The challenges and complexities of anti-fascist politics in colonial Puerto Rico, 1935–1945

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores how and why the anti-fascist politics of the Partido Nacionalista de Puerto Rico (Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, PNPR), the Partido Popular Demócrata (Popular Democratic Party, PPD) and the Partido Comunista de Puerto Rico (Communist Party of Puerto Rican, PCPR) coincided with and differed from each other. It argues that each party’s understanding of anti-fascism corresponded to its political vision, goals, and program and its relation to other domestic and transnational forces. The colonial context and the disproportionate power the United States exercised over the archipelago greatly influenced how these parties understood and expressed anti-fascism, just as their formulation of anti-fascism reflected their positions on and relationships to the US government.