Antifascism: World League against Fascism: With all clarity and strength

Without a doubt, it is a right book at the right time: right-wing and right-wing extremist parties and organizations, ethnic, radical and anti-Semitic nationalist forces are basking in the favor of voters; The danger of war, long believed to have been overcome in Europe, is increasing. Fascization is often talked about without precisely defining what fascism actually is. Anti-fascist actors, but also historians, focus primarily on explanations from the 1930s, in which fascism, especially in Europe and in the form of National Socialist Germany, had become a universally threatening and also dominant system.

This is where the historian Ulrich Schneider comes in, who, as Secretary General of the International Federation of Resistance Fighters (FIR), can be counted among the best experts on the subject and anti-fascist resistance. He points out that the world communist movement in the form of the Communist International began to deal with the problem of fascism as early as 1922. That was the year in which the fascist Benito Mussolini became prime minister in Italy and the “March on Rome” took place. On the other hand, the Russian Revolution remained isolated; in the other countries where the workers and peasants tried unsuccessfully to follow the Russian example, unrestrained terror set in, such as in Hungary, Bulgaria, the Balkans, and also in Germany. which secured the rule of the propertied classes.

However, the reaction was not satisfied with the defeat of the oppressed; it also tried to create a mass base. Groups emerged from ethnic, ultranationalist and terrorist movements that often cited the Italian example and were soon referred to as fascists outside of Italy.

Clara Zetkin described this new phenomenon at the plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International (ECCI) in June 1923 and created a definition that is of current interest today: “We must remain aware that … fascism is a movement of the hungry, the needy, the destitute and the disappointed. We must strive to either integrate the social classes that are now falling into fascism into our struggle or at least neutralize them for the struggle. With all clarity and strength we must prevent them from providing teams for the counter-revolution of the bourgeoisie. To the extent that we cannot win those layers over to our ideals and join the ranks of the revolutionary proletarian fighting armies, we must succeed in neutralizing them.” And she continued: “Fascism is the strongest, the most concentrated, it is the one classic expression of the general offensive of the world bourgeoisie at this moment.”

In 1923 there was hardly an EKKI plenary session at which the danger of fascism was not discussed. The focus at this time was on creating a broad alliance against this danger, which also included unity of action with socialists, anarchists and syndicalists. Of course, the behavior of social democratic politicians, who took repressive action against revolutionary workers and who were largely responsible for the murder of Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht in Germany, did not have a beneficial effect on the creation of unity of action, but was appreciated by many of the responsible communists of the time the danger of fascism as the far greater one.

The World League has left behind a wealth of research, education about fascism and alliance work.

In 1923, the World League against Fascism, also known as the Anti-Fascist World League, was founded. The organizational genius Willi Münzenberg, who was also responsible to the KPD, was in charge here and worked on behalf of the Comintern. Among other things, he was able to use the apparatus of the International Workers’ Aid (IAH), which had branches in many countries. He managed to get many of the well-known intellectuals of the time to work in the league and on the “Chronicle of Fascism,” which appeared from 1923 to 1924, as well as the seven “Booklets of the World League.” Ulrich Schneider has, and this is particularly to be appreciated, included much of the content of the “Chronicles” in his book and thus made it accessible to those interested – and hopefully also to left-wing politicians.

The “World League” was not destined to have a long life. 100 years ago, in August 1924, the last “Chronicle of Fascism” was published. The reason for this was not only the attitude of the right-wing SPD leadership in the implementation of the Reich Executive against the workers’ governments in Saxony and Thuringia, but also the change in policy brought about by the Fifth World Congress of the Comintern (June/July 1924), at which the General Secretary Georgi Zinoviev declared social democracy to be the “twin sister of fascism” and the “social fascism” thesis made unity of action between communists and socialists impossible for a long time. Nevertheless, according to Ulrich Schneider, the “League” left behind a wealth of research, education and alliance work.

Two comments are permitted: Schneider also addresses the controversy surrounding Karl Radek’s famous “Schlageter Speech.” At the same plenum as Clara Zetkin, Radek called the Freikorpsman and right-wing terrorist Albert Leo Schlageter, who was shot by the French authorities during the Ruhr occupation, a “brave soldier of the counter-revolution” and “wanderer into nowhere” and mentioned that fighters against French imperialism would only be credible if they also fought German imperialism. Radek received a lot of criticism, but it should also be remembered that in the next few years several prominent former representatives of the right joined the communists, including Bodo Uhse, Beppo Römer, Richard Scheringer and Hubert von Ranke, who then served in the Spanish Was entrusted with building up the KPD defense by Hans Beimler.

It should also be mentioned that Ulrich Schneider published a book full of facts and arguments about the often ignored workers’ resistance in the Third Reich with Papyrossa Publishing this year. This book should be read as a complement to the one presented here.

Ulrich Schneider: The “Antifascist World League” from 1923/24 in sources and documents. Neue Impulse Verlag, 234 pages, br., €16.80.