Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

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YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM:
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE POPULAR
FRONT GENERATION
Fascism means the destruction of all the democratic rights won by the people, the establishment
of a kingdom of darkness and ignorance and the destruction of culture; it means
nonsensical race theories and the preaching of hatred of man for man, for the purpose of
kindling wars of conquest.
-Georgi Dimitrov, 1936 1
Many claim that we are giving up Socialism by associating with the democratic forces.
We say that unless we associate with the democratic forces we may never live to see Socialism
because of the menace of fascism which is confronting us.
-John Gollan, YCLGB Secretary, 1938 2
Increasingly after 1933, communists sought to mobilize youth through anti-fascist
propaganda. The YCI insisted its primary goal was to prevent fascism from unleashing
another world war. This shift towards anti-fascism culminated in the official adoption of
the Popular Front in 1935. Popular Front strategy was in part, a product of the shared
experiences of defeat for the working-class movement; communists attempted to heal
their splits with socialists and to adapt Leninism to Western democratic political culture,
in many ways borrowing heavily from the pre-war traditions of the Second International. 3
During this era the YCI rejected much of the oppositional rhetoric and strategies of
traditional Leninism.
Historians like David Beetham have insisted that the Popular Front was nothing but a
deceitful manoeuvre to subordinate Comintern interests to Soviet foreign policy directives.
4 Beetham's analysis contains many important insights, but neglects to highlight
Western communists who enthusiastically identified with the Popular Front and how the
propaganda of the era resonated highly with youth. Popular Front propaganda emphasized
the parallels between Soviet interests, Western interests and the values of youth,
positing a minimalist program that could easily be embraced by almost any anti-fascist
movement. The explicit goal of the Popular Front was an international anti-fascist unity
that would counteract the foreign policy goals of the fascist powers.
Eric Hobsbawm contends the Popular Front was both an anti-fascist defensive tactic
and a new offensive position to advance socialism. It was a new method to "win the
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