Oliver Law

In 1936 Law joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. He arrived in Spain on January 16, 1937, to fight for the Popular Front against Francisco Franco and the Nationalists. Having met the International Brigades at Albacete, Law first served as a group leader of a machine-gun company engaged on the Jarama front. There were three group leaders, under the two section leaders and the company officers.

After failing to take Madrid by frontal assault, General Francisco Franco gave orders for the road that linked the city to the rest of Republican Spain to be cut. A Nationalist force of 40,000 men, including men from the Army of Africa, crossed the Jarama River on February 11, 1937. General José Miaja sent three International Brigades to the Jarama Valley to block the advance. Law first saw action on February 17. After disastrous setbacks on February 27, Law had performed well on the day and was soon promoted to section leader. Two weeks later he was made commander of the machine-gun company, when his superior officer was killed. The battalion leadership was annihilated at Jarama and Law advanced fast in rank, even though there was some criticism of his performance at the attack on Villanueva de la Cañada.

Law worked with Harry Haywood to organize mass protests against Italy's occupation of Ethiopia at the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He was arrested speaking at a demonstration in Chicago on August 31, 1935.

Born in west Texas, Law joined the US Army in 1919. He stayed on until 1925. He served as a private in the 24th Infantry Regiment, an Afro-American outfit on the Mexican border. After leaving the army, he went to Bluffton, Indiana, where he worked in a cement plant. He moved on to Chicago, where he drove a taxi with the Yellow Cab Company. In the Great Depression he found work as a stevedore and joined the International Longshoremen's Association. He then tried his luck with a small restaurant, but failed and got a job with the Works Project Administration. Law was a member of the International Labor Defense and joined the Communist Party (CP) in 1932. In 1930 he was very active in the unemployment movement.

Oliver Law (October 23, 1900 – July 9, 1937) was an African-American communist and labor organizer, who fought for the Republic in the Spanish Civil War. He was the commander of the Abraham Lincoln Battalion for several days and commander of its Machine Gun Company for much longer.