Jan 13, 2011
Background Context
A modernization crisis is a tension b/w modernity and traditional methods. And
difficulties adjusting to modernity (industrialization).
to what extent are those two issues factors to the emergence of dictatorships.
WW1 as a catalyst for each of these dictatorships.
Russia
Modernization crisis was triggered by the Crimean War. Prior to that Russia had
been a dominant power in Europe but the war revealed the weakness of the
Czarist gov’t and russian army and its economic weakness ie lack of railways
made it hard to get troops to black sea
the war amplified the disastrous effects of serfdom.
The russian army was made up of serf conscripts and they weren’t thought smart
enough to use modern firearms. This was the trigger for social and economic
change.
serfs were emancipated in 1861 but the terms were very cautious. the peasants
were still tied to the land but by other means. Despite the conservative nature of
the emancipation russian culture really loosened up.
formal social distinctions remained and political arrangements weren’t
modernized. tey remained an autocracy (rule by one - extreme form of
absolutism no restrictions whatsoever)
Alexander II emancipated the serfs. the two Czars after him were reactionaries
and didn’t continue his political modernization.
Under Alex 3 economic growth was very fast 8% and lots of industrialization.
Russia starts to develop important industries in the 1890s.
With industrialization comes the working class (3 million by 1914)
still overwhelmingly a peasant country. 1897 2.4 million factory workers out of
127 million people. still an ag country
traditional social support for the Czar (the nobility) was in decline so the gov’t had
to look to the peasantry.
Stolypin Reforms - creates a class of independent farmers that were supposed to
support the regime
WW1 in Russia
Russia sucked at WW1. The autocracy was unable to adapt to the conditions of
WW1.
Russia wasn’t ready for a long war and were unable to adjust and mobilize
russian industry or people.
Russia suffered catastrophic losses in the war. 4 million dead or wounded in the
first year.
NGO’s started taking over the war effort b/c they were more effective at
mobilizing industry and getting supplies to the troops.
by end of 1916 the Czarist gov’t had broken down.
International Women’s day in St. Petersburg protests start and the czarist gov’t
imploded.
A weak provisional gov’t known as the dual power was established. Petrograd
Soviet
Nov 1917 the Bolsheviks revolt and set up the Soviet republic.
Germany
Sonderweg - Germany’s special path used to explain modern germany b/c the
Nazi regime had a unique origin. It refers to economic modernization w/o political
modernization
Germany industrialized very early (third in europe) beginning with the Zollverein
in 1834. It was a customs union removing tariffs b/w 7 german states and it was
pushed for by the working middle class.
Germany had good supplies of food and materials to make clothing. It also had
one of the best coal supplies in the world in the Ruhr Valley.
German states built lots of railways starting in 1836. The industrial take off
starting in the 1850s with a very rapid increase in pace of industrialization. By
1873 it is unified politically and is an industrial state.
Germany could have been unified liberally but it was rather unified on
authoritarian terms (Prussian terms) it was a federation in principle but in practice
it was an empire with the Prussian King becoming the German Emperor.
The junkers (Prussian nobility) controlled the nation and dominated the army and
administration. Economically they were declining b/c their estates were declining
but politically they were in control.
the german middle class was the economically dominant force but politically
pushed outside the center. Same w/ culturally.
The Reichstag was the German parliament with universal male suffrage but it
had very limited power (only control over the budget) the Chancellor wasn’t
responsible to the reichstag and the kaiser choose the ministers.
Wilhelm II didn’t like the reichstag at all. his ministers came from the army and
his general staff and they all ignored the reichstag.
Mass moderate parties started shortly after unification. The Social Democrats
took off quickly and by 1912 had almost 35% of the vote and was the largest
party in Germany and the largest socialist party in the world. but it had to operate
in the authoritarian gov’t of germany
the Social Dems created their own stores so that people didn’t have to buy from
factory stores and cultural activities (choirs, bicycle clubs ect)
Germany had one of the most advanced industrial economies in the world. With
massive pop of middle class and industrial workers but they had very little power.
Germans rallied to the war effort and despite huge losses most people supported
the war up to the end of 1916. They probably lost about 450,000 men during the
battle of the Somme.
signs of war weariness started showing in 1917 and open criticism became more
common.
The Reichstag started becoming more active and asked the gov’t to seek peace.
The kaiser dismissed his PM and gave more power to the generals. the
Reichstag was cautious and never attacked the structure of the Empire
Moral snapped in 1918. 100,000’s of workers went on strike demanding an end
to the war.
Smaller political groups started to call for the overthrowing of the Kaiser.
Demonstrations started taking place in many cities along with hoarding,
starvation and inflation in late 1918 and 1919.
Germans first went to Americans first hoping for a more lenient peace but Wilson
said no.
Nov 7 Germany goes to the French and English for an Armistice. On Nov 9
Kaiser overthrown. One of his Generals (Hindenburg) blamed socialists and
Jews on the 9th
Volkish Movement (Pre-Unification Intellectual Movement)
was an anti-rationalist movement. People in the movement also turned away
from formal politics b/c it took so long for Germany to unify.
It was a search for German identity when unification couldn’t be achieved
it signified the union of people with the cosmos and the universe. Supposed to
get to the source of peoples creativity and their unity with other members of the
Volk.
they strongly emphasized the connections of Germans with Forests and were
deep, mysterious, profound people.
They offset the German people with the Jews who were a desert people.
There were Volkish youth groups w/ over 100,000 members and they penetrated
the German educational system. They were a strong influence on people born
b/w 1880 and 1920. It was one of the sets of ideas the fed into Nazism.
Italy
Trasformismo - a symptom of the Italian modernization crisis where we see
political unification in 1860 but not industrial modernization (not until 1890).
Huge split b/w the North and South of Italy. The gulf b/w the two was enormous.
When Italy started to industrialize it was only in the North the south remained
home to poor sharecroppers.
The difference in dialects b/w north and south was so strong that people in the
south couldn’t understand northern people.
North/South divide was a key structure of Italy in the 19th and 20th C
Italy unified in 1860 (mostly) in 1866 Venice joined and 1870 Rome was taken
over as well. Trieste still held by the Austo-Hungarians and this was a sore point
for Fascists
Italy was unified by Covour who was a classic 19th C liberal. The parliament had
more powers but with a small electoral franchise (men of property). The franchise
was slowly extended and by 1882 2 million men (10% of pop) could vote.
Factory workers couldn’t vote and that was a source of tension.
All this time the Pope and the RC church opposed Italian unification and refused
to recognize the country of Italy and he didn’t allow Catholics to participate in it.
This added to the modernization crisis.
Italy not a modern nation in 1860 and this lead to ongoing political instability. lead
to the Trasformismo the revolving door of gov’ts.
Crispi was able to make the gov’ts last longer and was able to build alliances b/w
different groups in Italian society. He made trasformismo work and was able to
stabilize the system
Crispi also made the nation more authoritarian. He disenfranchised a million
voters, banned the socialist party, and used the army to crack down on the
workers.
the King described him as “a pig but a necessary one”
Trasformismo relied on rampant corruption and the corruption was systematized
After Crispi came Giolitti and he was even better than Crispi at Trasformismo.
Under him party labels became useless. He would threaten, cajole, bribe, lie and
anything else to keep power. His motto was “Neither revolutions nor reaction” He
wanted Italy to stay in the middle
Giolitti left the Mafia alone so that they could get him votes from the south.
starting in 1907 there was an economic downturn and this lead to a crisis in Italy.
Northern Industrialists started to become radical conservative’s.
Giolitti tried to keep the industrialist on his side and in 1912 he doubled the
number of voters in Italy thinking that he could keep the Socialists under control.
B/w 1912 and 1914 the modernization crisis got worse. Industrial workers in the
north and poor farmers in the south both went on strike.
In June 1914 right before the start of the war Red Week happened and socialists
took control of huge areas of the country as the gov’t broke down. This was a
dress rehearsal for revolution.
Middle class people became afraid of the direction of Giolitti’s liberalism and
moved towards more nationalist parties.
Italian politics became more radicalized before the outbreak of WW1. Italy was
already in deep crisis before WW1.
the Futurists came on scene just before WW1. They were forward looking,
rejecting the past and interested in technology. To them new technology was
moving humanity forward. They wanted to move into the future as fast as
possible.
they were anti-rationalists and they embraced the irrational. They really
embraced violence to create change.
Futurism helped shape fascism. As did the anarcho-syndicalism - it was
movement w/i the left of Italy that rose with industrialism. It rejected the creation
of parties and had a grass roots approach of local unions and that they would
seize control of their local factories and create worker run syndicates.
they reject participating in politics. their basic idea was the general strike. the
idea of one strike that would bring down both capitalism and the state.
They were active in the north with factory workers but also with poor farmers in
the south in the 1890s. It was another influence on fascism.
Italy in WW1
Technically allied w/ Germany and Austria but they sat it out and in 1915 Italy
switched sides and joined with the Entente after England and France promised
territory from Austria.
The War for Italy went terrible. The Italian commander (Cadorna) was a very
stubborn man who hated the politicians and he also didn’t trust his subordinates
so he tried to fight a war without telling anyone what he was doing.
Conditions of the Italian army were worse than any other army and as a result
they didn’t fight well at all.
The Port of Trieste was the main Italian objective, they lost 500,000 men and got
no where near it.
Things got worst in 1917 with the battle of Caporetto. The Germans decided that
the Italians were ineffective and decided to move troops to the Italian front to try
and push them out of the war. The Italian front collapsed 200,000 casualties and
400,000 desertions. the Germans almost took Venice but they had to move
troops back to the western front. Caporetto is now a word that represents crisis
and disaster.
in 1918 the Italians were able to break through Austro-Hungarian lines but only
b/c Austro-Hungary had disintegrated and the army had left.
Jan 20, 2011
main theme running through the articles was justifications for the dictators beliefs
in simple terms
broadly justifications were:
Fascism was trendy - Western Liberalism had failed. Spiritualism of the
system. Wanted to resurrect the Roman Empire.
Communism and the dictatorship of the proletariat was inevitable. Stalin
was justifying his role w/i the Soviet state as the leader of the proletariate.
Hitler introduces the idea of natural inevitability. cross-breeding of races is a
abomination of nature. He believed that nature had intended the Aryan races to
rule over all other races and that the Aryan race is not ruling over them because
it had bred with lesser races.
Were these contemporary justifications for the public or personal justifications.
Mussolini - Was for the people. Believed that the Fascist state is antiindividualistic. Believed in the Italian people. Attempting to reconcile the Fascist
movement with the Church. All political experiments are anti-liberal. Argues that
liberalism only succeeds because of the powerful people in the system.
Stalin - Believed in the proletariate. They came to power and the Soviet
state should be there to make sure that the rest of the world transitions smoothly
into communism.
the D of P is an instrument of revolution.
the D of P as the instrument of power.
the D of P as power to rule over the Bourgeoisie
Stalin believes that he must consolidate Russia first before spreading it to the
world. Believes that Communism is democratic but only democratic for the
proletariate and a dictatorship for the bourgeoisie.
Also doesn’t believe in a peaceful transition, believes that it must be done by
crushing all bourgeoisie institutes.
Justifies his rule and his party by saying that it is the only way that the D of P
would survive.
Hitler believed in natural law and inevitability. argued that all racial crossing was:
lowering of the level of the higher race
the advancing of a slowly moving sickness
was much more individualist. Germany isn’t the ideal race it’s just the closest
thing to Aryans left.
Argues that the man who creates the greatest culture must be preserved.
Aryan races, while small in number, are able to create and advance human
culture, through subjecting foreign and lower races.
The mightiest counterpart of the Aryan is the Jew. Aryans are self sacrificing
while Jews are selfish and self-preserving.
Now Burton
the relationship b/w the dictator and the people and the role of the dictator is
interesting. None of the the three speak very kindly of the people who they are
dictating for.
Hitler claimed that the Aryans needed his guidance so that they wouldn’t
interbreed. From stalin the Party has a higher consciousness than the people
and the dictator himself is at the center of all this. Mussolini doesn’t believe that
the italians have the leadership capabilities to move forward. It is the state that
must move Italy forward and that only one person w/i the state really knows how
to get shit done.
Mussolini attacks liberalism and most of the reading was concerned with taking it
down. He claims that the 20’s and 30’s were the time of Fascism.
His trend is that he became more and more self-interested over time. In 1943 he
rediscovers radical Fascism. By that point he is a puppet of the Germans but it is
a rebirth of his radical fascist program.
The dictatorship was needed to protect the proletariate from international
bourgeoisie. He was worried that there were still class loyalties w/i the Soviet
Union and the working class was very small. He was in charge of a proletarian
state with no proletariate.
Stalin developed the theory that stated that as the state moves closer and closer
to true communism the class struggle intensifies as the bourgeoisie fights harder
against communism. This was his justification for increasing oppression in the
1930’s
Totalitarianism
classes were transformed into masses
center of power shifted from army to police
not a tyranny as a tyrant has no guidance of law or anything. Totalitarian gov’t
were guided by laws but they were laws of higher orders Nature and History.
Totalitarianism order the death sentences that nature and history would condemn
but were slower.
total terror succeeds when a person cannot distinguish b/w fact and fiction or true
and false.
Totalitarianism is unique.
All ordinary laws are expressions of nature or history (often history of class
struggle)
compares fascism and communism and finds that they are similar but not the
same. these two ideologies offered themselves to frightened middle class as the
only alternate of safety.
there are 6 characteristics of totalitarianism that are unique to totalitarian gov’t
ideology
monopoly of weapons
monopoly of media
single party with one leader
terroristic police
centrally directed economy
Totalitarian leaders give their gov’t pseudo spirituality to justify it’s existence
leaders wanted to abolish the break b/w state and religion. Fascism became both
a science and a faith. Purification through violence.
Mussolini lead masses that became the highest statement of the state.
Conversion of the masses very important. Even had a calender of sacred dates
in the Fascist movement.
Communists wanted to destroy the orthodox church and did this by creating
“religious” ceremonies that mirrored the church but worshipped the soviet state.
Nature abhors a vacuum and if the state removes religion a massive vacuum is
created so the states needs to try and fill the vacuum and does that by mimicking
the religion they moved.
Totalitarianism is essentially modern. They have a strong emphasis on
technology.
totalitarianism regimes are perversions of democracy except that there was
never democracy in Russia.
now Burton
What is different b/w dictatorships and totalitarianism? The banality of evil.
terror and ideology. terror as a concept beyond law. it is neither legal nor illegal.
The gov’t is acting directly as a force of nature or history. Ideology is replacing
normal forms of politics. It is starting with a false assumption and then following
that assumption with rigorous logic.
The six part model of Totalitarianism is the classic work on what it takes to be a
totalitarian state.
Fascism as political religion - argues that creating a pseudo religious faith based
on regime was part of a totalitarianism.
Giovanni Gentile invented the word totalitarianism. He was a philosopher that
abandoned liberalism and started using the word totalitarianism in 1925 to
describe fascism as a concept that would permeate every aspect of a persons
life. Mussolini used it to describe what he was doing and he used it as a positive
idea. Nazi’s used it occasionally but it never really took off and the Soviets never
used it.
totalitarianism - it is the intention of the state to absorb everything into itself.
in the 1930’s western nations started to use it critically especially after the
Nazi/Soviet pact.
totalitarianism - by the cold war was used exclusively by the west to describe the
USSR.
Hitler was directly influenced by the Bavarian revolution. It was a very bloody and
brutal revolution.
Hitler witnessed this but had no real role. He did actually help out the socialist
soldier council.
It is believed that his involvement in the socialist revolution was largely
opportunistic.
as early as 1919 we see a fear of socialism and jews. Gives the Nazi’s the stab
in the back theory and the international jewish conspiracy.
post revolution Hitler is sent to a camp to be re-educated about the Bolsheviks.
He is a star student and eventually became lecturer. He nationalized the troops
that he spoke to.
He becomes an expert on the Jewish Question. he is anti-Semitic but his
sentiments at this time are no more extreme than anyone else's or indeed
mainstream culture in society.
Mussolini ran a socialist newspaper. He was in touch with the country. He started
not wanting Italy to join the war but slowly changed his mind and then believed
that war was the only way to destroy the old order and create a new one.
He was kicked out of the socialist party and is regarded as over the top and
crazy. He was.
by 1914 he is establishing Fascist groups. Eventually Italy goes to war and
Mussolini goes to war and this becomes an essential part of his cult of
personality.
the author argues that he was never that great of a soldier. He got married, and
had kids.
the war limited his power. He demanded that Italy go to total war and needed a
strong leader.
end of 1917 he called for rule by those that had fought. In 1918 the war ended,
much to his surprise.
Stalin - focuses on his life in Georgia and his childhood.
abusive father lead to thoughts that anyone in authoritative positions over him
must be hated. Thus he hated himself and loved himself. His hate for himself
lead to the purges and his reign of terror and his love of himself lead to his cult of
personality.
No middle class in Georgia, his mother wanted him to be a priest and his father
wanted him to be a worker. He loved his mother more.
Georgia was an honour and shame society. He was a popular kid at school
he was good at creating a circle of friends and making them very loyal to himself.
Betrayal by a friend was the ultimate sign of betrayal.
His imaginary hero was Koba who struggled against the Czar and had a strong
love of his homeland.
He became Russified as he entered the Soviet system.
now Burton
There is more to Stalin than just his Psychohistory and in fact the same can be
said about all three men.
Stalin always had a tight circle of friends and this is rooted in Georgian culture
1919 is a turning point in Hitler’s career and also his worldview. Hitler is an
opportunist. Hitler was a desperate person in 1919 and the army through him a
lifeline.
Mussolini late 1914 was crucial time period in his life in which he modifies his
views and stance on socialism.
Jan 25, 2011
Approaches to Political Violence
Was enough of the German population radicalized that this political violence was
seen as acceptable?
the article mentioned that the Berlin sometimes supported the Communists.
Why? was it b/c the police force was more socialist or b/c they were getting
political instructions to do so?
Enter the Nazi
really interesting to see the rise of the Nazi party that was void of any direct and
virtually no indirect support from Hitler.
Jan 27, 2011
Futurists were known for their art (poetry and painting). they were interested in
moving into the future as fast as possible. Developed out of cubism.
Italian Fascism
futurism was influential in Italian politics. 1918 created the futurist political
movement.
fascists were quick to adopt futurism ideals.
the war added ideals of manliness and violence to futurists.
Futurism demanded a battle w/o quarter and an extremism that was brutal and
bloody.
Neo-syndicalists realized that capitalists needed to mature the working class
before the revolution could happen.
the emphasized the war to veterans who dreamed of political change. they joined
leftists and replaced the Italian liberal movement.
Mussolini even published some syndicalist ideas. The NS believed that education
could make the political system more relevant
NS didn’t consider Mussolini as their leader, only a possible leader.
NS shifted from the left to the right and influenced Mussolini.
Fascism was a fighting organization. it’s origins are from the class war.
the contest of local power was an important aspect of fascism. Mussolini used it
to destroy his enemies
Mussolini made allegiances with those skilled in violence (WW1 vets) Fascist
violence was planned, violent, and easily accepted as a political tool.
there was a significant connection b/w Italian thought, politics, and society as well
as post war changes w/i society.
Violence didn’t fuel passion but rather a tool that was used to help it progress.
Fascist violence developed latter than socialist violence. Fascist violence was
more organized and developed. it was also more deliberate and targeted as well.
Fascist violence starts in the country side and is started by large commercial
farmers. This is in response to the peasants and farm labourers demanding
better wages and more power. by mid 1920 the large commercial farmers have
given up on the indecisive gov’t.
the immaturity of the Italian worker was based on the fact that the worker weren’t
organized and that they were egotistical and self interested as well as the fact
that they didn’t know anything about politics.
now Burton
traditionally futurist politics has been taken as bazar. Fascist picked and chose
the elements of futurism that they wanted.
modernizing nationalism was a key phrase in futurism. they believed that
nationalism had become conservative and that it was slowing down change. they
wanted it to be fast and modern.
Futurists weren’t sympathetic to Nazism. they saw it as romantic that it was
backward looking. Futurism was a smaller impact on Nazism.
It is never entirely clear what it means to orientate nationalism to the future
instead of the past. they didn’t believe that it was beautiful or mystical to die for
your nation, that was just something you did.
“We commemorate our dead in short hand, in this way we avoid smelling their
stench for too long.”
masculinity meant violence, combat, and energy towards the cause.
it is a stark brutal idea of nationalism.
Nazism and Fascism both started out as anti-capitalism. But as both their leaders
became more popular they had less time for anti-capitalism. What remained in
both was organizations and cooperation.
Squadrismo - groups of Italian fascists that were former Italian shock troops that
initiated violence in the Italian countryside. Mussolini was initially not interested in
them. Only when they became larger and he realized their potential did he
become involved.
by 1922 these Squadrismo marched on Rome and took over the nation. 40,000
Black shirts marched on Rome but the King capitulated and asked Mussolini to
take over.
The Rise of Stalinism
Social pressures played a large role in the formation of Stalinism.
The Chaos of post-civil war Russia allowed the formation and flourishment of
secret police that Stalin could control.
he rationalized his actions and claims by saying that the Party was the protector
of the people from the west and the bourgeoise.
b/c of rapid technological advancements people were being de-humanized which
allowed Stalin to treat them as a faceless mass whom he could control.
Both Lenin and Staling were confined by Russia’s social backwardness but
where Lenin fought against it, Stalin used it to manipulate the people.
Stalin was obsessed that people were telling him what he wanted to here but
doing other things.
He created the position of Gen. Sec. because of the infighting and the slowness
of the bureaucracy.
At the 13th party conference, Stalin had a break-through when he defended local
party secretaries by saying that it was neither time nor place for any kind of
democracy in Russia.
Stalinism was accelerated by the necessity for Russia to do whatever it took to
advance Soviet society and industry.
In the early 1930’s the regime was on the brink of collapse b/c of resistance to
collectivization.
Lenin did find a place for landless peasantry, they were supposed to be
friends of the revolution. Kulaks were against the revolution.
Stalin wanted to turn peasant farmers into industrial workers. rural
proletariate!
now Burton
Stalinism was response to the crisis of the New Economic Program followed by
the Soviet regime from 1921-1926. The Bolshevik party still had a political
monopoly and control over the commanding heights of the economies (anything
employing 20 or more workers) but it relaxed control over smaller sections of the
economy (private workshops, retail trade, and cooperatives).
So Russia was a mixed economy and had a tolerance of art and thought as well.
A key element of the NEP was the agreement with the peasants. During the civil
war the peasantry had been repressed by the party. During the NEP the state
bought grain from the peasants. the state was the main buyer of grain but it did
so at artificially low prices. It then sold finished goods at artificially high prices.
this lead to the scissors crisis and peasants started to w/h their grain b/c they
were being ripped off. So there was a structural problem w/i the NEP system.
Happened again in 1927 but was much more serious this time. this is the Crisis
that Stalinism grew out of.
The situation of autarky - economic self-sufficiency- little or no trade w/ the rest of
the world. B/c trade ties b/w Russia and the rest of the world had been cut
Stalinism was able to grow as well.
Political arrangements in the Soviet Union were very harsh in the 20’s so people
were somewhat used to violent harsh politics even before Stalin.
Shift to the mass party is an important social ingredient of Stalinism. it shifted
from an underground organization to a mass political party.
there is a real change in the kind of member in the party. From intellectuals that
are highly educated and multi-lingual. They have complete grasps of Marxist
theories. To a party with very little education. They are workers, and peasants
who were socially and intellectually insecure. They had few traditional ties and
they were easily moulded and shaped into what the party and Staling needed
them to be.
Literacy is also an important ingredient. there was a campaign to raise literacy
after it had fallen to under 50% during the civil war. So the party launched a
massive literacy campaign
literacy increased to the point that by the 30’s most of the people were literate.
At the same time there was massive control over what people could read and
write.
this helped make the manipulation of the people easier. It made Stalinism and
totalitarianism possible.
Stalin didn’t gain power by appointing his friends and lackeys to positions in the
party. Harris argues that it was impossible to do this as there were to many
positions and the nation was to large. Rather there was a convergence of
interests b/w Stalin and local party leaders which was the suppression of
democracy at the local party level
This lead to an alliance b/w Stalin and local party bosses which lead to people
that liked and supported Stalin being promoted from within.
This alliance broke down in the late 30’s which lead to the great purges in 37-38.
Rise of Nazism
Young small independent business owners were the largest supporters of the
Nazi parties in Northeim.
People were influenced by the appearance or organization and dedication of the
Nazi Party.
Nazi propaganda was tailored to whatever the local population wanted to hear to
gain support.
Nazi’s used the storm-troopers as a propaganda tool that they used against the
left wing of the Weimar Republic.
The Nazi’s weren’t the only group using paramilitary organizations.
many young, unemployed individuals that were born after the war joined the SA
leaders of the SA were actually military leaders and not totally committed to Hitler
during the Putsch.
in 1926 Hitler shaped the SA so that it would be a propaganda tool. It was
reorganized into the goose-steppin’ sons-a-bitches we know them as.
The SA was used for propaganda by marching large groups of them into the
Socialist areas of cities and get into fights. They attacked the socialist hang outs
and build a club right next door.
most big business’s were against Hitler and the Nazi party and openly gave
money to the traditional conservative parties.
If they did give money to the Nazi’s it’s b/c they were giving money to everyone.
Active support for Hitler doesn’t really start until 1933.
Feb 3, 2011
Proposal should be 500 word long with a clear topic, sketch out the outline of the
paper and needs a hypothesis. Should have a bibliography need 3 primary
sources and should have a min of 12 sources.
Industrial Policy
Germany
The Struggle b/w Schacht and Goering for control over the germany economy
the Nazi’s wanted a self-sufficient economy and autarchy. Goering was willing to
go full steam into German re-armament.
He said that if German private ind. cannot meet the goals of re-armament that
they would be done away with or taken over by the gov’t
Schacht was afraid that re-armament wouldn’t lead to economic recovery, would
lead to inflation and too much aggression from other nations.
Schacht had to ask twice to resign b/c he lost the struggle to Goering. Hitler
didn’t want him to resign b/c he leant an air of respectability and approachability
to the German State.
the purpose of the German 4 year plan was to be ready for war be the end of the
plan in 1936.
in 1936 the alliance b/w the Nazi’s and other traditional conservatives - army, and
big business - breaks and Schacht was a proponent of conservatism not,
Nazism.
Italy
Mussolini was dedicated to fixing the Lira problem and its rapid deflation
He set the Lira so that 90 Lira would be worth a pound sterling.
The Italian conglomerate was made up mainly of heavy industry. Many smaller
merchants feared that they would loose a lot of exports if the Quota 90 was
enacted.
in 1927 when Mussolini was ready to bring in the quota 90 he asked for the
conglomerations support which they gave b/c they had been promised that Italian
products would be used no matter the cost.
Mussolini was willing to buy of Italian industry to create a strong single economy
whereas Hitler threatened to get his way.
Mussolini was a big fan of the conglomeration of ind. He likes the centralization
of the industry and he also like that the conglomeration is dominated by heavy
ind. b/c that would lead to better re-armament.
the prestige of having a stable economy and exchange rate was very important
to Mussolini in the 1920’s. In the 30’s we see them shift more to self-sufficiency
and re-armament.
Italy was suffering from inflation and the solution, deflation, favoured heavy
industry.
Soviet Union
the peasantry became reluctant to sell their grain b/c there were very few
consumer products to buy.
rapid industrialization was thought to be the only solution to this problem b/c then
there would be enough consumer products for peasants to sell the grain to buy
these new goods.
The gov’t wanted to set the prices for consumer goods higher so that the
peasants would have to sell all their grain to buy things.
however the rapid industrialization focused more on heavy ind rather than
consumer goods so peasants still had no real reason to sell their grain.
Preobrazhenskii wasn’t in favour of violence. He wanted the peasants to sell their
grain to buy goods on their own free will.
meow burton
Schact was a political conservative and was the man who dealt with stabilized
the Weimar republic before he was appointed to the head of the state bank. he
was the virtual dictator of the german economy from 34-36
He wanted re-armament but not as radical as the 4 year plan. He manipulated
currency and was careful not to print too much money. He created mefo-bonds
which were paid to dummy research groups that led to german re-armament
Mussolini was primarily concerned with the prestige of the Italian economy in the
20’s. Inflation generally favors exports and light ind was very successful
exporters.
with the quota 90 Italian exports fall and that favors heavy industry. It also
favored large producers and established Italian ind.
the only place that there was enough capital to rebuild Soviet ind. in the 20’s and
30’s was in the peasantry.
The peasants had used to give grain to the landowners but in the revolution and
their emancipation they didn’t have to do it anymore.
Preobrazhenskii wanted peasants to be able to buy consumer goods but at a
price that would lead to the gov’t absorbing all the surpluses of the peasants.
this was his theory of Socialist accumulation.
zagotovki - procurements of grain. the nature of procurements changes
drastically. Starts as a voluntary payment to compulsory payment to a
compulsory tax.
the Soviet state rushed into collectivization in oct 1929 as a way of more closely
controlling the peasants.
Kolkhoz - collective farms, technically controlled by the peasants but in reality the
chairman of the farm runs it and he was appointed from above. They are allowed
some livestock and a small market garden.
Sovkhoz - state farm. State has control of the farm and the peasants are landless
labourers.
by march 1930 the state reversed course on collectivization b/c there were so
many peasant uprisings that they were worried that the state would collapse.
by 1939 virtually the soviet peasantry was collectivized.
Fascist Agriculture
Battle of Wheat, Import restrictions, ag commodities, subsidies, acreage outputs,
internal colonization are all elements of Fascist ag
the actual results of these programs was a lowering of investment,
impoverishment of the people, and the collectivization of land in the hands of
wealthy landowners.
land that was better suited for fruits and veggies was pushed into wheat
production which made it less productive.
Land was to be collectively managed by owners, managers, workers and the
state.
1925-1935 tariffs and trade interventions are introduced which dried up foreign
credit and money so the nation turns inwards.
1925 battle for wheat, tariffs put on foreign wheat and subsidies on italian wheat
the battle for wheat slowed the rate of investment into ag and slowed
mechanization and land developments on farms.
the south is better suited for fruits and olives not wheat so there is a growing gap
again b/w the north and south.
if less efforts had been put on restraints to ag and rather more efforts put on
empowering ag production would have been better.
in the 20’s there was a movement to direct cultivation - wage labour rather than
share cropping. and the return to share cropping in 27 shows that the ag ind. isn’t
working so well and farmers/landowners needed help.
If you could afford it mechanization was more efficient.
per capita food consumption decreased even though grain production increased
50-100% this was b/c the price of wheat was so high and there were restrictions
on imports of wheat.
the battle of grain was meant to support the battle for births but the actual
birthrate declined during this time.
landholdings increased during the battle for wheat b/c only wealthy owners had
access to easy credit.
small landowners couldn’t afford tractors and other machines, and it was found
that it was more efficient to farm on large land groups.
Nazi Agriculture - Both focus on Richard walter Darre?
Blood and Land - gives and outline and Walther Darre and his ideas and policies
in german agriculture
In 1933 he was appointed minister of food and ag after working for years for the
ministry and publishing books.
To Darre blood and land were closely associated and the nordic race had grown
away from it’s true ties to the land. He saw the introduction of Christianity and
leaving primogeniture as the reasons that the german peoples had lost their
connection to the land.
He created classifications of women
Pureblood women who were hot - were encouraged to marry hot pureblood
men
pureblood women who weren’t hot - should marry hot pureblood men,
maybe non-hot purebred men
Non-pureblood women- don’t procreate
foreigner women - sterilization.
Darre was a racists before he ran into the Nazi’s
Darre and Steiner influenced each other even though Darre is not interested in
Steiners religion.
Darre pushed for organic farming. he got the idea from intellectuals in university
but he changed the name to organic farming.
in 1940 an experimental farm had an amazing yield and this led Darre pushing
even harder for organic farming.
Organic farming was too linked to a group that the Nazi’s saw as subverted and
this led to the dismissal of Darre.
Darre came up with laws to promotes independent peasant farmers but it was
overtaken. The junkers didn’t like it at all and eventually succeeded at overtaking
it.
the need for efficiency during re-armament was greater than the emphasis on
small farms.
independent farmers were the strongest political base for the Nazi party in the
early years.
Nazism is anti-modern and anti-industrialist.
Feb 10, 2011
Nazis Propaganda and the Volksgemeinshaft
propaganda only works where there are already some similar feelings. if no one
shares the opinions then it is useless. It cannot transform public thinking, only
provide direction and thought to it
the social welfare program, economic plans, and use of propaganda the nazi's
used ensured at the very least passive support for the regime
nazis worked to coordinate propaganda with their actions.
the voelkisch movement wasn’t a nazi invention rather it rose out of late 18th C
German romanticism and the spirit of German reunification.
Hitler joined all labour unions into one called the DAF which was used to reduce
class struggles by getting employers and employees into the same union. it’s
purpose was to promote the volksgemeinschaft.
nazi propaganda worked to convince Germans that short term sacrifices were
needed to guarantee future prosperity when the Party was preparing for war.
Nazi propaganda seemed to have been highly effective on youth - growing out of
their control over the education system
the working class and youth were also groups that had some of the strongest
resistance.
The working class b/c they already had unions. workers were cynical about the
improved working conditions but showed passive support for the party even
though they retained their class distinctions.
workers realized that if they did what they were supposed to then they could gain
personal advancements and advantages.
youth resisted b/c that is what kids do. Not all youth liked the Hitler Youth they
became known as swing kids. Swing kids were a minor irritant to the Reich. the
Edelweiss Pirates were a little more disruptive but again not a big issue to the
gov’t.
Passive support was pretty much as good as active support b/c it allowed the
gov’t to continue it’s program.
Abolishing Ambiguity: Soviet Censorship Practices in the 30’s
censorship was supposed to have ended in the Soviet Union so they could point
to censorship in other nations as backwardness.
the super secret list Perechen’ (means index) is a list of documents that were
anti-soviet and was made up of the writings that were “placed at the ideological
center of Soviet Society” this second group of writings were kept secret b/c it
could changed from month to month.
around 1934 there is a shift to an obsession around ambiguity. this is when we
start to see censorship of swastika on Stalin’s buttons.
it all kicks off with Kirov’s murder in 1934 and is an attempt at total control. They
are trying to stop people from reading more than one meaning into any cultural
artifact.
interesting how censors seem to have set quotas for themselves and competed
with other censorship groups to see who could find more counter-revolutionary
materials.
wanted to get rid of ambiguity in all culture products.
there is pre-circulation and post-circulation censorship that was used to mould
the cultural product.
Nazi Propaganda and indoctrination: Success or Failure?
fairly similar to the other article.
it wasn’t about everyone buying into Nazi propaganda.
looks at the historiography of Nazi Propaganda
system utilized propaganda as part of Totalitarianism and the people
followed. this was the original historiography
next came the idea that Nazi propaganda was just an outpouring of wider
german and european attitudes.
the author wants to know how well the people received propaganda.
reports on civilian morale - a citizen not agreeing with Nazi policies would
probably not tell an SS or SA officer that they didn’t. So reports on civilian morale
could be skewed.
Propaganda was it’s own department in the gov’t and all propaganda was to be
to sole property of the gov’t.
the Nazi were the first group to try and completely control and reshape a nations
culture.
propaganda was supposed to reeducate the pop on
national unity
racial purity
hatred of enemies (jews and communists)
Charismatic leadership
Nazi propaganda tried to draw on beliefs and principles that many people already
had and then use them to advance nazi goals
Nazi propaganda wanted to break down class and social divisions and Welsh
argues that this is where propaganda failed.
it did result in political antipathy as people were encouraged to leave politics to
those at the top of the nazi party.
teachers were a main conduit for getting propaganda down to youth.
propaganda was linked to military success so starting at Stalingrad and further
on into the war it failed more and was less and less effective.
Fascist Aesthetics and Society: Some Considerations
fascist aesthetics invented nothing new or experimental, how was that a great
strength? pg. 249.
aesthetics is talking about the art and presentation of a culture. It deals with
museums, galleries, architecture, and art.
historians have failed to give aesthetics its dues.
appreciation of the arts played an important role of the self definition of the the
middle class. An was also part of the new fascist culture.
the usage of political symbols was an important part of fascism. People saw a
fascist leader giving a speech as almost more important than what the leader
was saying.
another symbol of the aesthetics of fascism was the virile body of roman
sculpture.
the strong male body became a symbol b/c it placed a political part on a civil
religion that already was involved in all aspects of life.
the link b/w aesthetics and politics was very important. aesthetics was the
cement that held fascism together.
Staging Fascism
- the exhibition was a show of fascism’s perception of itself.
If a senator or local fascist leader sent in a clipping or photo he had personally
contributed to the regime’s reproduction of itself and was central to the
construction of fascism.
in order for people to follow or support an organization they need to feel as if they
are a part of it.
the exhibit tried to bridge the gap b/w religion. fascism, culture. and traditions into
a single aesthetic view of Fascist Italy.
Fascism merged it’s symbols with the Italian state and often choose to leave
them fairly ambiguous
really interesting how people were so affected by the facade of the building
Soviet Constructivism was an influence on the exhibition of Fascism? How does
that work?
Fascist legitimized themselves through exhibit itself but were externally
legitimized by the popularity of the exhibit.
By fostering multiple art forms did Fascist not have to censor art as much as
other dictatorships?
18 BL Mass Spectacle
3000 actors hired along with massive amounts of guns and bombs for this giant
play that re-enacted scenes from WW1
about 20,000 people came to watch the play and they all had to get across the
river in boats and simulate being soldiers on a beach landing.
18 BL was the protagonist and was a truck and this was criticised as being a
soviet, and not art as art is man
Aesthetic productions were only effective if people felt that they were part of
them.
Mussolini was seen as a saviour of the Arts as Italy was the only nation that
“promoted” the avant-guard
Organization of Demographic Totalitarianism
why the fascination with statistics and gathering information?
scientific management of society
sets out to prove that when fascists came to power in 22 they revived the
statistical tracking of populations to review emigration practices.
Mussolini wanted to know who was leaving and where they were going.
Especially the focused on military aged men and skilled industrial workers.
wanted a larger, better distributed, and internal colonization were the goal of
Fascist Italy’s demographic program.
also wanted to colonize Libya as it was far enough away from French controlled
Tunisia.
Italian fascist also wanted to break up and disperse unemployed workers so that
they could find work or so that they wouldn’t be able to find one another and
avoid rebellions.
they wanted to keep the desirable population within Italy to reproduce and join
the army while the less desirable population were supposed to go to other
places.
the fascist gov’t set up the CGE which was in charge of emigration and
passports. It was originally set up to protect italian emigrants but it became a way
to control and limit emigration. Eventually military age men could only emigrate
for one year if they had a work contract from a previous emigrated relative.
Italy’s restrictions on emigration was assisted by the US restriction on Italian
immigration.
This was bad for the gov’t b/c there was suddenly too many people in Italy that
they had to feed. Colonies in Africa and emigration to South America were used
to relieve the pressure of italian population.
the gov’t discouraged immigration into the cities b/c that would lead to lower birth
rates.
In 27 the gov’t suspended emigration unless it was planned and approved by
them b/c they thought that they could control the pop through internal
colonization.
There were subsidies for many different family groups. One was for mothers that
acknowledged and breast fed their illegitimate children.
Mothers in the Motherland
Soviet’s came to power claiming that they would free women from the bourgeois
of the family but in the 30’s they reverted to want very traditional families.
gov’ts wanted high birthrates to serve their mobilization purposes of pop growth
and social discipline. wanted lots of workers and soldiers.
there were over 16 million deaths from WW1 to the end of the civil war and the
ensuing famine in the Soviet Russia. High pops were needed to fight wars and
this scared the leaders thinking that they may not have enough soldiers.
Soviet leaders were surprised when they learned that as income and quality of
life increased, birthrates fell.
Soviet gov’t encouraged reproduction from all members of society which was
similar to catholic countries and unlike Germany or scandinavian nations which
wanted only racially pure (germany) babies
bad propaganda - abortions cause infertility and nervous system problems and
one new birthing techniques meant that there was no pain in child birth.
for the most part campaigns to increase birthrate failed.
Interesting that none of the nations that wanted higher birthrates looked to
immigration to increase the population.
there were very liberal divorce and abortion laws in the soviet union but there
were rescinded in the late 30’s.
Feb 17, 2011
State and Society Under Stalin
main goal of the 36 constitution was centralization.
the regime wanted feedback and discussion on the proposed constitution. They
threatened and did remove regional and local leaders who weren’t starting and
participating in discussions about the constitution, or forwarding on individual
comments and thought on to Moscow.
people seemed to be most concerned with social benefits not being entrenched
in the constitution.
they also didn’t want priests and other state enemies to be able to vote.
people also seemed to be calling for heavier punishment fro crimes against the
state
Stalin ignored most of these peoples concerns especially the distinction b/w
worker and peasant and how the peasants might not get social benefits.
local and regional leaders were slow to start the elections process in 1937, partly
out of their traditional approach of reluctance to carry out orders from Moscow.
They also deliberately frustrated the elections b/c they recognized that it could
lead to them losing power.
local authorities tried to tell Moscow that popular opinion in the countryside would
allow enemies of the state to be elected.
People were also seeing changes, Kulaks were returning from exile and wanting
their land back, there were calls to re-open churches and prayer buildings
Supplicants and Citizens
people wrote letters in a spirit of duty, malice, ambition, loneliness, and despair
justice, appeals for support, reporting enemies, backstabbing criticizing the
regime, asking for jobs or to put children in orphanages.
interesting how the author recognizes that some of the language used predates
the soviet system and could be used if writing to a Czar.
some people are happy to be writing letters b/c they just learned to write and are
excited about it. They are writing just for the sake of writing.
letter writers would cast themselves in a particular role. (patriot, soviet, poor,
simple)
Bab’i Bunti
women were at the vanguard of peasant resistance to collectivization in late 1929
and 30-31.
they weren’t prosecuted for it b/c they were silly uneducated women
the bab’i bunty were described as spontaneous outbursts of mass hysteria.
women served as initiators and decoys in disturbances.
March 3, 2011
the theme of all three articles was ethnic repression in Italy and USSR. In USSR
it was b/c of paranoia and in Italy it was for colonization in Ethiopia
NKVD polish operation
all poles were placed under suspicion of spying and penetrating all organs of
soviet categories
- categories of poles considered spies
all active members of polish military organization
all defectors from poland
all prisoners from poland
all members of polish soviet party
all POW from polish-ussr war
all family members of all previous suspects
accused could either be killed or sentenced to 5 or 10 years gulag.
the order was meant to take 3 months but it ended up taking years.
those accused were often investigated and recommended the sentence by the
smae person.
Poles were not the only ones affected by ethnic operations. Fins, Latvians, and
many others.
Stalin didn’t like poland as a state, 111,000 poles killed and another 30,000 sent
to the gulag.
racism and ethnic cleansing isn’t about who you are it’s about where you are.
Conquest and suppression in africa
paper compares Italian conquest of Libya and Ethiopia from Rome’s perspective
with the conclusion that from that perspective only Libya was a success.
In Libya rebellions were ruthlessly put down. Libya was divided into three regions
which was part of the Italian strategy to divide and conquer.
they were not all that successful they ended up having to put the civilian pop in
concentration camps and in this was were able to defeat the rebellions
in Ethiopia Italy won the war in 7 months but it wasn’t total so a policy of civilian
terror was put in place. Italians even used gas to control the pop.
Ethiopian rebels resisted all the way until the start of WW2 when the italian army
had to live
the paper states that if the Italians had used tribal differences as they did in Libya
as well as using the Ethiopian nobility they could have subdued the nation
almost the half the pop of one of the regions in Libya were placed in
concentration camp.
the colonies were extremely expensive. They started to consume massive
amounts of Italy’s GDP.
The call for colonization and wars to subdue colonies stemmed from young
Italians who had never been in WW1 and were embarrassed by Italy’s lose in
Ethiopia earlier.
Italian racial policy was tied to Nazi racial policy and they didn’t like inter-racial
relationships.
Italy’s colonies would have only been successful and profitable had Germany
won the war, but then they would have been an almost vassal state to Germany.
The French were going to invade the USSR for early 1940 to deny oil to the
Germans.
British relationship with USSR - Much of the British establishment in the spring of
41 was cool to the USSR. It is the Stalin that was more active than Churchill.
Stalin is in a non-aggression pact with Germany but is putting out feelers to see if
they could cooperate with Britain. The soviets had to be very subtle b/c of the
non-aggression pact. In fact they may have been so subtle that the British
missed it.
Mar 10, 2011
there is a lot of confusion about whether or not Stalin killed Kirov. It is thought
that there are only 3 or 4 people that knew the actual events of the murder and if
Stalin was actually involved.
Does it matter if he is? the important idea is that he used his murder to start the
show trials and the purges.
Lenin recommended show trials that were quick and explained the actions of the
defendants and why they are a threat to the nation.
A show trial is a fake trial that more like plays with heavily scripted. The accused
admit their guilt and ask for the forgiveness of the nation. The trials were heavily
publicized.
Stalin used the trials to construct a real and serious threat that mobilized the
nation against the enemies.
Trotskyism was put on trial (1936) b/c it was able to claim direct links to Lenin
and the revolution. Also b/c even though there was only 12000 Trotskyites in the
nation Stalin knew the power of a few dedicated individuals.
Most of the men put on trial in ‘36 were former party members. It was meant to
send a message to party members that if you double cross the party you will
have to pay for it, no matter how powerful you are.
The third trial (1938) was meant to display Stalin and the party as defender
against Fascism in the East and the West as both Japan and Germany were
rising in power.
the NKVD was under party control and subordinate to the party up until the
purges of 1937 & 1938.
Once the purges started the NKVD took over control of the unmasking of
enemies and wreckers and often did it w/i in the party.
the NKVD’s orders came from Stalin
The Politburo approved the use of arrests of anti-soviet elements which lead to
the ethnic arrests such as the Polish Arrests.
there was no firm plan of how to repress hostile activities, just that they had to be
repressed.
The party was severely weakened by the NKVD investigations and purges and
then the NKVD itself is purged by the party creating two separate entities that
were both dependent on Stalin.
Many of the new hires of the NKVD that put into place after the purges in 1938
were actually party members so the two entities were somewhat merged.
Now Burton
Kirov wasn’t a serious opposition threat to Stalin nor was he that prominent a
politician as we thought. So his murder in dec 1934 is strange b/c he isn’t that
important but his murder is. It has the same degree of gravity as the kennedy
assassination b/c of what Stalin did with it
His murder is the trigger for the great purges. Stalin pushed through legislation
that suspended legal rights and then arrested all the people that he wanted
executed before the murder but couldn’t get the party to agree to.
by 1936/37 the purges were beginning.
Lenoe argues that there isn’t evidence to say that Stalin was involved in Kirovs
murder but it isn’t important, again it is what Stalin did with his murder.
Main Themes
in 2 of the 3 articles there is a large emphasis that Nazi and USSR tried to create
ideal societies and gave great powers to the secret police and regular police
forces to try and shape society.
great power and energy was spent trying to prevent crime and hostility from
happening by arresting socially harmful elements.
the threat of actions of the socially harmful elements and the police reaction
against them was often enough to control society.
Socially Harmful, socially dangerous and very socially harmful were the three
proposed categories of socially unwanted people in the USSR. they would only
try to rehabilitate the first section, if they failed they shot them. and they shot
everyone else. This is what was proposed but it was never enacted
passport system and social quarantine were used to find socially harmful
elements and eject them from cities to keep crime rates low.
originally only a few regime cities were necessary to have passports but the
system was expanded to many cities.
undesirables could be corralled in specific areas of country b/c they weren’t
allowed in many of the cities or in the boarder lands.
if you moved into a city you had to register with the police and the police kept a
record of all the passports.
social undesirables were people that had previous records of arrests for many
different reasons like hooliganism, speculation, theft, prostitution etc. etc.
Nazi regime tracked down race enemies who could dilute the purity of the race.
Nazi’s believed that biologically people were more inclined to commit crimes.
They thought that certain races and bloodlines were more likely to become
criminals.
A-socials had no regular jobs and the Nazi’s believed that they lead lives that
weren’t worth living. Laziness and work avoiding was also seen as a genetic trait
and part of a persons blood.
Nazi’s sterilized people with diseases or were handicapped. Later on these
people were sent to death camps to be euthanized.
b/c the german people were able to accept their own people being killed it gave
confidence to the Nazi’s that they could carry out mass killings of Race Enemies.
Gypsies were treated like a plague that had to be exterminated. Especially those
that were mixed blood gypsies.
Himmler wanted to keep some gypsies in concentration camps that were more
like Zoo’s b/c people could come see this “interesting” race.
The Nazi’s created brothel concentration camps for foreign workers to release
their energy so that they wouldn’t try and mate with Germans, they did this even
thought they hated prostitution and waged a campaign against street workers.
a main theme of the article is that these repressions became even more extreme
during the war and that the war allowed the Nazi’s to send many different groups
of peoples to concentration and death camps.
When dealing with gay’s and criminals the objective was not their elimination but
rather their rehabilitation and re-education.
When dealing with juvenile delinquents the Nazi’s treated any group that wasn’t a
part of Hitler youth were deemed as delinquents. They were sent to specific reeducation camps.
Sippenhaft - Family Liability
Was a law that was in place in Germany before the Nazi regime where a soldier
who deserted or didn’t follow orders placed his family in danger b/c they could be
killed or imprisoned b/c of the soldiers actions.
although it wasn’t used often it was used enough to keep german soldiers in line
and fighting.
The law was used far more often later in the war to keep soldiers fighting even
when it was clear that Germany was losing.
There is an implication that German soldiers families were being held as
hostage. Also if you betray Germany your blood is defective and b/c they share
your blood they must be defective as well.
Denunciations
first two articles focused on Soviet denunciations the first on them in the 30s and
the second from 44-53 and the final article is on denunciations in Nazi Germany
and the DDR
it was a well established tradition before communism to denunciate enemies. The
communists didn’t like it b/c they thought it was part of the Tsarist regime.
denunciation was used to prosecute and deport, Kulaks, clergy and Net-men who
were private entrepreneurs.
Denunciations rarely went straight to the NKVD usually they were sent to
Communist party officials or letters to the editors of local newspapers.
letters to the editor were published so that someone higher up in the communist
party would read them b/c the papers forwarded all letters of denunciations to the
party and NKVD.
the most frequent denunciation was that someone was hiding something in
his/her past (usually being a trotskyite)
People thought that if they didn’t report someone they could be reported for it.
People wrote about conspiracy theories in their letters during the great purge.
class discrimination was illegal but it was part of everyday life and most of the
denunciations.
These letters were the closest things workers and peasants had to democracy.
they could appeal to a higher soviet power about the injustice they received from
an immediate superior.
Letters were often written by whole groups and they contained a long list of
denunciations.
generally speaking family denunciations in the 30’s are rare. Usually they were
written by women about child support or that their husbands were cheating on
them.
many used denunciations were used to settle scores during divorces that weren’t
finalized.
the gov’t did respond fairly quickly to these denunciations which meant that the
system was susceptible to over-reacting or falling prey to people who just wanted
to further their own goals.
apartment denunciations were common trying to get people kicked out of
apartments for better living conditions.
about 1 in 7 denunciations was acted on and 5 were found to be baseless.
denunciations 1944-53
more specific than the first article and focused more on the procedures of
denunciation
denunciation of someone close to you was considered to be bad form but of local
officials and leaders was not frowned upon.
Letters sent to NKVD that didn’t deal with NKVD officers were usually sent to
other departments.
most complaints are about abuses of power, financial misconduct etc etc.
many letters were written directly to Stalin and people thought that he himself
would rectify their problems
the common person has great faith in the people in power in Moscow and that it
is the local officials that are ruining Soviet Russia.
some denunciations lead to purges and large scale changes
Hitler didn’t like denunciations b/c her wanted the Volksgeminschaft
Mar 17, 2011
Don’t include all comments in question in paper as that will make the paper lose
it’s focus. Consider the comments and questions but keep the focus.
Stalin was totally dedicated to Marxism-Leninism and the Soviet Union.
Stalin had both the oligarchy and the personal totalitarianism. but he worked hard
to destroy the influence of the oligarchy.
Stalin made great efforts to placate the egos of the politburo. It was only after the
great purges that Stalin was able to take control of the soviet union.
stalin wanted to be perceived as a leader at work. he was an arbiter and an
implementor of descisions.
b/c he couldn’t control all elements of gov’t, he focused his control on the major
entities: state security, military, and economics. he did involve himself in others
areas the nation and this kept all the bodies of the gov’t on their tows and aware
that all bodies of gov’t were susceptible to his control.
stalin provided incentives for forced labour to try and motivate russian workers.
later in his life Stalin became less involved in the working of the soviet gov’t while
still keeping people on edge by periodically inserting himself in the workings of
the gov’t.
Stalin’s inner circle was as important as himself and represented a system of
categorized oligarchy.
the system of departmentalized oligarchy carried on after his death and was
successful.
the relationship b/w Stalin and his colleges. The politburo was a symbol more
than an institution. the Politburo was filled with supporters of Lenin and then
Stalin.
the Politburo was controlled by the troika and every decision of the politburo was
decided by the troika in a meeting before the meeting of the politburo.
the Politburo met less and less in the 30s while the troika and other ad hoc
groups met more and more often and common.
Stalin never abolished the politburo b/c they shared responsibility but never
decision making.
Stalin did allow his deputies to conduct their actions without his input. It was
because of the importance of his deputies that he allowed this to happen
Stalin often acted as a referee arbitrating b/w disagreements of members if the
inner circle.
politburo got more respect from there closeness to Stalin rather than the ministry
to which they were assigned. they represented Stalin’s will when they travelled.
with the end of WW2 the council of peoples commissars (Sovnarkom) was
changed to the Sovmin and given almost complete economic control.
Stalin was given godlike qualities even though he didn’t posses these.
major points:
Read the Getty article Stalin was somewhat modern and that could be on
final.
The oligarchical system could function without the dictator as was proved after
Stalin’s death.
This is not that case with Nazism which could function without Hitler.
the Soviet system moved towards collective leadership after WW2. Stalin is
getting old and he cannot work as hard as he used to. He doesn’t have the
energy or the drive.
Hitler and Mussolini never got old but Stalin did.
Now Burton
Soviet bureaucracy was enormous and grew larger and larger especially after
1945.
from the revolution on there was a distinction b/w the Party and the State and
they often ran parallel.
Sovnarkom was supposed to the the cabinet made up of the peoples
representatives. It is the State and the parallel party structure was the Central
Committee which grew to 300-400 people. Above the Central Committee were
the Secretariat (administrative matters) Orgburo (top organizational matters of
the Party) above both of these was the Politburo (political Buro of the party). the
Politburo had 10-12 of the most senior members of the party.
every gov’t organization had a shadow party organization.
in 1946 Stalin decided that the Soviet gov’t should look more modern and
Sovnarkom became Sovmin which was to become the senior body of the state.
Politburo became more and more important as it took on more gov’t functions in
the late 1920s. the politburo was more of a mask for ad hoc groups that operated
w/i the politburo.
at one point the politburo ceased to meet even though decisions kept being
made in it’s name. This was done b/c responsibility could be spread to the whole
politburo rather than just stalin or the ad hoc committees.
the Politburo was still important and Stalin wasn’t making all the decisions by
himself. It was impossible for Stalin to take complete control as the state was just
to large
what does this do to the totalitarian model? It Blows it out of the water. Or at least
it changes it into a totalitarian oligarchical.
gov’t was to complex for just a few men to control it.
Neo-patrimonial argument - Stalin as a father figure to the party and the state. It
is a traditional way of governing.
Gorlitski argues that Stalin had a very personal rulership style and exerted his
power and influence over those new to him. the Neo means the growth of the
gov’t and the soviet gov’t being reorganized in a modern way. Rules were
clarified and rationalized.
Neo-patrimonial is a blend of two different things. the traditional way of gov’t and
the new bureaucracy of the soviet gov’t.