Re: [Marxism] J. Robert Oppenheimer documentary to air on PBS tonight

[David Walters <dwaltersmia@xxxxxxxxx>]

I don't agree with Shane on some of what he says. First, let me point out
that I've never accepted the Trotskyist orthodoxy on WWII. "From the
practical" point view indeed. The logic of the position also means no aid to
Britain to defend itself during the pre-Operation Sea Lion days, zero aid to
the USSR, etc. Unfortunatly, the connect the dots of "Defending the Soviet
Union" and "opposition WWII and US entry into it" was simply impossible. The
idea of a fascist victory in WWII was simply unthinkable, certainly in
hindsight. I'm glad it didn't happen. In this sense I am with Tom and Mark.

Shane makes some points about the war being over in the minds of the Fascist
general staffs. I would say "not". The Japanese general staff kept the
Admirals of the Japanese Imperialist Navy as consultants, at best. It was an
Imperial Army show, top to bottom. And, at no point did the *general staff*
ever consider the war lost so long as they could keep Allied troops out of
Japan.This is why there wasn't any effort toward surrender. I've never seen
any evidence for this at all in history books on the subject. There were
'feelers' from the Emporer's office, without a doubt, via the Swedish
embassy. It is also something of a myth that the Japanese had no more
"elite" Troops of the kind that took the war to the British on the
Burmaese-Indian border. Tokyo had several crack, well armed divisions ready
to take the whole city with them. The Army never left Japan without a
defense. Toward the end of the war, the build up for the 1/2  million US
troops for the invasion of Kyushu in southern Japan, the US was losing the
*most* number of ships to Japanese suicide plane attacks (including a few
rock planes given to them by the Germans). If the Japanese Imperial Army
though that Midway meant doom for their efforts of their "East Asian
Co-Prosperity regime" they certainly didn't show it.

David
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