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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THE POPULAR FRONT GENERATION<br />
energy and enthusiasm, being the segment of society most dramatically impacted by the<br />
outbreak of a new world war. The YCI had a greater degree of success than the adult<br />
sections of the Comintern in adopting the Popular Front. The YCI framed Dimitrov's<br />
concepts of fascism in emotionally charged metaphors to increase the appeal of antifascism<br />
to the youth. The Popular Front YCI described fascism as "a movement of the<br />
moribund old world" that "parades hypocritically behind the mask of the youth." 42<br />
Raymond Guyot, the French leader of the YCI, described Hitler as "the enemy of humanity<br />
as a whole, the incendiary of the world war, the provocateur who drives the younger<br />
generation to their death." 43 Communist youth insisted their entire generation needed to<br />
unite to defeat this deadly "enemy of the youth."<br />
YCI propaganda defined fascism in opposition to the broad values that the entire<br />
youth held in common, insisting youth unity was the key to anti-fascism. Unlike previous<br />
calls for unity, the Popular Front was directed not just at socialist unity, but a wider<br />
unification of the entire "young generation." The Leninist Generation previously rejected<br />
such notions as "petty bourgeois sentimental dreams." 44 The Popular Front YCI contended,<br />
"The younger generation of all nations, want peace. <strong>Fascism</strong> wants war. <strong>Fascism</strong><br />
is the deadly enemy of the overwhelming majority of the younger generation." 45 Fascists<br />
mobilized young people by making broad appeals to youth of their nation. Communists<br />
identified this methodology of fascist discourse and consciously mimicked fascist propaganda<br />
techniques in order to counter them. Popular Front rhetoric used the broad form of<br />
fascist propaganda while transforming its content into a progressive discourse intended to<br />
mobilize broad segments of youth.<br />
Speeches given at the YCI World Congress of 1935 indicated that the Popular Front<br />
was based on the concrete experiences already initiated by the French and American<br />
YCLs. 46 Past YCI rhetoric consistently praised the activities of the Soviet YCL and<br />
scorned the failures of leagues in the West. The YCI now contended Popular Front<br />
practices originated in the unorthodox anti-fascist activities of YCLs in the West. In his<br />
report to the Comintern Congress, Otto Kuusinen insisted that the unorthodox experiences<br />
of the French and American YCLs had helped to give birth to the Popular Front.<br />
When domestic fascist movements proposed creating a broad "front of the younger<br />
generation," the French and American YCLs made similar broad counter-initiatives that<br />
exposed the fascists as "the enemies of the youth." 47 Kuusinen pointed out the effectiveness<br />
of such non-traditional actions that "politically defeated fascism in the eyes of the<br />
youth," praising the "great political courage and independence" the French and American<br />
youth had expressed. 48 While the Comintern had previously condemned their tactics as<br />
"opportunist deviations," Kuusinen argued that their new methods were something to be<br />
emulated, not denounced. 49 Part of the success of the youth Popular Front in the West<br />
can be attributed to these factors. Communist youth perceived that their anti-fascist<br />
activities helped to initiate the Popular Front transition in Comintern policy.<br />
43