Study Session - Tuesday 23rd March
Soviet Government
Structure
- Central committee- makes most of the decisions, party committee made up of about 70 communists. They couldn’t make everyday decisions, so they had the Politburo
- Politburo – made the decisions which were ratified by the central committee
- General Secretary- most powerful person (Stalin held both posts, they will later be divided)
Collective agriculture and its 5 year plans never worked, they couldn’t feed their people
Propaganda – Pravda – their own newspaper “the truth”
- Eisenstein – propaganda film maker
- All artists were expected to glorify the state
- Religion persecuted, S
- Stalin hoped to turn churches into museums of Atheism
- Stalin tried to keep people in Check by giving workers benefits
Benefits – free medical care, day care, old age pensions, free education (a way to improve your life)- for a while, during the great depression, Stalin appeared to be right
Women- Russian revolution proclaimed Women as equals – in the 1920’s they made divorce and abortion widely available, sexually liberate themselves, work outside the home BUT in terms of social at home, men are still expecting them to do all the chores at home (they have PhD’s and treat at universities but they still have to cook dinner) and men still got the jobs and there were no women in the Politburo
The Great Terror (1934-38)- USSR had their own version – Stalin started using it on leading communist and powerful administrators because he was paranoid (8 million arrests, how trials for high party officials, be executed after the show trials, many were “Old Bolskeviks” – former Lenin followers
They also purged 40,000 officers from the army
Many people were sent to prison camps “gulag”, most were in Siberia, may died through abuse and starvation, many simply disappeared
I. J
II. K
III. Fascist Italy
a. Causes- they were insulted to the bone after WWI when they don’t get the land they were promised (Treaty of Versailles) – their Prime Minister left their side before the conference was completed in protest because Italy wasn’t getting the stuff
i. There was also a depression caused by nationwide strikes and class tension- the industrialists are worried about communism so they went the other way
b. Fascism is a mix of conservative authoritarianism and modern totalitarianism
c. Mussolini (“Il Duce”-the face)- the first leader, used to be the editor of a socialist newspaper, but he organizes the fascist party
i. Fascist Party – comes from the word fasces which were weapons in ancient Rome
1. Comes from nationalism and socialism, Mussolini got support from middle class conservatives in the ‘20s because he was denouncing socialism
ii. Blackshirts – squadristi – wore black shirts – they were his paramilitary thugs – they attack anyone who opposes Mussolini
d. March on Rome – demands the resignation of the government and his own appointment by the King
i. Because of the chaos the government collapses and Mussolini receives the right to organize a new cabinet - the King Victor Emmanuel gives him dictatorial powers for one year… right 1922 – 11 years before Hitler
e. Corporate State (syndicalist-corporate system) – economic system – “Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state” – the state controls everything
i. By 1029 – all labour unions will be government institution and Mussolini outlaws strikes and walkouts
f. Mussolini’s dictatorship
i. Voting – limited, only select people get to vote, all candidates were selected by the fascist party
ii. Party – control everything
iii. Decree – make laws and they are laws
iv. Education – dedicated fascists are in control of education
v. Activities – controlled
1. Youth groups – Balilla
2. Labour unions controlled
3. Dopolavoro – special after work social activities for the workers
vi. It was never fully totalitarian because the upper classes were not completely controlled, never fully challenged the church, the conservatives, or the military, he just used them, never had purges like Stalin, no huge land reform, not a ruthless police state, in his 18 years of power, he only executed 23 politicians. He also didn’t push the whole racism thing, racial laws aren’t passed until 1938 and savage persecution of Jews doesn’t start until the Germans came in
vii. Women – fascism looked at women in the opposite way to the USSR – divorce is abolished, women are encouraged to stay home and procreate, limited jobs that women could have
viii. Accomplishments – internal improvements – electricity and roads
1. Made city governments more efficient
2. Suppressed the mafia
3. Improved relationships with the Church – Latern Pact (1929) – government reconciled with the papacy – received the Vatican City and got a payout for all church lands which had been seized and in return the pope legitimized the country
4. Improved the justice system
g. Downsides – democracy destroyed, terrorism becomes state policy, poor economy got their butts kicked abroad trying to get colonies
IV. Nazi Germany – extreme nationalism – Racism=Nazism
a. “Stab in the Back” – Weimar republic ratified the Treaty of Versailles and doomed the Weimar republic
b. Aryan Race – blond/blue eyed
c. Hitler
i. Nazi – National Socialist German Workers Party – stated with seven members
ii. SA – Brown Shirts
iii. Beer Hall Putsch – tried to take over Bavaria, ended up in Jail and wrote Mein Kampf in 1923
iv. Mein Kampf – Germany should expand east to give Germans more Lebensraum
1. Fuhrer
2. Full an anti-Semitism – blames them for Germanys political and economic problems
d. Great Depression – Weimar Republic falls and its authority is further undermined by the great depression – 43% unemployment in 1932
e. Hitler promises economic salvation – will restore the economy by breaking unions, remilitarize Germany, appealed to the youth 40% of the party was under the age of 30 when it came to power 67% were under 40
f. 1930 – Chancellor get permission from President Hindenburg for emergency rule but the government it torn and everything falls apart à elections of 1933 the Nazis are the biggest party they demand that Hitler gets to play a leadership role in the Government (January) – Hitler is names chancellor
g. Third Reich (1933-45)
i. Reichstag Fire (1932) – during the violent campaign, December, blames it on communist anarchists and the Nazis uses that as a reason to prosecute the communists
ii. They pass the Enabling Act (1933) – Hitler is given dictatorial powers for 4 years and only the Nazi party was legal, all other parties were outlawed
iii. Hitler outlaws labour unions and to break up strikes
iv. Heavy censorship, burned forbidden books, censored modern art and atonal music, called it degenerate art or Jewish art (entartete Kunst)
h. Goebbels – minster for propaganda
i. Night of the Long Knives – June 1934 – had SA member executed because he now has a real army at his disposal and the SA are now more of a hindrance
i. Himmler – arrest and shoot without trial bout 1,000 leaders
j. SS join with the Gestapo and are responsible for things like he concentration camps
k. Hitler Youth - indoctrination
l. Jews
i. Persecution – not just the Jews, but primary focus – by the end of 1934, most Jews had lost their positions
ii. 1925- Nuremburg Laws – deprived Jews of all citizenship, marriage between Jews and non Jews were forbidden, Jews couldn’t hire German women under 45 to work in their homes, forbidden from displaying the Reich flag even if they wanted to, couldn’t use hospitals, couldn’t be educated beyond the age of 14, couldn’t used public parks or beaches, names removed from war memorials, by 1939 half of them had left (the ones who had money, who could get away)
iii. Kristalnacht – 1938 - a reason why they fled – attack on Jewish places – destroyed homes, businesses, synagogues, after a Jewish boy murdered a diplomat in Paris – many were made to pay for the damage to German businesses
iv. Holocaust – 6million Jews, 6 million others – Homosexuals, Slavs, communists, political opponents, mentally handicapped,
v. T4 project – 200,000 mentally handicapped and elderly were executed in the name of Aryan purity
m. Nazism was very popular and effective economically until WWII, Hitler was very popular because he delivers on his economic promise for work and bread, built autobahns, public housing, Olympic stadiums
n. 1936 – rearming itself, unemployment dropped in three years from 6million to 1million (33-36), by ’38 there will be worker shortages, but only for German citizens, they therefore left women take some of the factory jobs and the standard of living will improve
o. The upper class families still had their advantage and women felt a setback under the Nazis, they were told to go home and made babies, birth control and abortions forbidden, women were denied most meaningful employment
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