Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
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DEMOCRACY<br />
aggression against democracy. 252 In an article on foreign policy and Spain, Joe Cohen<br />
argued that "in supporting the Spanish people and giving material and diplomatic aid to<br />
the cause of democracy and peace" the Soviet Union served "not only to its own welfare,<br />
but also the interests of labor and progress throughout the world." 253<br />
The British and American YCLs contrasted the foreign policies of their own respective<br />
governments. The British YCL posited a complete opposition to the policies of<br />
Chamberlain's National Government. The YCL blamed the defeat of democracy in Spain<br />
upon Chamberlain's "treacherous" foreign policies. The YCL asserted that Chamberlain<br />
was consciously instituting pro-fascist policies; his support of non-intervention and<br />
"policy of appeasement expressed in honest terms, is the policy of assistance to fascist<br />
aggression and the destruction of democracy." 254 The YCL insisted it was the duty of all<br />
democratic forces to remove the National Government to save democracy in Britain and<br />
Spain:<br />
Spain's people have fought and will continue to fight. There is no question of that. They<br />
will go down fighting, rather than live as slaves. They are fighting fascism, which is our<br />
enemy as much as it is theirs. They can fight Hitler's and Mussolini's men; but they cannot<br />
fight Chamberlain's ban on arms. That is our job. 255<br />
The YCLUSA also denounced Chamberlain for his betrayal of Spain and democracy in<br />
very similar terms. John Gates, the former YCLUSA Battalion Commissar for the<br />
Lincoln Brigade, reflected upon the defeatist role of Chamberlain's Spanish policy:<br />
How, then, can we explain the defeat of Republican Spain The answer is to be found in<br />
the policy laid down at Munich. This infamous pact decided the fate of the Spanish<br />
people. The Munich pact was the logical development and culmination of the policy of<br />
non-intervention and so-called neutrality. Ostensibly a means of saving peace, it was, in<br />
fact, a policy of saving fascism. Today the facts are plain for all to see. Nonintervention<br />
was a mask for intervention in Spain and has resulted in the victory of Mussolini....<br />
Munich made possible the invasion of Spain on an unparalleled scale by Mussolini,<br />
while at the same time it tightened the arms embargo against Spain.... We have good<br />
reason not to place too much faith and trust in the actions of the British and French governments.<br />
256<br />
Santiago Carrillo, the head of the Spanish JSU, stated that without Chamberlain's recognition<br />
of Franco at the end of February, 1939 that "Germany and Italy would never have<br />
been able to defeat the Spanish army and the Spanish people." 257 Communists argued that<br />
Chamberlain's rejection of collective security and Republican Spain was a conscious<br />
manoeuvre, reflecting how "he admires fascism and wants to see Hitler and Mussolini<br />
destroy democracy in Europe." 258<br />
In contrast to the British experience, the American YCL perceived Roosevelt as a potential<br />
close ally of Spanish democracy. While the YCL supported Roosevelt, they<br />
insisted that the President's lack of initiatives to defend peace and democracy needed to<br />
be "contrasted with the constant attempt of the Soviet Union" to check "the fascists in<br />
Spain." 259 Further articles on Spain in the early part of 1937 continued this comparison,<br />
exalting the "brilliant example of Soviet solidarity" and lamenting that "Roosevelt's<br />
127