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Abraham Lincoln Battalion Vet Clarence Kailin Dead at 95
Madison, Wisconsin - Clarence Kailin, age 95, of Madison, passed away peacefully of a stroke on Oct. 25, 2009, at St. Mary’s Hospital, Madison, surrounded by his loving family.
He was born Aug. 20, 1914, in Madison, the son of Russian immigrants Louis Kailin and Stella Schwid. He attended Randall grade school and Wisconsin High School and briefly enrolled in the University of Wisconsin.
He was a renowned social activist who led by example, building movements for unemployment compensation and against mortgage foreclosures, organizing the Steel Workers and the CIO. He was chief steward of his AFSCME Local at the U of WI.
He fought South African apartheid, racist injustice and discrimination in housing and employment; against intervention in sovereign nations, campaigning vigorously against the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. As a Jew he welcomed the creation of Israel, but championed the right of Palestinians to live free in their own land, identified with the Israeli peace movement’s condemnation of Israeli apartheid and opposed the use of U.S. tax dollars to underwrite it.
In the 1960s he became an historian on African-American history and taught the subject at home and at the Free University. He and his wife Maggie authored "Black Chronicle," a primer for school teachers, and led a successful effort to introduce it into the Wisconsin school curriculum. He led a national campaign to remove a racist plaque at the Hoover Dam and inspired a national dialogue about the hurtfulness to blacks and whites of the use of racist language. Among his many paid and unpaid occupations, he was machinist, writer, historian, photographer.
He was endlessly curious, self-educated, with a working knowledge of chemistry, physics and botany, who delighted in the beauty of life and nature with the innocence of a child. He loved gardening and summer-long camping and mountain climbing trips in the West. Like his father, he was a Jewish Socialist who believed that capitalism is the scourge of humanity, but he had faith that humankind will find an alternative in socialism.
He was a member of the Communist Party and later the Socialist Party. He was a founder of the Socialist Potluck. He fought for fully democratic practices within all progressive organizations. His humanism was so deep that he held the truest course even while the most hopeful movements that ever inspired the world were sullied by betrayal, brutality and opportunism. He mentored generations of neighbors and youth, giving his advice, sympathy and material possessions, always leading by example.
He counseled patience, perseverance, and understanding that fundamental change takes time. Kailin is most widely known internationally for his service at age 23 with the Abraham Lincoln Battalion in the Spanish Civil War from the earliest Jarama front at Madrid to the final battles at the Ebro, where he was seriously wounded. His manuscript "John W. Cookson, a Wisconsin Anti-Fascist in the Spanish Civil War," has been published in Spanish translation by the University of Castilla-La Mancha. Kailin returned many times to a hero’s welcome in Spain.
In 2009, he was the first member of the Lincoln Brigade to accept dual citizenship in Spain, awarded in gratitude by its government. Honoring his wishes, half of his ashes will be buried at the grave of the legendary Cookson, in Marça (Priorat) Catalonia. The Kailin family extend special thanks to the caring staff and residents at St. Mary’s Care Center, his home for the last four years.
Kailin is survived by his wife, Margaret (Maggie) Kailin; children, John, Laurel, Julie and Susan Kailin; grandchildren, Jennifer Hawkins, Megan Hawkins, Kimanzi Edari and Syovata Edari; and by great-grandchildren, Desmond Hawkins, Miles Treleven, Yazmine Edari, Nialah Edari, Razia Edari, Emayu Sellassie Edari, Jahsiah Edari and Solomon Edari. Kailin was preceded in death by his brother, Harvey Kailin; and sister, Dorothy Resnick. Memorial Service: Saturday, Nov. 21, 2009, 6:30 p.m. – 9:30 p.m. FIRST UNITARIAN SOCIETY OF MADISON MEETING HOUSE, 900 University Bay Drive. Interment of ashes: Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009, time TBA, Forest Hill Cemetery, 1 Speedway Road, Madison. Memorials: In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to "WisPACT Trust for Susan K. Kailin."
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Short URL: http://www.veteranstoday.com/?p=9216
Posted by Yanira Farray on Nov 1 2009, With 0 Reads, Filed under Heroes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
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Finally evidence that this site is a socialist rag. I am glad this was printed, so folks can see who “Veterans Today” holds out to be heroes…communists and socialists. He was NOT an American veteran and spewed forth so much anti-American junk that he could have been Gordon Duff’s ghost writer…at least Duff was an American veteran.
Josh,
You are an ass, with no grasp of history.
You have decency to disrespect a combat veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade who fought from 1936 to 1939 for the elected Spanish government against Francisco Franco allied with Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.
Fuck yourself.
Leon,
Nice grasp of vocabulary. I am very impressed.
#1 If I am not mistaken, that is an American flag behind the title of this website. No matter how just the cause, he was not an AMERICAN veteran. Lee Harvey Oswald was a veteran, does that mean it was OK for him to assasinate JFK?
#2 Learn your history and read some of this “fine individual”‘s writings and transcripts from his speechs. He was a devout communist/socialist that spent his life here in the US, speaking out against our Nation.
You need to get a grip, turn in your hammer and sickle and pick up better grammar.
P.S.
Just wondering, what would happen to an individual who was not on the staff that wrote a post like Mike? I was under the assumption that there were “rules” of some sort here. If I had sent a post of that nature, I am quite confident I would have been flagged and booted. But, I guess rules don’t apply when you are in charge. I am not surprised.
Josh
Being a communist, a socialist, a premillenialist or a rabid right wing proselytizing talking head are not illegal in this country and never have been.
Go engage in some relaxing auto-copulation.
Vocabulary is easy Josh; it’s the thinking that gives you headaches.
Bob,
As I think, I wonder what a veteran’s website is publishing a story about a foreign veteran? Not only a foreign veteran but one who was anti-American in his writings and speach. (I am not only referring to his political party affiliations) What deems him worthy of AMERICAN veteran’s recognition?
Josh
I don’t know you but I’ll guess that you are a very small man, very small; able to walk under a gum wrapper at a single crawl.
Well Bob,
I guess when you run out of logic…resort to name calling. Way to go. VERY professional. that is the first symptom of ignorance.
Bob,
When your arguement runs out of logic…resort to name calling. I can spot a white flag when I see it. I guess I can’t expect much of supporters of socialists and communists