Joel A. Lewis

Youth Against Fascism Joel A. Lewis

In 1998, Tom Brokaw published a collection of oral histories entitled "The Greatest Generation." His book recounted the struggles of American youth against the threats of the Great Depression, fascism and World War II. Brokaw's book, like many popular histories of this era, failed to address the integral role of young communists in these struggles. Indeed, a certain "historical amnesia" exists in the historical memory of both Britain and the United States concerning these youth. Throughout the 1930s young communists, later dubbed "premature anti-fascists," struggled in their classrooms, unions, churches, streets and the battlefields of Spain not just to destroy fascism, but also to avert the outbreak of WWII. This book traces the evolution of young communist political identity in Britain and the United States during the inter-war era. Instead of addressing the "clandestine" world of Western communism or the "personal" world of individuals, this study explores the propaganda communists utilized to indoctrinate and recruit youth. This book is addressed to historians interested in propaganda, youth politics, Nazi Germany, the Spanish Civil War and international communism.