Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

THE POPULAR FRONT GENERATION
Comintern placed great hope in youth to break with past practices and to embrace a more
flexible populism centred on anti-fascism.
Nevertheless, the international "left opposition" communist groups denounced the
Popular Front as opportunistic heresy, highlighting the divergence of Dimitrov's positions
with traditional Leninism. While some historians contend that the "milder tone" of
Popular Front rhetoric "in nowise involved a deviation from orthodox communist goals,"
left critics of the Popular Front did not share this opinion. 24 Leon Trotsky was the most
ardent contemporary critic of the Popular Front. 25 Trotsky linked the Popular Front with
"Stalinism" which he described as the "syphilis of the workers' movement." 26 Trotsky
asserted the Popular Front promoted "class collaboration" and was the culmination of
Stalinism being imposed upon the Comintern. Trotsky condemned the early French
populist initiatives of 1935, declaring that "the Third International is dead" and that now
was the time to "theoretically and practically, prepare for the Fourth International." 27 The
Comintern had "outlived" its purpose, Trotsky declaring that his Fourth International was
to be "the world party of Socialist Revolution." 28 This critique of the Popular Front
formed the theoretical basis of the Trotskyist movement which asserted that they represent
a "true Bolshevik" movement. 29 The former CPUSA chairman Jay Lovestone
presented a similar critique. Lovestone vehemently argued that pursuing a line centred
on securing "universal peace" against the threat of fascism was "a monstrous violation of
Marxist and Leninist teachings." 30 Lovestone and Trotsky both hoped disillusionment
with the Popular Front line would add to the strength of their own oppositional communist
groupings.
Transitions within Soviet foreign and domestic policy had profound implications for
international communism. In 1934 Stalin set out to transform the role of the Soviet
Union in international relations from an oppositional position into a constructive force to
counter threats of fascist aggression. 31 Stalin dismissed Bolshevik tradition and joined
the League of Nations, seeking out "protective alliances" with capitalist nations for a
policy of "collective security" against fascism. 32 The overwhelming size of the Red
Army made the Soviets more attractive to potential allies in the West, but Soviet history
and mutual distrust limited Stalin's diplomatic success. Despite this factor, the Soviet
Foreign Commissar Maxim Litvinov continued to make "a real effort to come to terms
with the Western powers for united resistance to Fascist aggression and to use the League
of Nations as an instrument for this purpose." 33 The Soviet Union used their assistance to
Spain to exemplify their "new outlook," insisting that the Spanish Republic and USSR
were defending democracy, not promoting Bolshevik revolution. Communists increasingly
asserted that the struggle in Spain was not about "communism versus fascism," but
embodied an international struggle where social forces were "either on the side of bestial
fascism, or on the side of democracy." 34
Internal Soviet trends facilitated vital propaganda points for the construction of the
Popular Front on the issue of democracy. The adoption of the "Stalin Constitution" in
41