The Venezuelan Left in the Era of the Popular Front, 1936–45
the hope of isolating the fascist movement which was then in the ascendant throughout the world. Their strategy was to create coalitions ('popular fronts') of progressive groupings on the basis of a reformist program and anti-fascist rhetoric. This conciliatory position towards the rest of the left represented a sharp departure from the policy of previous years when Communists frequently denounced their leftist rivals as ' social fascists '.1 In various western hemispheric nations, Communist Parties translated popular frontism into support for moderate pro-Ally governments. Thus, in Cuba they lauded Fulgencio Batista; in Venezuela, Isaias Medina Angarita; in Chile, the Radical-led 'Popular Front'; even in the United States they heaped praise upon the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ironically, relations between the Communist and non-Communist left in these nations