* Richard Cloke; Fought in the Spanish Civil War

Richard Cloke, one of the last surviving members of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the U.S. element of an international alliance that fought with Republican forces in the Spanish Civil War, has died. He was 82.

Cloke died Tuesday morning of a heart attack at Northridge Hospital Medical Center, according to his son Kenneth Cloke of Santa Monica.

Born Jan. 23, 1916, in Fort Flagler, Wash., Cloke briefly attended the University of Virginia before transferring to UC Berkeley. His opposition to the growth of fascism--Adolf Hitler in Germany, Benito Mussolini in Italy and Francisco Franco’s Falange party in the Spanish civil war--moved him to leave his car by the side of a road and volunteer for the Brigade in the mid-1930s, his son said.

During the Spanish war, the under-equipped but enthusiastic Brigade--which fought Spanish forces supported by Germany’s crack Condor Legion and Italian troops--suffered devastating losses. The Franco forces won the war in 1939. The Republican forces dissolved and soldiers of the international brigades fled the country.

Cloke, a machine gunner, was wounded; the shrapnel remained in his leg for life.

After the war, he graduated from Berkeley with a degree in general studies.

The Republican forces had been supported by Moscow and the world’s communist parties.

On his return to the United States, Cloke, like most of his companions in the Brigade, found himself blacklisted, viewed during the McCarthy era as a communist sympathizer. A pattern emerged, his son said. He would land a job, the FBI would visit his employer, he would lose a job.

Despite his travails, Cloke never became embittered.

“He continued to believe in people and the possibility of change. He saw a tremendous amount of violence,” said the younger Cloke, “but he also saw a lot of courage . . . and he was one of those courageous people, even to the very end.’

While at Berkeley, Cloke met Shirley Rodecker, whom he married in 1940. He volunteered to fight in World War II, but was turned down because of his involvement in the Lincoln Brigade.

In the late ‘40s, the Clokes moved to Los Angeles. They lived in Venice until 1950, then relocated to Northridge, where they started Circle C Ranch, raising chickens and selling eggs to support the family. The small enterprise thrived for most of the 1950s. But, like many of its Valley counterparts, it ultimately buckled under the competition from large Southern egg farms, closing in 1958, the younger Cloke said.

Cloke was active in the California Democratic party in the 1950s and served on the Democratic Central Committee. He was also a leader in the California Democratic Clubs and helped organize various chapters.

Because of the blacklisting, Cloke drew on his idealism and creativity to become a jack-of-all-trades, his son said. He was, variously, a math tutor (he had applied to be a teacher), a carpenter, a pile-driver and an auto worker.

His biggest successes came with self-employment. A history buff, he wrote a novel about Russia before the reign of Peter the Great called “Yvar, Prince of Rus.” He briefly operated an electronics shop called Audiotone Hi-Fidelity.

In 1978, Cloke established the San Fernando Poetry Journal to give voice to poets with unpopular ideals, according to his son. “He was always a poet and believed in the power of poetry to achieve a good end. Most published poets were conservative. He believed in ending segregation, ending nuclear testing, and helping people who needed help, so he published poetry that promoted those ideas,” said Cloke, adding that the journal will now cease publication.

In addition to his son, Cloke is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Shirley, and another son, William Cloke of West Los Angeles, as well as three grandchildren.

There will be no funeral.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Cloke’s name to the Foundation for Early Childhood Education.