After Munich: The United Front of the International Proletariat and of the Peoples Against Fascism

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The United Front of the International Proletariat and of the Peoples Against Fascism
The Twenty-First Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution (Manifesto of the Communist International, November 7, 1938)

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THE UNITED FRONT OF THE INTERNATI ONAL PROLETARIAT AND OF THE PEOPLES AGAINST FASCISM by GEORGI DIMITROFF also

THE TWENTY-FI RST ANNIVERSA RY

OF THE GREAT OCTOBER SOCIALIST REVOLUTIO N (Manifesto of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, Nove1nber 7, 1938)

NEW YORK

WORKERS LIBRARY PUBLISHER S

The basis of this pamphlet is the author's article t'United Front Against Fascism,'' published on November 7, 1938, in Pravda, cen·tral organ of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union on the occasion of the Twenty-First Anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. G. D.

PUBLISHE D BY WORKERS LmRARY PUBLISHE RS, INC. P. O. BOX

148,

STATION D, NEW YORK, N. Y.

JANUARY ,

1939

PRIN.fED IN THE U.S.A.

TH E UN ITE D FRONT OF TH E INT ERN AT ION AL PROLETARIAT AN D OF TH E PEOPLES AGAINST FASCISM By GEORGI DIMITROFF

I. T TH E time when the Soviet people, free d from capitalist ,_ slavery, celebrates the twenty-first anniversary of the grea t socialist revolution which inflicted a crus hing blow on the first wor ld imper-ialist war, millions of people in the capitalist countries are falling victim to sang uina ry fascist brigandage. The fascist misci:eants are driv ing man kind ever deeper into the abyss of a new imperialist war. Lon g before the present events, Com rade Stal in repeatedly utte red the war ning that the fascist governments were prep aring a new imperialist carnage. In Janu ary, 1934, from the tribu ne of the Seventeenth Congress of the C.P .S.U ., Com rade Stal in declared: ctAgain as in 1914 the parties of bellicose imperialism, the parties of war and revanche are coming into the foreground. ''Qu ite clearly things are moving towards a new war. ''* *Sta lin, Repo rt to the Seve ntee nth Congress of the C.P.S.U., in Socialism Victorious, p. 10, Inter na·tional Publishers, New York .

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Subsequently, on March 1, 1936, in a talk with Roy Howard, Comrade Stalin stated: •

''In my opin ion there are two seats of war dang er. The first is in the Far East , in the zone of Japa n. I ·have in mind the n11merous statements. mad e by Japa nese military men cont ainin g threats agai nst othe r powers. The second sea·t· is in the zone of Germ any..... At pres ent the Far East ern seat of dang er reveals the greatest activity. How ever , the cent er of this dang er may shift to Euro pe.'' * •

In August, 1935, the Seventh Congress of the Communist Inte~national, guided by Comrade Stalin's Marxist-Leninist analysis of the international situation, characterized the plans of plunder of German fascism in the following way: ctThe

adve nturi st plan s of ·t he Germ an fascists are very farreaching and coun t on a war of revenge against France, dismemberm ent of Czechoslovakia, annexation of Aust ria, .destruction of the independence of the Baltic states, which they are striv ing to conv ert into a base for attac k on the Soviet Unio n, and the wresting of the Sovi et Uk~aine from t·h e U.S. S.R. T ·h ey are dem andi ng colonies and are endeavoring to stir up senti men t in favo r of a worl d war for a new repa rtitio n of the worl d.''* *

The entire course of events has shown how correct the Communists were when they sounded the alarm regarding the oncoming danger of war and issued the tlin.ely call to the working people to resist fascism on the basis of a united people's front. In 1935 Italy attacked Ethiopia. Fascist Germany, in its *Th e Stal.in-Howard !nterview, p. 5, Inter natio nal P.ublishers,

New York .

**Resolutions of the Se'Yenth Congress of the Communist International, p. 41, Wor kers Libr ary Pu,blishers, New York . 4 •

turn, arbitrar ily tore up the Versailles Treaty, introduc ed conscription, militarized the Rhinela nd and transfor med it into a military base from which to strike a blow at France. Then it forcibly occupied Austria , seized the Sudeten land, took possession of all the military-strategic .positions of Czechoslovakia, achieved its dismemberment in the endeavor to transfor m Czechoslovakia into its virtual colony. In the summ~r of 1936, the ruling circles of German y and Italy, having first provoked a fascist putsch in Spain, organized anr1ed intervention against the Spanish republic. They drafted their regular troops and an enormous quantity of military equipment to Spain and dispatched their navies to blockade the Spanish republic, and to secure their domination in the Medit.erranean. For two years Italian airmen and German artillery men have been reducin g Spanish towns to ruins, slaughte ring Spanish women and children, drenching with blood the soil of the Spanish people, whose only wish is to he masters of their -0wn home. A no less nefarious war for the conquest of China is being waged by the Japa.nese fascist militarists in the Far East against the Chi11ese people fighting for its indepe11dence . ..

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''All these facts go to show that the second imperial isr war has in fact already begun. It ·has begun surreptiti ously, without war being declared. States and peoples have somehow impercepti'bly crept into the orbit of the second imperialist war. War has been begun in different parts of the globe by three aggressive states the fascist ruling circles of Germany , Italy and Japan. War is being waged over a tremendo us expanse from Gibralta r to Shangha i. Wa,r has already succeeded in drawing over :five hundred million people into its orbit. In the las·t analysis it is being ·waged against the capitalist interests of Britain, France, the U.S.A., since its object i~ to secure ·t he repartition of the world and of spheres of influence to the advan..

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tage of the aggressive countries and at the expense of these ·so-called -d emocrati c states. ''The distinctive feat·u re of the second imperialist wa·r is, for the time being, that it is being waged and aevelope d by the aggressive powers, while the other powers, the