Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

UNITY OF YOUTH
In stark contrast to these specific and unrealistic demands, no strict guidelines were
formulated for youth unity. Dimitrov insisted that the YCLs could not fulfil their primary
task "of achieving unity with the socialist youth" if they kept "on trying, as they have
done hitherto, to construct their organizations as if they were Communist Parties of the
youth." 40 Kuusinen asserted YCL admission requirements ought to be revised and that
"the doors of our youth organizations must be thrown wide open!" 41 Unlike the past,
youth were not expected to accept Leninism to gain YCL membership or affiliation to the
YCI. YCI propaganda asserted youth would be allowed complete independence in
guiding the development of socialist youth unity. Michal stated, "The members of both
organizations should freely decide the organizational forms and the name of the amalgamated
organizations as well as its connections with parties and affiliation with the
Internationals." 42 Though the Comintern deemed such possibilities unlikely, YCLs were
actually theoretically given the opportunity to disaffiliate from the YCI if their socialist
comrades deemed it a necessary condition for unification.
Michal reiterated the common values of socialist and communist youth. A common
anti-fascist and anti-war platform was the only pre-requisite to achieve the political unity
of working-class youth:
From the rostrum of the World Congress of the Young Communist International, we declare
that we consider the Socialist youth as our closest allies. We say to the young Socialists,
our class brothers: We want to work in common with you, shoulder to shoulder
in a comradely way, for the interests of the youth and in the spirit of struggle against our
common enemy – fascism – in order to hinder the outbreak of imperialist war and to
wrest the workers and the toiling youth from the clutches of hunger, want and lack of
rights. We and the young Socialists are allies because we are the sons of one class, because
we have a common doctrine – Marxism, because we have a common foe – fascism,
and because we have a great, invincible ideal in common, socialism… further
maintenance of the split of the working class youth cannot be justified. 43
Socialist youth groups were no longer considered enemy organizations to be exposed and
liquidated. The Popular Front Generation insisted the splits that had been intentionally
bred in the socialist movement had to be overcome by the youth in order to defeat
fascism.
"Unity" became the watchword and central basis of the Popular Front. Those who
were willing to work with the communists were praised, while those opposing Popular
Front tactics were demonized as fascist agents, saboteurs and reactionaries. This strategy
was designed specifically to discriminate against Trotskyist influences that still posited
traditional Leninist outlooks. Michal insisted that within youth Popular Front groups that
"there is no place in these organizations for… the opponents of unity." 44 The divergence
in the orthodox theory and practice of Trotskyism with Popular Front communism made
the two movements highly incompatible and antagonistic. 45 Dimitrov predicted that the
Trotskyists would continually "do their utmost to prevent the establishment of working
class unity and the development of the People's Front movement against fascism and
war." 46
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