Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM
Despite his rhetoric of ensuring peace and protecting democracy, the British YCL insisted
Chamberlain was an active and conscious ally of Hitler. Young communists
pointed to the persistence of the "Non-Intervention Pact" and the infamous "Munich
Pact" of September, 1938 as firm evidence that Chamberlain sought to strengthen European
fascism. Munich was a watershed in cementing the anti-Chamberlain sentiment of
the YCL; an event where "eyes were opened, [and] many illusions were smashed." 140
British communist rhetoric placed the blame for the death of their fallen comrades in
Spain upon the "dishonourable" capitulation of Chamberlain to the fascists, vowing to
avenge their deaths by driving the National Government "into the oblivion it deserves." 141
When Chamberlain declared war on Nazi Germany in September, 1939 it was not
difficult for the YCLGB to embrace the Comintern's condemnation of the war. Chamberlain
continued to be characterized as a treacherous imperialist and an ally of Hitler who
could not be trusted to lead an anti-fascist war.
In the United States things were very different. Though Roosevelt did not take any
decisive steps to assist the Spanish Republic, young communists perceived him as an ally
against international fascism. Communist rhetoric contended domestic isolationist and
anti-Soviet sentiment limited Roosevelt's ability to assist Spain. 142 Events like Roosevelt's
famous Chicago "Quarantine Address" of October, 1937 were used by communists
as evidence that Roosevelt was committed to an anti-fascist foreign policy in line with
Soviet "collective security" initiatives. After the Munich Pact, American communist
rhetoric alluded that the United States and the Soviet Union "now stood alone against the
fascist offensive." 143 YCL propaganda insisted that world war could still be averted if the
American public pressured Roosevelt to put his foreign policy statements into consistent
practice:
What can keep America out of war at this tense moment when war is raging in Spain and
China and threatens Central Europe Obviously, it is only the co-operation of the
American people and their Government, with the democratic peoples of the world, that
can keep America out of war by keeping war out of the world.... To keep out of war,
America must act to quarantine the war-makers, support the "Good Neighbour" policy in
the Western Hemisphere, back up the people’s boycott of Japanese goods by withholding
shipment of war materials to Japan. This programme will not lead to war because
the fascists are only strong when the democracies are disunited. 144
United States foreign policy was no longer characterized as inherently imperialist. Under
the leadership of Roosevelt, communists believed American policy could be moulded and
influenced to conform to the "collective security" initiatives of the Popular Front. Even
with the outbreak of World War II, the YCL did not initially direct its propaganda
directly against Roosevelt for his support of Britain. The YCL blamed the "pirate band
of 60 families whose God is profit" for duping the American public and pressuring
Roosevelt into support of an unjust war. 145 When the Soviets entered the war in 1941, the
YCL shifted its rhetoric back into full support of Roosevelt and the war effort.
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