@ Marv: Yes, the SWP (and the RCP in the UK) *realized* their former position was not quite out of date given the turn in politics after Pearl Harbor. So the anti-war line was dropped completely. What remained and is important, is their analysis did not change. They correctly viewed this as an Imperialist War albeit one side was particularly aiming all of this at the USSR. They realized that 95% of the working class wanted to fight Fascism and because of this came up with the Proletarian Military Policy which meant organizing in the army (in the SWP case this meant the navy). The CP also developed something similar organizing in the army in Europe but of course didn't really moblize at the end of the war to bring the troops home. The PMP meant approaching the armed forces as workers in uniform and tried to protect...almost impossibly...the rights of soldiers at different levels. In Britain it mean Trotskyists joined the Home Guard...and anti-German invasion force made up of civilians and veterans of WW1. The SWP did not organize against Lend-Lease, to my knowledge or to prevent troops from going to war in Asia or Germany but I haven't looked over all the issues of their paper, The Militant , on this for a long time.
@Mark B.: in this sense as I explained the PMP above the did in a way change the *rhetoric* to something akin to the consiousness of the US working class but kept their analysis more or less the same. @ Duane: How is that comment helpful? Actually the reversal of fortunes for the Wehrmacht was was earlier, in February of 1943 when the Battle of Stalingrad was finished with a victory for the Red Army. Kursk came in July, I think of that year so a little later, almost 6 months. So, and I have discussed this here before: Western socialists who dabble in WWII history always without fail underestimate the importance of not only Allied military aid to the USSR but also the significance of the "2nd Front" as the Russians called it, that is the hoped for U.S. invasion of Europe. This didn't start on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) but on July 9 of a year earlier in 1943 (the same month as the Battle of Kursk you mentioned), with the invasion of Sicily. This meant an entire relocation of troops from the Atlantic War and occupied France to stiffen German resistance there. Which brings up Rommel's "Atlantic Wall". For whatever reason, it wasn't the Red Army the Germans feared as much as the allied invasion...though by the time of D-Day the Red Army has pushed the Germans almost into Poland. Thus, 12% of the entire Germany army was concentrated in France and the low countries. After the invasion of Italy, the best of the Wehrmacht's Panzer divisions were brought to France from the Eastern Front. Obviously this was idiotic in hindsight on the part of the Germans but it was what it was. So, Duane, ask yourself this: what would of happened had Hitler's wet dream of Western neutrality (and the position of non-intervention poised by Trotskyists of the day) came about? That would of meant all those lovely Packard trucks carrying Russian Katusha rockets we see in the newsreels not being there. Or, perhaps the millions of wool uniforms for the Red Army provided by Lend-Lease? What would of happened with that 12% of the best of German Fascist army instead of sitting out of harms way in France were turned around to face the Red Army? Because that is what "victory" for the anti-war forces in the West would of meant. I'm GLAD of the Allied victory in Europe as the alternative was far worse to contemplate. David -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. View/Reply Online (#32790): https://groups.io/g/marxmail/message/32790 Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/108801645/21656 -=-=- POSTING RULES & NOTES #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. #4 Do not exceed five posts a day. -=-=- Group Owner: marxmail+ow...@groups.io Unsubscribe: https://groups.io/g/marxmail/leave/13617172/21656/1316126222/xyzzy [arch...@mail-archive.com] -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
