70 Years since the start of WWII - Nov 8 - Sydney, NSW

70 Years since the start of WWII

Stalin and Ribbentrop

World War II was the bloodiest and most tragic event in world history. Up to 70 million people lost their lives during the six year conflict. It witnessed unimaginable barbarism, including above all the mass murder of 6 million European Jews by the Nazis. The war ended with the dropping of the atomic bomb on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Countless articles and programmes have been made commemorating these events, yet few offer even an attempted explanation of how and why the world was dragged into such a bloody catastrophe, just two decades after the so-called “war to end all wars”.

The International Students for Social Equality will explain that this was not a war of democracy versus fascism, but an imperialist war waged by the capitalist great powers—“democratic” and fascist alike—for the division of the world and its resources in the interests of profit.

We will explain how and why Hitler was able to come to power, due to the political betrayals of the German Social Democrats and the Stalinist Communist Parties internationally—and how this, along with the beheading of the Spanish revolution in 1936-37, paved the way to war. We will explain why Hitler won the support of big business as a bulwark against the threat of a workers’ revolution.

Crucially, the ISSE will address the lessons of the war for today, amidst the eruption of the deepest economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression that is once again fueling a drive towards colonial-style conquest by all the major powers. We will explain why the independent political mobilization of the working class remains the only means of opposing the renewed dangers of an economic and military catastrophe for the peoples of the world.
Dundee

• University of Dundee
  September 29
  Dundee
• University of Sheffield
  September 30
  Sheffield
• University of Sheffield
  October 4
  Sheffield
• San Diego State...
  October 5
  San Diego
  California
• University of Manchester
  October 7
  Manchester
  Lancashire
• University of Sussex
  October 8
  Brighton
• University of Glasgow
  October 8
  Glasgow
• University of California...
  October 8
  Berkeley
  California
• Australian Museum
  November 8
  Sydney
  New South Wales
• Colombo
  November 10
  Colombo
• Université du Québec à...
  November 12
  Montreal
  Quebec
• Northcote Town Hall
  November 15
  Melbourne
  Victoria

Seventy years ago, on September 3, 1939, World War II erupted. It was not a war between “democracy” and fascism, but the product of the same fundamental contradictions of capitalism that exploded in World War I. Four years of carnage between 1914 and 1918 resolved none of the underlying national rivalries or economic dilemmas that were to produce the 1929 Wall Street crash, Great Depression and inter-imperialism antagonisms that led to a second global conflict just two decades later.

For six years, humanity witnessed unspeakable barbarism, including the destruction of entire cities and the mass killing of civilian populations, above all, the genocide of six million European Jews by the Nazis and the dropping of atomic bombs by US imperialism on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At least 70 million people lost their lives.

Following World War II, the apologists for the profit system maintained that the conditions that produced the conflict could never re-emerge. Over the past 12 months, however, as the global economy has plunged into the most severe downturn in 75 years, even defenders of capitalism have pointed to the dangers of World War III. American imperialism—the dominant power since 1945—is seeking to offset its economic decline by using military might to boost its geopolitical position. The Middle East, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent are among many potential flashpoints for a broader conflict between the US and its rivals.

The SEP/ISSE meetings in Sydney and Melbourne will discuss the crucial historical lessons of World War II. That terrible conflagration was not inevitable. It was above all the product of the treachery of Social Democracy and Stalinism, which repeatedly betrayed the working class and enabled capitalism to survive the revolutionary convulsions of the 1920s and 1930s.

Nick Beams, SEP National Secretary and a member of the international editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site, will deliver the main report, followed by questions and discussion. We warmly invite WSWS readers and all those opposed to war and militarism to attend.

Location