Researcher: Lucia Robinovich, Stuyvesant '26

Blaine Owen (b. February 8th, 1910) was an American freelance writer and volunteer from McKeesport, Pennsylvania who served in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. He is noted for keeping a journal from September 3-16, 1937 documenting his experiences in the conflict, which is featured in archival records of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade volunteers. His 14-page journal gives insights into the final phase of the MacKenzie-Papineau Battalion's (Canadian unit fighting for the Republicans) training and journey to the front.

Owen attended the University of Ohio in 1929, and published a magazine called Nativity. By 1930, Owen decided that “little magazines had no place in a day when hunger was being answered by bullets”. Owen became a frequent contributor to New Masses, a NYC-based American Marxist magazine closely tied to the Communist Party USA. Other New Masses contributors included Ernest Hemingway and Langston Hughes. Owen’s writing contained vivid visual descriptions. One article he wrote was “Ireland's Easter Rebellion” in March 1937.

One source says Owen was Jewish, while the origins of the name “Blaine” and his interest in Ireland point to an Irish-Catholic background. There was still a good possibility of him being Jewish, as Jews made up 38% of the total American International Brigade volunteers (while only being 4% of the total US population).

Owen’s main motivation for fighting in Spain seemed to be his ardent support of the Communist movement worldwide. He wrote a letter days before his death calling Stalin a “pretty good example of a Communist in action”. He would have liked to die fighting in Spain in defense of his “right to live”. Blaine Owen got sick in Spain and died a slow, drawn-out death, eventually succumbing to tuberculosis in a California hospital in December 1943. He surprised hospital visitors with a complete absence of self-pity.

Note: some of my sources (see bibliography) have contradictory information. I did my best to piece together the facts, but there may be discrepancies.

Sources

Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. "Volunteer Directory." Accessed May 18, 2026. https://alba-valb.org/volunteer-directory/](https://alba-valb.org/volunteer-directory/.

Jewish Virtual Library. "Jews Who Served in the International Brigade in the Spanish Civil War." Accessed May 18, 2026. https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-who-served-in-the-international-brigade-in-the-spanish-civil-war/.

Library and Archives Canada. "Blaine Owen – Original Journal Kept by Owen, an American Volunteer in Spain." Accessed May 18, 2026. https://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf001/p000000093.pdf.

New Masses. Vol. 23, no. 1 (March 30, 1937). Accessed May 18, 2026. https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1937/v23n01-mar-30-1937-NM.pdf.

New Masses. Vol. 39, no. 14 (June 24, 1941). Accessed May 18, 2026. https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1941/v39n14-jun-24-1941-NM.pdf.

New Masses. Vol. 50, no. 9 (February 29, 1944). Accessed May 18, 2026. https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/pubs/new-masses/1944/v50n09-feb-29-1944-NM.pdf.

SIDBRINT: Sistema d'Informació Digital sobre les Brigades Internacionals. "Blaine Owen." Accessed May 18, 2026. https://sidbrint.puntzero.cat/brigadista/owen-blaine#font-documental.

Tamiment Library and Robert F. Wagner Labor Archives, New York University. "Owens, Blaine, undated, 1944, inclusive." Accessed May 18, 2026. https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/tamwag/alba_001/contents/aspace_ref675/.

Wikipedia contributors. "New Masses." Accessed May 18, 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Masses.