Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

COMMUNIST HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE YOUTH
The "New Left" experience in Britain and the United States forged new directions and
methodologies in communist historiography. New Left revisionism began in Britain after
Khrushchev's revelations about Stalin in June, 1956. 35 Dissident communists left the
CPGB in large numbers, attempting to forge a new "alternative" movement centred on
"socialist humanism," separated from Soviet influences and Leninist dogma. E.P.
Thompson and John Saville, former members of the Communist Party Historians' Group,
founded the Reasoner which was transformed within several years into the New Left
Review. The New Left Review was both a political journal and a theoretical publication
that helped to popularize Gramscian and cultural analysis. 36 The New Left Review
inspired other publications like Marxism Today and the History Workshop Journal that
spearheaded new approaches to communist history.
Two of the most influential figures in developing this British tradition were Perry
Anderson and Raphael Samuel. Anderson urged researchers to aspire to writing a "total
history" of the movement. Anderson contended such an approach would balance the
international dynamics of the party with a narrative of the "history of the society of which
it is a component;" he urged historians to address the national political culture that
communists functioned within. 37 Samuel's research explored elements of party culture,
generational perceptions, individual identity and the evolution of British communism
within the Comintern from its initial inception into the Cold War era. 38 Samuel insisted
that narratives should attempt "to explain… [communism] rather than to take up sides." 39
The Anderson-Samuel approach centred on exploring diverse themes to show the variety
of experiences that existed within the evolution of the movement; this methodology did
not claim authoritative answers, but instead raised new questions and techniques in order
to inspire further investigations by other historians. 40
The influence of New Left revisionism hastened American scholars to revisit the
Popular Front era and WWII when the CPUSA consciously attempted to acclimate itself
to American political culture. The two most outstanding works associated with this
movement were produced by Maurice Isserman and Fraser Ottanelli. 41 Isserman's study
of WWII was consciously framed as a response to the New Left movement. 42 Isserman's
analysis utilized a generational analysis to understand the phenomenon of the Popular
Front era and the evolution of the movement beyond WWII; such generational distinctions
have also been embraced by CPGB historians. 43 Ottanelli's study of the Great
Depression and Popular Front eras was framed as a response to the "traditionalist"
narrative on this period published by Harvey Klehr. 44 Ottanelli's periodization choice
highlighted "a continuity in the Party's experience centred around an indigenous quest for
policies, organizational forms, language, and overall cultural forms that would adapt the
Communists' radicalism to domestic realities and political traditions." 45 Both of these
pivotal works dealt with elements of youth politics and the evolution of American
communism during its formative years, addressing both international and nation factors
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