Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

THE LENINIST GENERATION
Although the workers have the right to vote and to elect representatives… they have no
real control. The so-called democracy which we enjoy is a sham and a fraud, and although
Labour leaders tell us that the workers can vote capitalism out of existence by
getting a majority in Parliament, we find on examining the matter closely that the workers'
chances of doing this are about equal to those of a snowball in Satan's well-known
establishment. Democracy is only a cover for the purpose of making the capitalist dictatorship
less obvious. 126
Democracy was simply dismissed as a form of "bourgeois dictatorship." Communists
condemned socialists for their support of such bourgeois democracies. According to the
YCI analysis, socialist democratic reforms distorted the class nature of the democratic
state and hindered the revolutionary development of the working class.
The problems facing the Leninist Generation were not just organizational and theoretical,
but also a linguistic stigma in the form and content of their youth propaganda. In
rejecting the distinct national traditions of socialism attached to the Second International,
the YCI enforced an inflexible internationalist discourse. 127 Aggressive language framed
in the military terminology of international class warfare did little to inspire a generation
intimately familiar with the horrors and sacrifices of violence and war. Many of the
YCI's failures lay in approaching the youth with primarily adult and Soviet slogans that
were alien to the youth. Even when organizing efforts failed to produce mass organizations,
the Leninist YCI continually engaged youth in a militant rhetoric that condemned
their values instead of striving to reflect them.
In the end, Leninist strategy facilitated an "illusionary mindset" in young communists
concerning revolution in the West and their vanguard relationship with the youth.
Lenin's "scientific" critiques became ideological dogma in their universal applicability
instead of acting as a guide to action. Communist youth played a significant role in the
founding and development of the Comintern, but a largely insignificant role in influencing
youth politics. One of the greatest challenges of the Popular Front Generation of the
YCI was to overcome these sectarian legacies. During the thirties young communists
abandoned much of their Leninist militancy, approaching youth with a conciliatory
language that co-opted youth values instead of denouncing them. YCI propaganda
embraced new perspectives concerning nationalism, youth culture and democracy framed
in anti-fascist rhetoric. Unfortunately it took the rise of Hitler and the fresh leadership of
an anti-fascist generation of communist youth to "unmask" the illusions communists held
about the "correctness" of their Bolshevik perspective in preventing war and advancing
socialism.
The British-American Context
Although young communists functioned within distinct national political contexts, the
British and American YCLs employed very similar methods and political rhetoric. This
phenomenon was a conscious strategy reflecting the directives of the YCI. The YCI
29