Thread by @bradleyrsimpson

So @DineshDSouza is at it again. And as usual, he is wrong.
Here he is retweeting a post (

https://twitter.com/historylvrsclub/status/1061844028034113537

) suggesting that “Democratic Socialists” engaging in an anti-war protest in 1941 opposing US entry into WWII were actually pro-Hitler. A smoking gun? Let's see. 1/12

The picture is a still from an August 1941 March of Time newsreel on the European war that you can see here collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog… (along with the transcript) here: search.alexanderstreet.com/preview/work/b… The video describes conditions in Britain and US support for Lend Lease, 2/12

and later highlights opposition to US rearmament by “a loud minority: the U.S. isolationist Block: Bitter and Denouncing every move advocated by Army and Navy experts, has been the number one U.S. isolationist: Senator Burton K. Wheeler.” Who is Burton K. Wheeler? 3/12

A Dem. Senator from Montana turned conservative in the 1930s, Wheeler, along with Charles Lindburgh, was one of the most vocal members of the right-wing America First Committee, which opposed Lend-Lease to the British and flirted with the pro-Nazi American Bund. 4/12

He later became a prominent conservative backer of Senator Joseph McCarthy (nytimes.com/1975/01/08/arc…). So much for Democratic Socialists supporting Hitler. But it gets more interesting. 5/12

The picture depicts a protest in front of the NY Public library in 1941. The slogans are consistent with the American Peace Mobilization (APM), a small Communist-front group that grew out of the American League Against War and Fascism. Who are they? 6/12

The American Peace Mobilization was a loose coalition of Communist, Socialist, and pacifist groups formed in 1933 following Hitler’s rise to power in Germany. After the 1939 Nazi-Soviet pact the American Peace Mobilization pressed for “nonintervention in the war, " 7/12

and advocated for economic liberties and well-being for all, repeal of anti-alien legislation, labor's right to organize and strike, and full civil rights for Negroes.” Their collected papers are here at Swarthmore College: swarthmore.edu/library/peace/… ) 8/12

In June 1941 most Americans opposed US entry into the European War: pro-German groups like America First, pro-Soviet groups like APM, the Socialist Party, and pacifist groups opposed to conscription. Virtually all supported US entry in the war after Pearl Harbor. 9/12

Historian Susan Dunn has written about the widespread opposition to US entry into WWII here: theatlantic.com/national/archi…. 10/12

To summarize: To summarize, Dinesh D’Souza circulates a picture of pro-Soviet anti-fascists and calls them “Democratic Socialists,” (who didn’t even exist as a party til 1982), as proof that the dastardly left supported Hitler and Fascism in the 1940s. Sigh... 11/12

Best of all, after the Nazi invasion of the USSR, the group in the photo changed its name to ‘American People's Mobilization,’ adopted the slogan ‘For Victory Over Fascism,’ and called for aid "to Great Britain, the Soviet Union and all peoples fighting Nazi Germany.” 12/12

Since @DineshDSouza likes to make spurious associations it’s worth noting that many Indians during WWII, including nationalists like Chandra Bose, supported Hitler (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/36…) Bc they (like many) thought it would speed Britain’s defeat and Indian independence.

Many colonial subjects (of Britain, France, etc) supported Hitler or Japanese out of expediency, only to realize that the latter were as bad or worse as occupying powers. But to acknowledge this basic fact is to grapple with the complexity of war, which @DineshDSouza cannot do.