'The Dark Millions in the Colonies are Unavenged': Anti-Fascism and Anti-Imperialism in the 1930s. (14th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: BUCHANAN, TOM
• Is Part Of: Contemporary European history. Volume 25:Number 4(2016:Nov.)
• Page Start: 645
• Page End: 665
• Publication Date: 2016-10-14
• Subjects: Europe -- History -- 1945- -- Periodicals; 940.5
• DOI: 10.1017/S0960777316000394
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0960-7773

Abstract

Abstract : The quotation in this title expresses a dilemma, as the 'dark millions' were likely to remain 'unavenged' so long as authors were asked to take sides on the Spanish Civil War rather than colonial oppression. Indeed, anti-fascism might well be thought of as, in a sense, antithetical to anti-imperialism. This article explores the relationship between anti-fascism and anti-imperialism, focusing on Britain and France. The first part looks at anti-imperialism in the era of the Popular Front; the second looks at how the tensions between anti-fascism and anti-imperialism were played out in the case of the major conflicts of the later 1930s in Abyssinia, Spain and China; the third discusses the imperialist assumptions of many anti-fascists. The article concludes by looking at the early phase of the Second World War.