Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf
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THE POPULAR FRONT GENERATION<br />
In conclusion, the evolution of the Popular Front reveals how Dimitrov's reconceptualization<br />
of fascism facilitated a complete realignment of traditional Comintern politics.<br />
Positions once considered opportunistic heresy by the Leninist Generation were embraced<br />
in the official Comintern Popular Front program. Traditional Leninist antifascism<br />
posited a militant "language of class against capital" that was carried on during<br />
the Popular Front era by the Trotskyist movement. 146 Dimitrov's definition of fascism<br />
produced new forms of propaganda and activities that enabled the construction of a new<br />
communist political identity. The Popular Front transformed young communist's perception<br />
of their relationship with their nation, competing youth organizations and democratic<br />
heritage in Britain and the United States. <strong>Fascism</strong> was conceived as a mass movement<br />
that represented the interests of a small clique of capitalists bent upon unleashing a new<br />
world war. The Leninist and Popular Front Generations of communist youth propagated<br />
that their movement strove to abolish modern imperialist war by attacking the root cause<br />
of war. Dimitrov's definition of fascism created a divergent experience for communist<br />
youth by targeting fascism, not social democracy, as the facilitators of modern imperialist<br />
war. In order to effectively prevent fascism from mobilizing youth for war, young<br />
communists embraced a new populist rhetoric centred on patriotism, unity and the<br />
defense of democracy.<br />
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