I WAS SURPRISED and disappointed at the publication of Facing Fascism in Europe, a book review by Bill Smaldone in ATC 84. It is impossible to indicate all the review’s errors and distortions in a letter; but two points need to be made.
First, Smaldone seems to be totally ignorant of the important and considerable writings of Leon Trotsky on the struggle against fascism. And second, he seems to think there was no significant difference between the Communist International under the leadership of Lenin and the Communist International under Stalin, other than a few policy changes.
As a result there is no hint of the role of Communists in Spain who killed Trotskyist and Anarchist anti-fascist fighters. Your readers deserve better than that.
ATC 86, May-June 2000