Socialism from Below by George Woodcock, Chapter 12 - Epilogue

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George Woodcock (1912-1995) was a historian, political biographer, essayist, poet, and anarchist. He wrote biographies of such anarchist thinkers as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, William Godwin, Oscar Wilde, and Peter Kropotkin. Throughout his life, Woodcock was given numerous awards for his work, but he refused several awards from the government of Canada on the grounds that he only accepted awards granted by his peers.

In this final chapter, Woodcock provides an anarchist perspective on World War II, which was happening as he wrote the book. He argues that the myths of the Allies--that they were fighting for freedom against fascism--could be easily disproved by analyzing the prevailing social and economic conditions of those countries. The Allies were authoritarian as well, differing only in degree, but even those differences were eroding during the war. The real struggle, as Woodcock contends, was not the Allies against the Axis, but the working people of all countries against their rulers.