refuse_resist
28th June 2005, 23:37
Commemorating the Victory over Fascism
By REDMOND GUERRERO
On May 8, sixty years ago, the European theatre of the bloodiest war that human history has ever witnessed ended with the unconditional surrender of the fascist German Reich to Allied forces. Three months and two days later, on August 10, 1945, the Pacific theatre of that war would officially end with the unconditional surrender of the fascist Japanese Empire to Allied forces. Fighting would continue to some extent until September 16, over a month later, when Japanese imperial army forces in Hong Kong would surrender.
The official narrative of this war in the heartland of Anglo-American imperialism, peddled year after year through its textbooks, televisions, broadcasts, movies, etc., is that World War II was a war by the democratic U.S. and Britain and others to free Europe and Asia from fascist Germany and Japan while saving European Jewry from the uniquely genocidal Nazi regime. Concurrent with this narrative about World War II is another narrative that the U.S. and its junior partner, the U.K., are bringers of democracy, with Israel the bastion of democracy in an otherwise undemocratic Middle East. Both narratives, closely connected in their purpose, falsify the facts.
This part of this narrative is true: 1) the U.S. and the UK did fight the German Reich and the Japanese empire; 2) the Nazis did murder around 6 million European Jews, and 3) the U.S. and also the U.K. are protectors of Israel. Pretty much everything else about both narratives is false. That the U.S. and the UK played the key role in defeating the German Reich and the Japanese Empire is false. That the U.S. and the U.K. is a bringer of democracy is also false. And that Israel is a bastion of democracy in an otherwise undemocratic Middle East is also false.
Here are the facts of which we should never forget.
The European War
The U.S.S.R. played the key role in defeating the German Reich. The bulk of the German Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS were stationed in the Eastern front fighting a genocidal war to destroy the Soviet republic. Nazi's best-trained soldiers, most of its armour, artillery and aircraft, munitions, etc. and the majority of its sociopathic killers, were in the East fighting the Red Army, and murdering Slavs, Jews, Roma, and others. It was the Red Army that broke the back of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Waffen SS. Furthermore, despite the repeated pleading of the Soviet government for the U.S. and the UK to invade the occupied West to relieve the Eastern front of pressure, the U.S. and U.K. delayed the invasion of Europe hoping that the Nazis and the Soviets would eventually exhaust themselves so as to leave all of Europe to their pickings. Only when it became clear that the Red Army was destroying the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Waffen SS was D-day undertaken. Even then, the U.S. and UK fought only units of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Waffen SS that had been decimated in the Eastern front and which had been sent to the West for recovery. As a result, the U.S.S.R. had combatant casualties of over eight million and civilian casualties of over 30 million. This 38 million plus people is the largest losses from war by any country and it is due to the sacrifices of these people that Nazi Germany was defeated. Last, even in terms of resistance to Germany in occupied Europe, whether in the east or in the west, it was largely undertaken by leftist resistance fighters.
The Pacific War
Even in the Pacific war, it was not the U.S. and U.K. that did most of the fighting. With respect to the naval battles, the U.S. did do the bulk of the fighting. However, most of the Pacific war was not actually fought on the islands of the Pacific or by naval fleets. It was fought largely in China. Here, it was the People's Liberation Army under the Communist Party of China, then led by Mao Zedong, that did most of the .fighting against the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Army. The U.S. and UK basically fought only outposts and smaller units of the Japanese Imperial Army. As a result, China suffered a loss of 2.2 million combatants and 10 million civilians. Again it was Communist China with the help of the U.S.S.R. that largely defeated Japanese fascism. Even as far as resistance to Japanese occupation in the other countries of the Pacific, it was largely undertaken by Communist or nationalist and anti-imperialist guerrillas!
The total casualties on the U.S. and UK side were only 683,000 while those on the U.S.S.R. and China side were over 52 million. In other words the casualties of the U.S.S.R. and China combined were 100 times greater that the casualties of the U.S. and UK combined. With all due respect to our veterans and their sacrifices, it is pretty clear that they were merely engaged in a minor supportive role in the heroic defeat of German and Japanese fascism. It was the U.S.S.R. and communist forces in China that defeated German and Japanese fascism.
Saving European Jewry
That the U.S. and U.K. delayed opening a second front for two years, on that we can lay the blame for the war in Europe lasting longer than it should have. That it lasted longer that it should have surely resulted in greater deaths of Jews and Roma at the hands of the Nazis. In other words, the cynical move by the U.S. and UK in delaying opening a second front against Germany by two years is part of the reason why the Nazis were given so much time to murder Jews and Roma. Part of the blame then for the murder of six million Jews and 400 thousand Roma lay with the U.S. and UK. Add to this point that the U.S. forced back to their death thousands of Jews who had escaped from the Nazis by ship. Finally, it was the U.S.S.R. that set up in its far eastern territories a homeland for Jews so that they could escape from German fascism and it was the Red Army that liberated survivors in the Nazi death camps and concentration camps. In other words, it was not the U.S. or the U.K. which saved European Jewry but the U.S.S.R.
In relation to this, let us note that it was only the U.S.S.R. that vigorously prosecuted war criminals. For its part, the U.S. helped many Nazis implicated in the extermination of Jews to escape to South America in return for helping them against the U.S.S.R.!
Liberation of the Colonies
One of the effects of the Second World War was the spread of national liberation in the oppressed nations. What is not well-known is how much the Allies, minus the U.S.S.R., actually resisted this progressive development. The U.S., UK, France, and the Netherlands not only attacked at the end of WWII the communist or nationalist-led liberation forces in South East Asia and Pacific, they even went so far as to rearm Japanese soldiers, now under their command, to attack such forces in various places.
Zionism, the State of Israel, and the Holocaust Industry
As for the state of Israel, Zionist-fascist gangs, who did little to save their fellow Jews in Europe, even to the extent of doing nothing so that more would be murdered by German fascism, set up Israel with the political, military and economic backing of the U.S. against the wishes of the indigenous Palestinians. Yes this state has elections, but they are elections based on the brutal occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, of the second-class treatment of Israeli Arabs, and of even second-class treatment of the black Jews from Ethiopia and Asian Jews from Burma. This brutal fifty-plus years of occupation would not have lasted this long had the U.S. not pumped billions of dollars every year to subsidize the Israeli economy and military. Israel is no democracy. It is a white settler racist apartheid theocracy. If it wants to prove otherwise, it could easily take the first step of making all Palestinians, those under its occupation and those forced into exile, its citizens!
It won't do that. Instead a whole industry has been created by Zionists to demonize Palestinians and other Arabs, and most cynically of all, to exploit the sympathies of the whole world for the Jews because of the Holocaust in the direction of preventing any criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, while terrorizing all dissent among Jews themselves. The Holocaust is a terrible example of the barbarism that humans can afflict against other humans in the era of capitalism. It is, however, by no means unique.
Here in the Americas, tens of millions of indigenous peoples were systematically murdered by the West European Capitalist powers and by the U.S. and Canada. Columbus alone is responsible for the murder of 8 million Arawaks. Here in Canada; the Beothuk people of Newfoundland were wiped out by the British by 1829. In Australia, the British murdered over 700 thousand Aborigines. In next door Tasmania, its indigenous people were treated by the British with remorseless brutality from 1642 to 1802 and outright genocide from 1803 to 1830. In that latter 27-year period, 99 percent of all Tasmanian aborigines were murdered by the British. This genocide was so successful that by 1876, no full-blooded Tasmanian aborigine was left.
In Africa, leaving aside the tens of millions dead and displaced because of the capitalist slave trade, between 1880 and 1920, the Belgians killed more than 10 million Congolese, including hunting them for sport. From 1904 to 1907, the Germans killed around 100 thousand Hereros in Namibia. Only 15 thousand Hereros survived. In Asia, Turkey murdered over 1.5 million Armenians while 5 million Greeks were targeted for deportation and extermination. Only one million refugees made it to Greece. The U.S. for its part murdered 1.4 million Filipinos at the start of the 20th century. In 1937, the Japanese murdered 300 thousand people in the city of Nanking, China. Three million Koreans and five million Vietnamese fell to U.S. arms. Let us not forget the over 1 million Iraqis killed by the U.S. and U.K. since 1990.
We can go on. The genocide of the Jews is no unique event. Sadly, genocide has been all too common a practice in capitalism by the great capitalist powers and their lackeys. We can expect more in the future as long as capitalism dominates any country and the world. To end genocide, capitalism must end.
Dress Rehearsal
Fortunately, the victory of communist arms in the 1'940s had other repercussions than just defeating German and Japanese fascism. This victory brought about the spread of the national liberation and socialist movements. Objectively, despite the fall of socialism in the U.S.S.R. after the death of Stalin, and the fall of socialism in China after the death of Mao, imperialism is heading to its doom. Not only is imperialism in an unprecedented global crisis, despite unprecedented state intervention in the economy in favour of capitalists, no longer has imperialism the strength to have direct colonies. Even the anti-imperialist fighters in tiny Iraq are succeeding in tying down and wearing down the most powerful military ever. Imperialism is heading to its doom. We can see the beginnings of the new advance of the proletarian revolution in such places as Nepal, the Philippines, and among the Naxalite movement in India, all led by communist parties. Our grandchildren will look back and declare the 20th century the dress rehearsal of the proletarian revolution and we can thank all those people who gave their lives smashing German and Japanese fascism 60 years ago for tipping the balance of forces in the direction of the proletariat.
http://www.northstarcompass.org/
By REDMOND GUERRERO
On May 8, sixty years ago, the European theatre of the bloodiest war that human history has ever witnessed ended with the unconditional surrender of the fascist German Reich to Allied forces. Three months and two days later, on August 10, 1945, the Pacific theatre of that war would officially end with the unconditional surrender of the fascist Japanese Empire to Allied forces. Fighting would continue to some extent until September 16, over a month later, when Japanese imperial army forces in Hong Kong would surrender.
The official narrative of this war in the heartland of Anglo-American imperialism, peddled year after year through its textbooks, televisions, broadcasts, movies, etc., is that World War II was a war by the democratic U.S. and Britain and others to free Europe and Asia from fascist Germany and Japan while saving European Jewry from the uniquely genocidal Nazi regime. Concurrent with this narrative about World War II is another narrative that the U.S. and its junior partner, the U.K., are bringers of democracy, with Israel the bastion of democracy in an otherwise undemocratic Middle East. Both narratives, closely connected in their purpose, falsify the facts.
This part of this narrative is true: 1) the U.S. and the UK did fight the German Reich and the Japanese empire; 2) the Nazis did murder around 6 million European Jews, and 3) the U.S. and also the U.K. are protectors of Israel. Pretty much everything else about both narratives is false. That the U.S. and the UK played the key role in defeating the German Reich and the Japanese Empire is false. That the U.S. and the U.K. is a bringer of democracy is also false. And that Israel is a bastion of democracy in an otherwise undemocratic Middle East is also false.
Here are the facts of which we should never forget.
The European War
The U.S.S.R. played the key role in defeating the German Reich. The bulk of the German Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS were stationed in the Eastern front fighting a genocidal war to destroy the Soviet republic. Nazi's best-trained soldiers, most of its armour, artillery and aircraft, munitions, etc. and the majority of its sociopathic killers, were in the East fighting the Red Army, and murdering Slavs, Jews, Roma, and others. It was the Red Army that broke the back of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Waffen SS. Furthermore, despite the repeated pleading of the Soviet government for the U.S. and the UK to invade the occupied West to relieve the Eastern front of pressure, the U.S. and U.K. delayed the invasion of Europe hoping that the Nazis and the Soviets would eventually exhaust themselves so as to leave all of Europe to their pickings. Only when it became clear that the Red Army was destroying the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Waffen SS was D-day undertaken. Even then, the U.S. and UK fought only units of the Wehrmacht, Luftwaffe, and Waffen SS that had been decimated in the Eastern front and which had been sent to the West for recovery. As a result, the U.S.S.R. had combatant casualties of over eight million and civilian casualties of over 30 million. This 38 million plus people is the largest losses from war by any country and it is due to the sacrifices of these people that Nazi Germany was defeated. Last, even in terms of resistance to Germany in occupied Europe, whether in the east or in the west, it was largely undertaken by leftist resistance fighters.
The Pacific War
Even in the Pacific war, it was not the U.S. and U.K. that did most of the fighting. With respect to the naval battles, the U.S. did do the bulk of the fighting. However, most of the Pacific war was not actually fought on the islands of the Pacific or by naval fleets. It was fought largely in China. Here, it was the People's Liberation Army under the Communist Party of China, then led by Mao Zedong, that did most of the .fighting against the bulk of the Imperial Japanese Army. The U.S. and UK basically fought only outposts and smaller units of the Japanese Imperial Army. As a result, China suffered a loss of 2.2 million combatants and 10 million civilians. Again it was Communist China with the help of the U.S.S.R. that largely defeated Japanese fascism. Even as far as resistance to Japanese occupation in the other countries of the Pacific, it was largely undertaken by Communist or nationalist and anti-imperialist guerrillas!
The total casualties on the U.S. and UK side were only 683,000 while those on the U.S.S.R. and China side were over 52 million. In other words the casualties of the U.S.S.R. and China combined were 100 times greater that the casualties of the U.S. and UK combined. With all due respect to our veterans and their sacrifices, it is pretty clear that they were merely engaged in a minor supportive role in the heroic defeat of German and Japanese fascism. It was the U.S.S.R. and communist forces in China that defeated German and Japanese fascism.
Saving European Jewry
That the U.S. and U.K. delayed opening a second front for two years, on that we can lay the blame for the war in Europe lasting longer than it should have. That it lasted longer that it should have surely resulted in greater deaths of Jews and Roma at the hands of the Nazis. In other words, the cynical move by the U.S. and UK in delaying opening a second front against Germany by two years is part of the reason why the Nazis were given so much time to murder Jews and Roma. Part of the blame then for the murder of six million Jews and 400 thousand Roma lay with the U.S. and UK. Add to this point that the U.S. forced back to their death thousands of Jews who had escaped from the Nazis by ship. Finally, it was the U.S.S.R. that set up in its far eastern territories a homeland for Jews so that they could escape from German fascism and it was the Red Army that liberated survivors in the Nazi death camps and concentration camps. In other words, it was not the U.S. or the U.K. which saved European Jewry but the U.S.S.R.
In relation to this, let us note that it was only the U.S.S.R. that vigorously prosecuted war criminals. For its part, the U.S. helped many Nazis implicated in the extermination of Jews to escape to South America in return for helping them against the U.S.S.R.!
Liberation of the Colonies
One of the effects of the Second World War was the spread of national liberation in the oppressed nations. What is not well-known is how much the Allies, minus the U.S.S.R., actually resisted this progressive development. The U.S., UK, France, and the Netherlands not only attacked at the end of WWII the communist or nationalist-led liberation forces in South East Asia and Pacific, they even went so far as to rearm Japanese soldiers, now under their command, to attack such forces in various places.
Zionism, the State of Israel, and the Holocaust Industry
As for the state of Israel, Zionist-fascist gangs, who did little to save their fellow Jews in Europe, even to the extent of doing nothing so that more would be murdered by German fascism, set up Israel with the political, military and economic backing of the U.S. against the wishes of the indigenous Palestinians. Yes this state has elections, but they are elections based on the brutal occupation of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, of the second-class treatment of Israeli Arabs, and of even second-class treatment of the black Jews from Ethiopia and Asian Jews from Burma. This brutal fifty-plus years of occupation would not have lasted this long had the U.S. not pumped billions of dollars every year to subsidize the Israeli economy and military. Israel is no democracy. It is a white settler racist apartheid theocracy. If it wants to prove otherwise, it could easily take the first step of making all Palestinians, those under its occupation and those forced into exile, its citizens!
It won't do that. Instead a whole industry has been created by Zionists to demonize Palestinians and other Arabs, and most cynically of all, to exploit the sympathies of the whole world for the Jews because of the Holocaust in the direction of preventing any criticism of Israel's treatment of Palestinians, while terrorizing all dissent among Jews themselves. The Holocaust is a terrible example of the barbarism that humans can afflict against other humans in the era of capitalism. It is, however, by no means unique.
Here in the Americas, tens of millions of indigenous peoples were systematically murdered by the West European Capitalist powers and by the U.S. and Canada. Columbus alone is responsible for the murder of 8 million Arawaks. Here in Canada; the Beothuk people of Newfoundland were wiped out by the British by 1829. In Australia, the British murdered over 700 thousand Aborigines. In next door Tasmania, its indigenous people were treated by the British with remorseless brutality from 1642 to 1802 and outright genocide from 1803 to 1830. In that latter 27-year period, 99 percent of all Tasmanian aborigines were murdered by the British. This genocide was so successful that by 1876, no full-blooded Tasmanian aborigine was left.
In Africa, leaving aside the tens of millions dead and displaced because of the capitalist slave trade, between 1880 and 1920, the Belgians killed more than 10 million Congolese, including hunting them for sport. From 1904 to 1907, the Germans killed around 100 thousand Hereros in Namibia. Only 15 thousand Hereros survived. In Asia, Turkey murdered over 1.5 million Armenians while 5 million Greeks were targeted for deportation and extermination. Only one million refugees made it to Greece. The U.S. for its part murdered 1.4 million Filipinos at the start of the 20th century. In 1937, the Japanese murdered 300 thousand people in the city of Nanking, China. Three million Koreans and five million Vietnamese fell to U.S. arms. Let us not forget the over 1 million Iraqis killed by the U.S. and U.K. since 1990.
We can go on. The genocide of the Jews is no unique event. Sadly, genocide has been all too common a practice in capitalism by the great capitalist powers and their lackeys. We can expect more in the future as long as capitalism dominates any country and the world. To end genocide, capitalism must end.
Dress Rehearsal
Fortunately, the victory of communist arms in the 1'940s had other repercussions than just defeating German and Japanese fascism. This victory brought about the spread of the national liberation and socialist movements. Objectively, despite the fall of socialism in the U.S.S.R. after the death of Stalin, and the fall of socialism in China after the death of Mao, imperialism is heading to its doom. Not only is imperialism in an unprecedented global crisis, despite unprecedented state intervention in the economy in favour of capitalists, no longer has imperialism the strength to have direct colonies. Even the anti-imperialist fighters in tiny Iraq are succeeding in tying down and wearing down the most powerful military ever. Imperialism is heading to its doom. We can see the beginnings of the new advance of the proletarian revolution in such places as Nepal, the Philippines, and among the Naxalite movement in India, all led by communist parties. Our grandchildren will look back and declare the 20th century the dress rehearsal of the proletarian revolution and we can thank all those people who gave their lives smashing German and Japanese fascism 60 years ago for tipping the balance of forces in the direction of the proletariat.
http://www.northstarcompass.org/