The Great Depression and the Authoritarian Response

1
Chapter 30

• The Great Depression and the Authoritarian
  Response
• I) The Global Great Depression
• II) Economic and Political Changes in Latin
  America
• III) The Militarization of Japan
• IV) Stalinism in the Soviet Union
• V) New Political and Economic Realities

2
Chapter 30 Introduction
14map

• The Great Depression that began in 1929 ushered
  in a number of important developments.
• Among the continuities from World War I were the
  decline of European hegemony and instability of
  Western democracies.
• New developments included Fascist governments in
  Italy, Germany, Spain, and Japan and a police
  state in Stalins Soviet Union.
• China continued to turn away from
  democratization, while new authoritarian regimes
  arose in Latin America.
• The economic depression and the resulting radical
  political forms led to World War II.

3
I) The Global Great Depression

• The Great Depression had worldwide causes and
  effects.
• Reactions to this economic earthquake were
  varied.
• The most startling change in western Europe was
  the rise of Nazism.

4
a) Causation

• The Depressions roots were long.
• The effect of World War I on Europes economy had
  a ripple effect around the world.
• Farmers in the West and in the colonies in Africa
  and Asia overproduced, causing prices (and
  therefore income) to fall.
• Governments provided little guidance at this
  time.
• Nations that had loaned money insisted they be
  repaid tariffs reached all-time highs.
• By the late 1920s, employment in key Western
  industries was declining.

5
b) The Debacle

• When the New York stock market collapsed in
  October 1929, the wheels came off the worlds
  economic wagon. U.S. banks failed, taking their
  depositors with them. Banks in Europe followed,
  industrial production fell, jobs and wages were
  cut.
• This downward spiral continued from 1929 until
  1933 when the economic bottom was reached.
  Economic disaster was not a new phenomenon, but
  this one was the longest lasting and most
  far-reaching because of the Wests unprecedented
  global reach.
• The Great Depression was an enormous social and
  political event as well. It revealed the
  fragility of nineteenth-century optimism. Popular
  culture took on an escapist theme.
• Western democracies came under pressure to take a
  stronger role in their economies. In the Soviet
  Union, Stalins determination to create an
  industrial society under the heading socialism in
  one country manifested itself in a brutal regime,
  yet he succeeded in his goal. In Japan, the
  worldwide economic decline led to a political
  crisis.

6
c) Responses to the Depression in Western Europe

• In western Europe, the Depression revealed that
  the economic and political achievements of the
  1920s were not permanent.
• Early governmental responses were generally
  ineffective. In many countries, the economic
  collapse heightened political polarization.
• The Great Depression led to one of two effects
  an incapacitated parliamentary government or the
  overturning of parliamentary government.
• France, which elected the ineffective party the
  Popular Front, and England provided examples of
  the first pattern Italy, Germany, and Spain, the
  latter.

7
d) The New Deal

• In the United States, the government offered
  direct aid to Americans in economic trouble in
  the form of the New Deal.
• The Social Security system, government economic
  intervention and agricultural planning, and
  banking regulations were all attempts to recover
  from the depression.
• Most importantly for Americans, the New Deal
  restored confidence in the economy and in the
  government.
• It also established a path for future
  governments, between the ineffectiveness of the
  English and French and the extremism of the
  Italians, Germans, and Spanish.

8
e) Nazism and Fascism

• Fascism in Italy and Germany was a product of
  World War I. The movements advocates were often
  war veterans who attacked the apparent weakness
  of their countries parliamentary system. Fascist
  attacks on unions and on Communists pleased many
  in the upper classes.
• Although the movement started in Italy, it was in
  Germany that this movement became a major force
  in world history. Hitler made promises of a
  brighter future to many groups in return, he
  sought not the democratic voices of many but
  instead the lone voice of the leader. Once in
  power, he established a totalitarian state
  replete with a secret police, the Gestapo, which
  purges of the opposition, strident nationalism,
  and an incessant attack on Germanys large Jewish
  minority.
• Hitlers foreign policy was based on a
  preparation for war to avenge the outcome of
  World War I and to create an empire that
  stretched across Europe. In 1938 Hitler
  proclaimed that a long sought union, or Anchluss,
  with his homeland of Austria as a fellow Geman
  speaking nation, and marched into Czechoslavakia.
  Meanwhile, the international community did
  little to check him, appeasement being the coin
  of their realm.

9
f) In Depth The Decline of the West?

• It is clear the West declined in power during the
  twentieth century. Various thinkers and leaders
  have commented on this trend. As in the classical
  civilizations, slow or zero population growth was
  a sign to some of a general decrease in vitality.
  Decolonization and loss of economic clout in Asia
  were other indicators.
• Many commentators used the theme of the cyclical
  nature of history, of the inevitable decline that
  occurs after a period of intense vigor. Others
  saw decay from within, bemoaning the lack of
  standards in the arts, for example.
• On the other hand, Western nations have shown an
  unprecedented ability to bounce back from
  adversitythe resurrection from the Great
  Depression, for example. However, past examples
  show it typically takes several centuries for
  decline to become fall.

10
g) The Spread of Fascism and the Spanish Civil War

• East of Germany, Fascist movements arose in
  Hungary and Romania. Hitler expanded into
  Czechoslovakia and Austria.
• Italys Fascist dictator Mussolini attacked
  Ethiopia as the League of Nations and the rest of
  the world predictably did nothing.
• The Spanish Civil War was fought between those
  favoring a parliamentary republic and those who
  wanted Fascism. The U.S.S.R. provided some
  assistance to the republic. With help from
  Germany and Italy and with only verbal opposition
  from France, Britain, and the U.S., the Fascists
  won.

11
II) Economic and Political Changes in Latin
America

• During World War I Latin America was cut off from
  supplies of traditional imports, these countries
  experienced a spurt of industrial growth in what
  economists call import substitution
  industrialization.
• Moreover during the war European demand for some
  products increased, but this industrialization
  proved to be a false start.
• The economic boom that began in the late
  nineteenth century faltered after World War I and
  was crushed by the Great Depression.
• Rapid population growth swelled the ranks of the
  rural and urban working class, creating a series
  of social problems.

12
a) Labor and the Middle Class

• The rising importance of urban labor and the
  growth of an urban middle class led to political
  changes in some Latin American countries.
• Traditional elites forged alliances with the new,
  growing middle class, but this often led to
  opposition from the military, peasants, and
  bandits.
• Immigrants from Europe came with well developed
  political goals and ideologies, ranging from
  anarchism to syndicalism, which aimed to use
  organized labor to gain power.
• Between 1914 and 1930, waves of labor unrest were
  met with brutal government oppression, such as
  the 1919 Tragic Week in Argentina

13
b) Ideology and Social Reform

• By the 1930s, the failures of liberalism were
  becoming apparent in Latin America.
• Instead of creating its own identity as it had in
  western Europe and the U.S., the middle class
  linked forces with the traditional wealthy rulers
  and/or the military.
• Artists, intellectuals, and students complained
  about the system.
• Socialist and Communist parties arose.

14
c) The Great Crash and Latin American Responses

• Its economic dependency and weak liberal regimes
  were made clear by the world financial crisis of
  the 1930s.
• Reform movements gained momentum.
• Corporatism, with its roots in Fascism, sought to
  create states acting as mediators between
  different social groups.
• The most successful example of political change
  came from Mexico, where land was redistributed
  and oil wells were nationalized under President
  Lazaro Cardenas.

15
d) The Vargas Regime in Brazil

• Getulio Vargas established a corporatist regime
  in Brazil modeled on Mussolinis Italy, but he
  backed the Allies in World War II.
• In return Brazil obtained arms, financial support
  for industrial development, and trade advantages.
• Under criticism from both the right and left,
  Vargas committed suicide in 1954.
• Much of Brazilian history since his death has
  been a struggle over his legacy.

16
e) Argentina Populism, Peron, and the Military

• Juan Peron emerged as the leader of a
  military-style government in Argentina, and
  forged an alliance with workers and
  industrialists at the expense of civil liberties.
• Aided by his wife Eva Duarte, known as Evita, she
  became a spokesperson for Peron among the lower
  class.
• His program was couched in nationalistic terms,
  taking control of foreign-owned railroads and oil
  resources, but Argentinas economy faltered
  anyway.
• He was exiled but returned briefly to power in
  the 1970s.
• After his death, the military took control again.

17
III) The Militarization of Japan

• Although badly damaged by the Great Depression,
  Japan recovered faster than the West did, but in
  the context of authoritarianism and military
  expansion.
• Even before it happened in the West, military
  rule took over Japan.
• After 1936, a series of increasingly militaristic
  prime ministers were appointed, despite the
  wishes of the voters.
• By 1938, Japan controlled Manchuria, Korea,
  Taiwan, and a substantial part of China.
• An even wider reach of its empire was on the way.

18
The Spread of Japan Prior to World War II
19
a) Industrialization and Recovery

• Japan made a full turn toward industrialization
  after 1931, and its economy responded.
• Production of iron, steel, and chemicals soared.
• Big companies offered lifetime contracts and
  activities designed to promote nationalism and
  hard work.
• The nation became self-sufficient in tools and
  scientific equipment, and the basis was set for
  more expansion that occurred later in the
  twentieth century.

20
IV) Stalinism in the Soviet Union

• A totalitarian state emerged in the Soviet Union
  beginning in the late 1920s.
• Under Communism, the largely independent economy
  avoided the Great Depression.
• Stepped up industrialization, abject worship of
  the leader, and a violently repressive police
  state marked a system very similar to Nazism.
• The experimental mood of the middle of the 1920s
  faded when Joseph Stalin acquired unquestioned
  power.
• He sought to make the U.S.S.R. an industrial
  society under full control of the state.

21
HOME
Totalitarianism
CASE STUDY Stalinist Russia
MAP
Key Idea
After Lenins death, Stalin transforms the Soviet
Union into a totalitarian state. He
revolutionizes the economy and uses terror,
propaganda, and censorship to maintain power.
Overview
Assessment
22
a) Economic Policies

• Large, state-run farms called collectives were
  formed to replace private land ownership. To
  ensure cooperation, Stalin approved a policy of
  starving and murdering millions of peasants.
• Those who survived, planted and harvested, but
  not in the amounts Stalin had envisioned. For
  decades, agricultural production was one of the
  Soviet Unions great weaknesses.
• The area of industrial production was a different
  story. A system of five-year plans under the
  state planning commission began to set clear
  priorities for industrial development, including
  expected output levels and new facilities. The
  government ordered the building of massive
  factories and an extensive power grid, making the
  U.S.S.R. a world-class power in heavy industry.
  Consumer goods were not a priority to Stalin, nor
  to his successors.
• The top-down structure of the Soviet system led
  to considerable waste of resources

23
b) Toward an Industrial Society

• For all its distinctive features, the
  industrialization process in the Soviet Union
  produced many results similar to the West.
• Incentives and nationalist fervor pushed workers
  to produce more. Cities grew rapidly.
• Welfare services, old-age pensions, and health
  programs were provided by the government.

24
c) Totalitarian Rule

• Stalinism instituted new controls over many
  aspects of life. Artists, writers, and
  intellectuals who did not toe the line were
  exiled to labor camps in Siberia. Socialist
  Realism emphasized heroic images of workers and
  others. Free scientific inquiry was quashed.
• Many thousands of real and imagined opponents of
  Stalins vision were executed many more were
  exiled within the U.S.S.R. The Politburo, or
  executive committee, sycophantically followed
  his lead.
• In foreign relations, the Soviet Union was
  recognized in the West by the 1930s. Germany
  arose as a threat.
• After the West showed little interest in fighting
  Fascism in Spain, Stalin signed a nonaggression
  pact with Hitler and attacked eastern Poland and
  Finland in an early sign of Soviet conquest that
  became a hallmark of post-World War I foreign
  policy.

25
V) New Political and Economic Realities

• The 1930s clearly changed the world balance that
  had existed since World War I. Germany and the
  Soviet Union reasserted their positions as powers
  to be reckoned with in Europe. Like Germany,
  Japan recovered to an extent from the effects of
  the Great Depression and became more militaristic
  in its outlook.
• The political tradition since the Enlightenment
  was called into question in western Europe and
  the United States. Revolutionary forces remained
  in Latin America and China.
• Movements against Western colonialism continued
  in Asia, Africa, and, in particular, the Middle
  East.

26
a) Global Connections Depression and Retreat
15graph

• The Great Depression promoted a wave of
  nationalist reactions and weakened global ties.
• Increased tariffs decreased trade many of the
  countries dependent on trade with the West
  reacted with varying degrees of militarism and
  authoritarianism and yet, at the same time,
  economic isolation from the West.
• The world as it had been known was falling apart
  for the second time in a generation, and no one
  seemed capable of putting it back together.