The American League Against War and Fascism was an organization formed in 1933 by the

Communist Party USA The Communist Party USA, officially the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), is a communist party in the United States which was established in 1919 after a split in the Socialist Party of America following the Russian Revo ...

and

pacifists Pacifism is the opposition or resistance to war, militarism (including conscription and mandatory military service) or violence. Pacifists generally reject theories of Just War. The word ''pacifism'' was coined by the French peace campaigne ...

united by their concern as Nazism and Fascism rose in Europe. In 1937 the name of the group was changed to the American League for Peace and Democracy. Rev. Dr.

Harry F. Ward Harry Frederick Ward Jr. (15 October 1873 – 9 December 1966) was an English-born American Methodist minister and political activist who identified himself with the movement for Christian socialism, best remembered as first national chairman of t ...

headed the organization.

Organizational history

Formation

The American League Against War and Fascism, though it attempted to attract as broad a following as possible and included members of the Roosevelt administration, was based primarily in the working class and its leadership was largely socialist and communist. By 1937, its Communist Party members boasted that 30 percent of the entire organized labor movement was represented in the League, and labor delegates occupied 413 of the 1416 seats at the national convention. Afro-Americans were also well represented in both the leadership and rank-and-file delegates.

1937 name change

In 1937 the organization changed its name to the American League for Peace and Democracy.

Helen Silvermaster Helen P. Silvermaster (July 19, 1899 — December 22, 1991) was an accused Soviet spy. Biography Elena Witte was born in 1899 in the Russian Empire. Her father, Baron Peter Witte, was a counselor to Tsar Nikolai II and acted as an advisor to the ...

was associated with this group.Nathan Silvermaster Group
''Investigation reports'', FBI

Dissolution

The League dissolved after the 1939 signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, a non-aggression treaty between Josef Stalin's Soviet Union and Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany that ended the CPUSA's anti-Hitler activity until the 1941 Nazi invasion of the USSR, discouraged its non-communist members.Harvey Klehr, John Earl Haynes, and Fridrikh Igorevich Firsov, ''The Secret World of American Communism''. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995, pgs. 10-11 Its communist elements then influenced the founding of the

American Peace Mobilization The American Peace Mobilization (APM) was a peace group established in 1940 to oppose American aid to the Allies in World War II before the United States entered the war. It was officially cited in 1947 by United States Attorney General Tom C. Cla ...

front to lobby against American help for the Allies, particular the United Kingdom under Prime Minister

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

, in their struggle against Hitler in the opening years of World War II.

Members

Leaders included Rev.

. Members included

Elizabeth Bentley Elizabeth Terrill Bentley (January 1, 1908 – December 3, 1963) was an American spy and member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA). She served the Soviet Union from 1938 to 1945 until she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligenc ...

(later Soviet spy, later FBI informant).

Publications

The League produced a monthly broadsheet entitled '' FIGHT Against War and Fascism'', published in New York City under the editorship of Liston M. Oak.

Footnotes

External links

Communists Discover the Churches
*
Proceedings: fourth national congress, People's congress for democracy and peace, Pittsburgh, Nov. 26–28, 1937
' {{Authority control 1933 establishments in the United States Communist Party USA mass organizations Peace organizations based in the United States Organizations established in 1933