[Marxism] Re: Marxism Digest, Vol 32, Issue 39

["trusscott.foundation@xxxxxxxxxx" <trusscott.foundation@xxxxxxxxxx>]

And I thought at first you were referring to critics of Isaac Deutscher!

There has long been an anti-German wing in the British ruling class; the rise
of Germany after 1870 led directly to its being the major competing power
to Britain in Europe. Germany's effective lack of an empire would lead to
direct competition with Britain and the other European powers with empires,
so some sort of anti-German entente was on the cards.

After the First World War and the harsh terms of the Versailles agreement on
Germany, there was some sympathy with Germany, on the grounds that it had
been badly treated. Quite a bit of that dissipated when Hitler came to power,
and the ugly nature of his regime was evident. Although a lot of attention
has been put upon the 'appeasers', those who did not wish to confront Nazi
Germany, or at least not until Britain was militarily strong enough to do
so, there was also a trend within the ruling class that recognised that
Nazi Germany posed a real threat to British imperialism. Vansittart was
the archtypal anti-German British politician.

My own feeling is that the pro-Nazi wing of the ruling class was quite small,
and the 'appeasers' were not so much pro-German but concerned that Britain
was unable to fight effectively against Nazi Germany; after all, Chamberlain
did declare war on Germany.

The National Review, a right-wing conservative journal in the late 1930s, was
also anti-German, but was pro-Mussolini and pro-Japan, seeing them as suitable
partners for British imperialism in the Mediterranean and Far East respectively,
actually wanting an Anglo-Japanese alliance to carve up China (now that
would have pleased the USA!). Very anti-communist, prior to August 1939
the NR nonetheless if reluctantly accepted the Soviet Union as a potential
ally against Germany.

Thatcher and some of her crew were suspicious of Germany, especially as it
was the biggest economic power in Europe. She was opposed to German 
reunification,
as she felt that it would lead to Germany having an overpowering influence
in Europe, she even looked to Gorbachev to help prevent the incorporation
of East Germany!

Paul F

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