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World War II
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September 3rd: 70 years ago today the United Kingdom declared war on fascist Germany, so marking the start of World War Two. In an article written at the time, Ted Grant summarised what was now in store for the masses of Europe and beyond: 'Millions, tens of millions, will be killed in the insane
slaughter, whole cities and countries will be devastated,...
Famine and disease will sweep over all Europe. The flower of European
manhood will be exterminating one another. And for what?' To mark this anniversary we are reproducing Ted's article from 1939 in full.
Seventy years ago this month, the world was shocked by the
Stalin-Hitler pact. Ben Peck looks back at what happened and explains
why such an incredible event could take place - and the price that was
paid. 
When Germany
invaded Holland and Belgium on 10th May 1939 and put an end to the
‘Phoney War’ the French and British had more men on the ground and more (and
better quality) tanks. But this did not deter the Germans: they were more
militarily competent, efficient, and co-ordinated in their execution of modern
warfare and they proceeded to wipe the floor with the Allies.
In 1922 Churchill
lost his seat in Dundee, probably because of his attitude to Russia. Then in
1924, with the Liberal Party sinking, he jumped ship once more and rejoined the
Conservatives: self interest and high office always took precedence over
political principles. Baldwin made him chancellor, a position he held until the
1929 General Election.
Winston Churchill is one of the most famous figures in
British history and the official approach is that it would be unpatriotic not
to admire him. The purpose of this article is to draw aside the veils of myth
and legend which establishment historians and fawning admirers have spun around
him and look at the real Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. The facts reveal a
different man altogether.
With preparations for war in full swing the
small Workers' International League gathered around Ralph Lee and Ted Grant was
the only voice that stood out defending a real internationalist position. Here
we provide our readers with the lead article of the August 1939 edition of Youth
For Socialism, signed by Ted Grant.
The coming to power of the Nazi party in Germany 75 years ago marks the begining of one of the darkest periods of human history. What is Fascism and how did it emerge in a country with the strongest labour movement in the world? Mick Brooks of Socialist Appeal talks on the story of the rise of the Nazis.
Seventy-five years ago today, on January 30th 1933, Hitler was appointed
Chancellor of Germany. Two months later the Reichstag voted him
dictatorial powers. The workers' parties were banned and their leaders
thrown into concentration camps. The strongest labour movement in
Europe was destroyed without even breaking a pane of glass, as Hitler
boasted. The way was clear for genocide and world war.
"The new generation, in particular,
must understand the part Stalinism played in German events prior
to Hitler's seizure of power, if they wish to understand its
present role", wrote Ted Grant in 1944. Trotsky and the Fourth
International alone warned of the catastrophe the Nazi's would bring upon the workers of Germany, Europe and
of the Soviet Union. The Stalinists surrendered the
German masses to Hitler and even proclaimed the coming to
power of Hitler as a victory
expressing the crisis of capitalism, boastfully proclaiming 'our turn
next'.
Today marks the 75th anniversary of the coming to power of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party in Germany. Read here chapter 7 of Rob Sewell's 
After the Crimea conference, the British Communist Party leaders came
out with a position advocating a National unity government with the
Tories for the post-war period. This policy of class collaboration was
denounced by Ted Grant, who wrote in 1945
that, "to support Churchill is to support monopoly capitalism. To
support the capitalists, the interests of the working class must be
betrayed. It has taken the advanced British workers the experience of
50 years to realise that the Liberal and Tory Parties are parties of
capitalism."
As armaments were piled up in preparation for the Second World War 
Contrary to the official mythology about Churchill, by 1944 he was already losing support among the people of Britain. This article by Ted Grant, written at the time and based on local election results, shows that the workers were becoming radicalised. This was to be confirmed in a dramatic way just after the war when Labour won a landslide victory.
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