Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM
As Dimitrov recognized the power of nationalist mobilization, he insisted that communists
needed to drastically reconfigure their attitudes to the nation in order to effectively
counter the fascist threat. The Popular Front YCI insisted that nationalist
propaganda and mobilization were the only effective means of combating fascism in
order to spare their generation from the horrors of another world war. In many ways,
Dimitrov's revision of anti-nationalist positions overturned the entire worldview of
traditional Leninism.
Youth and "True Patriotism:" The Popular Front Generation
Georgi Dimitrov set out an inherently divergent path for the international communist
movement in revising Lenin's critique of nationalism. Dimitrov's revisions were intended
to undercut the recruiting abilities of fascism, especially among the youth. Dimitrov
asserted that communists needed to be equipped with a new analysis of fascism and
nationalism to enable more effective methods of anti-fascism. The goal of Dimitrov's
revision was to undermine the effectiveness of fascist propaganda by portraying communists
as the "true patriots" of the nation.
At the Comintern's Seventh Congress, Dimitrov reasserted pre-Bolshevik traditions of
revolutionary nationalism. Dimitrov's thesis linked inclusive concepts of republican
citizenship with proletarian internationalism:
We communists are the irreconcilable opponents, on principle, of bourgeois nationalism
of every variety. But we are not supporters of national nihilism, and should never act as
such.... Proletarian internationalism must, so to speak, "acclimate itself" in each country
in order to sink deep roots in its native land. National forms of the proletarian class
struggle and of the labour movement in the individual countries are in no contradiction
to proletarian internationalism; on the contrary, it is precisely in these forms that the international
interests of the proletariat can be successfully defended. It goes without saying
that it is necessary everywhere and on all occasions to expose before the masses and
prove to them concretely that the fascist bourgeoisie, on the pretext of defending general
national interests, is conducting its egotistical policy of oppressing and exploiting its
own people, as well as robbing and enslaving other nations. 15
Dimitrov's thesis contended effective internationalism was the product of socialist
nationalism. He quoted selected segments of Lenin's writings to legitimize his positions
within traditional Bolshevik conceptions. By highlighting limited passages from Lenin's
1914 essay entitled, "On the National Pride of the Great Russians," Dimitrov constructed
a façade of continuity with Lenin. 16 Dimitrov selectively quoted statements like "we are
full of a sense of national pride," and left out later statements where Lenin denounced all
calls to "defend the fatherland." 17 Dimitrov's position was a significant deviation from
Leninism and inadvertently encouraged the formation of the Fourth International. 18
Other communists later reflected that Dimitrov's positions on nationalism represented
the most profound and important transition that occurred with the Popular Front. James
Klugmann commented on this phenomenon stating: 19
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