Opposition to World War II
Initial reluctance for conflict in the Allied democratic nations changed to overwhelming, but not complete, support once the war had been joined.
Noncombatant nations opposed joining the war for a variety of reasons, including self preservation, economic disincentives or a belief in neutrality in upon itself.
[7] Diplomatic negotiations were pursued with Germany, but fear of compromise leading to a slow loss of sovereignty, as with Czechoslovakia, led Polish leaders to put their faith in a British and French military alliance.
[15] The Communist Party opposed American involvement in the early stages of World War II, starting in August 1939, when the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact launched a deal between Stalin and Hitler that allowed Moscow to split control of Eastern Europe with Berlin.
Leftist organizations like the American Peace Mobilization and veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade protested in opposition to the war, the draft, and the Lend-Lease Act.
They said of Lend-Lease, "Roosevelt needs its dictatorial powers to further his aim of carving out of a warring world, the American Empire so long desired by the Wall Street money lords.
[17] Numerous women activists, notably within the Mothers' movement led by Elizabeth Dilling, opposed American involvement on the basis that it would be preferable for Nazism rather than Communism to dominate Europe.
US Senator Gerald Nye from North Dakota would even blame the Great Depression on America's economic expansion during World War I.
The isolationists, led by the America First Committee, were a large, vocal, and powerful challenge to President Roosevelt's efforts to enter the war.
However, the war broke out before a planned conference they were going to have in Washington to create a more permanent organization and it began to fall apart when its acting chairman resigned in late November 1941.
A Japanese diplomat named Terasaki Hidenari would be sent to the United States in an attempt to stir up isolationists and pacifists to prevent the country from entering the war.
"[28] At the same time, Joseph Stalin ordered a series of military attacks on Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Romania.
His full motives are unclear, however, he had no intention of opposing the upcoming invasion of Russia by Germany, however his success would have brought a temporary end to the war.
Some communist-led organizations with links to the Comintern opposed the war during the period of the Hitler-Stalin pact but then backed it after Germany invaded the Soviet Union[citation needed].
Kaji managed to persuade the Nationalist government into building a detention facility in July 1939 and selected 11 captured men from there to do subversive activities with the effect of provoking antiwar attitudes with these soldiers travelling to the battlefield speaking with a megaphone urging them to stop fighting.
[33] The secrecy of the Japanese attacks on British and American colonies in the Pacific region and the lack of a free media has reduced the ability to determine the nature of their war opposition.
This was perhaps strongest in India, where some nationalists went beyond opposition to the war to form the Indian National Army and fight alongside Japanese forces.
Opposition was also seen among the Ceylonese garrison on the Cocos Islands which mutinied, in part due to the influence of the Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party.
