‘It warns us also against allowing fascism a foothold anywhere, under the mistaken hope that it will destroy itself. Fascism will undoubtedly destroy itself in the end; but not without taking whole civilizations to disaster in its destruction. Thus the mistakes of the labor forces before the advent of fascism are a warning, and the heroism of the underground movement after fascism’s rise to power is an inspiring fact. We are warned and inspired. We are warned against mistakes which lead to such fatal consequences and inspired to carry forward the fight against fascism.’

Evelyn Lend was the pseudonym of Evelyn Anderson, a member of the KPD in the 1920s and leading member of the Leninist Organisation and Neu Beginnen in the 1930s. During the mid-1930s Reinhold Niebuhr was a leading member of the Socialist Party’s ‘Militant’ faction.

The Underground Struggle in Germany by Evelyn Lend. Foreword by Reinhold Niebuhr. Published by the League for Industrial Democracy, New York. 1939.

Contents: Foreword by Reinhold Niebuhr, Background, Breakdown of the Large Movements, First Clandestine Organizations, Development of Underground Work Autumn 1933 till June 1934, Development of Underground Work Summer 1934, till Spring 1936, Development of Underground Work Spring 1936 till Winter 1937, Problems and Prospects, News From Nowhere: Excerpts from Underground Reports. 68 pages.

The League for Industrial Democracy (LID) was the successor to the Intercollegiate Socialist Society. Founded in 1921 to provide ‘Education for a New Social Order Based on Production for Public Use and Not for Private Profit’ many of its activists were around the Socialist Party. In 1922 ‘Socialist Review’ developed into ‘Labor Age’ and Norman Thomas became director. Some of its leading members would go on to form the Conference for Progressive Labor Action in 1929 led by A.J. Muste. The LID produced a number of important pamphlets and studies through their Labor Publication Society and throughout much of the 1930s served as the base for the ‘Militant’ faction of the SP.

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