Anti-Fascism, Gender, and International Communism: The Comité Mondial des Femmes contre la Guerre et le Fascisme, 1934–1941

217 Pages·2022·4.056 MB·English

by  Jasmine Calver

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THE COMITÉ MONDIAL DES FEMMES CONTRE LA GUERRE
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ET LE FASCISME, 1934–1941
Jasmine Calver
Anti-Fascism, Gender, and
International Communism
Anti-Fascism, Gender, and International Communism provides a comprehen-
sive history of the Comité mondial des femmes contre la guerre et le fascisme
(CMF), an international women’s organisation concerned with confronting
the impact of fascism on women and children across the globe.
Women played an essential role in the international struggle against
fascism during the interwar period, although a focus on the efforts of
men and political figures by the historiography has largely overshadowed
women’s interventions against right-wing dictatorships. Through an exam-
ination of the committee’s key figures, strategies, connections, and cam-
paigns, this book offers a significant contribution to the histories of both
women’s activism and anti-fascist activism by positioning the CMF as an
important contributor to international political advocacy in the interwar
period. Further, the group’s association with international communism and
the burgeoning Popular Front movement placed the CMF at the forefront
of global debates about the threat posed by fascism and imperialism. This
book explores how the professional women activists and the working-class
women who populated the organisation developed a committee which advo-
cated for women on a global scale. It charts how the CMF utilised a variety
of physical spaces and literary formats to co-ordinate anti-fascist actions
through its expansive and ambitious campaigns. The author also demon-
strates the close connections between the Communist International and the
CMF as a communist front organisation, to provide context for the group’s
decision-making and prioritisation of certain campaigns over others.
This book will be of interest to scholars of anti-fascism, feminism,
women’s history, communism, activism, internationalism, anti- imperialism,
and French history.
Jasmine Calver is a Tutor at the University of Sunderland, UK.
Routledge Studies in Fascism and the Far Right
Series editors:
Nigel Copsey, Teesside University, UK and Graham Macklin, Center for
Research on Extremism (C-REX), University of Oslo, Norway.
This book series focuses upon national, transnational and global manifesta-
tions of fascist, far right and right-wing politics primarily within a historical
context but also drawing on insights and approaches from other discipli-
nary perspectives. Its scope also includes anti-fascism, radical-right pop-
ulism, extreme-right violence and terrorism, cultural manifestations of the
far right, and points of convergence and exchange with the mainstream and
traditional right.
Titles include:
The Fascist Faith Of Romania’s Legion “Archangel Michael”
in Romania, 1927–41
Martyrdom To National Purification
Constantin Iordachi
Nordic Fascism
Fragments of an Entangled History
Edited by Nicola Karcher and Markus Lundström
Foreign Fighters in the Ukraine
Kacper Rękawek
The Nature of Identitarianism
Göran Dahl
Nazi Occultism
Between the SS and Esotericism
Stéphane François
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/
Routledge-Studies-in-Fascism-and-the-Far-Right/book-series/FFR
Anti-Fascism, Gender, and
International Communism
The Comité Mondial des
Femmes contre la Guerre
et le Fascisme, 1934–1941
Jasmine Calver
First published 2023
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group,
an informa business
© 2023 Jasmine Calver
The right of Jasmine Calver to be identified as author of this work has
been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record has been requested for this book
ISBN: 978-0-367-72048-3 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-72144-2 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-15363-4 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003153634
Typeset in Times New Roman
by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd.
For my grandparents, Brenda and John,
Pat and Bob.

Contents
List of Tables ix
Acknowledgements x
List of Abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
Communist Conceptions of Fascism, 1922–1935 2
The Amsterdam-Pleyel Movement 6
1 The Women of the Comité Mondial des Femmes Contre la
Guerre et le Fascisme 14
Experimentations and Engagements with Communism 16
Conceptions of Anti-Fascism 21
National and International Activist Connections 22
Conclusion 28
2 Sites of Anti-Fascist Collaboration and Exchange:
CMF Congresses 37
Congress Appeals 38
Delegate Composition 44
The Communist Character of the Congresses 53
Speeches 57
Conclusion 64
3 The Comité mondial des femmes contre la guerre et
le fascisme, the Soviet Union, and the Comintern 70
Personal Communications between the Comité and Soviet
Women 71
Anti-Fascist Women as Political Tourists 75
Conclusion 86
viii Contents
4 The European Campaigns of the Comité mondial des femmes
contre la guerre et le fascisme 90
Mujeres and Milicianas: The Spanish Civil War
Campaign 91
‘The Return of the Housewife’: Campaigns against the Nazi
Party’s Policies on Women 102
Conclusion 113
5 The Global Campaigns of the Comité mondial des femmes
Contre la Guerre et le fascisme 118
‘The Long, Endless Ordeal of Our Mothers’: Feminine
Approaches to the Italian Invasion of Abyssinia 118
‘To-day China Is Near Us and So Are Her People’:
Responses to the Humanitarian Crises of the
Second Sino-Japanese War 131
Conclusion 143
6 Campaigning on a National Scale 149
Universal Suffrage in France 150
Women’s Right to Work 153
Women’s Reproductive Rights 160
Conclusion 161
7 Traditional Femininity as a Tool of Women’s Emancipation 165
Advice for the Self 166
Advice for Women as Mothers 172
Conclusion 175
Conclusion 178
Appendix: The CMF’s Political Action Plan
for Spain, 1936/1937 183
Bibliography 186
Index 199
List of Tables
0.1 Composition of the Amsterdam congress against Imperialist
War, 1932 7
0.2 Composition of the Pleyel European Workers’ Anti-Fascist
Congress, 1933 8
2.1 National composition of CMF congress delegates
(Paris, 1934) 46
2.2 Social composition of CMF congress delegates
(Paris, 1934) 50
2.3 Political composition of CMF congress delegates
(Paris, 1934) 52