Researcher: Jasper Qiu, Stuyvesant '27

Leonard Lamb was born on September 1, 1910, in Cleveland, Ohio, and lived at 429 East 6th Street. He was also of Jewish descent. Lamb later moved to New York to attend university at CCNY in the 1930s, and graduated with a bachelor's degree. At this time, CCNY was a hotbed for radical leftist movements and ideas with a large working class/Jewish student body, which likely influenced Lamb’s politics. Notably, one of his professors, David McKelvy White, would later volunteer alongside him in Spain as a member of the Lincoln Battalion. After graduating, Lamb became a public school teacher working with the Works Progress Administration Teachers Union and also served as a social worker for the Emergency Relief Bureau in New York City. During this period, he lived at 420 East 6th Street in Manhattan, New York. By 1935, the Great Depression and the rise of European fascism led to Lamb formally joining the Communist Party of the USA (CPUSA/CPA). Sometime in the 1930s, Lamb married Consuelo Lee Corretjer, however, the couple later divorced.

Upon the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Lamb immediately volunteered for the Lincoln Brigade. However, the CPA denied his application due to the party’s policy of retaining top party members within the United States. This policy shifted only after the heavy losses suffered by the Lincoln Battalion at the Battle of Jarama Valley which created an urgent need for replacements. Lamb received his U.S. passport on February 4, 1937, and sailed for Europe on February 10, 1937, aboard the Washington. He arrived in Spain on February 20, 1937. From March to June 1937, Lamb was sent to officer training school, where he also served as a machine gun instructor. While serving as a machine gun instructor, he notably instructed his former CCNY professor, David White. Lamb’s training lasted until the outbreak of the Battle of Brunete (July 1937) and Lamb was deployed to the front. At Brunete, Lamb was appointed to the position Chief of HQ Staff, serving directly as Adjutant Commander to Milton Wolff. The pairing of a “Lamb” with a “Wolff” became a comedic outlet for the battalion. Lamb was expected to take command of the battalion at the Battle of Fuentes de Ebro (October 1937) when the previous commander, Hans Amlie, was WIA. However, Lamb accidentally shot himself in the foot while cleaning a pistol and the command post went to Phil Detro instead. Despite this mishap, Lamb later served as Adjutant Commander of the Lincoln Battalion at the Battle of Teruel (December 1937). He was WIA around August 1938 during the Ebro Offensive. Historian Cecil D. Eby summarized Lamb’s military service as follows: "Lamb was wounded several times; he always returned quickly to the battalion and served loyally until the Lincolns [returned] for home... Lamb never became a permanent commander, though he compiled an outstanding battle record in Spain." Lamb claimed that he was denied higher office because he refused to toe the party line of the CPA, which closely toed the Stalinist line at the time. In his own words: "Unless you agreed with the Soviet Union you were a son of a bitch. So I realized that for all the courage of rank-and-file Communists in Spain and in the union movement, the Party as such was absolutely useless." Lamb returned to the United States on December 20, 1938, aboard the Ausonia. His repatriation followed Spanish Republican Prime Minister Juan Negrín’s unilateral decision to withdraw the International Brigades from combat in an attempt to pressure the League of Nations to force the withdrawal of fascist support to Franco.

When Lamb arrived on the pier at West Fourteenth Street in New York, he was one of the veterans greeted by a crowd of three thousand people. After returning from Spain, Lamb distanced himself from political activism and radical organizing circles. Lamb left the CPA after the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed. Although he stepped away from politics after he returned, he likely still volunteered for the army when the US entered WW2. Because he stepped away from politics and activism after Spain, Lamb likely wasn’t prosecuted by HUAC and other anti-communist administrations during the McCarthy era. Because of this, Lamb lived the rest of his life quietly. Lamb died on October 21, 1994, in Long Island City, New York.

Sources

"David McKelvy White Papers." NYU Libraries. Last modified September 2004. Accessed June 11, 2026. https://findingaids.library.nyu.edu/tamwag/alba_070/all/.

Gerassi, John. Jewish Veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. Accessed June 11, 2026. https://www.marxists.org/subject/jewish/jewish-veterans-spain.pdf.

"Lamb, Leonard." The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. Accessed May 1, 2026. https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/leonard-lamb/.

"Lincoln Battalion." XV International Brigade in Spain. Accessed June 11, 2026. https://internationalbrigadesinspain.weebly.com/lincoln-battalion.html.

Prago, Albert. "Jews in the International Brigades." Marxists Internet Archive. Last modified February 1979. Accessed May 1, 2026. https://www.marxists.org/subject/jewish/prago-spain.pdf.

The New York Times, December 21, 1938. Accessed June 11, 2026. https://www.nytimes.com/1938/12/21/archives/323-more-return-from-spanish-war-members-of-lincoln-brigade-are.html.

"The Struggle for Free Speech at CCNY, 1931-1942." The City University of New York. Accessed June 11, 2026. https://virtualny.ashp.cuny.edu/gutter/panels/panel1.html.

Simkin, John. "Leonard Lamb." Spartacus Educational. Last modified September 1997. Accessed May 1, 2026. https://spartacus-educational.com/SPlambL.htm.

Staff, La Voz. "History of Juan Antonio and Consuelo Lee Corretjer." The Puerto Rican Cultural Center. Last modified February 11, 2023. Accessed May 1, 2026. https://prcc-chgo.org/2023/02/11/collection-on-juan-antonio-and-consuelo-lee-corretjer/.

Sugarman, Martin. "Jews in the Spanish Civil War." Jewish Virtual Library. Last modified November 4, 2024. Accessed May 1, 2026. https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jews-who-served-in-the-international-brigade-in-the-spanish-civil-war.