Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

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CONCLUSION:
THE YOUTH STRUGGLE AGAINST WAR
Capitalism is war! The reconstruction of capitalism means, therefore, the perpetuation
of war! To help do this means to desire new wars! Capitalism is the cause of war. To
abolish war we must abolish capitalism. This is the whole crux of the matter.
-Harry Young, YCLGB 1923 1
We have differing philosophical, political and religious views; we represent various
opinions; but we are inspired by the one single wish to save our generation from war.
-Gil Green, YCLUSA 1936 2
The study of communist youth propaganda reveals considerable divergences of rhetoric,
world view and political identity between the Leninist and Popular Front Generations.
This being said, the above mentioned quotes highlight how the two inter-war
generations were connected and informed by a common perspective centred on peace and
war. The Leninist Generation sought to mobilize the anti-war sentiment of youth to
advance an international revolution against capitalism and war. Capitalism was perceived
as the root cause of imperialist war. Young communists promoted a revolutionary
"war against war" to abolish modern warfare by establishing international socialism.
Since social democrats were viewed as subverting communist revolution, young communists
propagated that socialists were the enemies of peace and the youth. To be a young
communist meant to reject the Second International's view that peace and socialism could
be established and preserved without revolution.
During the Popular Font era, fascism was defined as a movement bent on war. Communists
had previously posited that capitalist competition, in its unyielding quest for new
markets and resources, facilitated war for the sake of increased profits. 3 Fascist war was
a distinctly new phenomenon. Fascism advocated war on all aspects of modernity. They
openly declared their intent to destroy the Soviet Union and to unleash a new world war
that would destroy the hated Versailles settlement. Fascist war was not motivated simply
by profit, but was driven also by an ideology of nation chauvinism bent on racial extermination,
authoritarian order and global conquest to overturn all progressive advances
since the era of the Enlightenment.
Georgi Dimitrov identified fascist war as a different phenomenon from traditional
imperialist war. In so doing, Dimitrov enabled British and American young communists
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