1940s

Anarchism in 1940s Glasgow

Two interviews with veterans of the anarchist scene in 1940s Glasgow.

1945: US responses to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 6, 1945, 8.15 am, the uranium atom bomb exploded 580 metres above the city of Hiroshima

Selected quotations from US officials about the dropping of nuclear weapons on Japan which demonstrate that the bombing was not to end the war, but was to issue a warning to its Cold War rival.

"...the greatest thing in history."
- Harry S. Truman
President of the United States during the Atomic Bombing

"It always appeared to us that, atomic bomb or no atomic bomb, the Japanese were already on the verge of collapse."
- General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold
Commanding General of the U.S. Army
Air Forces Under President Truman

The Ninety-third Division - Black US soldiers' struggles in World War II - Nelson Peery

93rd Division Infantryman Nelson Peery, Mojave Desert, California 1942

Extracts from Nelson Peery's Black Fire - The Making Of A Black Revolutionary. Peery describes here the racism and segregation encountered by black soldiers and their militancy in opposing it during WWII.

1914-1946: Third Camp Internationalists in France during World War II

An anarchist festival in Paris, 1936

Echanges et Mouvement describe the activities of internationalist groups during World War II.

The following pages describe succinctly the activities of the "Third Camp" internationalist nuclei in France during World War II. We do not know of any comprehensive study of this subject.

The role of the Catholic Church in Yugoslavia's holocaust - Seán Mac Mathúna, 1941-1945

Historical information about Catholic priests and Muslim clerics being willing accomplices in the genocide of the Yugoslavia's Serbian, Jewish and Roma population during the Second World War.

During the Second World War in Yugoslavia, Catholic priests and Muslim clerics were willing accomplices in the genocide of the nations Serbian, Jewish and Roma population.

"The Renewal of Medieval Times" in Yugoslavia, 1941

Article from the Fascist-controlled press in Italy in 1941. The author, Corrado Zoli, was traveling through Bosnia and witnessed the Ustase massacres - and the assistance of Franciscan priests in the butchery - firsthand.

There can be little doubt that this article appeared with the agreement of the Fascist Party in Italy, and the Italian Army had already begun to stand between the Ustase and their victims in zones of the NDH under their authority.

1942-1944: US musicians recording ban

James Petrillo on trumpet

The musicians’ union called a ban on all commercial recordings, as part of a struggle to get royalties from record sales for a union fund for out-of-work musicians.

The union, the American Federation of Musicians, led by trumpeter James Petrillo, had previously opposed the recording of music, or “canned music”. Musicians were replaced with records in radio, and in cafes and bars bands were replaced with jukeboxes.

Fedi, Silvano, 1920-1944

Silvano Fedi

A short biography of Italian anarchist, anti-fascist partisan and local hero Silvano Fedi. Fighting in the Resistance, he was killed in a Nazi ambush in 1944.

Silvano Fedi
Born 25 April 1920 - Pistoia, Italy, died 29 July 1944 - Italy

1941: Disney cartoonists strike

Picketers

A short history of a strike by Disney animators in 1941 and the organisation in the years building up to it.

Throughout the 1930s workers of the flourishing entertainment industry of Hollywood had been organising themselves into unions. Stagehands, actors, directors, editors and writers had all successfully, albeit slowly, formed their own organisations through this massive drive for union recognition.

1943-1945: Anarchist partisans in the Italian Resistance

Italian partisans patrol the streets of Milan, 1945

Historical notes on the activities of anarchist partisans in the anti-fascist Resistance in Italy during World War II.

Sabate Llopart, Manuel, 1927-1950

Manual Sabaté Llopart

A short biography of Manual Sabaté Llopart, anarchist and brother of the famous anti-Franco guerilla Francisco Sabate Llopart, 'El Quico'.

Manuel Sabaté Llopart
aka Manolo, born 1927 - Barcelona, Spain, died 24 February 1950 - Spain

Manuel Sabate Llopart was born in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat in 1927.

Lubbe, Marinus van der 1911-1934

Marinus van der Lubbe

A short biography of Marinus van der Lubbe, the Dutch council communist who set the Reichstag fire.


Marinus van der Lubbe Born 13 January 1911 - Leyden, Netherlands, died 10 January 1934 – Leipzig prison, Germany

Peron, Eva "Evita", 1919-1952

Eva Peron

A critical look at the life and political actions of Eva "Evita" Peron, widely regarded as a hero of the poor and downtrodden.

Turned into a Latin American saint, worshipped by thousands of Argentinians, the subject of an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical and more recently a film starring Madonna, "Evita" has been the subject of much attention over the years.

1941-1945: Andartiko - the Greek Resistance

Resistance - an ELAS partisan

A short history of the Andartiko - the Greek Resistance partisans who fought against Italian and German fascist occupation.

A short history of the Andartiko - the Greek Resistance partisans who fought against Italian and German fascist occupation.
[b]Its radical, democratic working class spirit was only put down after the Allied victory, by British forces and the Greek ruling class.

1939-1945: Spanish Resistance in France

spanish_Maquis_in_La_Tresorerie.jpg

An account of the activity of Spanish anarchist and anti-fascist exiles in the Resistance in Nazi-occupied France. Tens of thousands were forced to flee Spain following fascist victory in the Civil War.

Forgotten Heroes

1944-1945: Anarchists in the Hungarian Resistance

Hungarian soldiers and members of the Arrow Cross fascist group collect Jewish books for shredding

The anarchists in WWII Hungary who fought in the Resistance to the Nazis and later the Russian occupiers until their suppression by the Communists.

Following the destruction of the Hungarian anarchist movement by the fascist regime of Admiral Horthy, anarchist groups began to re-emerge around the veteran libertarian called Torockoi, who was 80 years old in 1945. The first libertarian action was against occupying German forces by an anarchist student group.

1939-1965: Armed resistance to Franco

franco.jpg

An account of the underground guerilla armed struggle of anarchists and anti-fascists against General Franco's regime following the Civil War.

The rattle of the Thompson gun

1919-1946: Gandhi and the national liberation of India

Gandhi - non-violent freedom fighter?

A critical examination of the 'saint' of non-violence, Mahatma Gandhi, and his role in the 'liberation' of India.

Mahatma Gandhi is often cited by pacifists as the shining example of how non-violent civil disobedience works successfully. Unfortunately, these paeans of praise leave out a close study of Gandhi’s role in the Indian struggle for ‘independence’, and just as importantly, who were his class allies in that struggle.

1939-1943: The Pallarès Action Group

Dictator: Franco

A short history of one of the small groups of anarchist guerrillas who fought in the Resistance to the dictatorship in Spain.

The Pallarés group was one of the very first anti-Franco urban guerrilla groups which sprung up after the end of the Spanish Civil War and Revolution of 1936-9, and the victory of the fascist and right-wing army of General Franco.

1941-1947: The Los Queros guerrillas

franco.jpg

A short history of a small band of anarchist rebels who fought in the Resistance to General Franco's dictatorship in Spain.

Part of the widespread armed resistance to the regime, the Los Queros guerilla band operated in the city of Granada and in its environs in the years following the end of the Civil War of 1936-9, and the victory of the fascist and right-wing army of General Franco (pictured).

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