Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM
interpret the unfolding of event through this dichotomy centred on peace. This position
became increasingly difficult to maintain once Chamberlain was ousted from power by
Winston Churchill. Even then, the YCL asserted that Churchill could not get their full
support until he removed "the Men of Munich" from his cabinet. 21
Since the United States did not enter WWII in 1939, the YCLUSA did not face the
same public pressures as the YCLGB. The YCL carried on similar rhetorical attacks
against the Chamberlain and Daladier, attempting to interpret the "true meaning" of
Soviet diplomacy:
Chamberlain, the Prince of Cynics, speaks of carrying on a war to the finish against the
Mad Dog of Europe, Hitler; but was it not Chamberlain who carefully and lovingly
nursed Hitler from the time that he was a weak little pup to the mad dog that he is today....
This war was not inevitable. This terrible conflict which menaces all humanity
could have been averted. If Britain and France had accepted the proffered aid of the Soviet
Union, their combined strength would have been so overwhelming as to prevent Hitler
from starting war, or if he were so foolish as to do so, would have been smashed and
defeated him in short order.... The very fact that they drifted consciously into war against
Germany and rejected the help of the Soviet Union, arouses the suspicion that their aim
is to transform the war into a war against the Soviet Union. They did not want the help
of the Soviet Union because they knew that would be the guarantee of the complete destruction
of fascism in Germany, in all Europe, and the complete victory of democracy....
But Hitler needed war. Fascism cannot live without ceaseless expansion and conquest....
Soviet diplomacy threw a monkey wrench that destroyed all the machinations of world
imperialism.... A profound change has therefore come about in the world as a result of
the failure to build a peace front and avert imperialist war.... The fight for democracy
and peace goes on, but takes on new forms. 22
The "new forms" of YCL peace activism centred on exposing the war's "imperialist
nature." The YCL insisted that Chamberlain and Daladier had consciously brought this
war upon the youth, not to fight fascism, but to attack the Soviet Union. Fascism was
still personified as war. The YCL contended that without war and expansion the fascist
regimes would quickly collapse. War would embolden fascism; peace would ultimately
destroy fascism. By this logic, the YCL maintained that the struggle for peace was still
an anti-fascist struggle. YCL propaganda urged youth to influence government policy
from a pro-war stance into seeking a negotiated peace and entering collective security
pacts with the Soviet Union. Although the YCL legitimized and interpreted world events
through the rhetoric of peace, the Non-Aggression Pact ultimately destroyed the American
Popular Front youth alliances.
Although WWII marked the end of many Popular Front alliances, YCL propaganda
reveals that a significant change occurred in communist theory concerning war and
peace. The form and content of YCL peace propaganda contained serious deviations
from those of the Leninist Generation. 23 In November, 1939 the YCI published an antiwar
declaration to the youth framed not to instigate a revolutionary upheaval, but urging
youth to defend its rights and to continue its struggle for peace:
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