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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UNITY OF YOUTH<br />
While fascism framed its appeals to the youth, Dimitrov asserted that in reality it was the<br />
deadliest enemy of the entire young generation.<br />
The ability of fascism to mobilize youth was, in part, a reflection of the failures of<br />
communists to appeal to the youth. During his addresses to the Comintern's Seventh<br />
Congress, Dimitrov scorned the YCLs as sectarian organizations whose "approach to the<br />
socialist youth and other non-communist youth is not always correct." 25 The YCLs were<br />
instructed that they "must strive in every way to unite the forces of all non-fascist mass<br />
organizations of the youth." 26 Though such positions were traditionally considered<br />
opportunist, Dimitrov insisted this was the only correct tactic to mobilize the youth<br />
against fascism.<br />
Otto Kuusinen spoke on behalf of the Comintern Executive Committee at the 1935<br />
YCI World Congress. Kuusinen reiterated Dimitrov's positions, emphasizing the theme<br />
of youth unity. Kuusinen warned the YCI against an over reliance on "the old doctrinaire<br />
formulas," urging youth to "realize that times have changed ." 27 Kuusinen urged young<br />
communists to make broad appeals to mobilize "the entire youth…in a common<br />
fight…for our rights, the rights of the youth." 28 Other youth groups were no longer<br />
considered to be "enemy organizations" to be approached with "the purpose of destroying<br />
or weakening" them. All non-fascist youth movements were considered potential allies<br />
to be transformed "from centers of bourgeois influence… into centers of proletarian<br />
influence." 29 Kuusinen admitted that these revisions of Leninist theory necessitated an<br />
entire change in communist practice. Under the Popular Front era he insisted, "The<br />
central task of the Young Communist International now is to establish unity of the youth<br />
movement against fascism, war and capitalist oppression." 30 Such unity would "inoculate"<br />
the youth from fascist values, stripping the fascists of a potential mobilizing base.<br />
Kuusinen praised the noble "ideals of youth," highlighting the divergence between<br />
"reactionary ideals and revolutionary ideals" by associating the former with fascism and<br />
the later with the youth. 31 The struggle against fascism and the anticipation of war<br />
necessitated a complete revision of the role of the YCI and its relationship with other<br />
youth movements.<br />
Likewise, Wolf Michal stressed the common values of youth and anti-fascism, positing<br />
a unique and new perspective for the YCI. Michal's speech utilized "youth metaphors,"<br />
associating fascism with the forces of a corrupt and decadent old world and youth<br />
with the progressive forces of peace, democracy and socialism. In his opening statement<br />
Michal stressed that "youth want to live, to work and fight, they want to advance, to<br />
make the world more beautiful....The youth regard the old world with distrust." 32 In<br />
negation to this positive statement, Michal exposed the treacherous realities of fascism<br />
stating, "Never in history was the youth so shamelessly deceived, never were their hopes<br />
shattered so, as by the fascists. <strong>Fascism</strong> is a movement of the moribund old world." 33<br />
<strong>Fascism</strong> represented a negation of the values and aspirations of all youth. In Michal's<br />
analysis, fascist values and the youth had nothing in common insisting, "We, and with us<br />
81