On May 1st, 2024, International Workers Day, members of the Keweenaw Socialists made visits to the graves of two individuals who served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigades. Members left flowers and flags to honor the service of these men in defense of international socialism against the forces of fascism and reaction.
“Frank” Ranse Edward Arvola was born on December 31st, 1903 in Victoria, Michigan. He was a member of the Communist Party and worked as a truck driver and lumber worker, starting the first lumberjack union in Northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, and organizing campaigns against farm foreclosures throughout the Upper Peninsula. Arvola traveled to Spain in May of 1937 and served as a driver and a cook in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, obtaining the rank of Cabo (Corporal). Arvola was injured and hospitalized in Spain for 5 months before returning to the fighting and eventually returning to the United States in December of 1938. He died on January 13th, 1983 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Ontonagon County, Michigan.
Arthur Antti Woutinen was born on January 20th, 1917 in Calumet, Michigan. He was a member of the Young Communist League and later Communist Party and worked as a blacksmith, mechanic, and driver. Woutinen traveled to Spain in February of 1938 and served as stretcher bearer. He returned to the United States in August of 1938 and died on October 9th, 2000. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery, Ahmeek, Michigan.
These men served alongside eleven other residents of the Upper Peninsula in the Abraham Lincoln Brigades.
“The dead sleep cold in Spain tonight… It is two years now since the Lincoln Battalion held for four and a half months along the heights of the Jarama, and the first American dead have been a part of the earth for a long time now… For our dead are a part of the earth of Spain now and the earth of Spain can never die. Each winter it will seem to die and each spring it will come alive again. Our dead will live with it forever… The dead do not need to rise. They are a part of the earth now and the earth can never be conquered. For the earth endureth forever. It will outlive all systems of tyranny. Those who have entered it honorably, and no men ever entered earth more honorably than those who died in Spain, already have achieved immortality.”-Ernest Hemingway
