This is the most intriguing picture I’ve seen in a while. The title is ‘militants of the POUM’, but that’s the only identifying details I have. The Workers Party of Marxist Unification, or POUM was the Marxist party to the left of the Communists in the Spanish Civil War, and loosely affiliated with Trotskyism. It was destroyed by the Communist Party, most famously accounted for by George Orwell in his excellent, and sadly neglected Homage To Catalonia.

It’s clear from the picture that these are Little People (LP) – not only are they differently proportioned, but there’s a larger-sized man behind them. The LP are dressed in militia outfits. And two of them are dancing.

I draw a few conclusions from this photo:

1) The POUM recruited Little People, on a mass scale. How many do you see on a regular basis? Yet I count 8 in this photo alone, and it only shows a small portion of the room. There must have been dozens outside of the shot. On what basis were they recruited? Anti-capitalism, anti-fascism and Spanish Republicanism? In its heyday the POUM had 30,000 members, compared to the millions who belonged to anarchist, socialist and Communist federations. Was dwarfism part of it? Did the POUM have an early, progressive identity politics that identified structural oppression and exclusion from the benefits non-tall people receive? And why not: Todd Browning’s Freaks had been made a few years earlier in 1932 – ableism was obviously on the public mind. And I’m guessing that Franco, like Hitler, didn’t have much time for the disabled or genetically different.

2) This recruitment was systematic. Notice the uniforms, which required planning: the POUM didn’t just pluck Little People off the street.

3) If I was an LP, I’d be hesitant to dance in public, since it conforms to the show-person stereotype. But these are reappropriating their identity as public celebrants. Or maybe the guy on the right's just making fun of the guy on the left?

If anyone has information on the role of Marxist oppositionist Little People in the Spanish Civil War, as soldiers or entertainment workers, please let me know.

Labels: Little People, POUM