ABSTRACT
Between 1930 and 1935, the Caribbean Bureau of the Comintern, the intermediary agency for communist internationalism in the Caribbean Basin, outlined a new political and cultural framework for radical activity in the region. Fascism was to Europe what Imperialism was to Latin America and the Caribbean: militarism, ruthless repression, and dictatorship. This subliminal mental formula related to iniquity at both sides of the Atlantic provided an infrastructure for united-front, anti-fascist initiatives in the hemisphere later on. This chapter examines the evolution of the Caribbean Bureau's anti-war effort in the Caribbean Basin, and identifies several elements that distinguished its activity throughout the first half of the 1930s. The discussion underscores the role of Comintern-supported, anti-imperialist initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean before 1935 as an inadvertent testing ground for future anti-fascist propaganda campaigns during the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War at both sides of the Atlantic. It also focuses on the development of a mental conveyer belt for ideas that subliminally equated the heinous nature of imperialism to that of fascism. Organised as a culturally recognisable set of icons related to injustice and violence, the formula contributed to the local populations’ understanding of fascism as evil, and promoted the public's support for future anti-fascist campaigns beyond ideological lines.
