FASCISM AT HARVARD.

WHEN HARVARD PROFESSORS PLAGIARIZE FROM ADOLF HITLER HIMSELF.
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Paul Krugman in his blog, August 17, 2009:

"I really had no intention of writing more about Niall Ferguson. Regular readers may recall that he wrote an article in the Financial Times that began,

President Barack Obama reminds me of Felix the Cat. One of the best-loved cartoon characters of the 1920s, Felix was not only black. He was also very, very lucky. And that pretty much sums up the 44th president of the US …"
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OK. I have bought some of Ferguson's books, in hardback form, as they came out. I also have a serious problem with Professor Ferguson (and, by extension, Harvard university).

The following was sent to Krugman's blog, and I am trying to write a much expanded version for http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/. But days have only so many hours...
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Ferguson is a historian in the sense that Hitler was a historian. The former follows the later closely. Ferguson’s thesis about WWI is that it would have been better if Britain had stayed out of the war. It is not new: Russel invented it, was condemned to spent 18 months in jail during WWI for advertizing it. Hitler had been given guarantees, by Ferguson-like British traitors, that Britain would stay out of France’s offensive maneuvers in 1939. He could not believe it when Britain joined France, and declared war to the Nazis. Apparently, not enough Brits had been taught by Ferguson-like professors.

This thesis, that Britain ought to have betrayed her sister democracy, France, is grotesque and deeply offensive to the spirit of democracy.

The day after Imperial fascist Germany had attacked several democracies deliberately (becoming the first country to fire a shot in WWI), Earl Grey, the British foreign minister, delivered an excellent discourse to the Commons explaining why Britain had to get into the war. It is not that Britain was anxious to go to war, foaming at the mouth. As the Secretary of State for War, Field-Marshal Kitchener, pointed out with relish: "I am proud to stand with such courageous men as my colleagues in the Cabinet. They have no Army and have declared war against the mightiest military nation in the world."

It is no mystery that Imperial fascist Germany had engaged in a holocaust in Namibia (led by Goering, father of Herman). White supremacists loved fascist Germany just for this general inclination of being willing to free vast swathes of the planet for the white “Western” man of the Germanic variety, after exterminating the natives.

Hitler pursued that work. Ferguson is sad, because, according to him, the West, by not adopting fascism, has degenerated. All people of the same persuasion will find this sort of “historical work” very good. I hold, though, that this mentality got 100 million people killed, among other nefarious effects.

By the same standard, I will suggest that the same sort people who find Ferguson so good should consider the remarkable historical work of Adolf Hitler (this is meant to be ironical), as found in “Mein Kampf”.
That such people are allowed to teach the young in the most prestigious places is testimony to the power of plutocracy, and the fact that it is racist and fascist at heart.

So, let me repeat: it is not France and Britain, the two and only very large democracies in Europe, which created the terrible war of 1914-1945. France (with Belgium, Luxembourg, Russia) was attacked by the fascists, by surprise. Everybody knew that Britain and France had been in the process of getting reunited and operating as a unit for a century, leading them to joint military operations (invasions of China and Russia, among others). This close relationship had crystallized more recently with an explicit alliance (”Entente Cordiale”).

What created the First World War was the fascist, racist spirit that penetrated imperial fascist Germany.

That spirit had not been crushed by WWI. So it revived right away. The failure of the intervening Weimar republic was partly due to the fact that it conceded all the main points to the fascist opposition, preferring to accuse France, and Britain having chosen the wrong side. Much better to create gigantic inflation, rather than standing on principle in the internal German debate. (This is a bit similar to Barack Obama conceding to Big Pharma and eschewing the public plan before even starting negotiations on health care.)

Ferguson says that civilization would have been improved by accepting that this fascist spirit triumphed. It is a misunderstanding about what advances civilization most. Civilization profits more from democracy, not oligarchy. Civilization was made to benefit from the mindwork, and physical work of the many. But then, Ferguson is an oligarchic product (elite private school, etc.), and therein his bread and butter. He does what he is paid for.

Patrice Ayme
http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/