The RAMPART JOURNAL of Individualist Thought Is Published Quarterly (Maj'ch, June, September and December) by Rampart College
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The Wisdom of "Hindsight" by Read Bain I On the Importance of Revisionism for Our Time by Murray N. Rothbard 3 Revisionism: A Key to Peace by llarry Elmer Barnes 8 Rising Germanophohia: The Chief Oh~~tacle to Current World War II Revisionism by Michael F. Connors 75 Revisionism and the Cold War, 1946-1~)66: Some Comments on Its Origins and Consequences by James J. Martin 91 Departments: Onthe Other Hand by Robert Lf.~Fevre 114 V01. II, No. 1 SPRING., 1966 RAMPART JOURNAL of Individualist Thought Editor .. _. __ . .__ _ __ .. __ _. Ruth Dazey Director of Publications - ---.- .. J. Dohn Lewis Published by Pine Tree Press for RAMPART COLLEGE Box 158 Larkspur, Colorado 80118 President -----------------.------------------ William J. Froh Dean . .. .__ ._ Robert LeFevre Board of Academic Advisers Robert L. Cunningham, Ph.D. Bruno Leoni, Ph.D. University of San Francisco University of Pavia San Francisco, California Turin, Italy Arthur A. Ekirch, Ph.D~ James J. Martin, Ph.D. State University of New York Rampart College Graduate School Albany, New York Larkspur, Colorado Georg. Frostenson, Ph.D. Ludwig von Mises, Ph.D. Sollentuna, Sweden New York University New York, New York J. P. Hamilius, Jr., Ph.D. Toshio Murata, M.B.A. College of Esch-sur-Alzette Luxembourg Kanto Gakuin University Yokohama, Japan F. A. Harper, Ph.D. Wm. A. Paton, Ph.D. Institute for Humane Studies University of Michigan Stanford, California Ann Arbor, Michigan F. A. von Hayek, Ph.D. Sylvester Petro, Ll.M. University of Freiburg New York University Freiburg, Germany New York, New York W. H. Hurt, B.Com. Hans F. Sennholz, Ph.D. University of Virginia Grove City College Charlott~svi1le, Virginia Grove City, Pennsylvania Arthur Kemp, Ph.D. Louis M. Spadaro, Ph.D. Claremont Men's College Fordham University Claremont, California New York, New York V. Orval Watts, Ph.D. Northwood Institute Midland, Michigan The RAMPART JOURNAL of Individualist Thought is published quarterly (MaJ'Ch, June, September and December) by Rampart College. Second class postage paid at Boulder, Colorado. Regular subscriptions are $7.50 per year (four issues). Student rates of $5.00 per year are available to full-time students. Single copies are $2.00. (Quantity rates available on request.) . All manuscripts submitted for publication will receive prompt and careful attention from the editorial staff. No responsibility can be assumed for returning manuscripts unless the sender encloses a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Please address all inqUiries to the RAMPART JOURNAL, Box 15'8, Larkspur, Colorado 80118. The RAMPART JOURNAL is a platform for rational statement and sound scholarship in the field of individualist thought. Conflicting opinions, positions, and conclusions presented in the pages of the RAMPART JOURNAL are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the college, its board, its editor, or publisher. New manuscripts are welcomed by the editor. Revisionist Issue The Spring, 1966 issue of the RAMPART' JOURNAL of Individual ist Thought is devoted to revisionism. The assistance of Dr. Harry Elmer Barnes in the compilation of this material is gratefully ac knowledged. Current world conditions point up the value of re visionism. As Dr. Barnes has commented, revisionism is "an honest search for historical truth and the discrediting of misleading myths that may be a barrier to peace and good,vill among nations." Reprints of articles are available for quantity orders. Write for infonnation, specifying the article. RAMPART JOURNAL BOX 158 Larkspur, Colorado 80118 The Wisdom of "Hindsight" by Read Bain Professor emeritus of sociology at Miami University in Ohio, Dr. Read Bain has been a strong supporter of revisionist attitudes in sociology, history, and international relations. He was editor of the American Sociological Review (1937-1941) and is the author and editor of numerous books, notably Fields and Methods of Sociology; Critiques of Research in Social Science (three volumes); and Mar riage and the Family (contributor). Dr. Bain earned his Ph.D. degree at the University of Michigan in 1926, and received an Ll.D. from Willa:mette University in 1941. Valid historical judgments must be based on competent historical research. This is possible only after historical events have occurred. All ''history'' written at the time it is "being made" tends to be special pleading-and much that is written thereafter has the same character. In this sense, all history is "revisionistic." Sound judgments de pend upon the perspective of time, the impartial analysis of all documentary and other evidence, and the events that follow from the policies, actions, and events that are the data of history. The present historical interpretations of the Civil War and World War I are good examples-and the story is far from complete in both cases. World War II is no exception. It will take historians many years to arrive at a fairly objective accotmt and evaluation of what hap pened from 1930 to 1960, as it did for the period 1830..1860-even if we escape a. post-1960 holocaust far more destructive to the world than the 1861-1865 tragedy 'was to the United States. Therefore, it is highly important that the ':'revisionist historians" of World War II be given every opportunity to find out what actual ly went on in the "minds" of the leaders in all countries and what plans and decisions actually were Inade, and if possible, why they were made. This requires access to all documents and other evi dence, adequate financing, and uncensored publication. Fulllmowl edge of all relevant facts is necessary for an impartial and objective analysis and evaluation. Competent historians and social scientists 1 2 Read Bain are our best bets for such a task; politicians, publicists, preachers~ and "patriots" are the worst. The early completion of such a re search program may make the difference between "peace" and catastrophe in the next generation. Such research will inevitably destroy much mythical and wishful thinking born in the passion of the moment from the ignorance and self-interest of actors and publicists in high places. Valid historical and social science research is the difference between "propaganda" and· science. It will be charged that the findings of such research is "hindsight" rather than wisdom, but all "wisdom" is the result of proper analysis and evaluation of previous events. The '''lessons of experience" m.ay lead to wiser action in subsequent similar situa tions. "Hindsight" now indicates that our interests would have been better served if we had permitted Germany and Russia to "bleed each other white" in World War II. Whichever power..structure survived would have been so weakened by the struggle that it could have been no serious menace to "the free world" for many years. Certainly our position would have been no worse than it is at present-convinced as we are that our erstwhile deadly Nazi enemies, Germany and Japan, must be rearmed (and democratized) to help us withstand the menace of the colossus we ourselves did so much to create. We are now a garrison state in a garrison world and the secret vaults of the garrisons are filled with weapons whose destructive power is beyond human imagination. If this is a sound judgment now, in the light of "hindsight," it is certain that serious errors of policy and action produced the situ ation in which we find ourselves. These errors should be studied and assessed in order to train ourselves for more realistic judgments in the future. The wisdom of "hindsight" may save us from disaster in confronting the dangers of the present and the near-future that is so relentlessly rushing upon us. Therefore, revisionist studies of prewar, wartime, and post-World War II history should be prosecuted with all possible intensity and dispatch. This is one of the most important tasks to which students of collective behavior can address themselves. Such studies should be widely circulated and should be read by all. If democratic societies are to survive, their peoples must rapidly acquire sufficient social intelligence to recognize and face facts, analyze them realisti cally, and act accordingly. If thought-control is evil in totalitarian states, it is doubly dangerous and· doubly damnable in democracies. On The Importance of Revisionism FOf aUf Time by Murray t\L Rothbard Dr. Rothbard received his doctorate in economics from Columbia University. A consulting economist and historian, his published works include: What Has Government Done to Our Money? (1964), Atnerica's Great Depression (1963), Man, Economy and State: A Treatise on Econo1nic Principles (two volumes, 1962), The Panic of 1819: Reactions and Policies (1962:). He has contributed numerous articles to such publications as the American Economic Review; American Political Science Review; Journal of the History of Ideas; Quarterly Jo'urnal of Economics, and the RAltlPART JOURNAL of Individualist Thought. He is currently an editor of the tri-annual journal, Left and Right. Revisionism as applied to World War II and its origins (as also for previous wars) has the general function of bringing historical truth to an American and a world· public that had been drugged by wartime lies and propaganda. This, in itself, is a virtue. But some truths of history, of course, rnay be largely of antiquarian in terest, with little relevance to present-day concerns. This is not tnle of World War II revisionism, which has much critical significance for today's world. The least of the lessons that revisionism can teach has already been thoroughly learned: that Gennany and Japan are not uniquely "aggressor nations," doomed from, birth to menace the peace of the world. The larger lessons have" unfortunately, yet to be learned. The United States is again being subjected to that "complex.of fear and vaunting" (in the brilliant phrase of Garet Garrett's) which drove us, and tile Western world, into two other disastrous wars in our century.