The Life that Sam Might have Lived: Remembering Sam Levinger, the Spanish Civil War, and the Radical Possibilities of the 1930s

A Columbus community event sponsored by

• Department of History, Ohio State University
• Communications Worker of America
• Columbus Democratic Socialists of America
• Center for Folklore Studies, Ohio State University

80 years ago, Columbusite and OSU student Sam Levinger wrote his family from Spain that “the Fascists want war, and bitter war we will give them.” Worried about the rise of fascism, Sam volunteered for the Abraham Lincoln Battalion and was killed in early September of 1937 at the Battle of Belchite.

Join Sam’s niece Laurie Levinger, Sam’s young friend (and renowned activist and historian) Staughton Lynd, and IWW historian Matthew White as we discuss Sam, Columbus and the Levinger family, anti-fascism, and the 1930s.

“As for my friends, give them my love if you run across them. Tell them I said there’s only one thing to remember—that there’s one comrade less to do the job of soldier of discontent. They’ll all have to do some work to make up for my getting perforated. See if that will get a few of these mugwumps into action.” Sam Levinger in Spain, early 1937

The Thursday evening event will be followed by a Friday early afternoon seminar with Staughton Lynd