POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS OF THE 1920S
Political and Economic Factors after the Paris Settlement
NEW GOVERNMENTS
- New government seeking to gain active support of their citizens and solve grievous economic problems caused
by the war
- Pursuit of parliamentary politics often difficult where it had never been meaningfully practiced before
- Wilsonian vision of democratic, self-determined nations foundered on harsh realities of economics, aggressive
nationalism, political conservatism
- Important sectors of the citizenry believed parliamentary politics inherently corrupt or feeble
- Economics and politics more intimately connected than ever before
DEMANDS FOR REVISION OF THE PARIS SETTLEMENT
- Objections usually arose from nationalistic concerns, resentments
- Important demands for further border adjustments because significant national minorities, particularly German,
still resided outside national boundaries
- Victorious powers felt provisions not adequately enforced
- Calls for revision/enforcement contributed to domestic political turmoil across Continent
POSTWAR ECONOMIC PROBLEMS
- Impossible to return to normalcy after 1918
- Millions of casualties equated with a loss of producers and consumers
- European states in debt to each other and United States
o Bolsheviks had repudiated tsarist debt, mostly owned to French creditors
- US refused to ask reparations from Germany, but demanded repayment of war debts from allies
- Individual nations compelled to pursue selfish, nationalistic economic aims in absence of international economic
cooperation
- Much of Europe’s transport facilities, mines, industry had been damaged or destroyed
- Most new small states had weak economies incapable of competing in modern economic life
- Political and economic nationalism tied together
- Nations raised new customs barriers where there had previously been none
- US less dependent on European production, now a major competitor
- Dominance over world economic weakened after being forced to sell many investments on other continents to
finance conflict
- Slow postwar economic growth, decline of economic activity within colonies lowered international demand for
European goods
- US and Japan began to penetrate Latin American and Asian markets
NEW ROLES FOR GOVERNMENT AND LABOR
- Unions had supported war effort, ensured labor peace for wartime production in every country
- Members received better wages and leaders admitted to high political councils in turn
- Cooperation of labor and government destroyed internationalism of prewar labor movement
- Improvement in both status, influence of labor a significant change from WWI
- Middle-class European voters became increasingly conservative in response
The Soviet Experiment Begins
- Communist Part of the Soviet Union retained power from 1917-1991
o Neither a mass party nor a nationalistic one
o Membership rarely exceeded 1% of Russian population
- Faced widespread domestic opposition for several years after 1917
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Leaders of Soviet Union to export its ideology, doctrines to other nations throughout history
WAR COMMUNISM
- Red Army under Leon Trotsky eventually suppressed internal and foreign military opposition to new government
- White Russian armies could not adequately organize themselves
- Allied help inadequate to defeat Bolsheviks
- New secret police, known as the Cheka, appeared within months of revolution
- Lenin had declared during revolution that the Bolsheviks were imposing the dictatorship of the proletariat;
political and economic administration highly centralized
- Under economic policy of war communism, confiscated and operated the banks, transport system, and heavy
industry
o Seized grain from the peasants to feed the army and workers in cities
o Civil war suppressed resistance to policy
 Government carried out extensive repression of all actual/potential sources of opposition
- War communism aided victory of Red Army, but created domestic opposition
- Slogan of “Peace, Bread, and Land”
- Many citizens no longer willing to make sacrifices demanded by central party bureaucrats
- Large strikes in many factories in 1920-1
- Discontented peasants resisted requisition of grain, had done so since 1918
- Baltic fleet mutinied at Kronstadt in March 1921, Red Army brutally crushed rebellion
THE NEW ECONOMIC POLICY
- Lenin outlined the New Economic Policy (NEP) in face of continuing resistance to policies
o Would tolerate private enterprise outside of banking, heavy industry, transportation, international
commerce
o Peasants could farm for profit
 Would pay taxes like other citizens, but could sell grain on open market
- Did make countryside more stable, secure food supply for cities, free enterprise flourished in light industry and
domestic retail trade
- Implementation not fully successful since peasants had no consumer goods to purchase with the money
received for grain
- Industrial production reached 1913 level in 1927
- Revolution transformed country into one of small family farmers and owners of private shops and businesses, if
frequently discontented
STALIN VERSUS TROTSKY
- NEP caused dispute within Politburo—governing committee of the Communist Party
- Some considered it a partial return to capitalism and a betrayal of Marxist principles
- Lenin’s death in 1924 (had stroke in 1922) created a power vacuum, struggle for leadership in party
- One faction led by Leon Trotsky
- Other led by general secretary of party Joseph Stalin
- Lenin criticized both, but especially Stalin
- Stalin’s power base in party membership, day-to-day management of party affairs
- Trotsky’s Position
o Issue over power, but struggle fought out over question of Russia’s path toward industrialization and
future of communist revolutionary movement
o Trotsky, representing left wing, urged rapid industrialization financed through expropriation of farm
production
 Collectivized agriculture, peasants to pay for industrialization
o Revolution could only succeed in Russia if they occurred elsewhere
o Demanded that party members be permitted to criticize government and party as his influence waned
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Stalin’s Rise
o Born in 1879 to a poor family, less intellectual and internationalist in outlook
o Used brutal tactics to handle recalcitrant national groups after revolution as the commissar of
nationalities
o Amassed power as the party general secretary though command of bureaucratic and administrative
methods
 Mastery of party details entailed support of lower levels when clashing with other leaders
o Right wing opposed Trotsky’s drive for rapid industrialization
 Chief voice Nikolai Bukharin, editor of Pravda (Truth)—official party newspaper
 Pressed for continuation of NEP in face of uncertain economic recovery
 Policy based largely on decentralized economic planning, tolerating modest free enterprise,
small landholdings
o Stalin supported Bukharin’s position in mid-1920s
 Enunciated doctrine of “socialism in one country” in 1924—could be achieved in Russia alone
 Nationalized the previously international scope of Marxist revolution
 Use control of Central Committee of Communist Party to edge out Trotsky et al
o Trotsky removed from all offices, expelled from party, exiled to Siberia in 1927
 Forced out of Russia in 1929, moved to Mexico where murdered in 1940
o Stalin firmly in control of Soviet state after Trotsky’s defeat
THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL
- Bolshevik revolution and victory required west European social democrats to rethink position in world of
international socialism
o Bolsheviks viewed them as major enemy
 Intended to establish themselves as international leaders of Marxism
- Soviet communists founded the Third International of the European socialist movement in 1919
o Better known as the Comintern
o Worked to make the Bolshevik model, as developed by Lenin, the rule for all socialist parties outside the
Soviet Union
o Imposed its Twenty-one Conditions on any socialist party wishing to join
 Acknowledgement of Moscow’s leadership, repudiating previous leaders
 Rejecting reformist or revisionist socialism, adopting Communist Party name
o Sought to destroy democratic socialism—accused it of having betrayed the working class through reform
policies and parliamentary accommodation
- Caused a split in European socialist parties, resulting in separate communist and social democratic parties in
many countries
o Fought each other more intensely than either capitalist or conservative parties
o Conflict one of fundamental features of interwar European political landscape
- Directly affected rise of fascists and Nazis in western Europe
- Soviet political rhetoric and activity caused fears that the conservative and right-wing political groups
manipulated
- Division of European political left meant right-wing rarely had to confront a united left
WOMEN AND THE FAMILY IN THE EARLY SOVIET UNION
- Utopian projections of what life of women and the family would resemble under socialism
- Alexandra Kollontai’s Communism and the Family envisioned a new kind of family that would liberate both men
and women
o Expansion of sexual freedom, radical sharing of tasks about home between wife and husband
o Few agreed with her, but views well known were assumed to reflect those of a wide spectrum of the
Soviet leadership and citizenry
- Family Legislation from Reform to Repression
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Divorce became easier, marriage not a religious ceremony
Legitimate and illegitimate children given the same rights
Protections extended to women in workplace and in marriage
Abortion legalized in 1920
Women obtained high positions in the Communist Party, more voted
 Actually had no significant impact on Soviet government
Dislocations after civil war, confiscation of property, shifting economic policies, general reordering of
Soviet society
 Birthrate fell, abortions and abandoned children rose
Could advance through party structures into leadership positions
Educational opportunities for women readily available
Typically paid less than men
Culture of economic shortage of consumer goods affected women more than others
The Fascist Experiment in Italy
- First authoritarian political experiment in western Europe from fears of spread of Bolshevism
- Term fascist came to describe right-wing dictatorships that arose across Europe between the wars
o No exact definition
o Generally anti-democratic, anti-Marxist, antiparliamentary, frequently anti-Semitic
- Claimed to hold back spread of Bolshevism
- Sought to protect middle class, small businesses, owners of moderate amounts of property, small farmers
- Normal parliamentary politic and parties sacrificed national honor and greatness to petty disputes
- Overcome class conflict of Marxism, party conflict of liberalism by consolidating various groups in nation for
great national purposes
- Usually single-party dictatorships characterized by terrorism and police surveillance
THE RISE OF MUSSOLINI
- Fasci di Combattimento “Bands of Combat” founded in Milan, 1919
o Members were Italian war veterans resentful of Paris conference
o Failure to gain Fiume (Rijeka) on northeast coast of Adriatic Sea
o Feared spread of socialism and effects of inflation
- Led by Benito Mussolini, was editor of socialist newspaper Avanti in 1914
o Broke with socialists, supported Italian entry into war on side of Allies in 1914
o Nationalism replaced socialism as his ideology for a national revolution
o Established his own paper, Il Popolo d’Italia
o Excellent political opportunist, not particularly unique from rest of socialists
- Postwar Italian Political Turmoil
o Parliament had virtually ceased to function, allowed ministers to rule by decree
o Gabriele D’Annunzio the main spokesperson for this discontent
 Seized Fiume with a force of patriotic Italians
 Showed how a nongovernmental military force could be put to political use
o Considerable internal social turmoil
 Industrial strikes, workers occupied factories
o Socialist Party captured a plurality of seats in Chamber of Deputies in 1919 election
 Had not yet split into communist and socialist factions
o New Catholic Popular Party had also done well in election
o Resulted in deadlock, neither could agree
- Early Fascist Organization
o First supported factory occupations, land seizures then reversed position
o Upper/middle class had no sympathy for workers, peasants under pressure of inflation
 Wanted order, rather than a vague social justice that might harm their own interests
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Mussolini saw any social group pursuing its own goals as undermining national unity
 Formed local squads of terrorists who disrupted Socialist Party meetings, beat up leaders,
intimidated supporters
 Officers and institutions of law ignored crimes
March on Rome
o Mussolini and 34 of followers elected to Chamber of Deputies in 1921
o Movement had hundreds of thousands of supporters
o Black Shirt March—haphazard march on Rome in October 1922
 King Victor Emmanuel III refused to sign a decree authorizing army to stop marchers
 No other single decision so ensured a fascist seizure of power
 Cabinet resigned in protest
 Asked Mussolini to become Prime Minister on October 29
o Came into power by legal means, king could appoint PM
 Had no majority in the Chamber of Deputies
 Non-fascists believed his ministry would be brief
THE FASCISTS IN POWER
- Had not expected to be appointed PM
- Success the result of the impotence of his rivals, effective use of his office, power over masses, and sheer
ruthlessness
- Granted dictatorial authority from the king and Parliament for one year to bring order to local/regional
government on Nov 23 1922
- Repression of Opposition
o Parliament changed election law under his guidance
o Had previously been represented in Chamber of Deputies in proportion to popular vote
o New law stipulated that party with largest popular vote (>25%) received two-thirds of seats
 Coalition government no longer necessary
o Fascists won complete control of Chamber of Deputies in 1924
 Passed series of laws in 1925-6 permitting Mussolini to rule by decree
o All other political parties dissolved in 1926
o Fascists put in charge of police force; terrorist squads became government militia
 Murdered Giacomo Matteotti, leading noncommunist socialist leader, Parli member
 Had persistently criticized Mussolini, exposed criminality of Fascist party
 Most opposition deputies withdrew from Chamber in protest, refused readmission
 Gave Mussolini even freer hand
o Effectively created a cult of personality with his oratory skills, general intelligence
 Tolerated by many since they believed he saved them from Bolshevism
 Those who opposed him usually driven into exile
- Accord with the Vatican
o Lateran Accord of February 1929—Roman Catholic Church and Italian state made peace
 Recognized the pope as the temporal ruler of Vatican City
 Italian government agreed to pay an indemnity for confiscated lands
 Recognized Catholicism as religion of the nation
 Exempted church property from taxes
 Allowed church law to govern marriage
o Brought respectability to Mussolini’s regime
MOTHERHOOD FOR THE NATION IN FASCIST ITALY
- Fascist policy encouraged women to have more children, remain in home for good of state
- Instituted maternity leaves, insurance, subsidies to large families, information about sound child-rearing
practices
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Outlawed contraception, abortion to make it difficult for women to limit size of families
Children expected to attend fascist school programs
Government agencies provided modest benefits to mothers/children, making them dependent since Italian
wages were low
25% of workforce was women, second only to Sweden
Fascists actively discouraged female participation in workforce, sought to keep in lower skilled jobs
Laws protecting them from exploitation also limited their access to labor market
Government and private offices forbidden from having more than 10% female employees in 1938
Most policies modified when WWII began, but had already degraded women’s work
Joyless Victors
FRANCE: THE SEARCH FOR SECURITY
- Voters elected a conservative Chamber of Deputies at end of WWI
- Nicknamed the “Blue Horizon Chamber” since so many military officers elected
- Defeated Georges Clemenceau’s bid for presidency on alleged leniency of Paris treaties, failure to establish a
separate Rhineland state
- Intended to make as few concessions to domestic social reform as possible
- Frequent changes of ministries, drift in domestic policy in 1920s
- New Alliances
o Accepted role as leading European power in first five years following settlement
o Plan to enforce clauses that kept Germany weak, form eastern alliances to replace the prewar one with
Russia
o Little Entente—Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia
o France made military alliance with them and with Poland
 Poland did not join Little Entente due to border dispute with Czechoslovakia
 Independence rested on maintenance of Paris settlement
o Far weaker than Franco-Russian alliance
o Main target of Little Entente was Hungary
o Germany and Soviet Union felt increasingly isolated and threatened
 Met at Rapallo while other European states at an economic conference in Genoa
 Signed a treaty establishing diplomatic, economic relations
 No secret political or military clauses
 Now revealed that Germans helped train Russian army
- Quest for Reparations
o Allies declared Germany to be in technical default on payment of reparations in early 1923
o Raymond Poincaré wanted to ensure their receipt, ordered troops to occupy Ruhr district
o German government ordered passive resistance
 General strike in largest industrial region of Germany
 Poincaré sent French civilians to run mines and railroads
o Germans paid under pressure, but English alienated by French heavy-handedness
 Became suspicious, more sympathetic to Germany
o Cost of occupation vastly increased French and German inflation, hurt French economy
o Poincaré’s ministry gave way to coalition of leftist parties in 1924—Cartel des Gauches
 Led by Edouard Herriot
 Recognized the Soviet Union and more conciliatory towards Germany
 Aristide Briand responsible for it, foreign minister for the decade
 Championed League of Nations, urged nation to take military in perspective
o Mild inflation under leftist parties
o Value of franc fell sharply in 1926, Poincaré returned as head of national government of several parties
 Value recovered somewhat, inflation cooled
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Conservatives remained in power
General prosperity until 1931, longer than any other nation
GREAT BRITAIN: ECONOMIC CONFUSION
- Parliament expanded electorate in 1918 to include all men aged 21, women aged 30
o Lowered to 21 for women voters in 1928
- Coalition cabinet of Liberal, Conservative, and Labour ministers had directed war effort
o Helped dispel radical image of Labour Party
- Liberal PM Herbert Asquith ousted by fellow Liberal David Lloyd George over war management
o Party split sharply between followers of two
- Lloyd George decided to maintain coalition through tasks of peace conference, domestic reconstruction
o Wartime coalition won victory at polls in 1918 (minus Labour members)
o Could now only keep position so long as Conservative partners wished
- British economy depressed throughout 1920s, no genuine postwar recovery
o Unemployment hovered near 11%
o Government insurance programs to cover unemployed workers, widows, orphans expanded
o No expansion in number of jobs available
- The First Labour Government
o Conservatives replaced Lloyd George with Andrew Bonar Law in October 1922
 Last Liberal PM
o Stanley Baldwin soon replaced Law, who died
 Abandoned free trade and imposed protective tariffs
 Conservatives lost majority in next election in House of Commons
o Labour elected second largest group to the House of Commons
o King George V asked Ramsay MacDonald to form the first Labour ministry in British history
 Did not serve in cabinet, but provided necessary votes to give them a working majority in the
Commons
o Socialistic in platform, but democratic and distinctly non-revolutionary
 Macdonald’s program consisted of plans for extensive social reform rather than
nationalization/public seizure of industry
 Recognized need to prove to nation that Labour Party was both respectable and responsible
o Establishment of Labour as viable governing party signaled permanent demise of Liberal Party
 Continued to exist, but most voters drifted into Conservative or Labour ranks
- The General Strike of 1926
o Labour government fell in autumn 1924 over charges of inadequate prosecution of a communist writer
o Stanley Baldwin returned to office
o Business, political leaders believed restoring prewar conditions of trade the solution
o Conservative government returned to gold standard in 1925 which had been abandoned during war
 Set conversion rate too high against other currencies
 Raised price of British goods to foreign consumers
o Attempted to lower prices by cutting wages to make products competitive on world market
 Coal miners went on strike, sympathetic workers in other industries joined for 9 days
o Baldwin attempted to reconcile labor through housing, reforms in poor laws
o Actual standard of living of most British workers improved despite economic difficulties
- Empire
o Aid given by dominions such as Canada and Australia demonstrated their independence
o Idea of self-determination as applied to Europe filtered into imperial relationships
o India’s Congress Party, led by Mohandas Gandhi, beginning to attract widespread support
 Government of India achieved right to impose tariffs to protect its own industry rather than for
advantage of British manufacturers in 1920s
 British textile producers no longer had totally free access to vast Indian market
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Ireland
o Nationalist uprising in Dublin on Easter Monday in April 1916 for immediate implementation of Irish
Home Rule Bill
 Only rebellion of a national group to occur against any government engaged in war
 Suppressed it in less than a week
 Executed leaders responsible for uprising, unintentionally made them martyrs
o Leadership of nationalist cause shifted from Irish Party in Parliament to extremist Sinn Fein
 “Ourselves Alone” movement
o Sinn Fein party won all but four of Irish parliamentary seats outside Ulster
 Refused to go to Parliament at Westminster
 Constituted themselves into a Dail Eireann, or Irish Parliament
 Declared Irish independence on January 21, 1919
o Military wing of Sinn Fein became Irish Republican Army (IRA)
 First president was Eamon De Valera, born in US
 Guerrilla war broke out between IRA and British army
 British supported by auxiliaries known as Black and Tans
o Treaty concluded in December 1921, Irish Free State became a dominion in Commonwealth
 Six counties of Ulster, or Northern Ireland, permitted to remain part of what was now called the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
o Civil war immediately broke out between Irish moderates and diehards
 Moderates supported treaty, diehards wanted to abolish oath to British monarch and establish
totally independent republic
 De Valera supported diehards, resigned presidency and organized resistance to treaty
 Reelected to presidency in 1932
 Dail Eireann abolished oath of allegiance to monarch in 1933
o Irish Free State remained neutral during WWII
o Declared itself the wholly independent republic of Eire in 1949
Trials of the Successor States in Eastern Europe
- New states embodying national self-determinism in trouble from start
- Challenge in Germany, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, other successor states to make new parliamentary
governments function in a stable manner
- Elected parliaments of Germany and Austria-Hungary had not exercised any genuine political power
- Question of whether or not groups already in parliament could assume both power and responsibility
- Also a question of how long conservative political groups and institutions would cooperate with liberal
experiments
ECONOMIC AND ETHNIC PRESSURES
- None of new states financially independent
o All except for Czechoslovakia reliant on foreign loans to finance economic development
- Most dependent on trade with Germany, nationalistic antagonism prevented trade with each other
- Poor, overwhelmingly rural
o Had to import finished goods, used agricultural exports to pay for them, value declining
- Various ethnic groups could pursue nationalistic goals unchecked by any great power or authority
o Generally unwilling to compromise set they undermine nationalist identity/independence
- All succumbed to some form of domestic authoritarian government except for Czechoslovakia
POLAND: DEMOCRACY TO MILITARY RULE
- Nationalism insufficient to overcome political disagreements when country restored in 1919
o Stemmed from class differences, diverse economic interests, regionalism
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Each of regions partitioned from Germany, Russia, Austria had different administrations, laws, economies,
degrees of experience with electoral institutions
Marshal Josef Pilsudski carried out a military coup in 1926
o Ruled personally thereafter until death
o Passed into hands of a group of his military followers
CZECHOSLOVAKIA: A VIABLE DEMOCRATIC EXPERIMENT
- Had a strong industrial base, substantial middle class, tradition of liberal values
- Czechs and Slovaks knew how to work together, trust each other after jointly aiding Allies in war
- New government broke up large estates in favor of small peasant holdings after war
- Thomas Masaryk a gifted leader of integrity and fairness
- Tensions between Czechs and poorer, more rural Slovaks
- Discontent among non-Czechs (Poles, Magyars, Germans of Sudetenland)
o Extreme German nationalists in Sudetenland looked to Hitler
o Munich conference divided country to appease Hitler, then took most of country
 Gave parts to Poland, Hungary; manipulated a Slovak puppet state
HUNGARY: TURMOIL AND AUTHORITARIANISM
- Communist Bela Kun established a short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic
o Allies authorized invasion by Romanian troops to remove communist danger
- Hungarian landowners established Admiral Miklós Horthy as regent until 1944
- Thousands executed or imprisoned after fall of Kun government
o Lenin ordered Comintern to reject cooperation with socialists after Kun’s attempt to do so
o Kun later murdered by Stalin in purges of late 1930s
- Ruled by Count Stephen Bethlen in 1920s, succeeded by anti-Semitic Count Julius Gömbös
o Rigged elections, Gömbös party controlled parliament
AUSTRIA: POLITICAL TURMOIL AND NAZI CONQUEST
- Leftist Social democrats and conservative Christian socialists contended for power
- Christian Socialist Engelbert Dollfuss chancellor in 1933
o Steer course between Austrian Social Democrats and German Nazis
o Outlawed all political parties except Christian Socialists, agrarians, parliament groups in 1934
o Composed his own Fatherland Front
o Used troops against Social Democrats
- Successor Kurt von Schuschnigg presided over Austria until Hitler’s annexation in 1938
SOUTHEASTERN EUROPE: ROYAL DICTATORSHIPS
- Yugoslavia had been founded by Corfu Agreement of 1917
o Serbs dominated government, opposed by Croats
- Serbians had advantage of an independent state prior to WWI
- Croats generally Roman Catholic, better educated, accustomed to reasonably incorrupt government
- Serbs Orthodox, somewhat less educated, considered corrupt administrators by Croats
- Bosnia-Herzegovina had significant Muslim population
- All political parties except small Communist party represented a particular ethnic group rather than nation of
Yugoslavia
- Led to a royal dictatorship under King Alexander I in 1929, a Serb
o Outlawed political parties, jailed popular politicians
o Assassinate in 1934, continued under a regency for son
- Royal dictatorships in Romania by King Carol II and Bulgaria by King Boris III
o Wanted to prevent seizure of power by more extreme antiparliamentary movements, quiet discontent
of varied nationalities in borders
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Parliamentary monarchy of Greece floundered amid military coups, calls for a republic
o General John Metaxas instituted a dictatorship in 1936
The Weimar Republic in Germany
- Name from city of Weimar, where constitution written and promulgated in August 1919
- Born amid defeat of imperial army, revolution of 1918 against Hohenzollerns, hopes of German Liberals and
Social Democrats
- Republic had signed Paris settlement only under threat of an Allied invasion
o Permanently associated with national disgrace, economic burdens of treaty
- All political groups shared desire to revise treaty, though differed over means
- Different degrees of loyalty among Germans to political arrangements of Weimar constitution due to revisionist
desires
CONSTITUTIONAL FLAWS
- Guaranteed civil liberties
- Provided for direct election by universal suffrage of the Reichstag and president
- Proportional representation for all elections
o Made it easy for small parties to gain seats in Reichstag
- Ministers technically responsible to Reichstag, but president appointed and removed chancellor
- Article 48 allowed president to rule by decree in an emergency—temporary presidential dictatorship
LACK OF BROAD POPULAR SUPPORT
- No social revolution had accompanied new political structure
- Current civil servants the same people that had served the Kaiser, had distrusted or hated Social Democratic
Party which now figured prominently in new republic
- Officer corps perpetuated myth that German army had surrendered because civilians betrayed it
- Right-wing Kapp Putsch “armed insurrection” erupted in Berlin in March 1920
o Led by a conservative civil servant, supported by army officers; failed
o Collapsed only after government had fled city, German workers carried out general strike
- Strikes occurred in Ruhr, government sent in troops
- Allies presented reparations bill for 132 billion gold marks in May 1921
o Only accepted demand after new Allied threats of occupation
- First five years of republic marked by violence, numerous assassination/attempts
INVASION OF THE RUHR AND INFLATION
- Rise in prices from borrowing to finance war, continued postwar deficit spending
- German bankers contended mark could not be stabilized until reparations issue solved
- Weimar government subsidized Ruhr labor force
o Unemployment spread to other parts of country
o New drain on treasury, reduced tax revenues
o Printing presses had difficulty providing enough paper currency to keep up with daily rise in prices
o One American dollar worth more than 800 million German marks in November 1923
- Middle-class savings, pensions, insurance policies, investment in government bonds wiped out
- Debts and mortgages could be easily paid off
- Speculators in land, real estate, industry made fortunes
- Union contracts generally allowed workers to keep up with rising prices
- Farmers supplying to cities prospered
HITLER’S EARLY CAREER
- Became acquainted with Mayor Karl Lueger’s Christian Social Party in Vienna, prospered on anti-Semitic
ideology
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Absorbed much of rabid German nationalism, racism, extreme Anti-Semitism
Came to hate Marxism, associating it with Jews
Fought in German army in WWI, wounded and promoted to rank of corporal
o Awarded Iron Cross for bravery
Became part of National Socialist German Workers’ Party in 1920 in Munich
o Paraded under red and white banner with black swastika
Twenty-five Points—the party’s platform
o Repudiation of Versailles treaty
o Unification of Austria and Germany
o Exclusion of Jews from German citizenship
o Agrarian reform
o Prohibition of land speculation
o Confiscation of war profits
o State administration of the giant cartels
o Replacement of department stores with small retail shops
Originally called for a broad program of nationalization of industry to compete directly with Marxist political
parties for vote of workers; tactic failed
Then redefined meaning of socialist to suggest a nationalistic outlook
o Not state ownership of means of production, but subordination of all economic enterprise to the
welfare of the nation
o Often implied protection for small economic enterprises
Tailored message to particular local problems
Considerable support among war veterans
Storm troopers, or SA, organized under Ernst Roehm
o Originally a paramilitary organization providing members with food and uniforms
o Became chief Nazi instrument for terror and intimidation before party controlled government
o A means of preserving military disciple and values outside of small army permitted by Paris settlement
o Represented widespread contempt for law, institutions of the social republic
Both Social Democrats and Communist parties organized smaller paramilitary forces
Greatly weakened Weimar Republic
Social and economic turmoil gave Nazis opportunity for direct action against republic
Hitler and band of followers, with General Ludendorff, attempted a putsch from a beer hall, failed
o Local authorities crushed uprising on November 9, 1923; 16 Nazis killed
o Hitler and Ludendorff arrested, tried for treason
 General acquitted, Hitler used trial to make himself a national figure
 Condemned republic, Versailles treaty, Jews, weakened country in his defense
 Convicted, paroled after a few months of five-year sentence
Wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) while in prison
o Outlined key political views from which he never swerved
 Fierce radical anti-Semitism, powerful opposition to Bolshevism, expansion eastward to achieve
greater “living space”
o Expansion assumed recovery of German military
o Transferred foreign policy goals, radical outlooks previously associated with German overseas
imperialism to the politics of central and eastern Europe
o Targeted the Jews, successor states of Eastern Europe, Soviet Union, groups in Germany opposing his
vision of national unity/purpose
Most thought it unlikely that any German political party could carry out such policies
Decided two other things while in prison:
o Came to see himself as leader who could transform Germany from weakness to strength
o He and party must pursue power by legal means
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THE STRESEMANN YEARS
- Gustav Stresemann primarily responsible for reconstruction of republic, giving it self-confidence
- Abandoned policy of passive resistance in Ruhr
- Introduced new German currency with aid of banker Hjalmar Schacht
o One trillion of old German marks for one new Rentenmark
- Supported crush of Hitler’s putsch, smaller communist disturbances
- Resigned as chancellor and became foreign minister in November 1923
- Republic and Allies agreed to a new system of reparation payments in 1924
o Dawes Plan submitted by American banker Charles Dawes lowered annual payments
o Allowed them to vary according to fortunes of German economy
- Friedrich Ebert, Social Democratic president of republic died
- Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg elected as successor, conservative monarchist
- Conservative Germans had become reconciled to the republic
- New political, economic stability saw increase in foreign capital investments, employment
- Prosperity helped broaden acceptance of republic
- Stresemann conciliatory in foreign affairs
o Willing to accept settlement in west, but a determined revisionist in the east
o Aimed to recover German-speaking territories lost to Poland, Czechoslovakia, unite with Austria by
diplomatic means
o First step to achieve respectability and economic recovery
 Required accommodation and “fulfillment”
LOCARNO
- Locarno Agreements of October 1925—Germany’s proposal for a fresh start accepted by Austen Chamberlain of
Britain and Aristide Briand of France
- France and Germany agreed western frontier established at Paris was legitimate
o Britain and Italy agreed to intervene against whichever side violated it
- No decisions about eastern border of Germany
o Germans signed treaties of arbitration with Poland and Czechoslovakia
o France strengthened ties with Little Entente
- France supported German membership in League of Nations, agreed to withdraw troops from Rhineland in
1930, five years earlier than specified at Paris
- Settlement pleased all nations involved
o Chamberlain and Dawes received Nobel Peace Prize in 1925, Briand and Stresemann in 1926
o Leading European states, Japan, US signed Kellogg-Briand Pact in 1928 renouncing “war as an
instrument of national policy”
- German citizens still continued to reject Versailles, regarded Locarno as merely an extension of it
- Dawes Plan ran out in 1929, replaced by Young Plan
o Lowered German reparation payments
o Put limit on how long they had to be made
o Removed Germany entirely from outside supervision/control
o Intense outcry in Germany over continuation of any reparations
- Great Depression of 1930s prevented prosperity and diplomatic successes from winning loyalty of German
people to Weimar Republic and moderate revisionism
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EUROPE AND THE GREAT DEPRESSION OF THE 1930S
Toward the Great Depression
- Three factors creating Great Depression
o Financial crisis stemming directly from war and peace settlement
o Crisis in production and distribution of goods in world market
o No nation providing strong economic leadership or responsibility
THE FINANCIAL TAILSPIN
- Most nations emerged from WWI with inflated currencies
o Demand for consumer/industrial goods drove up prices
o Price/wage increases subsided after 1921
- German example of uncontrolled inflation led to refusal of most governments to run budget deficits during a
depression
o Feared inflation as source of social instability and political turmoil
- Reparations and War Debts
o France determined to receive reparations and finance postwar recovery through them
o US intended to be repaid for wartime loans made to allies
o European Allies owed various debts to each other
 Most money collected from each other eventually went to US
o Great Britain announced in 1922 it would insist on payment for its own loans only to extent that the US
required payments from Britain
o Reparations, war debt made normal business, capital investment, international trade hard
o Currency speculation drew funds away from capital investment in productive enterprise
o Reinforced general tendency toward high tariff policies
o Financial situation discouraged trade and production, thus hurt employment
- American Investments
o Dawes Plan in 1924 reorganized transfer of reparations, smoothing debt repayments to US
 American capital thereafter flowed into Europe, especially Germany
o Basis for Europe’s brief prosperity after 1925, in the form of short-term loans
 Began to contract in 1928, withdrawn from European investments into NY stocks
 Wall Street crash of October 1929 result of unregulated financial speculation
 All credit that had been available shrank/disappeared, banks failed
 None available for investment in Europe
 Loans already made to Europeans not renewed
 Americans banks sought to cover domestic shortages
- The End of Reparations
o Financial crisis struck Continent after credit to Europe began to run out
o Kreditanstalt, a major bank in Vienna, collapsed in May 1931
 Primary lending institution for much of central and eastern Europe
 German banking system saved only though government guarantees
o Hoover announced one-year moratorium on all payments of international debts in June 1931
 Sharp blow to French economy
o Lausanne Conference in summer of 1932 ended era of reparations
o Debts owed to US settled either in small token payments or default in 1933
PROBLEMS IN AGRICULTURAL COMMODITIES
- Market demand for European goods shrunk relative to Continent’s capacity to produce them in 1920s
o Resulted in idle factories, fewer jobs
- Difficulty arose from agriculture
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Better methods of farming, improved strains of wheat, expanded tillage, more extensive transport
facilities all over world
o Vastly increased world supply of grain
o Prices to record lows
Initially good for consumers, but meant lower incomes for European farmers (esp. central and east)
Higher industrial wages raised cost of industrial goods used by farmers/peasants
o Difficulty paying off their mortgages
New governments in Eastern Europe had undertaken land-reform programs
o Considerable redistribution of tillable soil
o Most in Romania and Czechoslovakia, less in Hungary and Poland
Protective tariffs prevented export of grain among European countries
Credit squeeze on eastern European farmers resulted in disillusionment with liberal politics
o Became a major source of political support for Nazis in Germany
Similar problems outside Europe
o Government-held reserves of agricultural commodities accumulated to record levels
o Producers of goods in underdeveloped nations could not buy finished European goods
Commodity production had outstripped world demand
Unemployment spread from coal, iron, textile industries which depended on international markets
o Persistence had already meant “soft” domestic markets in Great Britain, Germany
o Reduced government spending with depression further weakened domestic demand
DEPRESSION AND GOVERNMENT POLICY
- New economic sectors in production of automobiles, radios, synthetics, service industries developed
- Much slower improvement in standard of living, promotions for those with jobs
- Anxieties created a major source of social discontent
- Keynesian theory of deficit spending not yet available; his General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money
published in 1936
o Orthodox economic policy called for cuts in government spending to prevent inflation
o Market mechanism supposed to bring economy back to prosperity
- Government involvement increased rapidly from early 1930s onward
o Private economic enterprise subject to new trade, labor, currency regulations
o Political goals of restoring employment and providing defense required state to set economic priorities
o State intervention generally increased as one moved west to east across continent
o New economic policies also involved further political experimentation
Confronting the Great Depression in the Democracies
- Led to new coalition government in Great Britain, abandonment of century-old economic policies
o Relative success gave nation new confidence in democratic processes
- Economic stagnation resulted in bold political and economic program sponsored by left in France
o Created social and political hostilities undermining faith in republican institutions
GREAT BRITAIN: THE NATIONAL GOVERNMENT
- Ramsay MacDonald headed second minority Labour government in 1929
o Divided over what to do for growing unemployment problem (>2.5 million in 1931)
- Macdonald wanted to slash budget, reduce government salaries, cut unemployment benefits
o Strong desire to make party respectable led him to reject more radical programs
o Many cabinet ministers resisted proposals
 Would penalize the poor and unemployed
o PM requested resignations of his entire cabinet, arranged for a meeting with King George V
- Formed a coalition ministry called the National Government
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Composed of Labour, Conservative, Liberal ministers
Received a comfortable majority in the election of 1931
 MacDonald became tool of Conservatives who held majority in House of Commons
National government took three decisive steps to attack depression:
o To balance the budget:
 Raised taxes
 Cut insurance to unemployed and elderly
 Lowered government salaries
 Argued that fall in prices meant reductions did not appreciably cut real income
o Went off gold standard in September 1931
 Value of British pound on international money market fell by about 30%
 Stimulated exports
o Parliament passed Import Duties Bill in 1932
 Placed a 10% ad valorem tariff (levied in proportion to value of each imported good) on all
imports except those from empire
Policies allowed Great Britain to avoid banking crisis hitting other countries
Industrial production expanded beyond level in 1929, first nation to restore this
Government encouraged lower interest rates, led to largest private housing boom in British history
Those employed generally improved standard of living
Number of jobless fell to just below 1.5 million in 1937
Social insurance still helped unemployed
Neville Chamberlain became PM after Stanley Baldwin succeeded MacDonald
o One of the more progressive thinkers on social issues in the Conservative party
Sir Oswald Mosley founded the British Union of Fascists in 1932
o Had held a minor position in the second Labour government
 Disappointed by its feeble attack on unemployment
o Urged program of direct action through a new corporate structure for the economy
o Only a few thousand adherents at the height of his popularity
 Anti-Semitism began to alienate supporters
FRANCE: THE POPULAR FRONT
- Great Depression came later and lasted longer, only began to affect country in 1931
- One industry after another began lowering wages
- Government raised tariffs to protect French goods and agriculture
o Farmers have had unusual protection by government since then
- Helped maintain home market but did little to overcome industrial stagnation
- Labor and management relations tense
- Resulted in election of another Radical coalition government in 1932
o Pursued a generally deflationary policy to avoid repeating the inflation they caused in 1924
- Reparations that French economy depended upon stopped
- Right-Wing Violence
o Groups with authoritarian tendencies such as the Action Française (founded before WWI in wake of
Dreyfus affair) and the Croix de Feu (army veterans) became active
 More than 2 million members when including similar groups
 Hostile to parliamentary government, socialism, communism
 Wanted greater good and glory of France to be put above petty machinations of political parties
 Resembled Nazis and fascists
o Activities and propaganda weakened loyalty to republican government, made politics bitter
o Stavisky affair produced important long-range political consequences
 Serge Stavisky a small-time gangster with connections in government
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 Became involved in a fraudulent bond scheme, committed suicide in January 1934
 Official handling of matter suggested political cover-up
 Symbolized the corruption of republican politics to the right-wing
o Large demonstrations of right-wing leagues occurred on February 6, 1934
 Tried to storm the Chamber of Deputies
 Violence erupted between right and left, 14 killed
 Largest disturbance since Commune of 1871
o Radical ministry of Edouard Daladier replaced by government composed of all living premiers
 Chamber of Deputies allowed ministry to deal with economic matters by decree
o Parties of left, Radicals, Socialists, Communists realized that a right-wing coup possible
Socialist-Communist Cooperation
o Left began to make peace within its own ranks between 1934-1936
o Socialists led by Léon Blum had been major target of communists since split over joining Comintern in
1920
o Popular Front—coalition of all left-wing parties established by July 1935
 Purpose to preserve the republic and press for social reform
 Gained a majority in the Chamber of Deputies in 1936 elections
 Léon Blum became premier, Socialists single largest party for first time in history
Blum’s Government
o Strikes spread throughout French industry before Popular Front came to power
o Further spontaneous work stoppages immediately after Blum took office
 Most extensive labor disturbances in history of Third Republic (over half a million)
 Aroused new fears in conservative business community
o Blum released accord that reorganized labor-management relations in France
 Wages immediately raised 7-15%
 Employers required to recognize unions, bargain collectively with them
 Workers given annual paid two-week vacations
 40-hour week established throughout industry
o Overcome labor hostility, establish justice in relations, increase domestic consumer demand
o Raised the salaries of civil servants, instituted program of public works
o Government loans extended to small industry
o Spending on armaments increased, some armament industries nationalized
o National Wheat Board set up to manage production/sale of grain
o International monetary pressure in 1936 forced him to devalue the franc, again in 1937
 Came too late to help French exports
o Conservative business communities forced Blum to halt program of reform
o Popular Front replaced in 1938 by radical ministry under Daladier
o Industrial production did not reach 1929 levels until 1939
Germany: The Nazi Seizure of Power
DEPRESSION AND POLITICAL DEADLOCK
- Economic crisis of Weimar Republic brought end of parliamentary government
- Coalition of center parties and Social Democrats governed in 1928
- Problems arose in disagreements over economic policy
o Social Democrats refused to reduce social and unemployment insurance
o More conservative parties insisted on a balanced budget, remembering inflation of 1923
- President von Hindenburg appointed Heinrich Brüning as chancellor to resolve parliamentary deadlock
o Lacked a majority in the Reichstag
o Governed through emergency presidential decrees as per Article 48 of constitution
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 Weimar Republic became an authoritarian regime
German unemployment rose to more than 6 million in March 1932
o Allowed Nazis to win 107 seats in the election of 1928, Communists 77
Unemployed joined the storm troopers (SA), had 1 million members in 1933
o Freely attacked Communists, Social Democrats
Nazis held mass rallies resembling religious revivals
Powerful supporters in business, military, newspaper, intellectual circles
HITLER COMES TO POWER
- Hitler ran against Hindenburg in 1932 election, received 30.1% of first vote, 36.8% in runoff
o Convince him that Brüning no longer commanded sufficient confidence from conservative German
voters, despite Hindenburg’s retaining of office
- Hindenburg dismissed Brüning in 1932, appointed Franz von Papen as chancellor
o One a small group of extremely conservative advisers on whom he was dependent
- Papen and circle wanted to find way to use Nazis without giving effective power to Hitler
o Decided to convince him that Nazis could not come to power on their own
o Removed ban on Nazi meetings Brüning had imposed
o Called for a Reichstag election for July 1932
 Nazis won 230 seats, polled 37.2% of vote
 Hitler demanded to be appointed chancellor
o Called another election in November to wear down Nazis’ financial resources
 Lost 34 seats, popular vote dropped to 33.1%
- Papen resigned in November 1932, General Kurt von Schleicher became chancellor
- Fear of civil war between left and right
- Tried to build a coalition of conservatives and trade unionists
o Frightened Hindenburg circle more than prospect of Hitler
 Did not trust Schleicher
 Persuaded Hindenburg to name Hitler chancellor, with Papen as vice chancellor
 Named other traditional conservatives to cabinet
- Hitler had come into office by legal means
o Permitted the civil service, courts, other agencies of government to support him in good conscience
o Forged a rigidly disciplined party structure
o Mastered the techniques of mass politics and propaganda
o Support from across the social spectrum, not simply from lower middle class
o Pockets of resistance in Roman Catholic voters in country and small towns
o Support particularly strong among farmers, war veterans, the young
 Promised them security against communists, socialists
o Little evidence that German business contributions made crucial difference to Nazi success or failure
 Nazi supporters frequently suspicious of business and giant capitalism
- People preferred Nazis over Social Democrats because latter not sufficiently nationalistic
- Nazis won out over other conservative nationalistic parties because they addressed problem of social
insecurities
HITLER’S CONSOLIDATION OF POWER
- Reichstag Fire
o Mentally ill Dutch communist set fire to the Reichstag building in Berlin on February 27, 1933
o Nazis claimed fire part of immediate communist threat to government
 Plausible to public
o Hitler issued emergency decree suspending civil liberties under Article 48
 Proceeded to arrest communists and alleged communists
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 Decree not revoked for as long as Hitler ruled Germany
The Enabling Act
o Another Reichstag election in March
 Nazis received 43.9% of vote, 288 seats
o Arrest of all communist deputies allowed Hitler to control Reichstag
o Passed an Enabling Act permitting him to rule by decree
 No legal limits thereafter on his exercise of power
o Weimar constitution was never formally repealed or amended
 Simply supplanted by February Emergency decree and March Enabling Act
o Outlawed or undermined any German institution that might have served as a rallying point for
opposition
o Nazi Party, not any government agency, seized offices, banks, newspapers of free trade unions and
arrested leaders
o All other German political parties outlawed in late June and early July
o National Socialists only legal party by July 14, 1933
o Moved against governments of individual federal state in Germany
o All major institutions of potential opposition had been eliminated by end of 1933
Internal Nazi Party Purges
o Commander of the SA was Ernst Roehm, possible rival to Hitler himself
o Hitler personally ordered murder of key SA officers including Roehm on June 30, 1934
 More than 100 killed
 Included former chancellor General Kurt von Schleicher and wife
o German army did nothing, the only institution that could have prevented murders
o President Hindenburg died on August 2
 Hitler combined offices of chancellor and president
 Became head of state as well as head of government
 Sole ruler of Germany and Nazi Party
THE POLICE STATE AND ANTI-SEMITISM
- SS Organization
o The SS (Schutzstaffel, “protective force”), or security units, the chief vehicle of police surveillance led by
Heinrich Himmler
o Originated in mid-1920s as bodyguard for Hitler
o Became more elite paramilitary organization than much larger SA
o Approximately 52,000 members
o Carried out the blood purges in 1934
o Himmler became lead of all police matters in Germany
 Second only to Hitler in power and influence
- Attack on Jewish Economic Life
o Key plank of Nazi program was anti-Semitism based on biological racial theories stemming from late
19th-century thought rather than religious discrimination
o Attack on Jews went through three stages of increasing intensity
 Exclusion of Jews from civil service in 1933
 Enforce boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses, but won little public support
- Racial Legislation
o Nuremberg Laws robbed German Jews of their citizenship in 1935
o Professions, major occupations closed to Jews
o Marriage and sexual intercourse between Jews and non-Jews prohibited
o Definition of Jews complex, Nazis could not produce regulations based solely on a racial concept
 At least 3 Jewish grandparents = Jew
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 Only 2, then must be practicing faith
Kristallnacht
o Persecution increased in 1938
o Thousands of Jewish stores, synagogues burned or destroyed on November 9-10, 1938
o Jewish community required to pay for destruction
 Government confiscated insurance money paid to cover damages
o Persecution allowed Nazis to inculcate rest of population with concept of master race of pure German
“Aryans”
The Final Solution
o Decided after war broke out in 1941-2 to destroy all Jews
o More than 6 million died
RACIAL IDEOLOGY AND THE LIVES OF WOMEN
- Nazis less interested in expanding population as a whole than producing a racially pure population
- Women had special task of preserving racial purity, giving birth to pure Germans
- Journalists compared role of women in childbirth to that of men in battle
- Policy favored motherhood only for those whom it regarded as racially fit for motherhood
o Disapproved of it for Jews, Slavs, Gypsies
o Jewish women specifically targeted for death during Holocaust to prevent them from bearing a new
generation
- Sterilization of many women because of alleged mental “degeneracy”
- Provided loans to encourage early marriage to support it among those who should have children
o Tax breaks for families with children, child allowances
o Subsidies passed to husbands rather than wives to make married fatherhood preferable
o All administered on premise that only racially/physically desirable children received support
- Party vowed to protect jobs of working women, number of them increased under Nazi regime
o Urged them to pursue employment “natural” to their character as women
- Special protectors of German cultural values
o Meant to instill a love for the nation in children
- Expected to support German business by being consumers for home
NAZI ECONOMIC POLICY
- Economic difficulties no longer plagued Germany by 1936
- Success an integral source of internal strength and support for regime
- Nazi terror and police behind direction of both business and labor
o Full employment to prepare for war could be achieved by sacrificing all political/civil liberty, destroying
free trade-union movement, preventing private exercise of capital, ignoring consumer satisfaction
- Subordinated all significant economic enterprise, decisions about prices to goals of state
- Instituted massive program of public works and spending, reversing deflationary policy
- Renunciation of military provisions of Versailles treaty led to open rearmament in 1935
o Essentially restored full employment
o Hitler instructed Hermann Göring to undertake 4-year plan to prepare army and economy for war
- Wanted Germany to be economically self-sufficient
o Satisfied yearning for social and economic security, desire for national fulfillment
- Strikes illegal after crushing of trade unions in 1933
- Required workers and employers to participate in the Labor Front
o Organization intended to demonstrate that class conflict had ended
o Sponsored a “Strength Through Joy” program providing vacations, recreation for work force
Italy: Fascist Economics
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Discipline a substitute for economic policy and creativity
Undertook vast public works, sought to make Italy self-sufficient
Embarked on “battle of wheat” to prevent foreign grain from appearing in products in Italy
o Caused production, exports, wages to fall
o Domestic price of wheat actually increased due to cost of cultivating poor marginal land
SYNDICATES
- Sought to steer a course between socialism and liberal laissez-faire
- Policy of corporatism—planned economy linked to private ownership of capital, government arbitration of labor
disputes
- Major industries first organized into syndicates representing labor and management
o Negotiated labor settlements in framework, submitted differences to compulsory government
arbitration
- Class conflict could be avoided if labor and management looked to greater good of productivity
- Italian labor unions lost right to strike, pursue independent economic goals from mid-1920s onward
CORPORATIONS
- Industrial syndicates reorganized into corporations after 1930
o Grouped all industries relating to a major area of production from raw materials through finished
products and distribution into one entity
o 22 established to encompass entire economy
- Abolished the Chamber of Deputies in 1938 and replaced it with a Chamber of Corporations
- Did not increase production, bureaucracy and corruption proliferated
- Consumers and owners could not decided what was to be produced
- Institute for Industrial Reconstruction extended loans to businesses in financial difficulty
o Loans established partial state ownership of those businesses
- Economic life put on formal wartime footing after 1935 invasion of Ethiopia
o League of Nations imposed economic sanctions, urged ban on Italian goods
o Taxes rose, sanctions had little effect
o Government imposed forced loan on citizenry—required property owners to purchase bonds
o Wages still depressed
- Fascism brought economic dislocation, falling standard of living to Italy
The Soviet Union: Central Economic Planning, Collectivization, and Party Purges
- Stalin far exceeded tsarist predecessors in intensity of state coercion and terror of task
- Achieved stunning economic growth during 1930s at cost of millions of lives, degradation of others
- Economic policy proved his earlier rivalry with Trotsky had been one of power, not substantial ideological
differences
THE DECISION FOR RAPID INDUSTRIALIZATION
- Lenin’s NEP as supported by Bukharin continued through 1927
- Industrial production level of 1913 achieved by 1927, but growth had slowed
- Party Congress decided to push for rapid industrialization in 1927
o Came about through “industrialization by political mobilization”
o Sharp departure from NEP
- A major pillar in Stalin’s undertaking of “Socialism in One Country”
- Path by which the Soviet Union would overtake the productive capacity of capitalist nations, protect against
capitalist enemies
o Required rapid construction of heavy industries (i.e. iron, steel, electricity-generating stations, machine
tool industry, tractor manufacturing)
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Series of five-year plans, beginning in 1928
State Planning Commission, or Gosplan, oversaw program
o Set goals for production, organized economy to meet them
o Extremely difficult to coordinate all facets of production
 Enormous disruption throughout economy
o Capital projects consistently favored over consumer production
o Number of centralized agencies, ministries involved in planning soared
 Often competed with each other
First large factory labor force recruited from countryside and urban unemployed
New cities, work districts in existing cities emerged
Workers lived in deplorable conditions
Government and Communist Party undertook program of propaganda to sell five-year plans
o Boasted of sheer size of plants being constructed, new town being organized
o Necessary since most industrial workers were displaced peasants
 Had no previous factory experience, often resisted industrial discipline
o Appealed to the idealism of young in proclaiming its goals of modernizing nation
 Workers who exceeded assigned goals received rewards and publicity
Impressive results from three five-year plans by close of 1930s
o Economy grew more rapidly than any other nation in Western world during similar period
o Industrial production rose about 400% between 1928-1940
o Brand new industries in Russia challenged their established foreign counterparts
o New industrial cities populated by hundreds of thousands of people
THE COLLECTIVIZATION OF AGRICULTURE
- Decision to industrialize rapidly devastated Soviet agriculture
- The kulaks less than 5% of rural population
- All farmers discontented because there were few consumer goods to purchase with cash received
- Frequently withheld grain from market in 20s, did so in 1928-9
o Foot shortages in cities
- Stalin decided agriculture must be collectivized to:
o Produce enough grain for good and export
o Achieve control over farm sector of economy
o Free peasant labor for the factories of growing industrial sector
- Ordered party agents to confiscate any hoarded grain, unleashing unprecedented violence
- Collectivization program only vaguely defined
o Eliminated kulaks as a class, but definition of a kulak soon included any peasant who resisted
collectivization, no matter their wealth
- Peasants to determined to keep land
o Sabotaged collectivism by slaughtering millions of horses and cattle from 1929-1933
o Over 2 million forced from their homes, transported to distant areas or prison camps
 Had to form a life in Siberia or other inhospitable area, many did industrial work
 Children treated as class enemies and potential traitors
- Party targeted priests of the Russian Orthodox Church
o Soviet Communist Party was atheistic, opposed religion and the church
o Extended to all religions
- Difficulty of producing enough food plagued USSR until 1991, remains a problem for successor states
FLIGHT TO THE SOVIET CITIES
- Was an immediate consequence of collectivization, government-sponsored turmoil in countryside
- Approximately 12 million left the countryside, migration unprecedented in European history
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Most were young males, left disproportionate numbers of women and elderly in villages in poverty
Moscow’s population almost doubled
URBAN CONSUMER SHORTAGES
- Workers lived in barracks in new industrial cities
- Difficulty finding apartments in older cities
- Chronic shortage of most basic consumer goods defined everyday life under Soviet leaders
- Consumed less food in 1930s than they had before the revolution
- What little goods were sold in stores reserved for party members
o Sharp inequality distinguishing small minority of members from general population
- Soviet cities generally lacked urban infrastructure western European cities had
o Transport systems too small for expanding population
o Many large cities lacked sewer systems in mid-1930s (i.e. Stalingrad)
- Much black marketeering, food raised on tiny plots
o Bartering amongst people, pilfering from state
o Informal mode of coping known as the blat
- Sustained themselves through conviction that they were enduring present troubles to build a greater socialist
future
o Emphasis changed to protecting fatherland during WWI, then shifted toward better future
FOREIGN REACTIONS AND REPERCUSSIONS
- Many foreign contemporaries naively evaluated Soviet economic experiment
o An American, Lincoln Steffens: “I have seen the future and it works” (after a trip to Russia)
o Beatrice and Sidney Webb, British Fabian socialists spoke of its “new civilization”
- Ignored shortages in consumer goods, poor housing
- Had little idea of social cost of Soviet achievement
o Millions killed, millions more uprooted
o Deprivation and sacrifice far exceeded Marx’s and Engels’s complaints over 19th century industrialization
in western Europe
- Internal difficulties led Stalin to make shift in foreign policy
o Began to fear isolation against future aggression by Nazi Germany
o Ordered the Comintern to permit communist parties in other countries to cooperate with
noncommunist parties against Nazism and fascism
 Reversed policy established by Lenin as part of the Twenty-one Conditions in 1919
 Allowed the formation of the Popular Front Government in France
THE PURGES
- Stalin forced Bukharin, fervent supporter of the NEP, off the Politburo
- Opposition seems to have existed among lower-level party followers of Bukharin, other opponents of rapid
industrialization, but modest at best
- Turmoil in countryside, dislocation in industrializing sectors
- Stalin began to fear losing control of country, party apparatus, emergence of effective rivals
- Exaggerated apprehensions resulted in the Great Purges
o Not fully comprehended at time or since, even with recent opening of Soviet archives
- Sergei Kirov assassinated in Dec 1934, was popular party chief of Leningrad and member of Politburo
o Thousands arrested, more expelled from party and sent to labor camps
o Believed at time that opponents of regime had murdered Kirov
o Not known whether Stalin involved with Kirov incident, but used it for his own purposes
- Series of show trials in Moscow between 1936-8
o Former leaders such as Bukharin publicly confessed to political crimes, convicted and executed
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Seems to have been part of ritual confession of faults and shortcomings that had characterized previous
internal Communist Party life
o Lower-level party members tried in private and shot
o Hundreds of thousands did not receive trials, executed or sent to slave labor camps
Hundreds of thousands of members expelled, applicants for membership removed from rolls
Prosecutors turned against Soviet army, convicting/executing important officers
Moscow leadership initially used purges to discipline and gain more control over lower levels of party, those in
far-flung regions
o Central bureaucratic groups wanted to eliminate any opposition to their positions/policies
By 1937, Stalin distrustful of central party elite, began to find enemies within its ranks
o Local communist groups allowed to designate its victims with little direction from Moscow
o Became known as “centrally authorized chaos” in the party’s consuming of itself
Stalin used purges to create a new party structure absolutely subservient and loyal to himself
o The “old Bolsheviks” of October Revolution among his earliest targets
 Knew how far Stalin had moved from Lenin’s policy
o Younger members replacing them knew little about old Russia, original Bolshevik ideals
 Had never been loyal to anyone but Stalin, too young for Lenin or Trotsky
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Terms and People for Chapters 27-28
Lenin
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“Peace, Bread, Land”, Lenin’s slogan to encourage workers and peasants. These are the things he promised he
would provide for people during his reign

New Economic Plan, outlined by Lenin, government would tolerate private economic enterprise, peasants could
farm for profit and pay taxes. Plans execution wasn’t successful b/c there weren’t any consumer goods for
peasants to purchase with the money they earned for their grain

Cominterm, A.k.a Third international, founded by Soviet communists, worked to make Bolsheviks model of
socialism, as developed by Lenin, the rule for all socialists parties outside the SU. Cominterm sought to destroy
all democratic socialism, its policies directly affected the rise of Fascists and Nazis, installed fear of communism
in Europe
Stalin

Stalin v. Trotsky, Stalin-much less intellectual, ideas shocked Lenin, mastered party structure details, believed in
Bukharin’s economic policy, urging socialism could only be achieved in Russia

Left Wing v. Right Wing in U.S.S.R., Left wing, led by Stalin, urged rapid industrialization financed through the
expropriation of farm production, believed agriculture should be collectivized, peasants should pay for their own
industrialization
Mussolini

Benito Mussolini, Worked as a schoolteacher before becoming an active Italian socialist politician, broke with
socialists and supported Italy’s entry in the war, his ideology went from nationalism to socialism, made his own
paper. Excellent opportunists and his one real goal was political survival

Black Shirts, Name given to Mussolini’s secret police b/c of the black shirts they wore. Set out terrorizing people
who didn’t agree with Mussolini’s ideas and weren’t supportive of Fascist movement

Victor Emmanuel III, King of Italy, refused to sign a decree stopping Mussolini and his followers form marching to
the Vatican. After the march, appointed Mussolini before the march

Dictatorial State, Mussolini technically had come into office by legal means since the king had constitutional
authority to appoint the prime minister, had no majority in Chamber of Deputies. Non-Fascist politicians, whose
ineptitude had prepared the way for Mussolini, believed that his ministry would be brief
Europe’s Economic Decline
 The Great Depression, Caused by 3 factors: 1) financial crisis that stemmed directly from the war and peace
settlement 2) Crisis arose in the production and distribution of goods in world market 3) Neither the major W.
European countries nor the US offered strong economic leadership or acted responsibly. Caused personal
income, tax revenue, profits and prices to greatly drop and international trade sunk by ½ to 2/3, in some
countries unemployment rose as high as 33%, construction was cut short, farming and rural areas suffered as
crop prices fell about 60%
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Verissa Mason

Stock Market Crash, Oct. 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday), New York Stock Market on Wall street crashed, starting the
great depression, caused mainly by unregulated financial speculation, a lot of money was lost, US banks had
made loans to customers, invested the money the money in stock market. All US credit failed, little American
capital was available for investment in Europe, as American banks strove to cover domestic shortages, loans
already made to Europeans weren’t renewed

Farmer’s Dilemma, World wheat prices fell to record lows, was initially good for customers but horrible for
farmers, collapse in grain prices, meant lower incomes for European farmers, especially those of central and
Eastern Europe. Higher industrial wages raised the cost of industrial goods that the farmers used but could no
longer afford

Agricultural Debt, Famers had difficulty paying of their mortgages and normal annual operational debts
They borrowed money to plant their fields, expecting to make enough money to pay back debts, but the fall in
crop prices made that tough

Protective Tariffs, For the first time they were placed on European goods being traded within the continent
Had to be enforced b/c everyone was suffering from the economic depression

Resource “Glut”, slow postwar economic growth or even decline of economic activity within European colonies
or former colonies lowered the international demand for goods. US and Japan started to penetrate markets in
Latin America and Asia that European producers and traders previously dominated
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