Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

YOUTH AGAINST FASCISM
Despite these nominal advances during industrial conflicts, the YCLGB was unable to
sustain a large membership during the twenties.
The YCL did little to make their organization and political rhetoric appealing to the
distinct culture of British youth, depending almost entirely on Comintern tactics. 146
Although the YCI and British EC continually berated the YCLGB for having a "League
life [that was] generally too dull to retain many new members," little practical work was
seriously pursued to change this phenomenon. 147 Youth cultural and recreational activities
were dismissed as social-democratic methods to be rejected. As a result, the YCL
continued to live a largely sectarian existence throughout the twenties.
The founding of the YCL had a dramatic impact upon the development of British socialist
youth organizations. The Labour Party and the Independent Labour Party established
their own youth organizations during the early twenties, fearing that the initiative
of socialist-youth mobilization had gone over to the communists. 148 Throughout the interwar
period socialist youth struggled to increase the political elements of their movement
by adopting many of the campaigns of the YCL. 149 In turn, socialist adults continually
sought to "depoliticize" their youth organizations to offset potential radicalism. The
Labour Party and ILP took a highly restrictive and paternalistic attitude towards the
politicization of their youth leagues. A Labour League of Youth (LLOY) member
complained that if the "League of Youth [were run] like a glorified Sunday School then it
simply will not attract the youth." 150 This phenomenon often facilitated highly contentious
relations between youth and their associated adult parties. 151 Neither the socialist or
communist youth pursued any serious attempts to find a dynamic balance between
culture, recreation and politics within their organizations. Despite mistakes in tactics, the
failures of socialist youth groups, including the YCL, were symptomatic of a "detachment"
that British youth generally experienced with politics during the twenties. 152
Furthermore, the YCLGB also had a major impact on the development of the CPGB.
The main role of the YCL during the twenties was to promote the ideological correctness
of Comintern lines. The Comintern used institutions like the Lenin School in Moscow to
indoctrinate youth with Bolshevik militancy that could be utilized within national sections
to enforce Comintern dictates. 153 During the disruptive transition to Class Against
Class in 1928, the Comintern encouraged the YCL to lead an ideological attack against
the CPGB leadership. 154 The Comintern berated the CPGB as "a society of great friends"
instead of a "Bolshevik vanguard," prompting the YCL to launch a scathing denunciation
of the CP leadership. 155 A YCL pamphlet later boasted that they had "struggled very
correctly and well for the carrying out of the [new] line in the Communist Parties." 156
Despite the success the YCL had in assisting the Comintern in the formation of a new
party leadership, its own membership numbers dropped to under 900 by mid-1929. 157
The YCL remained plagued by this sectarian and isolated state until the adoption of the
Popular Front.
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