>>Had MacColl been the Stalinist toady that he is often
>>accused of being he would have supported the war

As mentioned by Dick Miles, The Communist Party of Great Britain was against participation in the war until 1941 when the USSR was invaded, at which point it reversed its stance. MacColl deserted in 1940.


>>Had the war been a genuinly anti- facist one the allies
>>would have intervened in Spain three years earlier and
>>prevented a facist disctator taking over (and maybe
>>slowed down Germany's aspirations in the process)

Good point. But whether or not the war could have been considered anti-fascist, Communists had good reasons to justify participation in such a conflict. For an example refer to the Chinese Communists participation with their enemy the Chinese Nationalists in the fight against Japanese invasion.


>>The government of the day (you know - the 'peace in our
>>time' boys) were quite happy to see Czechoslovakia and
>>Poland invaded as long as it didn't affect them - that's
>>how anti-facist they were

Errrrrrm - Britain & France went to war because Poland was invaded.


>>and the behaviour of various governments in the
>>intervening years since the war has called into
>>question who were fascists and who were kettles
>>calling pots black!

So it would have been better, or at least no worse, if the Nazis had won?


>>He took the line that British, German, Austrian, French,
>>Italian, American....... workers slaughtering each other
>>was not for him and he had the courage to act on his
>>belief.

If he'd stood up and had the courage of his convictions to refuse to serve and accept the punishment (like over 61000 other Britons did) that would have been one thing, but to run away is something very different.


>> My father fought in Spain, was excommunicated from his
>> religion, got himself an MI5 record as a 'premature
>> anti-facist' and was blacklisted from his work.

I would say that it sounds like there was a big difference between your father's and MacColl's actions. From what you say, your father was a man of conviction who followed his beliefs. He stood up for what he thought was right, put his life on the line, and took the consequences - something everybody can respect.

MacColl ran away, and hence avoided the consequences. It would appear that MacColl wasn't made of such stern stuff as your father.