Joel A Lewis Youth Against Fascism.pdf

NATIONALISM
The second type of issue that arose from the Seventh Congress was the re-establishment
of a Marxist and Leninist concept of patriotism and internationalism. It seems to me that
in the late 1920s and even later, one of the major errors of Communists in Germany was
to hand over deep and wounded national feelings to the fascists on a plate, and to equate
internationalism and anti-nationalism, instead of seeing that genuine, progressive national
feelings and patriotism were the other side of the medal of popular and proletarian
internationalism. And the more the working class emerges as the leader of the defence of
such national feelings, the more it can carry out its international duties. 20
Klugmann identified anti-nationalist positions as incorrect applications of Leninism that
enabled the rise of fascism. Patriotism was no longer a poison or illusion to be shunned,
but was to become an integral part of communist identity. The content of Popular Front
nationalist propaganda was infused with progressive and socialist values for national
mobilization that could serve internationalist duties. Gil Green later reflected on the
practical importance of this new position, stating that the Communist Party had become
the "leader not only of its class but of the nation itself." 21 Unlike the fascist conception of
"national socialism," the new communist position was explicitly framed in terms of
"socialist nationalism" where primary emphasis was still put upon the socialist and
internationalist characteristics of nationalist agitation. 22
The Popular Front program was designed for considerable flexibility in adopting national
forms. The nationalist struggle was framed as a cultural struggle of national
identity, positing progressive socialist values against reactionary values of imperialism
and militarism. Dimitrov asserted that the goal of socialist nationalism was to "avert the
destruction of culture and raise it to its highest flowering as a truly national culture,
national in form and socialist in content." 23 Dimitrov instructed communists to adopt a
uniform approach to international issues while adapting the broad outlines of the Popular
Front to their specific national characteristics:
It is necessary in each country to investigate, study and ascertain the national peculiarities,
the specific national features of fascism and map out accordingly effective methods
and forms of struggle against fascism. Lenin persistently warned us against "stereotyped
methods and mechanical levelling, against rendering tactical rules, rules of struggle,
identical." This warning is particularly to the point when it is a question of fighting an
enemy who so subtly and jesuitically exploits the national sentiments and prejudices of
the masses.... We must, without any delay what ever, react to his various maneuvers,
discover his hidden moves, be prepared to repel him in any arena and at any moment.
We must not hesitate even to learn from the enemy if that will help us more quickly and
more effectively to wring his neck. It would be a gross mistake to lay down any sort of
universal scheme of the development of fascism, to cover all countries and all peoples.
Such a scheme would not help but would hamper us in carrying on a real struggle. 24
Dimitrov again used selective quotes from Lenin to legitimize his revisions. Communists
were ill prepared to counter fascism's mobilization techniques without adapting their
rhetoric to unique national forms. The Comintern had mechanically scripted and dictated
national practices to the Leninist Generation. The Popular Front program instead set out
broad guidelines of strategic principles that were translated into specific national forms.
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