ABSTRACT
Communists argued that a defensive alliance between Britain, France and the USSR was both necessary and sufficient to contain Fascism. But the party’s anti-Fascism and related ‘real united front’ activities now became a positive asset providing many new recruits with a powerful motive for joining. In April 1938 the Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) Executive issued a Circular requesting all branches to support Voluntary Industrial Action for Spain a ‘real united front’ initiative in which AEU Party activists were playing an important part. The Unity Campaign’s disintegration left the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) alone in pursuing its goal of a popular manifestation for the ‘real united front’. The Party Centre had envisaged them as providing the spark to fuel the flames of the putative ‘people’s united front’ and also to assist the growth of the CPGB into a mass organization.
