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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YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM<br />
During the period of 1935-36 important transitions occurred in the British and American<br />
YCL press reflecting the shift to Popular Front nationalist rhetoric. The newspapers<br />
of the Leninist Generation had been primarily internationalist in their form and content.<br />
From their inception up until the Popular Front period, both YCLs published a newspaper<br />
entitled The Young Worker. Almost every issue of The Young Worker was published<br />
with a subtitle declaring each YCL as the national section of the Young Communist<br />
International. The Young Worker ceased publication in both Britain and the United States<br />
with the adoption of the Popular Front. In the beginning of 1935, prior to the Popular<br />
Front, the British YCL dropped The Young Worker and began publishing a newspaper<br />
entitled Challenge. With their first official issue in March, 1935 the YCL dropped all<br />
references to the YCI in their headlines and instead embraced a subtitle stating that<br />
Challenge was "A Call to the <strong>Youth</strong>." 36 Further issues addressed working-class issues,<br />
but began framing debates around a broader national and generational based anti-fascist<br />
outlook. In June, 1935 Challenge adopted a new subtitle stating it stood "For Defense Of<br />
The Young Generation." 37 In September, 1935 Challenge broadened its appeal even<br />
more, changing its "Defense" subtitle into the more subtle slogan of "The Paper For<br />
Britain's <strong>Youth</strong>." 38<br />
Though main headlines dealt international politics, the content of Challenge articles<br />
took a distinctive shift towards national appeals. In a statement on the Italian war campaign<br />
in Abyssinia, the YCL made an appeal specifically to British youth stating, "<strong>Youth</strong><br />
of Britain! Show the youth of the world where we stand. Stand firm for World Peace!<br />
<strong>Against</strong> the Fascist War! <strong>Against</strong> a New World Blood Bath!" 39 YCL rhetoric began<br />
asserting that the interests of British workers represented the interests and morality of the<br />
nation as a whole, while the bourgeoisie represented narrow and selfish class interests. A<br />
YCL article on class morality posited its argument in this framework stating, "The falsity<br />
of bourgeois morality is to be found at every step.... In words – for the motherland; in<br />
practice, betrayal of national interests in favour of their own selfish class interests." 40<br />
Though a continuity of themes existed in the anti-fascist and anti-imperialist content of<br />
their media, direct national appeals to the whole of British youth without reference to the<br />
YCI gave YCL literature of the Popular Front a distinctly new national form.<br />
Challenge began setting the tone of their rhetoric in appeals to British national traditions.<br />
In December, 1935 Challenge began advocating Parliament's passage of a "<strong>Youth</strong><br />
Charter" designed to cope with unemployment and the precarious future of British youth.<br />
YCL rhetoric played upon the national traditions of the Chartist Movement of the nineteenth<br />
century. The YCL asserted it was the youth organization that best represented this<br />
well respected populist British tradition. In its first article dealing with the <strong>Youth</strong> Charter<br />
campaign, the YCL made an appeal to the British nation as a whole:<br />
<strong>Youth</strong> demands its rights and heritage.... The whole nation – father and mother, professor,<br />
minister of religion, artists and humanitarians, all youth organizations --- could be<br />
roused by the greatest campaign this country had seen since the days of Chartism, for<br />
support if <strong>Youth</strong>'s Charter before Parliament. The fight must go on inside and outside<br />
66