Samuel Kushner was born in 1914 in New York City to Jewish parents, Harry and Pauline Kushner. He would go on to have three younger siblings: Alexander, Clara, and Thelma. He lived at 9-21 Brighton First Road, Brooklyn, New York. When he was 16, he joined the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA). He came to understand the harsh conditions that fellow Jews were facing in Eastern Europe with the likes of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini. When he heard about the Spanish coup d’état by the Spanish generals over the Popular-Front government, he knew situations were becoming dire. When he heard about the assistance that the very anti-Jewish Hitler was giving to the nationalist leader Francisco Franco, the international volunteer brigade named after the American president Abraham Lincoln sounded like the way to help. It was also an easy decision as he was single, meaning that no wives or children were holding him back. His comrades in the CPUSA also were eager to join the movement, hoping to help stop the spread of fascism (if not also spread some communism).
He sailed over the aptly named Manhattan on March 24, 1937. He was set to serve in the 1st Regiment de Tren, a transportation unit that supported the Republicans, which had a predominantly American squadron. On this trip over, Kushner became acquainted with the other Communists turned Republican volunteers. He and the rest of the group disguised themselves as students in France and then crossed the Pyrenees into Spain on April 24, 1937. He served as a food clerk for the battalion. He provided food for the soldiers through the battles in Jarama, Brunete, Quinto, Belchite, Fuentes de Ebro, and Teruel. He saw many of his comrades get fed to the violence and not come back, most of them being fellow Communists and a few being on the Manhattan with him. He also witnessed the eventual crumbling of his battalion with the Great Retreats, with almost all of America breathing a sigh of relief when they withdrew.
Kushner was still very strongly a Communist late in his years. He published the book Long Road to Delano, a book detailing how farm workers and other communist activists strived to work to create a union during the Delano grape strike.
Not much is known about his death on October 6, 1987 at 73 years old but he was remembered as a strongly willed Communist by all.
“FamilySearch.org.” 2015. Familysearch.org. 2015. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9RZW-79P?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AX4VZ-VLX&action=view&cc=1810731&lang=en&groupId=.
Kushner, Sam. 1975. Long Road to Delano.
“Kushner, Samuel | the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives.” 2019. The Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives. December 10, 2019. https://alba-valb.org/volunteers/samuel-kushner/.