WITH the recent passing of American historian and political activist Howard Zinn, the progressive world has lost a great stalwart in the cause of peace and social justice. Zinn, a former Political Science professor at Boston University, died on January 27 of an apparent heart attack at age 87. To the last, he was active in various left-wing causes in the United States.
Howard Zinn fought Hitlerite fascism as an American bombardier during World War II. In the 1950s he joined the civil rights movement at home, one of a handful of white Americans to play a leading role in the African-American struggle. Later, as an anti-war activist, he demanded the United States’ withdrawal from its senseless war in Vietnam. Still later, he fought against U.S. Aggression in Iraq.
Howard Zinn wrote many books on working-class struggles everywhere. He is best remembered for his national bestseller, “A People’s History of the United States”. In that book he narrated history from the standpoint of the common man such as Native Americans, slaves, trade unionists, workers, immigrants, women fighting for equal rights, etc. He believed that “ordinary people are capable of extraordinary acts of courage.”
Howard Zinn was never a fence-sitter on controversial issues. The title of his memoir (“You Can’t Be Neutral on a Moving Train”) says it all.
HEMRAJ MUNIRAM