"When people have a vision and they know what they are struggling for and they work together to accomplish it - I think that it is still the most important thing for people to learn."

Virginia Malbin, proud veteran of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and lifelong activist in progressive grassroots politics, died December 10, 2008. She was a youthful 95.

In 1937, Virginia Malbin joined the international effort to aid the Spanish Republic, which was under siege by fascist forces. In her early 20s and a recent Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Chicago, she already was a seasoned community organizer.  Malbin aided Spanish social services in resettling refugee children. Returning to the United States, Malbin went on a speaking tour to raise funds for relief efforts. In 1938 she joined her husband Barney in Spain, a physician working near the front. She assisted with evacuating wounded internationals. With the defeat of the Republic and the start of World War II, the couple returned to the U.S. Barney served as an Air Force flight surgeon; Virginia cared for her two young children and continued her work in anti-fascist organizations. 
 
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