History of the USA – crimes and arbitrariness in focus

It is a classic, a standard work: the large epic of Howard Zinn (1922-2010) “A History of the American people”. The historian born in Brooklyn in a Jewish family of workers had initially worked on ship’s throwing, took part in the Second World War as a soldier of the USAir Force and was involved in the bombing of the German occupied place Royan on the Normandie coast of France, as well as about the atomic bombs thrown off Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as about the USA and Nagasaki. wrote critical essays. After the war he studied history at Columbia University, did her doctorate and taught at a university for black women and at Boston University and was also involved in the civil rights movement.

The focus of Howard Zinn’s large epic focus is on the exploited and oppressed.

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März-Verlag, very meritorious, had published the first German edition of the 2010 booklet published by City Light Books “The Bomb” and now presented a new total edition of Zinn’s unique, comprehensive story, which is a focus on the history of the indigenous peoples, the oppressed, workers, exploited and slaves. Already in his first two chapters for the discovery of America by Columbus, Zinn does not attach the usual praised tone for its deeds, but describes the crimes that were already committed by him and his sailors, who later followed the notorious conquistadores. The indigenous population, the “Indians”, enslaved or even slaved down, others died, others died by confronting unknown diseases. Zinn quotes Bartolomé de Las Casas, who converted from a Dominican theologian and colonialist to a violent critic and reported in his relentless records of the devastation and violent orgies of the Conquistadores.

In the further course of the history of the history, tin focuses on the system of oppression and exploitation of the slaves, the country’s criminal robbery through the white as well as rebellions and strikes of black slaves and also the white serf for time (IndUturned servants). The latter came into the country as poor colonists from Europe and had to finish the crossing costs for their gentlemen. Until this had happened, they were owned and could also be sold, but in contrast to the black slaves, they received freedom after a few years of cloudy deprivation and suffering. An immigrant wrote in a letter: «If you are doing well in Europe, you do better to stay at home. There is misery and evil here, just like everywhere, and for some people and circumstances incomparably worse than in Europe. » There were occasional alliances of slaves and white serfs against the slave owners, but the prevailing system of part-and-Herrsche policy, which described the blacks as inferior and the white breed as a higher quality.

Another focus in Zinn’s history of the United States is the women who, in most cases, also serve as serfs to their “gentlemen” and in many cases had to endure sexual attacks. Later, women and also little girls in the developing textile industry made up a large part of the workforce. Here, too, Zinn relies on the resistance spirit and reports on the many massive strikes, for example in the state of Massachusetts. As early as possible in the feminist sense, activists vehemently demanded equality in the 18th century, the author proves on the basis of mass navals and individual protests. Zinn sums up: «This is how women began to defend themselves against attempts in the 1930s and 50s of the 19th century to capture them in their ‘female sphere’. They took part in all possible movements, for prisoners, for crazy, for black slaves and also for themselves and all women. »

The industrial struggles in steel production, the cabbage industry and the construction of the railway are carried out by the history of the United States as well as colonial wars. Radical activists such as Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman, Eugene V. Debs as well as the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and later the communists who often shaped and cited and cited and were particularly affected by state repression, arbitrary imprisonment or murder by aroused troops were at the forefront of the resistance. In Zinn’s representation, the actions of the workers against colonial wars, be it through strikes or boycott, are also strongly taken into account. Tin cited from newspapers, but also from novels by John Steinbeck, John Dos Passos and Sinclair Lewis to illustrate the drama of the social and political situation.

The book ends with 9/11, the terrorist attacks of September 9, 2001 against New York and Washington. Using the example of the presidential election in the previous year, Zinn exposes the undemocratic electoral system in the United States with two parties. Democrats like Republicans are paid for by the large corporations and guarantee their rule at the expense of workers and the poor. Without addressing the sometimes strange and not really enlightened details of the Nine/Eleven attacks, tin is in a sharp criticism of the “War on Terror”, which was called on by the then US President George W. Bush Junior, and also conducts sanctions against Cuba and other countries.

In his foreword, German historian Norbert Finzsch appreciates the great performance of Zinn and defends him against the reactionary majority of the historians, who attacked him sharply, despite some errors of kind of victims of the bombing of Dresden in 1945. However, Zinn had not been the first to put black, workers, native Americans, women and other neglected groups in the spotlight. Philip Sheldon Foner (1910-1994), quoted several times by tin, also from a Jewish, Eastern European immigrant family from the Lower East Side and in the McCarthy era as a communist with a job ban, did this with almost 100 (!) Publications, including a ten-volume history of the US workers’ movement. His writings are largely forgotten and are only being rediscovered. It is all the more important that Howard Zinn’s very legible story is available again as a correction of ruling historiography.

Howard Zinn: A story of the American people. A. d. America. v. Sonja Bonin. March-Verlag, 927 pages, born, € 48.