William J. Chase – författare

Across western Eurasia in the 1930s, Marxists developed, and disagreed on, the best methods to combat fascism. The literatures on this period are vast but rarely do they intersect, primarily because many studies stay within tight national or political boundaries.Conversely, The Many Faces of Antifascism explores the social and cultural reality of the interwar antifascist movement through a series of transnational micro-histories, foregrounding contingency and militants' lived experiences. Focusing simultaneously on the Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, France, England, and Spain, the book examines anew the incidents that spurred the division of Marxist antifascists, the fragmentation of the Popular Front, and the melding of antifascism and anti-communism in the late 1930s. In addition to the unique geographical and methodological foci of this synchronous transnational analysis, the book draws on and reproduces a range of unused sources. This wide-ranging approach allows the authors to unearth the diverse political practices of various Marxist parties as well as the importance of friendship, love, and trust that held together the members of intensely competing political groups that were often wracked by pervasive suspicion, distrust, and the fear of betrayal.

Across western Eurasia in the 1930s, Marxists developed, and disagreed on, the best methods to combat fascism. The literatures on this period are vast but rarely do they intersect, primarily because many studies stay within tight national or political boundaries.Conversely, The Many Faces of Antifascism explores the social and cultural reality of the interwar antifascist movement through a series of transnational micro-histories, foregrounding contingency and militants' lived experiences. Focusing simultaneously on the Soviet Union, Germany, Austria, France, England, and Spain, the book examines anew the incidents that spurred the division of Marxist antifascists, the fragmentation of the Popular Front, and the melding of antifascism and anti-communism in the late 1930s. In addition to the unique geographical and methodological foci of this synchronous transnational analysis, the book draws on and reproduces a range of unused sources. This wide-ranging approach allows the authors to unearth the diverse political practices of various Marxist parties as well as the importance of friendship, love, and trust that held together the members of intensely competing political groups that were often wracked by pervasive suspicion, distrust, and the fear of betrayal.

This compelling work of documentary history tells a story of idealism betrayed, a story of how the Comintern (Communist International), an organization established by Lenin in 1919 to direct and assist revolutionary movements throughout the world, participated in and was ultimately destroyed by the Stalinist repression in the late 1930s. Presenting and drawing on recently declassified archival documents, William J. Chase analyzes the Comintern’s roles as agent, instrument, and victim of terror.In both principle and practice, the Comintern was an international organization, with a staff that consisted primarily of Communist émigrés who had fled dictatorial regimes in Europe and Asia. It was, however, headquartered in Moscow and controlled by Soviet leaders. This book examines the rise of suspicions and xenophobia among Soviet and Comintern leaders and cadres for whom many foreigners were no longer the heroes of the class struggle but rather possible enemy agents. Some Comintern members internalized and acted on Stalin’s theories about the infiltration of foreign spies into Soviet society, supplying the Soviet police with information that led to the exile or execution of imigris. Thousands of other imigris also became victims of the purges. Together the text and documents of this book convey graphically the essential roles played by the Comintern, providing a unique perspective on the era of Stalinist repression and terror.