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 />
and the Second International as a whole. For a detailed narrative of the role of the British Labour Party National Executive<br />
in attempting to destroy unity efforts of the communists and Labour Popular Front sympathizers see G.D.H. Cole, A<br />
History of Socialist Thought, 85-89. See also J.S. Middleton, "The Labour Party and the So-Called Unity Campaign: An<br />
NEC Memorandum to All Members of Affiliated Organisations," in William Gillies Papers (LP/WG/COM/25).<br />
77. National Council of Labour, British Labour and Communism (London: National Council of Labour, 1935), 9.<br />
(WG/COM/13).<br />
78. Ibid., 4.<br />
79. "Memorandum by the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party to be Presented to the League of <strong>Youth</strong> Conference<br />
at Manchester on April 11, 12 and 13, 1936," in William Gillies Papers (LP/WG/LOY/7), 2.<br />
80. "Minutes of the League of <strong>Youth</strong> Advisory Committee Held at the Offices of the London Labour Party on Sunday, May<br />
10 th , 1936," in William Gillies Papers (LP/WG/LOY/10), 1.<br />
81. Duncan Hallas, "Revolutionaries and the Labour Party: The Trotskyists and Entrism," in Duncan Hallas Internet Archive<br />
.<br />
82. Arthur Marwick, "<strong>Youth</strong> in Britain," 46.<br />
83. "Minutes of a Meeting of the League of <strong>Youth</strong> National Advisory Committee Held at the House of Commons on March<br />
9 th , 1938," in William Gillies Papers (LP/WG/LOY/21i), 1.<br />
84. NCYCL, "Your Conference Can Take Decisions Which Can be of Far-Reaching Importance for <strong>Youth</strong>: Young Communist<br />
League to Labour <strong>Youth</strong> Conference," Challenge: The Voice of <strong>Youth</strong> 4, no.9 (March 3, 1938): 10.<br />
85. In a 1938 memorandum on the development of the LLOY, the Labour Party NEC dedicated well over half of this 17 page<br />
document particularly to the issue of chastising Willis and exposing his coordinated activities with the YCL. The NEC<br />
gave a detailed list of the activities of every major national youth movement that the LLOY was working in coordination<br />
with and contended that communist participation in any of these coalitions, no matter how small, made LLOY participation<br />
incompatible with Labour's ban on united front activity. See Labour Party NEC, "League Of <strong>Youth</strong> Memorandum.<br />
Progress Made Since The Reconstitution Of The League," in William Gillies Papers (LP/WG/LOY/22).<br />
86. Wolf Michal, "The Capitulators of the Second International Split the Labour <strong>Youth</strong> Movement," World <strong>Youth</strong> Review 1,<br />
no. 7 (July, 1939): 142.<br />
87. John Douglas, "More and Better Activity," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist League 1, no.1<br />
(April, 1938): 16.<br />
88. "The National <strong>Youth</strong> Campaign," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist League 2, no.4 (April, 1939):<br />
134.<br />
89. Mick Bennett, "Building the Young Communist League," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist<br />
League 1, no.2 (May, 1938): 3-4.<br />
90. Molly McCulloch, "Who Can Be a Member of the League," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist<br />
League 1, no.3 (June, 1938): 21.<br />
91. "For Peace and Social Advance by the Defeat of the Chamberlain Government," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the<br />
Young Communist League 2, no.4 (April, 1939): 108.<br />
92. W. Spence, "Decisions Influencing All <strong>Youth</strong>," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist League 2, no.4<br />
(April, 1939): 118-119.<br />
93. John Gollan, We Ask For Life: Based on the Report of John Gollan to the Eighth National Conference of the Communist<br />
<strong>Youth</strong> Movement (London: YCLGB, 1936), 20.<br />
94. John Gollan, "Democracy Wasn't A Gift – Our Fathers Had to Fight For Every Freedom We Enjoy Today," Challenge:<br />
For the Defense of the People 4, no.32 (August 20, 1938): 9.<br />
95. Prior to the Popular Front, guest columns in the YCL press emanated from other national sections of the YCI or the<br />
Comintern leadership and were almost never open to members of other youth organizations to express alternative views.<br />
See J.L. Cottle, "Christian and Political Organisations: The Conditions of Co-Operation," Challenge: The Voice of <strong>Youth</strong><br />
4, no.41 (October 22, 1938): 11.<br />
96. John Moon, "We Need a National <strong>Youth</strong> Administration in Britain," Challenge: The Voice of <strong>Youth</strong> 4, no.42 (October 29,<br />
1938): 11.<br />
97. While Stalin's campaign against Trotskyism, embodied in the Moscow "Show Trials," was primarily based on unwarranted<br />
slander and false accusations, the British YCL confirmed its anti-Trotskyist disposition during the Spanish Civil War.<br />
British communists perceived that the Spanish POUM was a Trotskyist organization. When the POUM led revolts<br />
against the Spanish Republican government communists used this as evidence to show that Trotskyist theory in practice<br />
simply assisted fascism. Trotskyists also identified their movement with traditional Bolshevism, denouncing the Popular<br />
Front. One of the main British Trotskyist groups in the late 1930's referred to itself as the "Bolshevik-Leninist group" to<br />
show their opposition to the Popular Front and their insistence on returning to traditional Bolshevik practices and theories.<br />
98. Bennett, "Building the Young," 8.<br />
99. Alec Massie, "Trotskyism and the <strong>Youth</strong> Movement: Part 1," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist<br />
League 1, no.3 (June, 1938): 29.<br />
100. YCLGB, We March To Victory, 16.<br />
101. Alec Massie, "Trotskyism and the <strong>Youth</strong> Movement: Part 2," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist<br />
League 1, no.4 (July, 1938): 13.<br />
102. Ibid, 13, 14, 17, 18.<br />
103. YCLGB Executive Committee, "Some Problems Facing the League." Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young<br />
Communist League 1, no.6 (September 1938): 4.<br />
104. Gollan, "Democracy Wasn't A Gift," 9.<br />
105. The American <strong>Youth</strong> Congress was founded in 1934 primarily as a youth lobbying body to criticize the failures of Roosevelt's<br />
relief programs for youth. In May, 1936 the Canadian youth followed the lead of their American counterparts and in<br />
coordination with the YCLC established the Canadian <strong>Youth</strong> Congress reflecting "how intensely young Canadians felt the<br />
need for action to save their generation." See Tim Buck, "The Story of the Communist Movement in Canada, Chapter<br />
Nine: Canada's <strong>Youth</strong> Comes Of Age," in The Comintern Internet Archive: The Communist Party of Canada<br />
.<br />
106. The main organizational representation for British youth at the World <strong>Youth</strong> Congress came from the British <strong>Youth</strong> Peace<br />
Assembly and the League of Nations Union <strong>Youth</strong> Groups.<br />
107. J. Picton, "The Campaign For the Charter," Our <strong>Youth</strong>: Discussion Magazine of the Young Communist League 1, no.1<br />
(April, 1938): 15.<br />
172