This lecture is part of the Socialist Studies Seminar. 

Why did ordinary young women from interwar Poland leave everything behind to fight for Republican Spain? Through interconnected biographies, this paper examines how calss, gender, education, and ethnicity shaped women's paths toward political radicalization, socialism, and communism. Some encountered radical politics through universities, travel, and intellectual circles; others through hospitals, factories, poverty, and prison. Despite varied trajectories, their paths converged in Spain, where commitments to socialism, communism, and above all anti-fascism, gave political meaning to experiences shaped by inequality, care, and social change.

Co-sponsored by the World History Center at Pitt and the Carnegie Mellon University Department of History

The European Studies Center invites you to an open series with hybrid and asynchronous forms. The series takes participants from a shared research foundation in European policy to a finished policy brief published in the Interdisciplinary Review of ValEUs (IRV).

The series teaches the craft of writing for impact and how to transform complex political, economic, and cultural questions into clear, concise, and persuasive policy briefs that reach governmental, non-governmental, and international audiences.

Participants will learn to: 
Identify and define a policy problem with precision 
Conduct concise, evidence-based analysis grounded in real research 
Communicate complex issues in accessible, policy-oriented formats 
Develop practical, actionable recommendations for decision-makers.

Who Should Participate:
Faculty and researchers seeking to broaden their academic work
Humanities Scholars
Graduate and undergraduate students
Educators (Continued-Education Certificate)
Professionals interested in public policy, international affairs, transatlantic relations/European Studies.

No prior policy-writing experience is required.