c.1941 Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee JAFRC Spanish Civil War

Date: c.1941
Artist: Gropper, William Victor "Bill"      
Size (in): 22.5” x 14.25” 
Size (cm): 57.2 x 36.2 
Condition: A-
Linen backed: No  

This vintage original and rare poster was created by William Victor “Bill” Gropper (1897-1977) and issued by the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee (JAFRC), a nonprofit organization formed in 1941 by American Lincoln Battalion veterans of the Spanish Civil War.  JAFRC’s primary mission was to provide aid to Spanish Loyalist refugees from Francoist Spain and to help anti-fascist fighters trapped in Vichy France and North Africa "return to the active fight against the Axis."  Gropper was most well known as a muralist and contributor of political cartoons to leftist publications including The Revolutionary Age, The Liberator, The New Masses, The Worker and others. 

This poster features a cartoonish illustration of a large muscular hand with patriotic American Stars and Strips sleeve tearing down the barbwire fence of a North African prison camp freeing the anti-fascist fighters incarcerated therein.  Text on the poster reads: 

You can help Open the Concentration Camps!  Demand Freedom For These Fighters Write The State Department Now! 

The lower margin has a allied printing trades union emblem and indicates “Issued By Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee, 7 Water Street, Boston, Massachusetts – Telephone CAPitol 5057”.  

This vintage original poster is free of tape or pinholes and shows only light handling wear, some toning from age and slight dust staining most evident in band about two inches wide across the top of the poster.  This poster also a small address label of a former owner attached to the verso which could be removed pretty easily as well as a brief notation in red ink, neither of which show or affect the front side of the poster.  This is a very rare poster not found on Worldcat.  Overall condition is very good.