audiobook A People's History of the Second World War: Resistance Versus Empire by Donny Gluckstein in History

Review

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful. World War II - A People's War AND an Imperialist WarBy P. WebsterSocialists (like the author of this excellent book) generally take a political position of opposition to most wars. The rulers of rival capitalist countries fight wars for imperialistic reasons (eg for control of colonies; markets or oil) and drag in the ordinary people to be cannon-fodder. The First World War; for example; eventually came to an end when the masses in Russia (in 1917) and in Germany (in 1918) rose up in revolt against the war and their rulers. In the case of the Vietnam War; many opponents of the war in the West not only called for the withdrawal of US troops; but also supported the right of the Vietnamese people to fight for self-determination.But World War Two seems different. This was a war fought against fascists who perpetrated the horrors of the Holocaust; and who also wiped out their left wing opponents and smashed the trade unions on behalf of the capitalists who funded both Hitler and Mussolini. Socialists cannot simply say that it was an imperialist war exactly like WWI; with both sets of rulers just as bad as each other.Gluckstein comes up with a very convincing answer. He argues that WWII was actually two parallel wars going on at the same time. For the mass of ordinary people it WAS a war against fascism: there was deep-rooted; genuine and lasting mass support for the fight against Hitler; Mussolini and the Japanese regime. But for the rulers of Britain; America and Russia it was a war for imperial power; not for freedom. Churchill; for example; fought the Nazis because they threatened the British Empire; not because he was an anti-fascist. (In fact he praised Mussolini in the pre-war period.)Incidentally; although Gluckstein is a Marxist; he is an anti-Stalinist one. He rightly sees the so-called "communist" regimes of the Stalinist USSR; Eastern Europe; China etc as bureaucratic state capitalist dictatorships. So he has no problem showing that Stalin was just as cynical as the USA and Britain in his policies before; during and after WWII.Gluckstein's "two wars" thesis allows us to see the mass bombing of civilians by BOTH sides and the use of nuclear weapons against Japan as tactics used by ruthless ruling classes. Whereas the resistance of the Italian partisans against Mussolini and then against Hitler's occupation of Italy was a component of the world-wide people's war. (I was also surprised to learn that anti-fascist committees sprang up in 120 German towns and cities as the Nazi regime collapsed; but they were brushed aside by the Allied powers; who didn't like movements "from below".)At the end of the war the victorious powers crushed any popular anti-fascist movements (eg in Greece) that looked like they might turn into anti-capitalist revolutions; and they tried to squash anti-colonial movements in places like Indonesia and Vietnam. Gluckstein could also have mentioned that the true nature of the British; American and Russian ruling classes is shown in the way that their secret services were all willing to use former Nazis when the Cold War started. (The USA also used Werner von Braun; Hitler's rocket man.)Phil Webster.(England)0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. So-soBy AveryMisleading title. This is not "A People's History of the Second World War" but a history of popular (self-organized; non-Great Power) resistance movements in the Second World War. It's also more of a survey of what happened in each country. For example; the White Rose only gets an extraneous mention; and the activities of the Polish Home Army are covered only in scanty detail. Finally; the author's Trotskyist ideology seems to have prevented him from covering uncomfortable cases like Bandera's Ukrainian Insurgent Army. However; the author does a good job proving his point that the self-organized resistance movements were extremely courageous; and that the Allies exploited them; and then threw them in prison or exiled them like trash to prevent them from being captured by Soviets.Not a good introductory text but worth owning for WW2 buffs.5 of 6 people found the following review helpful. Bad war and good war in CacophonyBy Jerzy E. HeniszNot being a historian it is a challenge to review a major history book devoted to WWII. The temptation to do so comes from the innovative approach of Donny Gluckstein writing the history of the world war and from difficulties with accepting some of his interpretations. For Gluckstein two parallel wars were going on: imperialistic war of major powers and the people war of those who suffered from atrocities. Taking traditional Marxist approach he sees imperialists as fighting to enlarge their possessions and dispossessed people who were fighting to improve their miserable lots. His sympathy lies with the people and he offers multiple examples; particularly in Greece and Italy; where people formed idealistic communes free of crime; education opened to all and without exploitations of labor or discrimination of the women. He admits that those communes were short-lived experiments and they did not survive but he blames for it the allied powers disrespect and hostility to unauthorized peoples’ initiatives. The book is well researched and offers hundred of references and source material. Still there are omissions of major proportion. For example in Polish history he omits totally the fact that Red Army was at the border of Vistula in 1920 despite alleged commitment of Lenin to Poland independence and against Rosa Luxemburg promotion of socialistic internationalism. The date of Ghetto uprising as occurring in April 1932 in Warsaw must be a simple typo. The people war in Poland was indeed anti-Nazi and anti-Russian and subsequent history proved that “people” were right fighting two enemies. The parallel wars were even more complicated in Ukraine and Latvia where people wars were very sympathetic to Nazi ideals and anti-Semitism. The underlying subtle glorification of people war disregards psychological findings that wars; almost always; correlate with less violence and fewer suicides among the populace affected by the war. The sharing of goods and less exploitation of labor in communities fighting the aggressors is usually short lived. Unfortunately no one yet invented better engine of growth than seeking profit and recent evolution in Viet Nam and China economies are the cases in point. So much for criticism. The book reads well and offers a novel approach to history of the WWII. Hope that professional historians will write better reviews than my amateurish approach.