The Meaning of World War II—An Anarchist View

12 Pages·2017·0.08 MB·English

by  Wayne Price

TheAnarchistLibrary
Anti-Copyright
The Meaning of World War
II—An Anarchist View
Wayne Price
WaynePrice
TheMeaningofWorldWarII—AnAnarchistView
June9th,2015
RetrievedonJune12th,2015from
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/28250
theanarchistlibrary.org June 9th, 2015

Contents
TheAxis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
TheWesternAllies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
TheSovietUnionandChina . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
PopularOppositiontotheAllies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
TheImperialistWarandthePeople’sWar . . . . . . . . . 12
Aftermath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
ProgramaticReactionstoWorldWarII . . . . . . . . . . 17
Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3

lyzingthewar,andthinkingthroughitsissues,mayhelptoprepare It is now 70 years since the end of the Second World War
revolutionaryanarchistsforpresentandfutureupheavals. (1939—1945). It is often referred to as the “Good War” or even
the “Last Good War.” The U.S. soldiers who fought it have been
called the “Greatest Generation.” Since wars are best seen as evils
References
unless proven otherwise, it is worth asking why World War II
has such a good reputation, and whether it deserves it. After all,
Dolgoff,Sam(1986).Fragments;AMemoir.London:RefractPub-
approximately 60 million people died around the world from that
lications.
war.
Drucker,Peter(1999).MaxShachtmanandHisLeft.AmherstNY:
I am going to argue that World WarII was not the “Good War,”
HumanityBooks/PrometheusBooks.
that it was a war between imperialist states fighting for global
Freedom Press (1989). World War—Cold War: Selections from
domination.Butitwasnot“nothingbut”aninter-imperialistwar—
War Commentary and Freedom 1939—1950. London: Freedom
not“simply”aninter-imperialistwar.Ithadseveralaspects,some
Press.
of which were worth supporting, and others which were not. Of
Gluckstein, Donny (2012). A People’s History of the Second
course,the war islong over.Butits effects arestill being felt,and
WorldWar;ResistanceversusEmpire.London:PlutoPress.
thinkingitthroughmayhelpustodealwithcurrentissues.
Mandel, Ernest (1986). The Meaning of the Second World War.
“WorldWarIIwasanimmenselypopularwar.TheentireAmer-
London:Verso.
ican left, with the exception of minuscule groups of pacifists and
Pernicone,Nunzio(2010).CarloTresca:PortraitofaRebel.Oak-
Trotskyists, enthusiastically supported it.” (Wald 1987; 195) (The
landCA:AKPress.
Communists were “antiwar” for the duration of the Hitler-Stalin
Price, Wayne (2013). The “Negro March on Washington” move-
pactof1939-1941.OnceGermanyattackedtheSovietUnion,they
mentintheWorldWarIIperiod.Anarkismo.
becamesuper-American-patriots—forthesakeoftheUSSR.)Inthis
http://www.anarkismo.net/article/24786?search_text=Wayn…Price
it differed from the First World War. In World War I, there was a
Hobson, Christopher Z., & Tabor, Ronald D. (1988). Trotskyism
significant Left minority which opposed it as an inter-imperialist
andtheDilemmaofSocialism.NY:GreenwoodPress.
conflict.IntheUS,EugeneDebswenttoprisonforspeakingagainst
Wald, Alan M. (1987). The New York Intellectuals: The Rise
the war. Among Marxists internationally, there were Luxemburg
and Decline of the Anti-Stalinist Left from the 1930s to the 1980s.
and Leibknecht, Lenin and Trotsky, and others who laid the basis
ChapelHillNC/London:UniversityofNorthCarolinaPress.
fortheCommunistInternational.Amonganarchists,afewpromi-
X, Malcolm (1999). The Autobiography of Malcolm X (ed. Alex
nentanarchistsagreedwithKropotkininferventlysupportingthe
Haley).NY:BallantineBooks.
Allies,butthebigmajorityrepudiatedthemandopposedthewhole
*writtenforwww.Anarkismo.net
war.
YetintheSecondWorldWar,oppositionontheLeftwastiny.It
wasdowntotheTrotskyists(asplinteroftheCommunists),liber-
tarianMarxists(“ultra-leftists”),someanarchists,andradicalpaci-
fists.Afewradicalsmightbesaidtohave“supportedthewar”only
20 5
in the sense of being in solidarity with the anti-fascist and demo- newspapers (Freedom Press 1989). Anarchists served in national
cratic aspects of its mass struggles—while still opposing the capi- resistances. For example, anarchist exiles from Spain participated
talismandimperialismofbothsides. intheFrenchanti-fascistwar.Koreananarchistsfoughtagainstthe
Japanesearmy.
IntheU.S.(whichwasnotimmediatelythreatenedwithoccupa-
The Axis
tion), revolutionaries did not sabotage the war effort or organize
draft resistance. But various Trotskyists, for example, played key
Themostobviousreasonforwide-spreadsupportforthewar,on
roles in the movement against the war-time “no strike” pledge
theLeftandfarbeyond,wasthenatureoftheAxispowers:mainly
in industry—in opposition to the Roosevelt administration, the
Germany,Italy,andJapan.UnliketheFirstWorldWar,therereally
union bureaucracies, and the (by now) super-jingoist Communist
was a qualitative difference between the two sides. As authoritar-
Party.OthersparticipatedintheMarchonWashingtonMovement
ianaswastheKaiser’sGermany,ithadanelectedparliament,with
against African-American segregation in the military and the
alargeSocialDemocraticparty.IntheSecondWorldWar,Hitler’s
armsindustry.SomewereinvolvedintheBringtheTroopsHome
Germany, the main Axis power, was also a product of capitalism
movement at the end of the war; the U.S. government wanted to
andthenationalstate.ButNazismwasthevilest,mostanti-human,
keep its military forces in Asia and Europe as long as possible to
political system ever created by human beings. Authoritarian po-
shore up its expanded empire. However, rank-and-file soldiers
licestateshadrepressedpeoplebutleftthemalonesolongasthey
organizedmassmeetingsandletter-writingcampaignstopressure
did not rebel against the government. Nazism was not merely au-
the government to demobilize them as quickly as possible (after
thoritarianbuttotalitarian,tryingtocontroleveryaspectofsocial
all, the war was over, wasn’t it?). This campaign had a significant
andpersonallifeunderitstwistedideology,fromchurchestochess
impact. Had U.S. anarchists existed in larger numbers and been
clubs. It smashed the unions and leftist parties, jailing and killing
better organized, they would no doubt have participated in such
thousands of workers and millions of people who did not fit into
struggles.
itspsychoticracialframework.
The German capitalist class had responded to the world eco-
nomic crisis of the ‘thirties by junking its capitalist democracy Conclusion
and putting the Nazis in power. Its rulers sought to revive its
capitalism through arms production and looting other countries. TheSecondWorldWarcreatedtheworldwenowlivein.Itsaf-
They dragooned large numbers of conquered workers for super- tereffects are still being felt, 70 years later. While very popular, it
exploited slave labor in German factories. They occupied old, wasaninter-imperialistwar,astruggleforworlddomination.But
well-established, nations and reduced them to colonies. Besides it was not only an imperialist war. It also included real struggles
exterminating millions of Jews, Romany (Gypsies), Gay men, againstfascism,fornationalindependence,democraticrights,and
physically disabled, and political opponents, the Nazi regime was thepossibilityofsocialistrevolution.Attheirbest,anarchistsand
planning‘ to exterminate tens of millions more in Eastern Europe. other revolutionary socialists looked for ways to be part of this
Its aim was not merely to expand its power but to replace Britain “people’s war,” in order to fight for international revolution. Ana-
6 19
donesia,andotherAsiancolonies.Yettheydidinsistoncomplete asthemajorworldpower,andtorepopulateEasternEuropewith
victory over the Axis powers. (For discussion and critique of the itsownpeople.
Trotskyists in World War II, see Hobson & Tabor 1988, and Wald OftheothertwomainAxisstates,Mussolini’sItalywasthefirst
1987.) toestablishfascism.BeingweakerthanGermany,itscapitalistes-
I do not have space for a discussion of how revolutionary so- tablishmenthadbeeneagertosaveitselffromeconomiccrisisand
cialists,includinganarchists,actedintheSecondWorldWar—that workingclassdiscontentbybringingtheFascistPartytopower.It
is,thosewhodidnotjustrejectbothsidesandhadnothingelseto soughttobuildanewempireinNorthAfricaandtheMiddleEast.
say,orthosewhosimplyendorsedtheAllies,becomingpatrioticre- Militarist,ImperialJapanhaditsownracistmythologybywhichit
formists.ButsomeradicalsagreedwiththegreatItalian-American justified itsbrutal conquestof Chinaand, ifit could,most ofAsia
anarchistandanti-fascistCarloTresca.Whileopenlystatinghisde- andthePacificnations.
sireforthevictoryoftheAlliesovertheAxis,hedeclaredthathe Beinglate-comerstotheimperialistdivisionoftheworld,these
woulddowhateverhecould“totransformthewarofinternational nations’ rulers had “no choice” (as imperialists) but to attack the
imperialism into an international civil war for social revolution— existing order—making them the “aggressors.” So Japan attacked
the only solution to world problems.” (Quoted in Pernicone 2010; China and then the U.S. at Pearl Harbor. Italy attacked Ethiopia.
251) Germany attacked Poland (setting off the war) and later attacked
Giventheaboveanalysis,itwasnecessaryforrevolutionariesto theSovietUnion(withwhomithadanonaggressionpact).Inthe
findwaystoparticipateinthewar,tobepartofthepopularstrug- end, the Axis did not have the forces to defeat the British empire,
gles, without giving political support to the governments waging the vast and populous Soviet Union, and the big and industrially
imperialistwars.Atleast,thisiswhattheyshouldhavetriedtodo. productiveU.S.A.,whilepopularresistancegrewineveryoccupied
“ThegenocidalpoliciesoftheGermangovernment…argue[d]for country. The victory of the Allies was highly probable from the
pursuing…a military bloc [with the Allies]…cooperating only to start—butnotinevitable(whichiswhytheyhadtofightawar).
the extent necessary to defeat Germany.” (Hobson & Tabor 1988;
447-9) This is “while working to spread opposition to the ‘Allied’
The Western Allies
powers’ imperialist aims, organizing the workers, peasants, and
otheroppressedpeopleasindependentlyoftheimperialistsaspos-
A lot of support for the Allies was based on their (bourgeois)
sible, and thus increasing the chances for successful revolution-
democracy.ThiswastrueofGreatBritain,theU.S.,and(beforebe-
ary uprisings at the close of the war.” (447) “In the colonial and
ingconquered),manyotherEuropeanstates.Theyhadelectedgov-
semi-colonialcountries….revolutionariesshouldhavebeenwilling
ernments, (relative) civil freedoms, the right to form labor unions
to maneuver among the imperialist powers, blocking now with
andworkers’parties,andsoon.Whatevertheirlimitationsunder
onecamp,nowwiththeother,takingadvantageofthetemporary
capitalism,thesedemocraticrightsmadearealdifferenceinwork-
weaknessesoftheimperialistrulerstoenablethecolonialpeoples
ers’livesandwerefardifferentfromwhatexistedunderfascism.
topresstheirownanti-imperialiststruggles.”(450-1)
However, these were still capitalist countries. In every one, a
Inactuality,anarchistsdidcarryoutsomevaluableactivities,of
small number of people, the capitalists (or bourgeoisie), without
varying sorts. British anarchists put out anti-imperialist/anti-war
18 7
anydemocraticcontroloverthem,ownedandcontrolledtheecon- evaluationofthevictorsofWorldWarII—ifanyonehadbeenhere
omy. They dominated the government and every other aspect of to make it.) Smaller wars were (and are) continuous. For the U.S.,
society. This fit the Marxist and anarchist view that even the best the main ones were the Korean and Vietnamese wars (until the
bourgeoisdemocracywasa“dictatorshipofthebourgeoisie.” mostrecentwars).
These capitalist democracies were imperialist states. There was The underlying problems of the world capitalist system were
nothing subtle about this for Great Britain, with its British em- not solved by the Second World War: trends to economic stagna-
pire literally “owning” many nations. It covering a quarter of the tionanddepression,failuretoindustrializethepoorernationsina
world—an empire “where the sun never sets and the blood never balancedfashion,realdemocraticself-government,endingwar(in-
dries.” In India, the British ruled more people than Nazi Germany cluding the continuing threat of nuclear war), ecological destruc-
conqueredatitsheight.TheFrenchempirehadtenpercentofthe tion,andsoon.Thesearestillwithus.
world.TheDutchandBelgiumempiresweresmalleryet,although
theDutch“owned”thelargenationofIndonesia.
Programatic Reactions to World War II
The U.S. only directly owned a few countries, such as Puerto
Rico and—at the time—the Philippines. Hawaii, where Pearl Har-
Gluckstein criticizes Trotsky for seeing “the Second World
bor was located, had been stolen from the Hawaiian government
War…as 100 percent imperialist….Trotsky argued that as an
by US marines, in the interest of the plantation owners. But the
imperialist war the Second World War should be opposed, but
U.S. used its domination of the international market to rule over
that it should be replaced by a people’s anti-fascist war….[He]
Latin America, only occasionally using direct military interven-
did not live to see that the two processes he discussed ran in
tion.Internally,theU.S.wasrottenwithwhiteracism.Thousands
parallel rather than being separated in time.” (2012; 6-7) (Many
of African-Americans lived under conditions of terror in the Jim
antiwar anarchists made the same error.) Aside from his wrong
CrowSouthandfacedwhiteraceriotsintheNorth.LoyalJapanese-
analysis of Stalinism, Trotsky (and the Trotskyists) made two
Americanswereputinconcentrationcampsforthedurationofthe
mistaken arguments against the war. One was that the capitalist
war.TheU.S.militarywasrigidlysegregated.
democracieswouldturnintofascist-likestatesbywagingthewar.
Duringthewar,astheNazisweregassingandburningmillions
TheotherwasthattheywouldcapitulatetotheAxis,thewaythe
of European Jews, the U.S. and Britain refused to open their bor-
French capitalists had. Therefore real socialist governments were
ders to let the Jews escape from Europe. They also rejected sug-
necessary. There was some truth to both of these arguments. The
gestions to bomb the death camps such as Auschwitz or the rail-
U.S. and British governments did get increasingly authoritarian,
roadsleadingtothem.Themotivationforthiscallousnesswasdue
laying the groundwork for today’s “national security state.” But
to anti-Semitic racism. Objectively, of course, the victory of the
theydidnotgiveupbourgeoispoliticaldemocracy.TheAlliesdid
Allies ended the mass murder. Had the Axis won, many millions
make deals with fascists in Spain, the French colonies, Greece,
more would have been turned into ashes. But so long as the war
and Italy—even with former Nazis once the Cold War began.
continued, the Allies were junior partners with the Nazis in the
Right after victory over Japan, the Allies used Japanese troops
Holocaust.
and administrators to control the people in Korea, Vietnam, In-
8 17
lutions.Therewererebellionsandupheavals,andageneralworld Despitecallingthemselves“democracies,”theAlliedstatesruled
swing to the left after the war. In Europe, there were successful vastnumbersofpeopleintheircolonies—peoplewhohadnomore
revolutions (led, alas, by Stalinists) in Yugoslavia and Albania— controlovertheirgovernmentsthandidthepeopleofGermanyor
establishing state capitalism. A revolution was crushed in Greece. Italy. This made the championing of “freedom” and “democracy”
Therewereworkers’rebellionsinItalyandFrance,keptwithinlim- sheer hypocrisy. Their real interests were to reconquer their em-
its by the Communist Parties (Stalin hoped the U.S. would leave pires and—in the case of the U.S.—to expand its empire, to take
his new East European empire alone if he did not challenge U.S.- overfromtheweakenedBritishandFrenchempires.
dominationofWesternEurope).BritainelectedaLabourPartygov-
ernmentwhichpassedsignificantreforms.TheU.S.haditslargest
The Soviet Union and China
strikewaveinitshistory.Chinahada(Stalinist-led,statecapitalist)
revolutionandIndiawonitsindependence.Thiswasthebeginning
Then there was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, ruled
ofdecadesofnationalliberationwarsandrevolutionsthroughout
by the despot Stalin. Around the world, millions had illusions in
thecolonialworld(the“ThirdWorld”).
the Soviet Union, believing that it was some sort of “socialism”
Yet all these rebellions and struggles were kept within capital-
(or “workers’ state” or the equivalent). It had the authority of the
istlimitsbytheirStalinist,socialdemocratic(pro-Westernreform
1917OctoberRussianrevolution,andtherealitythatprivate,stock-
socialist), liberal, and nationalist leaderships. During the war, the
owning, capitalism had been replaced by a collectivized, national-
Stalinistsandsocialdemocratshadtoldthepeopletotrusttheim-
ized, economy. Except for the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact, So-
perialistAllies,toregardthemasfriends,andnottochallengethem.
viet Russia had been an opponent of Nazi Germany. Anti-fascists
Thisapproachonlypreparedforthedefeatofthe“people’swars.”
wanted to think well of the Soviet Union, which caused them to
Thetotalitarian,state-capitalist,bureaucracyoftheSovietUnion
shuttheireyestoitsreality.
solidified its hold (contrary to the Trotskyists who were sure it
TheSovietUnionhadatotalitarianstatestructuresimilartoNazi
would fall apart after the war). The U.S. state reorganized world
Germany’s. It did not have share-holding, traditional, capitalists,
imperialism under its rule. Rather than a return to conditions of
but the bureaucracy ruled collectively, with absolute power. The
the pre-war Depression, the war resulted in an extended prosper-
workers and peasants had no democratic rights whatsoever and
ityintheU.S.andalliedimperialistnations.Thatlasteduntilabout
wereruthlesslyexploitedatworkandoppressedoutsideofit.This
1970.
wasstatecapitalism(becausetheworkerssoldtheirabilitytowork
Europeanfascismwasgone(exceptforSpainandPortugal)and
to the bureaucrats as commodities and the economy was driven
the non-Stalinist states restored bourgeois democracy in France,
toaccumulate).Yet,whiletherepressionwasruthless(murdering
Germany,Italyandelsewhere.Inter-imperialistconflictcontinued,
millions),unliketheNazisitdidnotkillvastnumbersfornoreason
asrevolutionarieshadsaiditwould.ButWorldWarIIwasnotfol-
atallexceptforbizarreracialphantasies.
lowedbyWorldWarIII,mainlybecausetheU.S.andSovietUnion’s
The Soviet Union was also an empire. The Russians ruled over
rulersrecoiledfrommutualnuclearsuicide.(Hadtherulersslipped
a set of nations oppressed within the USSR (including Ukraine,
intointernationalnuclearwar,theywouldhavedestroyedciviliza-
Kazakstan,andothers).Itexpandeditsempireinthecourseofthe
tion and perhaps life on earth. This would have justified a worse
16 9
war,comingtoruleoveralmostallofEasternEurope,uptoathird Orderwouldhavesurvivedforageneration[orlonger—WP]….The
ofGermany.ThisdefactoempireincludedPoland,whichisironic human race would have been losers, since anti-Nazi resistance
considering the war officially started because Germany attacked movements would have faced a stronger enemy.” (Drucker 1999;
Poland. 137-8) The Soviet Union’s soldiers and guerrilla partisans had
To whip up support from its people, the Stalinist state dropped everyreasontofighttheNazis.
itspseudo-socialistrhetoric,whichitspeopledidnottakeseriously ApartfromhisfalseviewofStalinism,Mandel,likeGluckstein,
any more, and pushed nationalist Russian propaganda. Their sol- seesWorldWarIIasbothawaramongtheimperialistpowersand
dierswerenottoldthattheywereliberatingGermanworkersfrom asjustifiablewar(s)oftheworkersandoppressedpeoplesfighting
theirNazirulersbutthattheyweredefendingtheRussianpeople for national liberation and democratic rights, in alliance with the
fromtheGermanhordes.Partlyasaresult,theconquestofeastern Alliesoragainstthem.
GermanybytheSovietUnion’sarmywasaccompaniedbyawave Aftertherepeateddefeatsoftheworkingclassinthe20sand30s,
ofmassrapesofGermanwomen. manyleftistsdecidedthat,bynow,ifthefascistpowersweregoing
Also on the Allied side was China. The Japanese military at- tobebeatenitcouldonlybethroughthearmedforcesoftheAllied
tackedandoccupiedChinainanextremelybrutalfashion,slaugh- states—likeitornot.Thiswasareasonableview.Butitledmostto
teringciviliansandcommittingmassrapes.Chinahadbeenanop- denytherealitythattheU.S.A.,GreatBritain,andtheSovietUnion
pressednation,dominated,divided,andexploitedbytheEuropean wereimperialist.(Inotherwords,becauseitwouldbebetterforthe
empires (with the U.S. demanding its right to also exploit China worldiftheAllieswonthewardidnotchangetheimperialistgoals
through its “Open Door” policy). Now it faced its worst national of the Allied governments—as many radicals seemed to assume it
oppression, by the Japanese imperialists. China was officially led did.)SobesidesbeinginsolidaritywiththeAlliedsoldiers,sailors,
by Chiang Kai-Shek’s corrupt and inefficient Nationalist govern- andarmamentworkers,mostleftistsalsogavepoliticalsupportto
ment,butthiswasinasemi-civilwarwithMao’sCommunistarmy. theimperialistgovernmentsandtheirmilitaryleaders.Theywere
Some other Asian and Pacific nations, such as Vietnam and the thenunpreparedforthereactionaryactsoftheAlliedgovernments
Philippines,alsodevelopedanti-Japaneseresistances. afterthewar,ascapitaliststateswerere-established.
Popular Opposition to the Allies Aftermath
It is obvious why so many supported the Allies as the “good The world war ended with the complete defeat of the Axis em-
guys”inWorldWarII.But,toacertainextent,toseethewarasthe pires and the victory of the U.S. as the new world hegemon. The
“Good War”is a Euro-centricview.Millions of people throughout main goal of U.S. rulers had been to become the dominant world
the world detested the European and US empires. They were glad power,replacingthedecliningBritishempire,aswellasthelesser
to see these empires defeated. They were impressed by the defeat Europeanempires.Thiswasachieved.
ofthewhiteimperialistsbytheJapanese—PeopleofColor.Ifthey Revolutionary socialists, including anarchists, had hoped that
didnotsupporttheAxis,theywereatleastneutralinthewar. the war would culminate in opportunities for anti-capitalist revo-
10 15