Eyewitness to Disaster - The German Labour Movement and the Rise of Hitler 1929-1933, edited by Al Richardson
Book published by Socialist Platform in 1993, 160 pages. Paperback (N3915P1)
Brand New Book
Why was the left so weak in the face of the rising Nazi tide? This book attempts to answer that question, collecting together several essays that present contemporary reporting and comment from leftist activists.
The key essay in the book is Hippolyte Etchebehere's vivid eyewitness account of the last months of the Weimar Republic, 'The Tragedy of the German Proletariat'. Etchebehere, an Argentine Marxist, arrived in Berlin in November 1932, and in his first hand account he describes the terrible plight of the German workers, how their fighting spirit was dulled by the timidity of the Socialist Party and trade union leaders, and diverted by the sectarianism of the Communist Party. He goes on to show how the workers' organisations underestimated the Fascist threat.
There are also four reports written in Germany in 1929-30 by the US Trotskyist, Sam Gordon. Both Etchebehere's and Gordon's accounts are introduced by brief biographical essays by their widows, which give personal and political reminiscences of these militants, and there is an introductory essay and explanatory notes for all the major personalities and events mentioned.
Please not that although this book is brand new and unread, their was a price printed in the top right hand corner of the front cover that has been covered up using black pen, as well as some tiny amounts of bumping on the corners where the book has been stored
| Condition | New |