The surest way of shaping the loyalist war effort in the International Brigadesߣ own image was by assimilating masses of Spaniards into their ranks. Although these native soldiers have been sidelined within the academic literature and popular imagination alike, chapter two shows that they were central to both the running and imagining of the transnational fighting force from early 1937 onwards. By inducting thousands of conscripts into the same military culture outlined in chapter one, the commissars hoped that they would become conscious citizen-soldiers of the Spanish Republic. The creative and sustained methods they used to pursue this objective ߝ literacy drives, the trench press and training included ߝ render the International Brigades an unexpected example of modern armies behaving as ߢschools for the nationߣ. Although the commissars did not always succeed in their antifascist socialising mission, their Spanish subordinates were crucial in enabling them to justify the International Brigadesߣ ongoing existence in the face of massive foreign losses as well as continue the important business of frontline fighting.