World War Two A People's War? by John Ellison

John Ellison interrogates diverse accounts of World War Two to bring out the inadequacies in various mainstream historical narratives, in which imperial and anti-communist motives underlying war policies of French and British governments lie mainly hidden.

He asks the question: ‘How much was the war fought for the interests of the ruling elites of the Western Allied Powers against the expansionist ambitions of Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and militarist Japan; and how much of it was fought for the benefit of the mass of the peoples threatened by that aggression and by the military occupations that went with it?’

The front cover images of various anti-fascists represent the millions of those committed in the struggle to radical post-war change. This study highlights the significance too of the struggle for independence on the part of the people of colonial India, while the war’s consequences and follow-ups offer connections to today’s dangerous return of war in Europe.