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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YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM<br />
The Leninist Generation justified their revolutionary program by focussing on themes<br />
of war and peace. Communist propaganda did not assert that social democracy wanted<br />
war, but that socialists had proven they were incapable of coping with imperialist war and<br />
were facilitating new wars by subverting communist revolution. According to YCI<br />
propaganda, revolution was the only solution for peace. In one of their first public<br />
statements entitled No More War, the YCLGB stated:<br />
Is it the "fate" of humanity always to be at war Will mankind always be divided into<br />
antagonistic camps, which men call "their Country, their Fatherland" And must they<br />
always slaughter one another with murderous weapons, murder, mutilate and burn, laying<br />
waste to beautiful towns and cities Must the world always be one vast slaughterhouse<br />
Must the world always be one vast arsenal with each war yet greater and more<br />
terrible than the other.... Will war always leer at us from its horrid death-mask Yes!<br />
Always! As long as capitalism exists! So long as capitalism exists, so long as the state<br />
is in the hands of the capitalists, so long as the bourgeoisie hold power, then so long will<br />
there be wars! War is the vital necessity for the capitalist class. 6<br />
The 1922 "Manifesto and Program" of the American YWL made similar assertions about<br />
the dire future of youth if capitalism was not overthrown:<br />
Capitalism thrives on waste; and over the bodies of the millions of slaughtered and<br />
maimed workers who have fought the battles for the master class, have been built up the<br />
fabulous fortunes and the power of the bourgeoisie.... The young must bear the brunt of<br />
all the fighting, suffering, and economic oppression that results from war.... During the<br />
war just passed, they gave up their lives on behalf of the financiers and industrial capitalists<br />
of this country.... The very flower of youth and manhood perished.... The basis for<br />
wars will exist so long as capitalism remains.... The young of the working-class form the<br />
backbone of all imperialist armies of the world. Their blood is shed so that capitalism<br />
may expand.... The slogan of the revolutionary youth must be: Down With All Capitalist<br />
Wars! In this struggle, the young workers must lead the way. Upon them falls the task<br />
of crushing that mighty instrument – Militarism, and with it Capitalism. 7<br />
Leninist Generation rhetoric unequivocally linked capitalism with war in dire, almost<br />
apocalyptic imagery. A future of capitalist war could only be averted by revolution and<br />
proletarian dictatorship. The Comintern's leadership and Leninist theory were the<br />
necessary tools that would enable communist youth to hasten a "Red Dawn" of peace.<br />
Dimitrov's defined fascism as war. This conception of fascism was the key to legitimizing<br />
the youth Popular Front. Dimitrov insisted that his definition of fascism revealed<br />
its "true character" as an international force for imperialist war. As previously highlighted,<br />
fascist regimes represented "the open terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary,<br />
most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital." 8 In an article<br />
appropriately entitled "<strong>Fascism</strong> is War," Dimitrov reflected on the implications of this<br />
phenomenon:<br />
Two years ago, in August, 1935, the Seventh Congress of the Communist International...<br />
pointed to the indissoluble connection between the struggle against fascism and the<br />
struggle for peace. <strong>Fascism</strong> is war, declared the Congress. Coming to power against the<br />
will and interests of its own countrymen, fascism seeks a way out of its growing domestic<br />
difficulties in aggression against other countries and peoples, in a new redivision of<br />
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