Hercules Arnaoutis grew up in a rather poor family in the Laconian village of Mani. In the early twentieth century, many families emphasised upward social mobility to escape the rocky barrenness of the region. After graduating from radio telegraphist school, Arnaoutis went to work as a radio telegraphist on Greek ships navigating the Aegean Sea. He played a leading role in the foundation of the Greek Radio Telegraphist Union but when the erstwhile Greek government banned his union he skipped ships and emigrated to the United States.
In 1933, Hercules joined the Communist Party of the United States (CPUSA). He also boasted a membership with the Spartacus club: an organisation extremely popular among leftwing members of the Greek diaspora. Hercules also wrote articles for the Greek diaspora newspaper Empros. Together, these activities stood him in good stead for the International Brigades.
Hercules did not actually have a ticket to board the Georgic, which he used to get to Spain on 6 January 1937. His daughter Dolores told me that because he was an illegal immigrant at the time, he had to travel to Spain as a stowaway. Italian Americans also found it difficult to get to Spain. Many of them were in a precarious situation because of their status as deserters in Italy and illegal immigrants in the United States. Together, they risked it all to prevent the spread of fascism in Spain.
By the time he arrived in Spain, some of the Greek volunteers had already grouped together in the Balkan Battalion. Rumour had it that a lot of bickering occurred between the Greek volunteers. Therefore, Hercules remained in the Abraham Lincoln Brigade instead of joining them.
Hercules held some important roles in the Brigades. He served as the sergeant and radio operator of his battalion. He also acted as liaison between the volunteers and their families back in the United States.
Not long after the official withdrawal of the Brigades, Hercules boarded the Vito to return to the United States. When the Second World War erupted he joined the U.S. Navy. Although his ship did not see any action in the Mediterranean Sea, Hercules closely followed the situation in Nazi occupied Greece. In many occupied countries former Nazi collaborators faced lengthy jail sentences. However, Hercules did not hide his anger when former collaborators claimed positions of power after the liberation of Greece.
When the Greek Civil War commenced in 1946, Hercules started recruiting members for the communist resistance from his very own home. He was a member of the board of the Federation of Greek Maritime Unions (OENO) - aligned with the KKE. When the Greek government discovered what he was doing, they stripped him of his Greek citizenship and sentenced him to death in absentia.
Despite the precarious situation, Hercules still managed to travel to major Eastern coast ports to organise sailors disembarking Greek ships. In an interview his daughter revealed that occasionally thugs attacked him. A lot of Greek shipowners conspired with the Greek government against members of the Greek Sailors' Union. To make matters worse, the CIA prescribed veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to the list of anti-American activities.
Hercules eventually decided that it would be too dangerous for his wife and daughter to remain in the United States. In 1953, he sent them to live in Poland with all the other Greek refugees temporarily living there after the Greek Civil War. At first, his wife did not agree. But Hercules finally managed to convince her.
Then, in 1967, Hercules packed his bags and travelled to Poland to reunite with the rest of his family. He applied to work as a Navy officer but he quickly learned the that most of the Greek refugees had to make do with whatever job was readily available. Conditions within the community and intraparty strife also left him feeling somewhat disenchanted.
It did not take long for Hercules to decide upon moving back to the United States. When the Greek military junta seized power in 1967, the American Committee for Democracy and Freedom in Greece was formed. Hercules was very active in its activities. One activist told his daughter Dolores that 'we recognised the old timers from the [International] Brigades. If one of them did not show up at the demonstration we knew he was probably dead'.
In the meantime, Hercules had left his wife and daughter behind in Poland; partly because his daughter still had to sort out her passport with the American authorities. Unfortunately for Dolores, Hercules fell sick and died before they could reunite.
Not once in his life did Hercules renounce the internationalism that initially spurred him to join the International Brigades. The fight against fascism did not end with the withdrawal of the Brigades from Spain in September 1938. Rather it informed his view of the world up until the very end.
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