World war as class war

James Heartfield
http://libcom.org/history/world-war-class-war
Looking through the mists of obligatory sentimentalism that enveloped the 70th aniversary of the
outbreak of WWII, James Heartfield remembers the pitiless subordination of people to production
on all sides of that crisis, and argues against the idea that the war tipped the scales in the favour of
the working class
!he labour "uestion was not an afterthought in the #econd World War It was the greatest "uestion
of all !he victors in the national struggle were those who best mobilised their domestic workers
and so best e"uipped their armies !he net impact of the war on the working class was that more of
them worked much harder, and got paid less $ven in the biggest and most successful wartime
economy, the %#, personal consumption fell from 7& percent of output in '()* to +' per cent in
'(,+
-t the same time, the numbers in work grew by ten million and hours increased by a "uarter -ll of
that e.cess production was going somewhere/ it was going to fight the war !he sheer waste is
beyond our wildest dreams 0ut the waste was not hurting everyone 0usiness, especially, %#
business, was reborn through the war effort Like business across the globe, they needed new
markets for the great amount of goods they made !he war fi.ed that
1estructive as it was, the war laid the basis for new industry 2lants created in 1etroit and
1agenham, the %rals and #ilesia during the war would lay the basis for the post3war boom 4- 5a6i
public utility like 7olkswagen, or private utility like 1aimler30en6, laid down plant and e"uipment
in the '()0s 8and early '(,0s9 that would form the basis for post3war growth4, says :ark
:a6ower' $ven in #oviet ;ussia ++ percent of the national income was given over to war
production that would be the basis of industrialisation after&
0efore one shot could be fired in the #econd World War the bullets and the rifles, the uniforms, the
trains and lorries to carry the soldiers, the steel to supply the munitions factories, the coal to furnace
the steel, the oil to power the engines all had to be made, dug and drilled by another army, the
industrial workforce In the decade from '()+ to '(,+ the warring nations turned their factories into
engines of destruction 0etween '()) and '()< %# armaments spending rose from =<&* million to
=''<' billion, by '(,& government awarded ='00 billion to %# business in military contracts)
!he growth in output was phenomenal -ircraft production was more than twenty times greater in
'(,, than in '()+ !o get this much out of industry, factories had to be placed under military
discipline > not ?ust in the @ascist countries, but in the democracies too
!he war changed the balance between labour and capital :ost think that it shifted the balance in
labour4s favour !he real lesson of the #econd World War was that it crushed the independent
organisations of the working class In the -.is countries they were taken apart, before being re3
made as company unions by the occupying powers In the -llied countries, unions lost their
independence and became recruiting sergeants for the war effort
@or the workers, wartime regimentation was hard graft on low wages 0usiness, though, made a
fortune out of the war 1uring the four war years, '(,&3'(,+, the &,&)0 largest -merican firms
reported earnings of =',, billion after ta.es, up by ,' percent on the previous four, i In Aermany,
too 4the higher level of the rate of e.ploitation which had been brought about by force was
maintained for ten years after the period of fascism4, wrote $lmar -ltvater, 4the BWest Aerman
economic miracleB was pre3programmed in the course of the Bthousand year ;eichB4+ 1ragooning
the workforce made more money for business
In '()+ the 5a6i regime began a compulsory system of workbooks Cne copy was held by the
employer another by the labour e.change Workers were barred from leaving named key sectors,
like aircraft and metal production< In '()*, Aoering4s decree for #ecuring Labour for !asks of
#pecial #tate Importance effectively conscripted labour Within a year '( million workers had been
sub?ect to compulsory work orders7 Japan passed a Aeneral :obilisation Law in '()* Japanese
civilians were barred from leaving work without the say3so of the local office of the 5ational
$mployment -gency, under the $mployee !urnover 2revention Crdinance 8'(,09, and given work
books from :arch '(,'*
In January '(,0 the 0ritish Dabinet agreed to $rnest 0evin4s proposals for a ;egister of 2rotected
$stablishments, and in :arch for a ;egister of $mployment Crder :en up to the age of ,< had to
be registered by '(,' :ost agreed to reassignment after a talking to at the Labour $.change, but
one million directions had been issued by '(,+, *0,000 to women %nder the $ssential Work Crder,
workers were forbidden from leaving their ?obs without permission > thirty thousand orders were
made, covering si. million workers In '(,), '&,+00 people were found guilty of breaking a Dontrol
of $mployment Crder In this way 0evin boosted the armaments industry so that it ate up )7 percent
of the workforce > up from )0 percent in a year( !hese were the people who sweated to make
7ickers3-rmstrong, IDI and Hawker3#iddeley into world class businesses
%nder 5ew Eealand4s 5ational #ervice $mergency -ct of '(,& it was an offence to leave or be
4absent from work without a reasonable e.cuse4 in 4essential industries4'0 -ustralia4s government
wanted to direct labour but did not dare to overturn the rights of its states In -merica, the War
:anpower Dommission4s Dhief 2aul :c5utt drew up a Worker 1raft 0ill that would have let him
send labour to the 5orth -merican -viation 2lant in !e.as, and other war industries'' In the event,
-merica4s business lobby won the government over to the idea that they could recruit labour In fact
they signed up '7 million new workers between '(,0 and '(,,'& 0ut as in -ustralia, the -merican
authorities still kept butting in to regiment the factories > still they kept employers sweet with war
contracts worth billions
!he #oviet %nion already had forced labour In '(,' it lost )) million of its *+ million workforce,
as well as two thirds of its coal, iron and steel production to the Aerman invasion 0ut the method
of forced industrialisation worked out in the '()0s was repeated by sending workers to the $ast, to
rebuild new factories in the %rals')
In '(,', ;oosevelt helped war profiteers by banning strikes and taking away labour legislation
protections in the armaments industry', In '()+ he had made a dispute procedure, the 5ational
Labour ;elations 0oard, which barred wildcat strikes In 0ritain, Crder ')0+ banned strikes'+ In
5a6i Aermany a law on the 5ational Crganisation of Labour imposed the @Fhrer3principle on the
Gshop community4, with workers cast as Gfollowers4, while a Dourt of Honour heard labour
disputes'< 0y '(,, some *7,000 Aermans had been ?ailed for breaking workplace rules, and in
'(,), +,))< of them were put to death'7 !he model was :ussolini4s Italy, where workers and
bosses were put in the same corporations, and 4strikes, protest demonstrations and even verbal
criticism of the government were illegal4'* !he battle between labour and capital that had raged
between the wars was settled when governments all over came down firmly on the side of industry
Cnce they had clocked3off workers were not free from e.tra duties for the war effort 0efore the
war started, and unemployment was high, governments had e.perimented with different kinds of
Labour #ervice to keep people busy !he Divilian Donservation Dorps 8'()+9 took a "uarter of a
million -mericans off the unemployment register and put them to work clearing forests and
building dams In Aermany, the 5a6is forced everyone to do the Labour #ervice that had been set
up for those out of work In wartime this kind of compulsory volunteering became the norm
Herbert :orrison made si. million 0ritons @ire Auards, who had to put in one night a week'(
%nder the discipline of war, hours spent working for the boss were ratcheted up ;oosevelt twisted
arms to get rid of -merican workers4 overtime payments&0 In @rance the average working week
went up from )+ hours in '(,0 to ,<& hours in :arch '(,, and decree laws increased hours in the
armament industries to <0 a week&' In 5ew Eealand workers lost overtime and holiday
entitlements, and hours were put up to ,* on the farms and +, in defence factories&& In Aermany,
defence workers were put on a seventy3hour week, and a ceiling was put on wages in '()*&)
0ritish men worked ,77 hours a week in '()*, rising to +&( in '(,), but in a @actory Inspectorate
survey of war plants, the si.ty3hour week was the norm for men and women&, Japanese authorities
e.tended the working day to '' or '& hours in heavy industry&+ ;eichmusicfFhrer 0aldur von
0lodheim published rules for the playing of Ja66 that said 4preference is to be given to brisk
compositions as opposed to slow ones 8the so3called blues9H however, the pace must not e.ceed a
certain degree of allegro commensurate with the -ryan sense for discipline and moderation4&< -
sign that people were working harder was the rise in workplace in?uries In Aermany from '()) to
'(,0, accidents and illnesses at work rose from (&(,000 cases to &,&+),000, occupational diseases
from '',000 cases to &),000 and fatalities from &'7 to +&+ 8outstripping the growth in employment
from ')+ to &0* million9&7 #o, too, in the %#, 4long hours in hastily constructed industrial plants
increased the rate of industrial accidents4&*
2utting workers under army3like orders could happen because of the sacrifices made by the army
Divilians knew that if they stepped out of line, there was harsher work waiting for them in the army
!he %# -rmy was '', million strong at its highest, the Aerman (+ million, the Japanese 77
million, the 0ritish five million, the Italian )* million and the #oviet '&& million&( -s well as
moral pressure, bans on strikes, greater hours, telling people where to go, business also got the
benefit of forced labour in civilian production :ost e.tensive was Aerman forced labour from
occupied $urope #i. million were sent from Holland, @rance, 2oland, D6echoslovakia, Iugoslavia,
%kraine and ;ussia to slave in factories and offices in the !hird ;eich -long with allied prisoners
of war and Aerman Jews, there were 7'&* million forced workers in '(,,)0 !he conditions for
these slave workers were terrible, and, for many, ?ust the beginning of the end !he Japanese drafted
thousands of young workers into industry under the Aeneral :obili6ation Law -lso, the Japanese
sei6ed 700,000 Joreans and ,0,000 Dhinese, many to work in the mines)'
!he -llies used forced labour, too @orty3eight thousand men aged '* to &+ were sent down
0ritain4s mines between '(,) and '(,* &',000 seventeen year3olds were forced to dig !hey were
called the 40evin 0oys4 after Labour :inister $rnest 0evin Cne in every ten that were called up for
5ational #ervice in the -rmy were sent to the mines > after their I1 numbers were Gpulled out of
$rnie 0evin4s hat4 :ore than a third appealed, and a few were ?ailed for refusing)& Donscientious
Cb?ectors, if they managed to convince a board of their sincerity, would then be forced to work in
mines or on the land 8composer :ichael !ippet was ?ailed for three months for refusing9 !he
#oviet %nion4s forced labour prisons, the Aulags, had )+ million inmates at the outbreak of war,
though the number fell back as it went on))
Like the 5a6i authorities, the -llies were more brutal to sub?ect peoples Cn ' -ugust '(,& the
0ritish colony of ;hodesia passed a Dompulsory 5ative Labour -ct to force Khosa people to work
on settlers4 farms and as labourers at the large air force bases), Indigenous Dhiefs selected the
unhappy victims, or if not, the 5ative Dommissioner would have to 4hunt the natives in the reserves
until the re"uired numbers were obtained4)+ In 0ra6il ++ 000 people were drafted as 4;ubber
#oldiers4 to work in the -ma6on under a deal between %# 2resident ;oosevelt and the dictator,
AetLlio 7argas to fill -merica4s rubber shortage > hundreds died of malaria)<
2risoners of war were used as forced labour by everyone, despite the Aeneva Donvention !he
Japanese made 0ritish and -merican captives into labour details > most infamously at !amarkanH
Aermans enslaved ;ussian prisoners of warH Italian 2CWs worked #cottish farmsH %# #erviceman
Jurt 7onnegut was put on a detail clearing bodies from the cellars of the firebombed city of
1resden, while the captured Italian partisan 2rimo Levi avoided the gas chambers by working as a
chemist4s assistant at 0una -nd after the war, the -llies made defeated Aermans into slaves 0ritish
and -merican forces gave the @rench ++,000 and *00,000 prisoners respectively 0ritain took
,00,000 Aerman prisoners back home to work -merica had some <00,000 at work in $urope and
-merica)7
- 5ew 1ivision of Labour
0usiness recruited a whole new labour force during the war !he people working the lathes,
hammering the rivets, directing the traffic, ploughing the farms were not the same people they had
been -part from skilled workers in protected trades, the male core of the working class was sent to
war Cthers > women, minorities, young people, migrant labour > were recruited to fill the gaps
!hese new workers were easier to handle at first and worked harder to prove themselves
;oosevelt put ten million men into the -merican -rmy, and si. million more women into the
workforce In '(,0, one "uarter of all workers were women, by '(,+, more than a third were
women 8a share not repeated until '(<09 !wo fifths of workers in the airframe industry were
women, and the %nited -uto Workers had &+0,000 women members, the %nited $lectrical Workers
)00,000
0etween '(,& and '(,+, the number of black -mericans in work tripled !he number working in
industry grew one and a half times to '&+0 million 8)00,000 of them women9 !he number of black
people working as civil servants grew from <0,000 to &00,000 !he great migration of black
-mericans from the rural #outh to 5orthern cities changed -merica Cne million si. hundred
thousand black and white moved 5orth > but then people were moving everywhere 0etween '(,0
and '(,7 more than a fifth of the country, &+ million people, moved county, and four and a half
million moved from the farm to the city for good)*
0ritain was the first country ever to introduce conscription for women, and they were given the
choice of war work instead !hose who refused could be fined up to five pounds a day, or
imprisoned)( !wo million more women were put to work in the war, a growth of ,0 percent In
'(,' the :inistry of Labour worked out that four fifths of all single women aged ', to ,( were at
work or in the services -mong wives and widows, two fifths were working, but only ') percent of
those with children under ', did,0 Cver )00,000 worked in the e.plosive and chemical industry,
more than half their workforce, a million and a half in engineering and metal industries, '00,000 on
the railways, thousands more on farms as part of the Women4s4 Land -rmy,'
Aermany did not put many more women to work, even when war production minister -lbert #peer
begged the @Fhrer to in '(,&, but in '(,) new laws called for the registration of all women aged '7
to ,+ !hese laws came too late to make a difference Instead, Aermany made up its shortfall of
factory hands by bringing in si. million foreign labourers from occupied $urope,& @rom '(,) on,
#peer changed the policy of bringing war workers in, by putting them to work making goods for the
Aerman war effort > but in @rance, the 5etherlands, D6echoslovakia and 2oland !his had the
advantage that factories in @rance were less likely to be bombed
#peer4s economic plan for $urope was a late flowering of the Arossdeutsche ;eich that shows us
one more way that the working class was re3made through the war -s well as a new division of
labour at home, the war created a new international division of labour, too !his international
division of labour was less driven by free trade than it was by forced sei6ure Aermany did not
wring labour from its occupied states only It took grain from Areece and 2oland, oil from ;umania
and the Daucasus, manufactured goods from @rance, Holland and 5orway !he one3way traffic
made a mockery of the @ascist Internationalism that 5orway4s pro35a6i figurehead 7ikdun Muisling
dreamt about In that way the work of yet millions more beyond Aermany4s pre3war borders were
made to serve the Aerman industry In the Japanese Do32rosperity #phere, four million Joreans and
ten million Javanese were drafted into work by the Japanese authorities on plantations and some
&00,000 were relocated for special pro?ects like the !hai 0urma ;ailroad - further )<+,000
Joreans were seconded by the Japanese -rmy for military and civilian work, while &00,000 were
prostituted as 4Domfort Women4,)
!he -llies made a much deeper international division of labour too, firstly by the lend3lease
programme that made -merica the 4-rsenal of 1emocracy4 Lend3lease e.tended free credit to
0ritain and other allies, without worrying too much about the terms of repayment It was a brilliant
way of getting -merican industry back to work, ?ust when it was sliding back into recession
-merica4s surplus output would be sent off to $urope, and the higher cause of war would put off the
awkward point when the goods had to be paid for !his is the beginning of the system that made
@ord, Dhrysler, 1ouglas, I0: and 2an -m into world3beating businesses after the war
-usterity
-s well as working more people harder for longer, business and government worked together to
hold down their wages > so boosting industry4s operating profits Holding down wages was not easy
because putting so many more people to work ought to have pushed wages up In fact, in cash
terms, weekly wages did go up 0ut on closer inspection we find that hourly wages tended to go
down 2eople were working for much longer hours, sometimes giving up their time for free, often
losing out on overtime payments What increases there were in wages did not keep pace with the
increase in output
-lso, the increase in cash wages did not buy more consumer goods Aovernments intervened in the
economy to grow the armaments and industrial firms not those that made consumer goods 2eople
had more cash, but less to spend it on 2rice rises swallowed up the bigger wage packets, and
government war bonds soaked up the growth in savings -s they regimented the workplace to
increase productivity, governments regimented social life, too, to keep consumer spending down,
the better to boost investment in industry
In Aermany and Italy, the fascist governments drove wages down early on > by more than a "uarter
in Aermany between '()) and '()+, and by half in Italy, between '(&7 and '()&,, In the first
year of 5a6i rule, Jrupp -A4s wage bill fell by two million ;: while the workforce grew by
7,7<&, IA @arben4s got a third more workers with ?ust a '+ percent bigger wage bill,+ -fter that,
wages rose in Aermany until the outbreak of the war, when living standards were cut again,< $ven
then, though weekly earnings rose by a "uarter between '()& and '()*, hourly rates were
marginally down over the same period,7 #o it was in 0ritain between '()* and '(,), where
people had more cash in their pockets 4not because their rates were relatively better, but because
they were putting in more hours4,* -mericans, too, were earning their e.tra wages by working
more > by '(,+ their hours were up by a "uarter on '()* Japanese industrial pay was cut by a fifth
under the Wage Dontrol Crdinances of '()( and '(,0,( Italians4 wages came to a standstill under
the @ascists, so that by '(,' they were ?ust '') percent of what they had been in '(')+0 0y the
end of the war, under the -llies, consumption was only three "uarters of what it had been in '()*,
and the number of calories Italians had a day had fallen to ',7,7+' In 7ichy and Cccupied @rance
real wages went down as wage controls proved much more effective than price controls+&
In -merica, a bigger wage bill was not matched by more goods in the shops, so business ?ust put up
prices to claw the money back -round munitions plants housing was in short supply, transport was
overcrowded and shop windows empty !he 1epartment of Labor worked out that the *0 percent
rise in cash wages between '(,' and '(,+ was only a twenty percent rise when inflation and
shortages were taken into account @ortune reported from 2ittsburgh 4to the workers it4s a !antalus
situation/ the luscious fruits of prosperity above their heads > receding as they try to pick them4+)
!hough they ate well enough, their clothes and household goods were shabbier as real incomes
stagnated+, In 0ritain, too, more cash wages chased fewer goods to push prices up by half as much
again between '()( and '(,'++ In Aermany, living costs were pushed up by a law allowing cartels
to fi. prices in '()+, and by '(,' household spending was down by a fifth from its already low
point in '()*+<
Aovernments grabbed workers4 unspent cash for the war effort > handing it straight back to industry
as payment on war contracts In '(,& -mericans were strong3armed to putting one tenth of their
wages into war bonds, and in '(,) were ta.ed at source for the first time, a five percent victory ta.
+7 0ritons, too, felt the moral s"uee6e to put their money into 5ational #avings at War Weapons
Week 8'(,'9 Warship Weeks 8'(,' and '(,&9 Wings for 7ictory Weeks 8two in '(,)9 and #alute
the #oldier Week 8'(,,9 -nd like their -merican comrades, seven million manual workers had
their first taste of Income !a., when 2ay -s Iou $arn deductions were begun+* In Aermany,
where a War 0ond issue had fallen flat in '()*, government raided the #parkassen savings banks
where people kept their spare cash for eight billion ;eichsmarks in '(,0 and '&* billion in '(,'+(
!he greatest cut in working class income came through rationing @ood and clothing was rationed in
Aermany in the first two weeks of the war<0 In 0ritain meat, eggs, milk, butter and sugar were
rationed from January '(,0, canned meat, fish and vegetables from 5ovember '(,', followed by
dried fruit and grains in January '(,&, canned fruit and vegetables the following month, condensed
milk and breakfast cereal in -pril, syrup in July, biscuits in -ugust and Catflakes and rolled oats by
the end of '(,&<' Aerman rations were a healthy &,+70 calories for Aerman civilians in '()(, but a
cut in '(,& was found by scientists to lead to a loss of body fat in factory workers<& It was under
the -llies that Aerman workers fared worst/ their rations were cut to ','00 calories in the -merican
and 0ritish Eones<) Italians4 food was rationed from '(,' In Japan the rice ration of 07)< pints
was slowly adulterated with husks, and the standard calorie allowance cut from &,,00 in '(,' to
',*00 in '(,+<, @ood for workers was kept down so that more could be spent on building up
industry
!he rationing schemes in 0ritain and Aermany were envied by %# administrators, like Harry
Hopkins, who warned -mericans 4Iou Will be :obili6ed4/
Muote/
!hrough forced savings and ta.es, our spending will be limited and priorities far more widespread
that at present will determine the kinds of food, clothing, housing and businesses which we will
have, and will affect every detail of our daily lives We should not be permitted to ride on a train,
make a long distance telephone call, or send a telegram without evidence that these are necessary<+
!o hold working class living standards down, authorities in 0ritain and Aermany ordered their lives
outside the factory as well as in !he Aerman #trength through Joy clubs laid on theatre and
e.hibition visits, concerts, sport and hiking groups, dances, films and adult education courses
#trength through Joy4s supported tourism was widely admired, though professional rather than
working class members generally bagged the cruises Its assets included two ocean liners and a car
dealership, though delivery on instalments for the new people4s car > 7olkswagen > never
materialised<<
In 0ritain, the $ntertainments 5ational #ervice -ssociation gave dinner3hour shows for factory
workers #hakespearean actors did pit3village shows 8which they called 4missionary work4 between
themselves9 for the Douncil for the $ncouragement of :usic and the -rts #oon every hour of the
day was planned, with D$:-3funded e.hibitions by the -rtists International -ssociation, or a well3
earned local authority Holiday at Home Like the #trength through Joy clubs, people remember the
comradeship at the workplace concerts and lectures with happiness #till, these cultural offerings
were laid on to cut the costs of out3of3work pastimes and keep the men and women happy at their
benches and desks > working to win the war, and enrich their employers
2ropaganda put 4guns before butter4 > in the infamous words of Hitler4s propaganda minister Joseph
Aoebbels, parodied by John Heartfield in a '()+ poster In Italy a pompous :ussolini had told the
Dhamber of 1eputies in '(), that 4we are approaching a period in which mankind will find its
e"uilibrium on a lower standard of life4<7 !he Japanese press lauded the -ichi Watch Dompany4s
new 4family wage system4 as 4livelihood, family3oriented wages4 as distinct from the 4western,
selfish, individualistic, skill3based wages4<* 0etween '()* and '(,, the output of Aermany4s
consumer goods industry fell from )' percent of all output to ?ust && percent In 0ritain, output of
beef and veal fell by a si.th, eggs by a half and pigmeat by two3thirds #oviet workers in civilian
goods and services were cut by <0 percent<(
Workers wages were held down even though the factories were full !hat made sure a greater share
of the national wealth went to the war, and to business
Labour4s ;eaction
In the ten years from '()+ to '(,+ the working classes across the world were pushed harder in
greater numbers to produce much more !hose changes would not have been possible without a
shift in the terms between workers and bosses > not ?ust on a plant by plant basis, but country3wide,
and world wide !hat shift happened worldwide 0ut its terms were not the same country by
country !he difference between the national terms of the deal between capital and labour are the
key to the broader differences between the fascist countries and the democracies
!he 5#1-2 in Aermany, like :ussolini4s @ascist party had come to power on a programme of
crushing 0olshevism > which was a code for crushing the labour movement 8its more militant
activists being Dommunists9 In :arch '()), after the 1utch anarchist :arinus van der Lubbe
burned down the parliament building, '00,000 Dommunists, #ocial 1emocrats and trade unionists
were put in new concentration camps, and <00 killed Cn :ay 1ay '()), the leaders of the !rade
%nions marched behind the #wastika, hoping to curry favour with the 5a6is Cn the &nd of :ay
union offices were occupied by brown shirts, the premises and assets sei6ed by emergency
decree70 !he working class were made to kneel before the @uhrer or get sent to the camps, and
their own unions were broken up
5a6i ;obert Ley led a substitute Labour @ront that, being based on workplace subscriptions like the
unions it replaced, was much bigger than the 5a6is4 old union faction the 5#0C Indeed the Labour
@ront "uickly became one of the weightiest bodies in the 5a6i state, with a lot of room to
manoeuvre !he 5a6is thought that they were different from the other right3wing parties because
they were carrying the Aerman worker with them, not ?ust taking a whip to him !he masses did
support the war, most of all in the early years of victory, and they ?oined in the big rallies 0ut there
was a gap between rulers and ruled that, ironically, made the fascist state the less efficient at war3
time mobilisation7'
In Japan there was strife in the workplace between the wars, but union membership was only <*
percent of the workforce !he #anpo 8short for #angyo Hokokukai9 movement that wanted respect
for workers4 industrial contribution to the nation very "uickly took the unions4 place covering 70
percent of the workforce, or ++ million members at its height in '(,& #tarted by some right3wing
union leaders and intellectuals, #anpo was pushed onto employers first by the -ichi 2refecture
2olice 1epartment, and then later the Labor :inistry #anpo set up workplace committees to talk
through problems 7ery "uickly #anpo turned into a semi3official body that dealt mostly with
absenteeism, productivity and efficiency !he workers4 keenness at the start turned to distrust7&
In 0ritain, the deal between labour and government was different from the Aerman one Instead of
?ust coercion, the government and the bosses got the leaders of the trade unions onside !he trade
union officials4 support for the war was strong $ngineers4 %nion 8-$%9 president Jack !anner >
who had fought bitter battles with employers in the first world war 3 was thrilled/
Muote/
!his is an engineer4s war NO It is a machine war with a vengeance Whether it is in the anti3aircraft
defences or the machines on land and sea, or in the sky, it is the engineer who stands behind them
all
7)
#eats on Joint 2roduction Dommittees lured trade unionists to give their all for the war effort !hese
were set up to plan ways of boosting output, and after Aermany invaded the #oviet %nion in '(,',
0ritish Dommunists got behind them - deal between the -$% and the $ngineering $mployers
@ederation brokered by $rnest 0evin in :arch '(,& founded J2Ds in the ;oyal Crdinance
@actories, and that month '*0 J2Ds answered an -$% survey 4Cnce the political conviction of the
workers has been won4, Walter #wanson told the $ngineering -llied !rades #hop #tewards
Dommittee, 4they will display an initiative, drive and energy to increase production never witnessed
in this country before47,
0efore the Japanese attack on 2earl Harbour 87 1ecember '(,'9 the ;oosevelt government was
tilting towards the use of force to control Labour When the %nited -uto Workers struck out -llis3
Dhalmers in early '(,' the Cffice of 2roduction :anagement 8C2:9 and 5avy #ecretary @rank
Jno. ordered the men back to work, and police in armoured cars opened fire on picket lines !he
June strike at 5orth -merican -viation prompted 2resident ;oosevelt to open the plant by force,
using ),+00 federal troops to "uell this national emergency7+ he government4s despotic moves were
tough for the Donfederation of Industrial Crganisations 8DIC9 to take !hough its membership was
more militant that the rival, craft3based -merican @ederation of Labour, its leaders had tried hard to
win influence in ;oosevelt4s 5ew 1eal administration, supporting the 5ational Labor ;elations
0oard -fter 2earl Harbour, the DIC got patriotic and offered a 45o #trike4 pledge Leader 2hilip
:urray told the DIC convention two weeks later/ 4I say to the government of the %nited #tates of
-merica, the national DIC is here with its heart, its mind, its body NO prepared to make whatever
sacrifices are necessary47<
!he no3strike pledge worked > at least for the first two years of the war > and strikes were down
;oosevelt used the no3strike pledge to take away overtime and weekend work payments In -pril
'(,& ;oosevelt summoned DIC and -@L leaders to a 4War Dabinet4 and told them they would have
voluntary wage stabili6ation He told a meeting of #hipyard Cwners, government officials and
union officers in :ay 4the full percentage wage increase for which your contracts call, and to which
by the letter of the law you are entitled, is irreconcilable with the national policy to control the cost
of living477 !o make the wage free6e work for the union leaders, if not their members, ;oosevelt
introduced a 4:aintenance of :embership4 clause, preventing workers from moving unions to get a
better deal !he War 2roduction 0oard set up ',700 labour3management production committees at
the prompting of the 8DIC9 on the understanding that they were 4solely to increase morale and boost
production47* 0ut these never got the DIC the corporate status that 0ritish %nions won, as %#
employers ?ealously guarded their rights
In both 7ichy and Cccupied @rance, national trade unions were abolished and strikes outlawed
!hose that did take place, like the 5ord :iners4 strike of :ay '(,' were violently suppressed In
place of unions, @rench workers in 7ichy were invited to sit on DomitPs #ociau. alongside
managers and employers7(
Where they took on the cause of the war as their own, workers in many countries sacrificed a great
deal for victory Loyalty did not come all at once, but built up, over the course of the war Workers,
like everyone else, cheered when their side won, and were angry when they were attacked
!he 4blit6krieg4 motorised invasion of the old enemy @rance thrilled many Aermans It was a victory
that cost them very little 0ritons, sceptical about the 2honey War between '()( and '(,' were
gripped by the drama of 1unkirk when the 0ritish $.peditionary @orce were saved by 4a flotilla of
small ships4 > in the words of J0 2riestley4s radio broadcast !he myth that civilian volunteers had
rescued the army was not true > those ships that did take part were commandeered #till the
:inistry of Information understood that the divide between the armed services and the population
had been broken down > in spirit if not in fact -mericans, not won over to ;oosevelt4s pro30ritish
policy, were stung into action by the Japanese attack on 2earl Harbor !he wider fight stirred
patriotism on the shop floor @rom 5ew Crleans, the Cffice of War Information got this telegram/
42lease rush gruesome photos of dead -merica soldiers for plant promotion !hird War Loan4*0
Aerman morale was actually boosted by the great bombing raids on cities and even by the losses to
the ;ed -rmy > all of which let the 5a6is pose as defenders of the nation*' !o everyone4s dismay
;oosevelt4s #trategic 0ombing #urvey found that the bombing raids on industrial towns tended to
make output higher than it had been before*&
Crignially published at wwwmetamuteorg
' :ark :a6ower, 1ark Dontinent/ $urope4s !wentieth Dentury, London/ 7intage, &000, p ')0
& -lec 5ove, -n $conomic History of the %##;, London/ 2enguin, '(*&, p &7(
) @or -rmaments spending '())3<, ;a?ani 2alme 1utt, World 2olitics/ '('*3'()<, London, 7ictor
Aollenc6, '()<, p '+ @or military contracts in '(,&, !homas @leming, !he 5ew 1ealers4 War/
@1; and the War Within World War II, 5ew Iork/ 0asic 0ooks, &00&, p '&, 0etween them, the
-llied and -.is powers built ,(7(( million guns, rifles and pistols, '**'< million tanks and **&
million ships between '(,& and '(,,-dam !oo6e, Wages of 1estruction/ !he :aking and
0reaking of the 5a6i $conomy, London/ 7iking -dult, &007, p <,'
, Jac"ues ; 2auwels, !he :yth of the Aood War/ -merica in the #econd World War, !oronto/ J
Lorimer, &00&, p 7'
+ $lmar -ltvater, , Jurgen Hoffman, Wolfgang #holler and Will #emmler, 4Cn the -nalysis of
Imperialism in the :etropolitan Dountries4, 0ulletin of the Donference of #ocialist $conomists,
London/ #pring, '(7,, pp 7 and (
< 1avid #choenbaum, Hitler4s #ocial ;evolution/ Dlass #tatus in 5a6i Aermany, '())3'()(,
London/ 5orton, '((7, p (&
7 !oo6e, op cit, p &<'
* -ndrew Aordon, !he $volution of Labor ;elations in Japan/ Heavy Industry, '*+)3'(++,
Dambridge, :-/ Harvard %niversity 2ress, '(**, pp &+* and &<*
( -ngus Dalder, !he 2eople4s War/ 0ritain, '()(3,+, London/ 2limlico, '((&, pp &7&3)
'0 W0 #utch, Workers and the War $ffort, Wellington, 5E/ 5ew Eealand Do3operative 2ublishing
#ociety, '(,&, p ,<37
'' @leming, op cit, p &,*
'& #tephen Jotkin, GWorld War !wo and Labor/ - Lost DauseQ4, International Labor and Working3
Dlass History, 5o, +*, Dambridge/ Dambridge %niversity 2ress, &000, p '*<
') -lec 5ove, op cit, p &7&
', @leming, op cit, p *&
'+ Dalder, op cit, pp ')) and ,+<
'< #choenbaum, op cit, pp *<3*
'7 Aabriel Jolko, - Dentury of War/ 2olitics, Donflicts, and #ociety #ince '(',, 5ew Iork/ !he
5ew 2ress, '((,, p &,&
'* $dward !annenbaum, @ascism in Italy/ #ociety and Dulture, '(&&3'(,+, London/ -llen Lane,
'(7&, p '&0
'( Dalder, op cit, p )(&
&0 5elson Lichtenstein, Labor4s War at Home/ !he DIC in World War II, 2hilidelphia, 2-/ !emple
%niversity 2ress, &00), p (<H @leming, op cit, p '+)
&' @or standard working hours, ;obert 2a.ton, 7ichy @rance, 5ew Iork/ Dolumbia %niversity
2ress, '(*&, p )7< @or the output increases that would later e"uip the Aerman army, -lan Dlinton,
Jean :oulin, '*((3'(,)/ !he @rench ;esistence and the ;epublic, 5ew Iork/ 2algrave, &00&, p
7)
&& #utch, op cit
&) @or the hours of week per week, see, G- Letter @rom Aermany4, International Dommunist
Dorrespondence, 7ol III, 5o ', January '()7, p && @or the wage ceiling, see, #choenbaum, op cit
p (7
&, #ee, Dalder, op cit, p ,0+ and John Dostello, Love, #e. and War/ Dhanging 7alues, '()(3,+,
London/ 2an 0ooks, '(*<, p &07
&+ Aordon, op cit, p )',
&< Jatherine :orley and !im 5unn, G!he -rts and the Holocaust4, $ast ;enfrewshire Douncil,
&00+, p ''0, http/RRwwwreelingwrithingcomRholocaustRdownloadhtm
&7 ;obert 0lack, @ascism in Aermany/ How Hitler 1estroyed the World4s :ost 2owerful Labor
:ovement, London/ #teyne, '(7+, p (*(
&* Hugh ;ockoff G!he %nited #tates/ from ploughshares to swords4 in :ark Harrison, ed, !he
$conomics of World War !wo/ #i. Areat 2owers in International Domparison, Dambridge/
Dambridge %niversity 2ress, '((*, p (,
&( :ark Harrison, G!he $conomics of World War II/ an overview4 in Ibid, p ',
)0 Werner -belshauser, GAermany/ guns, butter and economic miracles4 in Ibid, p '<'
)' Jotkin, op cit, '*,
)& Dalder, op cit, p +0+
)) Jotkin, op cit, p '*<
), 1avid Johnson, World War !wo and the #cramble for Labour in Dolonial Eimbabwe, '()(3
'(,*, Harare, Eimbabwe/ %niversity of Eimbabwe, &000, p *(
)+ Ibid, '00
)< Larry ;ohter, GCf ;ubber and 0lood in 0ra6ilian -ma6on4, 5ew Iork !imes, &) 5ovember,
&00<, http/RRwwwnytimescomR&00<R''R&)RworldRamericasR&)bra6ilhtml
)7 James 0ac"ue, Drimes and :ercies/ !he @ate of Aerman Divilians under -llied Cccupation,
'(,,3+0, London/ Little 0rown, '((7, p <'
)* :iller and Dornford, op cit, pp &3)
)( Dostello, op cit, p &''
,0 Ibid, p '(7
,' Dalder, op cit, p )*<
,& Dostello, op cit, p &'+
,) Jotkin, op cit, p '*,
,, Auerin, op cit, p '(,3+
,+ 0lack, op cit, p (*(
,< !im :ason, #ocial 2olicy in the !hird ;eich/ !he Working Dlass and the G5ational
Dommunity4, '*'*3'()(, C.ford/ 0erg 2ublishing, '((), p )(
,7 #choenbaum, op cit, p (*
,* Dalder, op cit, p ,0+
,( Aordon, op cit, p &*+
+0 7era Eamagni, !he $conomic History of Italy, C.ford/ C.ford %niversity 2ress, '((7, p )0(
+' 7era Eamagni, GHow to Lose the War and Win the 2eace4, in Harrison, op cit, pp '7( and '('
+& 2a.ton, op cit, p )7<
+) Lichtenstein, op cit, p ''&3)
+, ;ockoff, op cit, p ()
++ Dalder, op cit, p&7+
+< #choenbaum, op cit, p '&<H !oo6e, op cit, p )+)
+7 Lichtenstein, op cit, p ''&
+* Dalder, op cit, p ,'03''
+( !oo6e, op cit, p )+,
<0 Ibid, p )+<
<' Dalder, op cit, p )'*
<& !oo6e, op cit, pp )<' and +,'
<) 2atricia :eehan, - #trange $nemy 2eople/ Aermany under the 0ritish, '(,+3+0, London/ 2eter
Cwen, &00', pp &,* and &+)
<, -kira Hara, in :ark Harrison, !he $conomics of World War !wo, &++3<
<+ @rom an article in @ortune, 1ecember '(,&, reprinted as Harry Hopkins, GIou Will 0e
:obili6ed4, !he ;eader4s 1igest, @ebruary '(,)
<< #choenbaum, op cit, pp '0+37
<7 @ran6 L 5eumann, $uropean !rade %nionism and 2olitics, 5ew Iork/ League for Industial
1emocracy, '()<, p ,&
<* Aordon, op cit, p &+< In 0ritain Lord 0eaverbrook bullied housewives into giving up their
aluminium saucepans to make #pitfires > even though metal merchants protested that there was an
aluminium glut at the time !o underscore the point he had all the iron railings taken away, too
-fter the war the railings were discovered in a hangar in %lster, intact 5obody knows whether the
saucepans were ever airborne, only that they made no more costly meals
Dutting back on household goods changed the balance of industry 0usinesses and factories that
were making goods for home use were changed over to munitions, guns, uniforms, tanks and
aeroplanes In -merica Walter ;euther of the %nion of -uto Workers put forward a plan to convert
car plants to war work !hough -uto $.ecutives smarted at being told what to do by the #ocialist
leader, by '(,) 4about << percent of all pre3war machine production had been converted to aircraft
production4Lichtenstein, op cit, p **
<( -belshauser, op cit, p '+)H Dalder, op cit, p ,*<H Jotkin, op cit, p '*<
70 ;ichard $vans, !he Doming of the !hird ;eich, London/ 2enguin, &00,, pp ),* and )++3)+7
7' :ilward, -J2 !aylor
7& Aordon, op cit, p &((H !etsu?i Cka6aki, GB7oiceB and B$.itB in Japanese @irms 1uring the
#econd World War/ #anpo ;evisited4, $conomic History ;eview, 7ol +(, 5o &, &00<
7) 2residential -ddress, July '(,0, in 5ina @ishman, !he 0ritish Dommunist 2arty and the !rade
%nions, '())3'(,+, -ldershot/ -shgate 2ublishing, '((+, p &<)
7, In Ibid, p &(* > the speech was written by D2 theoretician ;a?ani 2alme 1utt
7+ -rt 2reis, Labor4s Aiant #tep/ !he @irst !wenty Iears of the DIC/ '()<3++, 5ew Iork/
2athfinder 2ress, '(7&, pp '',37
7< Ibid, p ')'
77 Ibid, p '+,
7* Lichtenstein, op cit, p *(
7( 2a.ton, op cit, p )7<
*0 @leming, op cit, p )*'
*' !imothy W :ason, 5a6ism, @ascism and the Working Dlass, Dambridge/ Dambridge
%niversity 2ress, p &<+
*& @leming, op cit, pp +&(3)0