Despite material difficulties 8,000 men are already enrolled in the International Brigade. 2,000 have been included in the 4th battalion—the Italians, Germans, French, Balkans, and Poles. 80% are Communists and Socialists: a few Frenchmen, and many of those are Italians. . . . The Brigade is a very specific type of Popular Front. The Political Commission was selected in precisely the same spirit. Nicoletti is the political commissar of the Brigade. The morale of the Brigade is improving. The drawbacks: there are no submachine guns, artillery, and one-third is not yet operational. There are very few military personnel and they are insufficiently trained. We have requested the French Communist Party to send only those Frenchmen who have military training. We are asking you for no less than 30 officers, battalion and unit commanders, all French-speaking. We request you to send Mexican officers for our Brigade, since we cannot include 500 Spanish migrants. 24

24 RGASPI, f. 495, op. 184, d. 13, incoming 1936 from Spain, special, l. 14, received 3 November 1936, deciphered 4 November.