[Peace-discuss] Civil War; Holocaust

[Thomas Mackaman]

Zinn's quote has some truth behind it, but the attempt to reduce the Civil War to such crude econonomic determinism should be resisted.  No less an observer than Karl Marx considered the Civil War to be a truly progressive war.  I believe one of his oft-cited quotes was that "labor in the white skin could never be freed so long as labor in the black was branded."  The war was indeed about slavery.  McPherson's "Battle Cry of Freedom" is worth the read.  To paraphrase his memorable quote, Americans shot in 1861 the way they had voted in 1860.

On the Holocaust, Goldhagen  should be read critically.  To begin with, I believe the book has been roundly criticized by scholars in the field for less than rigorous standards.  More importantly, his thesis--that the German people bear responsibility for the Holocaust--is misanthropic.  The wsws wrote a vwonderful--and devastating-- review years ago:  http://www.wsws.org/history/1997/apr1997/fascism.shtml.

Let me know what you think of it, Ricky.

Best regards,

Tom