Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

THE POPULAR FRONT GENERATION
The great champion of genuine Americanism, Mr. W.R. Hearst, recently wired the editor
of this paper as follows: "Please support the actions of the universities in throwing out
these communists and say, furthermore, that they ought to be thrown out of the country."
114
As university radicals came under attack, student activists began proposing further unity
initiatives to counter these trends.
Communist and socialist students proposed the creation of a unified student organization
in response to growing domestic reaction and increased international tensions linked
with fascism. In December, 1935 the NSL and SLID capitalized upon university student's
shared revulsion of fascism to create the American Student Union (ASU). 115 The
ASU became the main expression of the youth Popular Front and proved to be one of the
most successful initiatives launched by American communists. The Popular Front YCL
and Roosevelt himself began to describe American universities as "a fortress of democracy"
due primarily to the vigorous activities of the ASU. 116
All in all then, the British and American YCLs functioned within distinct national
contexts, but shared important general transformations in their strategies and organizational
evolution. Both YCLs shifted their tactics away from confrontational forms of
anti-fascism which reduced direct conflicts of youth with the state and impeded the
ability of "red baiters" to persecute communist youth. 117 Many of the British direct action
campaigns against the BUF had resulted in the arrest of both fascist and communist
activists for violations of the Public Order acts. 118 The American YCL had always faced
a precarious legal existence, being targeted for continuous legal persecution even in the
early thirties, which limited its ability to recruit youth. 119
During the Popular Front both YCLs abandoned illegal Bolshevik methods and confrontational
tactics, readopting many old social-democratic traditions the Leninist Generation
had rejected. The American YCL commented that this transition helped to secure
their legal existence, proving to be "just the thing to bring the masses of youth into the
YCL." 120 By embracing legal forms of organization and tactics the YCL was able to put
itself "in the position of defending a tradition, of defending democratic rights, of defending
legality." 121 The shift made the YCLs more attractive to youth who sympathized with
YCL goals, but who were not willing to submit themselves to potential legal persecution.
The shift to legalistic methods was also important in changing public perception of young
communists as defenders of the democratic state.
The "Oxford Pledge" was a popular youth pacifist slogan during the thirties, being
curiously adopted by both the British and American YCLs in 1933. The Oxford Pledge
was an anti-war pronouncement stating, "This House will in no circumstances fight for its
King and Country." 122 Though it originated in Britain, the Oxford Pledge was adopted in
the United Stated in the spring of 1933 by the NSL and SLID. American radicals utilized
the pledge to encourage youth to vow "their opposition to military service or involvement
in another war." 123 American fascist movements used the Oxford Pledge to discredit
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