Class 2: Fascism and communist organizing

This class looks at some of the important communist responses to fascism and explores how communists have organized on the ground to fight and win against fascists. We begin with interwar Europe and international debates in communist party organizing but also discuss how Marxist-Leninists like the Black Panther Party understood fascism in the U.S. This provides us with some useful perspectives on various tactics, their relative successes and failures, and what this means for the present moment. Class materials: Clara Zetkin, “Resolution on fascism” (adopted on June 23, 1923 by the Third Enlarged Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International) https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1923/06/fascism-report-comintern.htm Georgi Dimitrov, “Unity of the working class against fascism” https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/dimitrov/works/1935/unity.htm The Black Panther, May 31, 1969 on “Fascism in America” https://www.marxists.org/history//usa/pubs/black-panther/03n06-may%2031%201969.pdf