Joe
Dallet was
born in the United States in 1907. Educated
at Dartmouth College, he developed left-wing political views and joined
the American
Communist Party.
In 1930 he moved to Chicago
where he became a full-time party worker. This included the organization
of the International Unemployment Day demonstration on 6th March 1930.
During the demonstration Dallet, Steve
Nelson, Oliver
Law
and eleven other activists
were arrested and badly beaten by the police. Two weeks after the
beatings Dallet had recovered sufficiently to march with 75,000 demonstrators
to demand unemployment insurance.
Dallet then moved to Ohio
where he helped to organize the Steel and Metal Workers' Union. He
also ran for political office in Youngstown.
On the outbreak of the
Spanish
Civil War Dallet
wanted to immediately
join the Abraham Lincoln Battalion, a
unit that volunteered to fight for the Popular
Front government against the military uprising in Spain.
The party rejected the idea claiming he was more important to the
cause in America.
After the disaster of Jarama
the leaders of the American
Communist Party changed
its mind about the role of its activists and allowed Dallet, Steve
Nelson and 23 other volunteers to go to Spain. However,
Dallet and his team were arrested by the French authorities on the
Spanish border and spent three weeks in prison before reaching the
International Brigades at Albacete
in May 1937.
Doran became political
commissar of the Mackenzie-Papineau
Battalion.
Joe
Dallet
was killed while leading
his troops at Fuentes de Ebro in October 1937.
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Last updated: 10th April, 2002
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