Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

THE LENINIST GENERATION
first publication of the YWL contained a sober article lamenting that American workers
had "the least developed class consciousness of any proletariat the world over" and had
"not even begun to think in terms of class consciousness and revolution." 179 The typical
American outlook was not defined primarily by class, but a dominant culture centred on
optimistic constructions of "Americanism." 180 In adapting themselves to the international
outlook, strategies and constraints of the YCI, the YWL had a difficult time coping with
the national realities of American political culture linked with its massive economic
growth.
Like the British YCL, the YWL utilized militant and often sarcastic revolutionary language
intended to dispel illusions youth held concerning their nation. The YWL regularly
invoked rhetoric like "the So-called Land of Opportunity" to expose the realities of
American society under capitalism as obscured by the Americanization movement. 181
The YWL hoped that over time they could "make the American working class revolutionary
in thought, desires and action" by actively "educating and organizing" young
workersthrough industrial struggles. 182 As the twenties progressed, the YWL changed the
format of The Young Worker from a "refined magazine" into a militant newspaper
intended to "educate [YCLers] in the [revolutionary] struggle." 183 Instead of adapting to
the unique elements of American political and youth culture, the YWL continually
embraced a strict international class outlook in accordance to YCI resolutions and
strategies.
The YWL, much like the YCLGB, focussed their primary political energies inward on
the ideological and factional struggles that plagued the Worker's (Communist) Party
(WCP). In a 1938 article in the Young Communist Review, Gil Green took a sobering
look at the early years of the YWL, commenting of the organization's factionalized and
largely isolated existence. 184 Green lamented that throughout the twenties the YWL
remained "a narrow organization with the central task of aiding the Party." 185 Just as the
YCLGB took a lead in internal disputes, the YWL "played no small part in giving active
forces to the Party and in helping it cleanse itself of all corrupt [ideological] alien elements
and influences," including "the expulsion of the Trotzkyites and Lovestonites." 186
Unlike the YCLGB, the YWL had few socialist opponents to blame for their lack of
success. Green admitted that the YWL used "American exceptionalism" and inner-party
struggles as an excuse for perpetuating its isolated existence:
1930 ushered in a new period of sharpening class struggles. It was this crisis of capitalist
economy which caused a special crisis within the ranks and leadership of the YCL.
The new conditions in the country necessitated a new approach; a new outlook, new tactics
and perspectives. One period had come to a close. A new one had begun. The YCL
did not fully understand that its continued isolation from the majority of youth could no
longer be explained by objective conditions or by the requisites of the Party situation.
The factional struggle was over; the Party was united ideologically and organizationally.
Sectarian isolation had become the main danger for the YCL. 187
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