Fascism and Social Revolution

The issue of a second edition of this book provides the opportunity for a short note on the development of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in the six months since May 1934. The outstanding development in the world of Fascism during this period has been the signs of the first stages of a gathering crisis of Fascism—most sharply expressed in the events of June 30 in Germany, but also reflected in the desperate murder-coup fiasco against Dollfuss on July 25, in the extreme German-Italian war-tension, and in the Arpinati episode in Italy, and still further reflected (in the countries not yet conquered by Fascism) in the setback to the Fascist advance in France during the months immediately succeeding the February offensive, in the setback to Mosley in Britain as shown by Olympia and Hyde Park and by the formal disassociation of Rothermere from Mosley, and in the strength of the Spanish workers’ resistance to Fascism. While it would be a mistake to exaggerate the significance of particular events and fluctuations in a long-drawn and profound world-conflict, it is evident that there has been during this period an increase in the inner contradictions and difficulties of Fascism and an awakening and gathering of the mass forces of resistance to Fascism. —From the Preface Read more