a well known communist and labor organizer in the Midwest. He was known as a militant man who had a very strong authoritative leadership style.

In 1934 he became the common law husband of Kitty Puening, who would later marry physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer.

In 1934 and 1936 Dallet was a communist party candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, and in 1935 he ran to be mayor of Youngstown, Ohio.

Eventually Dallet became very interested in the Spanish Civil War. He wanted to help them overthrow their fascist leader and his rebels. He quickly signed onto the Abraham Lincoln Brigade in New York.

In March 1937, Dallet sailed for Europe to fight in the Spanish Civil War. On March 27, Dallet and a group of fellow volunteers were arrested by a French border patrol while trying to enter Spain from France by boat. Following a high-profile trial and 21 days in prison they were released. They successfully crossed the Pyrenees into Spain on April 22 under the cover of night. In June 1937 Dallet was appointed political commissar of the Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion.

Interestingly while many of Dallet's true intentions and motives for joining the war and his action within it, the one thing that was gone into detail was why his battalion was given its name. While the battalion was not only made up of Canadian members, they did form a significant portion of the battalion. Dallet felt that their contribution to the war was important as it was frequently overshadowed by the American Lincoln Battalion. Dallet theorized that if they could name the battalion after something distinctly Canadian would help garner support from Canadian civilians. Ultimately he would be proven right as the name became a profoundly important symbol for Canadian support for the cause. The coverage for the civil war by most papers in Canada was already quite significant, but once the battalion's name was made public it was like a lightning rod for the media at the time. They would even host radio show programs where they would speak to soldiers on the front or friends of them. The name of would ultimately end up being an incredible marketing tool for the Spanish Civil War to gain Canadian support.

The Battalion would then join the International Brigade in July 1937. As the leader of the battalion it was known that Dallet frequently resented the political nature of the missions he was given. He desperately wanted to be on the frontline in the action. He felt that the reason he was not allowed to participate in the fighting in the war was because of the fact that many in authority criticized his leadership style.

Dallet's authoritarian leadership style was unpopular with the men serving beneath him, who formed a grievance committee to try and remove him. An overnight meeting was held on October 12 to consider the complaints against Dallet. Dallet tried to resign his position as commissar, but his resignation was rejected. Many believe that this meeting regarding Dallet's leadership shook his confidence. His march into battle was so reckless that it is believed he simply wanted to prove himself that badly. The following day Dallet was shot and killed within the first few minutes of shooting on the Aragon front near Fuentes de Ebro while advancing in his first battle.

After his death Joe Dallet's letters to his wife Kitty Dallet were published as a pamphlet internationally to gain support. These were called the Letters from Spain and Letters from Spain: American Nurses Write. These letters provide a unique point of view on the Spanish Civil War and one of the most important people who fought in it. These were all published in a collection together to provide new points of view that people hadn't considered before.

Joe Dallet is a very important figure when one discusses the history of Canada's activities in Spain. The intention of the publishing of the Letters from Spain and Letters From Spain: American Nurses Write was to give Americans a more personal and intimate view of the Spanish Civil War. The goal was to propagandize Americans and other countries around the world to understand the international consequences for the civil war. The heroic nature of his death in the war made Joe an obvious candidate for a martyry. They wanted to use his stories to gather support for their cause. It is noted that many people did not like Joe Dallet's leadership or personality style. In his letters he admits to putting on an intentionally exaggerated personality. He would use a speech style that was intentionally hard to understand.

Kitty had been en route to join Dallet in Spain. She wanted to contribute to the loyalist cause in anyway that she could. Dallet's letters to Kitty were published in 1938 in the book Letters From Spain by Joe Dallet: American Volunteer, To His Wife. Dartmouth College awards an annual student prize in Dallet's memory. It is called the Joseph Dallet, Jr. '27 Memorial Prize and is awarded for academic excellence in areas that are relevant to Joe Dallet's history in the war.

Today, because of Dallet's contribution to the Spanish civil war and Canadian politics, the name for his battalion is now the general catch all for Canadian volunteers. They are known as Mac-Paps. Even though many of them didn't even fight in the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion.

Books

• Dallet, Joe (1938). Letters From Spain by Joe Dallet: American Volunteer, To His Wife. New York: Workers Library Publishers.