Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
THE YOUTH STRUGGLE AGAINST WAR<br />
of theory and practice that dictated correct strategic practices for socialist revolution.<br />
Green's analysis of the flexible and "creative" nature of Marxism undercut this current of<br />
Comintern dogma, reflecting the possibilities of alternative strategies in the West for the<br />
construction of socialism.<br />
The Cold War brought about new challenges for communists, particularly in their relationship<br />
with Moscow. By infusing the struggle for socialism with Western traditions,<br />
Popular Front theory undercut the traditional basis of the Comintern's authority, opening<br />
new paths for the evolution of Western communism. Though the Comintern was officially<br />
dissolved in 1943, many communists continued traditions of deference to Moscow<br />
for leadership initiatives. Institutions like the Cominform and domestic anti-communist<br />
initiatives put communists in an even more precarious position throughout the 1950s.<br />
Those YCLers who stayed within the movement after the international crises of 1956<br />
were often the champions of de-Stalinization and democratic initiatives. Veterans of the<br />
Popular Front Generation of the YCL would later be in the forefront of the Eurocommunist<br />
movement and attempts to democratize the British and American parties. John<br />
Gollan became the head of the CPGB in 1956, attempting to cope with the dual crises of<br />
de-Stalinization and the Hungarian Uprising. Many British YCLers who left the movement<br />
rallied to broad New Left inspired initiatives like the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament<br />
(CND). After years of FBI harassment and six years of incarceration, Gil Green<br />
continued to work within the CPUSA the rest of his life to rally his comrades from the<br />
Popular Front era. Santiago Carrillo continued to struggle under the Franco regime to<br />
revive Spanish democracy, becoming the dominant voice of Eurocommunism and<br />
Spanish reforms during the late 1970s.<br />
When further crises plagued communists in 1989, YCL veterans of the Popular Front<br />
Generation led the movement for change. British Popular Front YCLers like Bill Wainwright<br />
openly supported calls for the transformation of the CPGB into the Democratic<br />
Left. Supporters of the Morning Star newspaper rejected this initiative, reforming<br />
themselves as the Leninist inspired Communist Party of Britain. The Democratic Left<br />
has since disbanded in England and Wales, but continues on as a broad grassroots campaign<br />
in Scotland. In the United States, Gil Green and Pete Seeger re-emerged in the late<br />
early nineties to lead the reform minded pro-Gorbachev supporters of the CPUSA in<br />
opposition to Gus Hall's supposed support of the 1991 Soviet coup. Green and Seeger<br />
networked with younger activists like Angela Davis to form the Committees of Correspondence<br />
for Democracy & Socialism (CCDS). Much like the Popular Front Generation,<br />
CCDS activists sought to bring about a broad unity of the American left against a<br />
perceived period of reactionary politics. Though the CCDS floundered in many of its<br />
goals, the CPUSA and YCL have since revisited the Popular Front era and the writings of<br />
Dimitrov under the leadership of individuals like Sam Webb, Jessica Marshall, Docia<br />
Buffington, Tony Pecinovsky and Abdul Hassan. For such communists, the international<br />
struggle for peace, democracy and socialism have become inseparable notions.<br />
141