Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM
really foremost and really revolutionary class," the working class. 5 As the sole vanguard
of the working class, communists argued against both class collaboration and sustained
cooperation with other political parties.
In its early years, the YCI condemned the spirit of compromise and class collaboration
inherent in the Second International's "betrayal" of youth. Antithetically, the Comintern's
program represented "a dashing and resolute will to struggle, held fast and rendered
inseparable by common action" of the revolutionary working class. 6 The YCI asserted
their "one organization alone… is the expression of revolt of the young workers." 7
Communist youth sought to smash all other youth groups in order to win over their
working-class membership. This oppositional strategy was the only "correct" path to
overthrow capitalism and abolish future imperialist war.
The Leninist Generation had intentionally facilitated splits and mutual hostilities between
the socialist and communist youth movements. Dimitrov recognized that such
working-class disunity enabled the rise of fascism. The Nazis capitalized upon the lack
of working-class unity in Germany to consolidate their regime, ultimately destroying
both the SPD and KPD. In order to halt fascism's advance, YCLs embraced Dimitrov's
populist policies, rejecting many of their Leninist traditions. The Popular Front Generation
sought to facilitate broad coordination among all youth organizations, irrespective of
class or ideology. 8 The key principle of the Popular Front was anti-fascist unity.
Youth Against Opportunism: The Leninist Generation
The Leninist Generation scorned nearly all other youth groups as "class traitors" or
"counter-revolutionaries." In many ways, this disposition was a direct emulation of
Lenin's political personality. Lenin had exhibited a ruthless hostility to all opponent
organizations, insisting on the "correctness" of his own analysis. Lenin asserted that the
role of the true revolutionary was "not to convince, but to break up the ranks of the
opponent, not to correct the mistake of the opponent, but to destroy him, to wipe his
organisation off the face of the earth." 9 This spirit of militant struggle was one of the
most defining features of the early communist movement that brought it both brutal scorn
and praise. 10
As noted earlier concerning the United Front, though communists spoke of the need
for "unity," they insisted that such unity needed to be formed under their "correct"
leadership. The YCI contended, "Unity among the young workers is possible, and will
be accomplished, only on the platform of the Comintern and the YCI." 11 United Front
campaigns were intentionally framed to discredit socialist leaders. The Comintern
openly admitted the strategic goal of unity proposals stating, "The Communist vanguard
can only gain if new layers of workers are convinced by their own experience that
reformism is an illusion and that compromise is fatal… [since] the cornerstone of reformism
is the solidarity of the 'reformist-socialists' with the bourgeoisies of their 'own'
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