Mr.

Dunbar AP European History Chapter 26: Political Experiments of the 1920s Section One: Political and Economic Factors After the Paris Settlement Section Overview o From Ireland to Russia, new governments were seeking to gain the active support of their citizens and to solve economic problems the war had caused. In the Soviet Union, the Bolsheviks constructed a vast authoritarian state apparatus with the purpose of establishing communism. Liberal reforms dominated politics throughout the rest of Europe as women and previously disenfranchised men were given the right to vote Parliamentary democracies, however, would not prevail as important sectors of the citizenry believed this style of government to be corrupt or feeble. Demands for Revision of the Paris Settlement The Paris treaties became a hotly contested domestic issue throughout the world during the 1920s as Germans thought the provisions were too harsh, France was frustrated that the treaty was not being properly enforced, and national groups who felt they were not granted the right to self-determination agitated for revising the treaty. Post War Economic Problems There was a general desire to return to the economic normalcy of the prewar era but this would prove impossible. Casualties in World War I were in the millions which eliminated from the talent pool and also was a loss of consumers. Whereas Europe served as the world banking center prior to the war, most European nations were deep in debt to the US by 1918. As a result of the lack of international economic cooperation, many nations felt compelled to pursue nationalistic economic aims. Many of Europes mines, transport facilities, and industry had been damaged during the war. New political boundaries in eastern and central Europe separated raw materials from the factories that used them. Nations raised new customs barriers where before there had been none. New Roles for Government and Labor o Labor unions supported the war effort and were rewarded with better wages and their leaders were appointed to high political councils. Cooperation between labor unions and national governments destroyed the prewar internationalism of the labor movement. o In reaction to the improvements in the status of labor, middle class European voters became increasingly conservative and were deeply apprehensive about the Communist government in the Soviet Union. Section Two: The Soviet Experiment Begins Section Overview o The consolidation of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia and ins formation of the Soviet Union of Socialist Republics was the single most transforming element on the post-World War I European international scene. o The Communist Party of the Soviet Union retained power from 1917 until the end of 1991. o Communist leaders of the Soviet Union viewed their work as an epoch-making event in the history of the world and development of humanity and, therefore, sought to aggressively export this ideology. War Communism o Within the Soviet Union, the Red Army, under the organizational direction of Leon Trotsky (1879-1940), eventually suppressed internal and foreign military opposition to the new government.

Military threats to the new government allowed the Bolsheviks to pursue authoritarian policies more rapidly than they otherwise would have been able to do. o Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police, helped ensure the success of the revolution. o All decisions came from the top in a non-democratic manner. o Throughout the civil war, the government, headed by Lenin, repressed all actual or potential sources of opposition. The New Economic Policy o Internal enemies force Lenin to take swift action on adopting a new economic policy Rural peasantry was enraged for having their grain taken to feed the urban population Baltic fleet mutinied in March 1921, but it was crushed o The New Economic Policy Other than banking, the government vowed to be tolerant of private enterprise in heavy industry, transportation, and international commerce. Likewise, peasants could farm for profit. o Major problems with the NEP Peasants remained incapable of purchasing consumer goods on the profits they made from selling grain. o Triumphs of the NEP By 1927, Russia reached the industrial production it achieved in 1913. Russia was seemingly transformed into a land of small farmers and owners of private shops and businesses. Stalin Versus Trotsky o Section Overview The NEP caused disputes within the Politburo, the governing Committee of the Communist Party, as some believed the return to quasi-capitalist principles betrayed Marxist ideology; having suffered a stroke in 1922, Lenin died in 1924. Two factions emerged: one headed by Leon Trotsky and the other by Joseph Stalin. o Trotskys Position Believed that Russia must rapidly industrialize and work to spread revolution as Russia needed the wealth and resources of other nations to help build its own economy. Agriculture should be collectivized and the peasants should be made pay for industrialization o Stalins Rise Stalin had not spent time in exile in Western Europe like other communist leaders in Russia and was, therefore, neither as intellectual nor internationalist in his outlook. Stalin worked as commissar of nationalities under Lenin and was known for his cruel treatment of recalcitrant nationalist groups. Gained power due to his command of bureaucratic and administrative methods which he manipulated to gain the support of the lower levels of the apparatus when he clashed with party leaders. Nikolai Bukharin, the editor of Pravda (Truth) which was the communist partys newspaper, led the opposition against Trotskys call for rapid industrialization. Stalin quickly supported Bukharins opposition to Trotsky and added that the success of Russias communist revolution was not dependent on revolutions elsewhere; therefore, Stalin nationalized the scope of Marxs international prediction. Stalin used his control over the Central Committee of the Communist Party to edge out Trotsky and his supporters; and by 1927 Trotsky had been removed from all his offices, kicked out of the party, and exiled to Siberia. Trotsky was forced from Russia in 1929 and moved to Mexico where he was murdered in 1940 by one of Stalins agents. The Third International o In 1919, the Soviet communists founded the Third International of the European socialist movement, better known as the Comintern. o

o o o

The goal of the Comintern was to work to make the Bolshevik model of socialism the rule for all socialist parties outside the Soviet Union. Twenty-one Conditions of the Comintern Required the acknowledgement of Moscows leadership and rejection of reformist socialism As a result, separate social democratic and communist parties emerged in many countries. Many communist pledged loyalty to Moscow Social democrats attempted to pursue both social reform and liberal parliamentary politics. The fear of a Soviet take-over of the government cant be underestimated in the cause for the rise of fascism in Europe during the 1920s and 1930s.

Women and the Family in the Early Soviet Union o Alexandra Kollontai (1872-1952) was a social utopian writer who wrote Communism and the Family She envisioned a new type of familythat advocated sexual freedom and camaraderiethat would liberate both men and women. Although her ideas did not really reflect practice in the Soviet Union, Kollontais book constituted a social vision of the bold new life being forged in the Soviet Union. o Family Legislation from Reform to Repression Bolshevik laws, issued in 1917, made divorce far easier for women, marriage was no longer a religious ceremony, legitimate and illegitimate children were given the same rights, women were given more protection in the workplace, and abortion was legalized in 1920. Dislocation from civil war, the confiscation of property, and the shifting economic policies of the 1920s took its toll on the Soviet family as domestic violence appears to have been common, birthrate fell, and housing issues caused divorced couples to continue to live in the same household. From the 1920s onward, women could earn leadership positions in the economy and the party, though they seldom achieved the top ranks. Section Three: The Fascist Experiment in Italy Section Overview o Italy witnessed the first authoritarian political experiment in Western Europe that arose in part from the fears of the spread of Bolshevism. o From the fascist movement in Italy of Benito Mussolini, the term fascism has frequently been used to describe a number of right-wing dictatorships that arose across Europe between the wars. o The exact definition of the term fascism is a matter of debate but the following characteristics are often associated with this ideology: anti-democratic, anti-communist, anti-parliamentary, and frequently anti- Semitic. o Fascist deplored the liberalism of the 19th century as they believed parliamentary politics restricted greatness as petty disputes thwarted progress; therefore, they sought to overcome the class conflict of Marxism and the party conflict of liberalism by uniting the various groups and classes within the nation to achieve national purposes. o Fascist political movements drew upon the scorn for reason in political life that many late nineteenth-century thinkers had voiced, like Hegels notion that great leaders were needed to effect real changes in history. o Memories of great nineteenth century leaders like Garibaldi and Bismarck paved the way for a cult of heroes to emerge in Europe during the twentieth century, starting with Mussolini in the 1920s and then Hitler in the 1930s. The Rise of Mussolini o Section Overview The Italian Fasci di Combattimento, or Bands of Combat, was founded in 1919 in Milan and its membership came largely from Italian war veterans who felt the Paris conference had cheated Italy; they were particularly angry that Italy was not given Fiume (now Rijeka in Slovenia) on the northeast coast of the Adriatic Sea. Mussolinison of a blacksmithworked as a teacher and day laborer before becoming active first in socialist politics and then fascism. Mussolini established his own newspaper, Il Popolo dItalia (The People of Italy), in which he espoused a plan to transform Italy from a weak liberal state to a strong unified nation.

Postwar Italian Political Turmoil During World War I, the Italian parliament had virtually ceased to function and many Italians grew dissatisfied with the parliamentary system and nearly all Italians felt that Italy had not been treated as a great power at the Paris Conference. Gabriele DAunnunzio was an extreme nationalist writer who seized Fiume with a force of patriotic Italians and this showed the Italian government how a nongovernmental military force could be put to political use. Industrial strikes were common, peasants seized uncultivated land from large estates. Socialist Party and Catholic Popular Party dominated the lower house of the Italian Parliament, the Chamber of Deputies, but neither party would cooperate with the other which resulted in parliamentary deadlock and many in Italy feared this inaction would lead to a communist revolution. o Early Fascist Organization Mussolini discovered that many upper and middle class Italians sought order, rather than some vague form of social justice and he began organizing attacks on Socialist Party meetings, and he ordered the beatings, and intimidation, of socialist leaders By 1922, fascist were intimidating local officials through arson, beatings, and murder in cities such as Ferrara, Ravenna, and Milan; they essentially controlled the local government in much of northern Italy. o March on Rome Following the election of 1921 when Mussolini and 34 of his followers were elected to the Chamber of Deputies, the growing fascist party organized a haphazard march on Rome, which became known as the Black Shirt March. King Victor Emmanuel IIIfor both personal and political reasonsrefused to sign a decree that would have authorized the army to stop the marchers and then proceeded to send Mussolini a telegraph which asked him to become prime minister. The Fascists in Power o Section Overview Mussolini had no majority or nearly a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and, therefore, worked to sure up his support and consolidate his power. On November 23, 1922, the king and Parliament granted Mussolini dictatorial authority for one year to bring order to local and regional government. o Repression of Opposition Change in voting laws in 1924 Previously, parties had been represented in the Chamber of Deputies in proportion to the popular vote cast for them. According to the new election law, the party that gained the largest popular vote (if they won at least 25 percent) received two-thirds of the seats in the chamber o Predictably, in the election of 1924, the fascist won complete control of the Chamber of Deputies and laws passed in 1925 and 1926 permitted Mussolini to rule by decree. Fascists were put in charge of the police force and the terrorist squads became a government militia. In 1924, the fascist police murdered Giacomo Matteotti, a leading non-communist, socialist leader and member of Parliament, who frequently criticized Mussolinis fascist policies. A cult of personality developed around Mussolini as his courage was admired by many who believed he saved them from Bolshevism. o Accord with the Vatican Lateran Accord of February 1929 The Roman Catholic Church and the Italian state made peace with each other which ended a dispute that erupted when the Italian national government seized papal lands in the unification effort. This agreement of 1929 recognized the pope as the temporal ruler of the independent state of Vatican City. o

The Italian government agreed to pay an indemnity to the papacy for the territory it seized, and the state also recognized Catholicism as the religion of the nation, exempted church property from taxes, and allowed church law to govern marriage. This agreement brought further respectability to Mussolinis authoritarian regime. Motherhood for the Nation in Fascist Italy o Fascist policy encouraged women to have more children and to stay in the home and rear them for the good of the nation. Despite the encouragement to remain in the home, Italian women made up 25 percent of the Italian workforce. Nonetheless, by World War II, this figure dropped to 10 percent. o Legislation outlawing contraception and abortion and discouraging the publication of information about sexuality and reproduction made it difficult for women to limit the size of their families. o Italian mothers were expected to see that their children attended fascist school programs. Section Four: Joyless Victors France: The Search for Security o Section Overview At the close of World War I, as after Waterloo, the revolution of 1848, and the defeat of 1871, the French voters elected a conservative Chamber of Deputies. Conservatives believed that France and the Allies were too lenient, mainly due to the fact that French representative, Clemenceau, failed to establish a separate Rhineland state under French influence. Between the end of the war in 1918 and January 1933, twenty-seven different cabinets took office in France. o New Alliances The Little Entente France sought to establish new alliances in the east to replace Russia and formed a network of alliances with Czechoslovakia, Romania, and Yugoslavia. France also made an alliance with Poland. Germany and the Soviet Union were isolated from European affairs. While European states were holding an economic conference in Genoa, the Russians and Germans met at nearby Rapallo and signed a treaty of their own. The Rapallo treaty convinced France that Germany was not intending to abide by the provisions of the Versailles treaty and this led France toward strong action. o Quest for Reparations In 1923, the Allies, led by the French prime minister Raymond Poincare (1860-1934), declared Germany to be in technical default of their payments and it was decided that a coalition of French and Belgium troops would be sent to occupy the Ruhr. German government encouraged passive resistance and many German workers went on strike. o The French government sent French workers to fill the positions of the striking German workers. o The French were successful in this endeavor but the alienated the British who felt sympathetic for the Germans. Poincares conservative ministry gave way to a coalition of leftist parties, the so called Cartel des Gauches. Led by Edouard Herriot (1872-1957), this new cabinet recognized the Soviet Union and adopted a more conciliatory policy toward Germany. o Aristide Briand (1862-1932) was the foreign minister under Herriot who championed the League of Nations and tried to persuade France that its military power did not give it unlimited influence in foreign affairs of Europe. As a result of inflation, the value of the franc fell sharply on the world market in 1926 and Poincare reemerged as the head of the national government of several parties. The value of the franc recovered under conservative leadership and they would remain in power in France for the remainder of the 1920s.

Great Britain: Economic Confusion o Section Overview World War I profoundly transformed the political landscape of Great Britain as Parliament extended the electorate to include all men aged twenty-one and women aged thirty. British politics during the war and thereafter A coalition cabinet of Liberal, Conservative, and Labour ministers directed the war effort o The war further divided the Liberal party Until 1916, Liberal prime minister Herbert Asquith (1852-1928) had presided over the cabinet but disagreements led fellow liberal, David Lloyd Geroge (1863-1945) to replace him. The party split sharply between the followers of the two men. The split in the liberal party led to a majority of conservatives elected to the House of Commons Britains economy plummeted with unemployment rates at eleven percent and the government expanded its insurance programs to cover unemployed workers, widows, and orphans. Morale was low in Great Britain throughout the 1920s. o The First Labour Government Conservatives replaced David Lloyd George with Andrew Bonar Law (1858-1923), one of their own, as prime minister. A liberal would never again be prime minister of Great Britain. Laws successor, Stanley Baldwin, attempted to abandon free trade and institute protective tariffs, but this led to the loss of seats for the Conservative party lost its majority. King George V asked Ramsay MacDonald (1866-1937) to form the first Labour ministry in British history. The Labour party was socialistic in its platform but democratic and distinctly non- revolutionary MacDonalds program consisted of plans for extensive social reform rather than for the nationalization or public seizure of industry. Due to the success of MacDonalds Labour ministry, most liberals had made the conversion to the Labour party and the presence of liberalism remained a weak force in British politics. o The General Strike of 1926 The Labour government fell in 1926 after charges of inadequate prosecution of a communist writer and the Conservative Party took over. Conservative government returned to the gold standard but failed to set the value of the pound properly which led to increase prices of British goods on the world market; consequently, British industrialists lowered employee wages in an attempt to reduce the cost of the products. Strike in the coal industry is supported by workers in other industries Despite the harsh economic climate of this period, the average standard of living improved for most people in Britain during this period. o Empire Under the leadership of Ghandi, India gained some freedom from British dominance during the 1920s. o Ireland In 1914, the Irish Home Rule Act was passed but its implementation was postponed until after the war. As the war continued to drag on, Irish nationalists revolted in Dublin but the rebellion was quickly crushed by the British who executed the nationalist leaders. Leadership of the nationalist cause in Ireland shifted from the Irish Party in Parliament to the extremist Sinn Fein, or Ourselves Alone. Sinn Fein Party won all but four Irish parliamentary seats during the 1918 election but refused to go to Westminster for Parliament and instead formed an Irish Parliament. Sinn Fein declared Irelands independence on January 21, 1919. The military wing of Sinn Fein became the Irish Republican army.

The first president was Eamon De Valera (1882-1975) A guerilla war broke out between the IRA and the British army. In late 1921, the Irish and British governments worked out a treaty in which the Irish Free State took its place beside the earlier dominions in the British Commonwealth like Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Northern Ireland was permitted to remain part of what was now called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with provisions for home rule. Civil war broke out in Ireland between moderates, who supported the treaty, and diehards, led by De Valera, who wanted complete independence for Britain. In 1933, the Irish Parliament abolished the oath of allegiance to the British monarchy. Ireland remained neutral during World War II and declared itself wholly independent in 1949.

Section Five: Trials of the Successor States in Eastern Europe Section Overview o Nineteenth-century liberals believed that only good could come from the destruction of Austria-Hungary as new stateswhich embodied the principles of self-determinationcould provide Europe with a buffer against the westward spread of Bolshevism. o The challenge for Germany, Poland, Austria, Czechoslovakia, and other successor states, was to make new parliamentary governments function in a stable manner. Keep in mind that although Germany and Austria both maintained parliaments prior to World War I, the parliaments in these nations possessed little power. o Another question was how long conservative political groups and institutions, such as armies, would tolerate or cooperate with liberal experiments. Economic and Ethnic Pressures o World War I, and the new national boundaries produced by the Paris conference, disrupted the previous economic relationships in Europe that allowed the Continent to achieve economic prosperity in the prewar years. o Most of the successor states were completely dependent on outside loans to stimulate their economies and, furthermore, nationalistic antagonisms often prevented these states from trading with each other. o Each successor state included minority groups that agitated for independence which led to the emergence of authoritarian governments in central and eastern Europe. Poland: Democracy to Military Rule o An independent Poland had been one of Wilsons Fourteen Points, and when the country was restored in 1919, nationalism proved an insufficient bond to overcome political disagreements stemming from class differences, diverse economic interests, and regionalism. Due to the fact that Russia, Austria, and Germany had ruled over the different parts of Poland for the past century, the separate regions had few common economic and political experiences which caused problems for new nation in 1919. A host of small political parties prevented the Polish Parliament from taking any significant action. o In 1926, Marshal Josef Pilsudski (1867-1935) carried out a military coup and ruled Poland until his death in 1935 when power was passed to a group of his military followers. Czechoslovakia: A Viable Democratic Experiment o Czechoslovakia was the one successor state that escaped authoritarian government in the interwar period. o It possessed a strong industrial base, a substantial middle class, and a tradition of liberal values. o Thomas Masaryk (1850-1937) provided his nation with fair and intelligent leadership. o Problems in Czechoslovakia Slovaks, Poles, Magyars, Ukrainians, and Germans in Czechoslovakia resented Czech prosperity and leadership. Germans in the region of the Sudetenland, ceded to Czechoslovakia at the Paris conference, looked to Hitler for help in achieving reunification with Germany. o Munich Conference of 1938 The great powers met and decided to divide liberal Czechoslovakia to appease Hitler; they then sat idly by as Hitler occupied most of the country by 1939.

Hungary: Turn to Authoritarianism o Hungary was one of the defeated powers in World War I and achieved long-desired separation from Austria, but at a high political and economic price. In 1919, Bela Kun, a communist, established a short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic, which received socialist support. The Allies sent a Romanian force to remove the communist danger. Admiral Miklos Horthy (1867-1957), supported by the landowners, took control of the country as regent for the Habsburg monarchy who could not return to its throne. Thousands were executed and imprisoned following the removal of Kun from office. Hungarians were angry about their loss of territory at the Paris conference. The primarily agrarian Hungarian economy suffered from great stagnation during the 1920s. Hungarian government in the 1920s and 1930s Count Stephen Bethlen presided over the parliamentary, yet characteristically aristocratic, government of Hungary. He was succeeded by General Juliu Gombos (1886-1936), who pursued anti-Semitic policies and rigged elections. Austria: Political Turmoil and Nazi Occupation o Austrias landscape after World War I One quarter of Austrias eight million citizens lived in Vienna which created an impossible economic situation. Politically, the leftist Social Democrats and the conservative Christian Socialists contended for power. Both groups possessed small armies to terrorize their opponents and to impress their followers. In 1933, Christian Socialist Engelbert Dollfuss (1892-1934) became chancellor. o He fought against German Nazi influence which had surfaced in Austria. o He outlawed all political parties except his own followers that were known as the Fatherland Front. o He authorized force against the Social Democrats, and was later shot that year during an unsuccessful coup attempt by the Nazi party. o His successor, Kurt von Schusnigg (1897-1977), presided over Austria until Hitler annexed it in 1938. Southeastern Europe: Royal Dictatorships o Yugoslavia was founded by the Corfu Agreement of 1917 which created the kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes which lasted until 1929. The Serbs dominated the government and were opposed by the Croats. The two groups clashed but the Serbs held a strong advantage since they had an independent state prior to World War I which had its own army. Cultural differences The Croats generally were Roman Catholic, better educated, and accustomed to reasonably incorrupt government. The Serbs were Orthodox, somewhat less educated, and considered corrupt administrators by the Croats. Other groups and their role in affairs of state Slovenes, Muslims, and other small nationalist groups often played the Serbs and Croats against each other. Violent clashes among ethnic groups led to the seizure of power by King Alexander I (r.1921-1934) who was a Serb. Alexander was assassinated in 1934 but authoritarian rule continued under a regent serving for his son o Royal dictatorships were established elsewhere in the Balkans who believed that they were preventing radical groups from taking control of government and quieting uprisings by national groups. Romania by King Carol II Bulgaria by King Boris III King George II in Greece.

 Section Six: The Weimar Republic in Germany Section Overview o The Weimar Republic was the triumph of Social Democrats in Germany amidst the collapse of the monarchy and revolution against the Hohenzollerns. o Social Democrats, representing the Weimar Republic, accepted the terms of the Versailles treaty that everyone found appalling. They signed under threat of Allied invasion and the continuance of the naval blockade. o Although all Germans disagreed with the Versailles treaty, some thought it wise to oppose the treaty only when it tacitly made sense, while others desired complete opposition to it. Constitutional Flaws o Weimar constitution was an enlightened document as it guaranteed civil liberties and provided for direct election, by universal suffrage, of the parliament, the Reichstag, and the president. o Some major flaws The Weimar Constitution provided for proportional representation in all elections which created a Reichstag full of small party members. President was responsible, alone, for appointing and dismissing the chancellor Article 48 of the Weimar Constitution allowed the president to rule by decree in an emergency. Lack of Broad Popular Supprt o The Social Democrat revolution is Germany was not coupled with a cultural revolution and, therefore, many schoolteachers, civil servants, and judges of the republic were the same people in these positions under the Kaiser, and many people were suspicious of the government Discontentment of the German officer corps who believed politicians at home betrayed them during the war by signing the armistice which led to the dreadful terms of the Versailles treaty. o Economic instability throughout the 1920s hurt the fledgling Weimar government and the Social Democrats responsible for its conception. o Kapp Putsh, or armed insurrection of 1920 This was an attempted coup of the government in Berlin in 1920which failed--led by conservative civil servants and supported by the officer. o German government was presented with a bill for 132 billion gold marks which they accepted due to the threat of an Allied occupation. Numerous assassinations and attempts occurred against republican leaders Invasion of the Ruhr and Inflation o German currency problems Inflation, caused by borrowing to finance the war effort and continued postwar deficit spending, led to the fall in the value of the German currency. By early 1921, the German mark traded at a ratio of 64 to 1 against the America dollar whereas it had been 4.2 to 1 in 1914. In November 1923, an American dollar was worth more than 800 million German marks. Middle class savings, pensions, and insurance policies were wiped out. German bankers believed the currency would not recover until the reparations issue had been solved. o French invasion of the Ruhr in January 1923, and the German passive resistance which led to rampant strikes, created a new drain on the German economy. Hitlers Early Career o Background son of a minor Austrian customs official dream of becoming an artist were dashed when he failed to gain admittance to art school. For a while, he lived off money his mother sent him and then an Austrian orphans allowance. Worked as a day laborer, painted, and sold postcards o Political influences Hitler learned about Vienna Mayor Karl Lueger (1844-1910) Christian Social Party and its anti- Semitic ideology. He absorbed the rabid anti-Semitism, German nationalism, that flourished in Vienna.

Hitler moved to Munich in 1920 during a tumultuous year of postwar conflict and became associated with the National Socialist German Workers Party. o Origins of NAZI Ideology IN 1920, the National Socialists began parading under a red and white banner with a black swastika. Platform of the NAZI party was known as the Twenty-Five Points called for the unification of Germany and Austria advocated complete repudiation of the Versailles treaty demanded the exclusion of Jews from German citizenship wanted state administration of giant business cartels suggested the replacement of department stores by small retail shops Hitler redefined the term socialismas it applied to his partys nameby strongly connecting it to the idea of nationalism. For example, the socialism Hitler and the Nazis wanted was not state ownership of the means of production, but the subordination of all economic enterprise to the welfare of the nation. o Following the publication of the Twenty-Five Points, the Nazis organized the storm troopers, or SA (Sturmabteilung) under the leadership of Ernst Roehm (1887-1934). SA served as the chief instrument of terror and intimidation before the party controlled the government. In response to the formation of the SA, the Social Democratic Party and the Communist party organized paramilitary organizations of their own. o Hitler dominated the Nazi Party and modeled his approach after that of Mussolini in Italy. both men recruited from disillusioned veterans of the world war both adopted paramilitary styles of organization both disparaged liberal politics of incapable of achieving great national ends both exalted the idea of obedience to the national hero o Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 Hitler and a band of followers, accompanied by General Ludendorff, attempted an uprising from a beer hall in Munich. Sixteen Nazis were killed when the German authorities crushed it. Hitler and Ludendorff were charged with treason and put on trial Ludendorff was acquitted Hitler was convicted and sentenced to five years; he also used the trial as a platform to express his vision of Germany. o Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, or My Struggle, while in prison which expressed his political thoughts Advocated fierce racial anti-Semitism Opposition to Bolshevism Conviction that Germany must expand eastward into Poland and Ukraine to achieve greater living space. o Prison Apotheosistwo things Hitler realized while in prison First, he came to see himself as the leader who could transform Germany from a position of weakness to strength. Second, he determined that he and the party must pursue power through legal means The Stresemann Years o Gustav Stresemann was German chancellor responsible for reconstructing the German republic and giving it a sense of self-confidence. He abandoned the policy of passive resistance in the Ruhr. With help from the banker Hjalmar Schacht (1877-1970), he introduced a new German currency, the Rentenmark which was traded at a rate of one trillion to one of the old German marks. Dawes Plan of 1924 Plan outlined by the American banker Charles Dawes, it was a new system for Germany to pay off reparations which allowed the Germans to pay according to the fortunes of the German economy. The last French troops left the Ruhr in 1925.

In 1925 Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, a military hero and conservative monarchist, became president when the Social Democrat president, Friedrich Ebert (1871-1925), died. Hindenburgs conservative government was responsible for economic development in Germany in the late 1920s. o Stresemanns later career was marked by his acceptance of the treat provisions as it pertained to the West, but he had aspirations to recover German-speaking territories lost to Poland and Czechoslovakia, and to possibly unite with Austria. Locarno o Locarno Agreements of October 1925 France and Germany both accepted the westward frontier established at the Paris conference. Britain and Italy agreed to intervene against whichever side violated the frontier or if Germany sent troops into the demilitarized Rhineland. German made no agreements about its eastern frontier. France supported Germanys admittance into the League of Nations and agreed to withdraw French troops from the Rhineland by 1935, five years earlier than that which was specified by the Versailles treaty. o Locarno Agreements brought a sense of hope to Europe and the political figures responsible for its completion each received a Nobel Peace Prize, but trouble lurked beneath the surface. France proved it was unable to coerce Germany without help from other powers. Britain proved its unwillingness to enforce the Versailles treaty, especially as it pertained to the East. Germany and the Soviet Union continued to form closer military bonds. o The Great Depression devastated Europe early in 1930 and destroyed the temporary prosperity and optimism. o

Mr. Dunbar AP European History Chapter 27: Europe and the Great Depression of the 1930s Outline Section One: Toward the Great Depression Section Overview o Reasons for the length and extent of the Great Depression Financial crisis that stemmed directly from the war and peace settlement Crisis arose in the production and distribution of goods in the world market Neither the major western European powers nor the United States offered strong economic leadership or acted responsibly. The Financial Tailspin o Section Overview Immediately after the armistice, there rose a demand for consumer and industrial goods that drove up prices. German inflation peaked peeked in 1923 and is one of the main reasons why most governments refused to run budget deficits when the depression struck. o Reparations and War Debts France

France had paid reparations in 1815, after Napoleons final defeat, and again in 1871, after the devastating loss to Prussia, and now as victor, intended to receive reparations and use them to finance its postwar recovery. 1923 invasion of the Ruhr demonstrated French determination to exact reparations United States US was equally intent on collecting the money it was owed by the Allies. Governments and finance Governments exercised control over credit, trade, and the currency. The financial and currency muddle thus discouraged trade and production and, in consequence, hurt employment. o American Investments The Dawes Plan reorganized the transfer of reparations and, consequently, smoothed the dept repayments to the United States. After the Dawes Plan, private American flowed into Europe, and particularly Germany, which provided the basis for brief prosperity around 1925. Problems arise in 1928 American money was withdrawn from European investments and moved to the booming New York stock market. US banks made large loans to customers, who then invested the money in the stock market, and when stock prices collapsed, the customers could not repay the banks. o All types of credit that had been available disappeared. o Banks failed. Little American capital was available to invest in Europe. o The End of Reparations When the credit to Europe began to run out, a severe financial crisis struck the Continent. In May 1931, Kreditanstalt, a large bank in Vienna, collapsed. It had been the primary lending institution for much of central and eastern Europe. The collapse of Kreditanstalt put enormous pressure on the German banking industry and in 1931, Germany was unable to pay reparations dictated by the 1929 Young Plan. American president Herbert Hoover (1874-1964) announced a one-year moratorium on all payments of international debts. Lausanne Conference In the summer of 1932, this meeting decided to end the era of reparations. Problems in Agricultural Commodities o The 1920s saw the market demand for European goods shrink relative to the Continents capacity to produce goods. Better methods of farming, improved strains of wheat, expanded tillage, and more extensive transport facilities all over the globe vastly increased the world supply of grain, leading to record low wheat prices. Although initially good for the consumer, it mean lower incomes for European farmers. Higher industrial wages raised the cost of the industrial goods farmers or peasants used. o Farm problems in Eastern Europe Democratic governments that took over Romania, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia, broke up large estates and replaced them with small peasant-owned farms. These smaller farms proved inefficient and farmers in these regions were unable to buy consumer goods or new equipment for their farms. Many blamed the problems in the farming industry on democratic politics. o Many German farmers supported the Nazi party. o Economic problems outside of Europe People who produced wheat, sugar, cotton, rubber, wool, and lard in underdeveloped nations in Asia, Africa, and Latin America could no longer make enough money to buy finished goods from industrial Europe. Depression and Government Policy

Section Three: Confronting the Great Depression in Democracies Section Overview o In Britain, the depression led to a new coalition government and the abandonment of economic policies considered sacred for a century. o In France, economic stagnation gave rise to a bold political and economic program sponsored by parties of the left. Great Britain: The National Government o In 1929, a second minority Labour government, headed by Ramsay MacDonald, took office. Ministry became divided on how to deal with economic problems MacDonald wanted to slash the budget, reduce government salaries, and cut unemployment benefits. Many members of his cabinet refused this plan as they believed it punished the poor and unemployed. o MacDonald requested the resignations of his entire cabinet and arranged a meeting with George V. To settle the political squabbles, MacDonald artfully crafted the National Government which was composed of Labour, Conservative, and Liberal ministers. Most of the Labour party believed MacDonald had sold out. o The National Government fights against depression To balance the budget, it raised taxes, cut insurance for the unemployed and elderly, and lowered government salaries. In September 1931, Britain went of the gold standard. The value of the British pound dropped by 30% However, this move stimulated exports because it made British products cheaper for foreigners to buy. In 1932, Parliament passed the Import Duties Bill, which placed a ten percent ad valorem tariffa tax levied in proportion to the value of each imported goodon all imports except those from the empire. Gold and free trade, the hallmarks of almost a century of British commercial policy, were abandoned. o The National Government produced great results Britain avoided the banking crisis that hit other countries. By 1934, industrial production expanded beyond the 1929 level. Government encouraged lower interest rates which led to the largest private housing boom in British history. Industries related to housing and home furnishing prospered. o Social contentedness in Britain Unemployed protested, but social insurance, though hardly generous, did support them. o Future of the National Government

The Great Depression was not depressive to everyone, as those with jobs always outnumbered those without. New economic sectors, such as the production of automobiles, radios, and synthetics, continued to develop during the depression. Economic uncertainty, though, made many people anxious which fueled social discontent. Emergence of a body of economic thought John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) Author of General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money o advocated active government involvement in the economy and encouraged the expansion of government spending in times of economic downturn. Private economic enterprise became subject to new trade, labor, and currency regulations. New economic policies usually involved further political experimentation.

When MacDonald retired, Stanley Baldwin succeeded him as prime minister and then Neville Chamberlain. Chamberlain was a Conservative who was a progressive thinker on social issues. o Fascism in Great Britain In 1932, Sir Oswald Mosley (1896-1980) founded the British Union of Fascists. He was disgusted by the Labour governments feeble attack on unemployment. His followers wore black shirts and staged rallies. At the height of Mosleys popularity, however, his party was comprised of only a few thousand adherents. Mosleys anti-Semitism drove people away from and he became a political oddity. France: The Popular Front o Great Depression in France came later than that in Britain, and also lasted longer. Unemployment was never a major problem in France. Industries did lower wages. The government raised tariffs to protect French goods, and particularly French farmers. o French politics during the depression era A radical coalition government was victorious in the elections of 1932. Radicals pursued a deflationary economic policy, lowering government spending and increasing interest rates. The same year the radicals took office, the reparation payments from Germany ceased. This caused extreme tension in French parliamentary and political life. o Right Wing Violence Action Franchise and Croix de Feu (Cross of Fire) were the two largest right wing French groups some of the ideas of these groups include restoring a monarchy and others wanted what would amount to military rule. they were hostile to parliamentary government, socialism, and communism These various groups succeeded in weakening loyalty to the republican government and they embittered French political life. Stavitsky Affair Serge Stavisky (1934) was a small time gangster who had good connections in the government. He became involved in a bond scheme and when police went to arrest him, he suspiciously omitted suicide. The official who was handling the investigation concluded that Stavisky may have been murdered as a political cover-up. To the right wing, the Stavisky incident symbolized all the immorality and corruption of republican politics. In response to the Stavisky Affair, a large demonstration of right-wing leagues took place in Paris. The crowd attempted to storm the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the French parliament. Fights broke out between the right-wing demonstrators, leftists, and the police; fourteen demonstrators were killed. After this clash, a government ministry, composed of all living former premiers replaced the Radical ministry of Edouard Daladier (1884-1970). Parliament permitted the ministry to deal with economic affairs by decree. This frightened members of the left who now believed a right-wing coup was possible. o Socialist-Communist and Cooperation Between 1934 and 1936, the French left began to make peace within its own ranks. French socialists were led by Leon Blum (1872-1950) Socialists became the major target of the French communists since the split over joining the Comintern in 1920. French leftist merged to form the Popular Front in 1932 with the purpose of preserving the republic and to press for social reform. o Blums Government

Blums taking of office was met by work stoppages and strikes in many French industries. Blum responded by working with labor representatives and produced an accord to help ease tension between workers and management. Wages were immediately increased between 7 to 15 percent. Employers were required to recognize unions and bargain with them. Workers were given annual two weeks vacation. 40 hour work week was established Blum angered bankers and businesspeoplewho were primarily conservative-- when he extended government loans to small industry. Blum was forced to resign and the political future of France could go in either direction. Section Four: The NAZI Seizure of Power Depression and Political Deadlock o The outflow of foreignespecially Americancapital in 1928 undermined the brief economic prosperity of the Weimar Republic. This economic crisis led to the collapse of parliamentary government and in 1928, a coalition of center parties and the Social Democrats governed. The coalition worked until the depression struck when the different groups within the coalition disagreed on how to resolve the economic woes. o To resolve the deadlock of the coalition, President von Hindenburg appointed Heinrich Bruning (1885-1970) as chancellor. Bruning governed through emergency governmental decree, as Article 48 of the Weimar constitution authorized him to do. Consequently, the Weimar Republic became an authoritarian regime. Problems faced by Brunings government Unemployment rose from 2,258,000 in March 1930 to more than 6,000,000 in March 1932. Economic problems, and the aforementioned parliamentary gridlock, benefitted the more extreme political parties. o In the election of 1928, the Nazis had won only 12 seats in the Reichstag; but after the election of 1930 they held 107 seats. o In 1928 the Communist party held 54 seats and after 1932, 77. o Nazi political strategy The Nazis sought to capture power legally through election but used terror and intimidation to accomplish their ends which caused the breakdown of civility in the political process. Thousands of unemployed joined the SA (storm troopers) which had 100,000 members in 1930 and 1 million in 1933. The Nazis staged rallies and viciously attacked Communists and Social Democrats. This led to impressive electoral results for the Naizs. Hitler Comes to Power o Election of 1932 Hitler ran for the office of president against the incumbent, the 83-year-old, Hindenburg and forced a runoff. Hitler earned 30.1 percent of the first vote and 36.8 percent in the runoff. Hindenburg remained in office but the results convinced him that Bruning no longer commanded the confidence of the conservative German voters. o On May 30, 1932 Hindenburg dismissed Bruning and appointed Franz von Papen (1878-1969) as chancellor. Von Papen was an extremely conservative advisor on whom Hindenburg increasingly became dependent. Hindenburg and von Papen realized they needed the popular support that only the Nazis could generate but they didnt want to give Hitler power; instead they called for a Reichstag election for July 1932. The Nazis won 230 seats in the election. Hitler demanded to be chancellor but Hindenburg refused.

In November 1932, Papen resigned and the next month General Kurt von Schleicher (1882-1934) became chancellor. Fear of civil war between the right and left marked the political climate in Germany. Schleicher tried to negotiate with another Nazi leader in order to stabilize Hitlers influence in German politics, but the plan back fired and Hitler gained more support within his party. Due to the circumstances, Schleicher retired on January 28, 1933. o Hindenburgs advisors convinced him to appoint Hitler chancellor, and on January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler achieved his goal and became chancellor of Germany. The conservative von Papen was appointed vice chancellor and other conservatives were appointed to cabinet positions in an effort to neutralize Hitlers power. o Hitler forged a rigidly disciplined party structure and mastered the art of mass politics and propaganda. Hitlers support was strong among farmers, war veterans, and the young. There was some opposition from Catholics in rural areas. o Vision of Hitlers supporters Suspicious of big business and giant capitalism They wanted a simpler world, one in which small property would be safe from both socialism and big business. Hitler Consolidates Power o Section Overview Once in office, Hitler consolidated his power with lightening speed, following a three-step process: First, capture full legal authority Second, the crushing of alternative political groups Third, the purging of rivals within the Nazi Party itself o Reichstag Fire On February 27, 1933, a mentally ill Dutch communist set fire to the Reichstag building in Berlin. The Nazis quickly claimed the fire had been set by communists who were threatening the government and German citizens feared an attack from communists. Hitler used this event to issue an emergency decree suspending civil liberties and arrested communists or alleged communists, authorized Under Article 48 of the Weimar constitution. o Enabling Act On March 23, 1933, the Reichstag passed an Enabling Act that permitted Hitler to rule by decree, and thus the Weimar constitution became a dead document. Then, Hitler moved to outlaw any institution that might serve as a rallying point for opposition. The Nazi Party seized offices, banks, and newspapers of the free trade unions and arrested their leaders. In late June and early July, all other German political parties were outlawed and by July 14, 1933, the National Socialists were the only legal party in Germany. Also in July, the Nazis took over the governments of the individual federal states in Germany and by the close of 1933, all major institutions of potential opposition had been eliminated. o Internal Nazi Party Purges Storm Troopers (SA) Membership included 1 million by 1933 and several more reservists. Ernst Roehm (1887-1934) was the commander of the SA and Hitler feared he could be a rival to power. o On June 30, 1934, Hitler ordered the murder of key SA officers, including Roehm. Between June 30 and July 2, more than a hundred people were killed, including former chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and his wife. The Germany army, the only institution capable of preventing the murders, did nothing. On August 2, 1934, President Hindenburg died and Hitler combined the offices of president and chancellor making him the sole ruler of Germany. The Political State and Anti-Semitism: Hitler Fashion a Police State o SS (Schutzstaffel, or protective force) Organization Served as the secret police, or security units. Commanded by Heinrich Himmler (1900-1945) o

He became the head of all police matters in Germany One of Hitlers closest advisors Group formed to serve as the body guard for Hitler It became a much more elite paramilitary organization with 52,000 members, than the much larger SA. o Attack on Jewish Economic Life Anti-Semitism was a key element of Nazi ideology Based on 19th century biological racial theories Three stages of terror, or racial discrimination, of Jews 1933-exclusion of Jews from civil service and boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses o Racial Legislationstage one of terror against Jews Nuremberg Laws of 1935 Robbed German Jews of their citizenship Professions and major occupations were closed to Jews Definition of who was a Jew was confusing and complex o Took into account number of Jewish parents and grandparents, as well as whether a person actively practiced Judaism o All persons with at least three Jewish grandparents were defined as Jews o Persons who had two Jewish grandparents, and also practiced Judaism, were also considered Jews o See page 920 for more info defining Jews in Nazi Germany o Kristallnach (Crystal Night): Organized Persecution of Jewsthe stage two of terror against Jews On November 9 and 10, 1938, under Nazi Party orders, thousands of Jewish businesses and synagogues were burned and destroyed. This helped instill in the German people the notion of a master race Master race of pure German Aryans o The Final Solutionstage three of terror against the Jews After the war broke out, Hitler decided in 1941 and 1942 to destroy the Jews in Europe. More than six million Jews were murdered. Racial Ideology and the Lives of Women o German women had the special task of preserving racial purity and giving birth to more pure Germans who were healthy in mind and body; this policy of selective breeding is known as antinatalism. Nazi journalists frequently compared women during child birth to men in battle and, in both cases, the nation was more important than the individual. Nazi policy on childbearing disapproved of fostering motherhood among Jews, Slavs, and Gypsies. The government sought to prevent undesirables from reproducing as they were responsible for the alleged degeneracy. o Nazi programs were designed to benefit Aryan families. Government provided loans to encourage early marriage Tax breaks were given to families with children and child allowances were available. o Although the Nazi party emphasized motherhood, the party vowed to protect jobs for women and the number of women in the workforce rose steadily in Nazi Germany. Agricultural labor, teaching, nursing, social service, and domestic service were jobs deemed fit for women under Nazi policy. o Mothers were required to instill love of nation in their children. o As consumers for the home, women were to support German owned shops, buy German made goods, and boycott Jewish businesses. Nazi Economic Policy o By 1936, while the rest of Europe was still experiencing economic hardship, unemployment and other difficulties associated with the Great Depression was no longer haunting Germany. o Hitlers success in confronting the depression was one of the primary reasons Germans supported his tyrannical regime.

Nazi economic policy proved that, by sacrificing all political and civil liberty, destroying a free trade movement, limiting the private exercise of capital, and ignoring consumer satisfaction, a government could achieve full employment to prepare for war and aggression. o Nazi and ideology and free trade Supported private property and capitalism However, it subordinated all significant economic enterprise and decisions about prices and investment to the goals of the state. Massive program of public works and spending Many projects related to rearmament Built canals, reclaimed land, constructed extensive highway system with clear military uses Laborers were not permitted to change jobs without permission o In 1935, the renunciation of the Treaty of Versailles led to open rearmament and military expansion. Hitler charged Hermann Goring (1893-1946), former head of the German air force, to undertake a four-year plan to prepare the army, navy, and economy for war. o Government outlawed trade unions and dealt with labor disputes through government arbitration. Required workers and employees to join the Labor Front, an organization designed to demonstrate that class conflict had ended. Labor Front sponsored Strength Through Joy, a program that provided vacations and other recreational opportunities. Section Five: ItalyFascist Economics Section Overview o Discipline was a substitute for economic policy and creativity. o Government economic recovery plan Drained the Pontine Marshes near Rome and built settlements Subsidized the shipping industry and introduced protective tariffs Wheat farming was expanded. o Despite these efforts, Italy was unable to avoid the Great Depression. Syndicates o Economic policy of fascist government in Italy was known as corporatism; this promoted an economic course somewhere between socialism and a laissez-faire system. o Major industries were divided into syndicates representing labor and management The two parties negotiated labor settlements and submitted differences to compulsory government arbitration. Government insisted that both management and laborers keep in mind the end goal: the productivity of the nation. Corporations o After 1930, industrial syndicates were reorganized into entities called corporations. Corporations grouped all industries relating to a major area of production in order to maximize efficiency. For example, industries such as agriculture or metallurgy, the entities that produced the finished products were fused with those who extract the raw materials. In 1938, Mussolini replaced the Italian Chamber of Deputies with the Chamber of Corporations. o Government gained further economic control with the creation of the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction, which extended loans to businesses that were experiencing financial difficulty. o When Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, the economy was structured for war time, but this led to a depressed economic situation. League of Nations encouraged boycott of Italian products. Taxes rose in Italy. Government enforced a forced loan on the citizenry Wages dropped. Section Six: Stalins Soviet Union: Central Economic Planning, Collectivization, and Party Purges Section Overview

While the capitalist economies of Western Europe floundered in the Great Depression, the Soviet Union undertook tremendous industrial advance. o Russia achieved its stunning industrial growth during the 1930s at the cost of literally millionsperhaps tens of millionsof human lives. Decision for Rapid Industrialization o In 1927, Stalin abandoned the NEPwhich he used as his political platform to come to power in opposition to Trotskyand geared Russia for rapid industrialization. o Stalins vision for Russia Have the communist Soviet Union overtake the production capacity of its enemies, the capitalist nations. o The State Planning Commission, or Gosplan Called for the rapid construction of heavy industries such as iron, steel, machine tool making, electrical generation plants, and manufacturing tractors. Plans consistently favored capital projects over the production of consumer goods this new economic vision created the first large factory labor force in Russian history and rural laborers were recruited from the countryside poor standard of living for urban workers o Communist Party and Propaganda Government boasted of the plants it constructed and the new towns being organized Party appealed to the idealism of the young Workers, such as a legendary coal miner named Stakhanov, who exceeded their assigned goals received rewards and publicity. o In 35 years, the Russian economy grew more rapidly than that of any other nation in the Western World during any similar period. The Collectivization of Agriculture o Agriculture and the NEP Government purchased grain and reduced prices from farmers and the farmers sold their surplus at market price. Farmers decided to hoard their surplus Since few consumer goods were available for consumption in the countryside, farmers decided to hoard their grain until the market would pay higher prices for it or so they could begin selling once consumer products became available. Due to hoarding, food shortages occurred in 1928 and 1929 leading to social unrest in the cities. o Stalin reversed the agricultural policies of the NEP by the end of the 1920s. Government issued a list of problems confronting agricultural production Traditional peasant holdings were two small to be efficient. Claimed that a class enemy was responsible for hoarding and for what they regarded as speculation in the grain trade o Prosperous peasants, known as kulaks, were considered the enemy. Stalin devised a program of collectivization of agriculture. Replacement of private peasant farmers with huge state-run and state-owned farms called collectives Stalin demonized the kulaks and vowed to dismember this class which came to include any peasant who opposed collectivization. Enormous rural turmoil and violence resulted. Peasants resisted collectivization. Resistance often led by women Between 1929 and 1933 millions of horses and cattle had been slaughtered by the resistance. As a result, nearly two million peasants were removed from their homes were carted off to prison camps or Siberia. Orthodox priests living in the countryside were also targeted by the communist party because Soviet Ideology was atheistic. o

Between 1926 and 1937, the number of priests in Russiaas recorded by the censushad decreased by half. Soviet government organized Motor-Tractor Stations Supplied seed and equipment for several collective farms in a region and oversaw the collection and sale of grain. By the middle of the 1930s, the government allowed collective farmers to also farm their own personal plots for their families and local sales. Flight to Soviet Cities o As a result of collectivization, between 1928 and 1932, approximately 12 million peasants left the countryside and headed for the cities. Most were young males leaving a disproportionate number of women and elderly people in the villages where they lived in extreme poverty. Moscows population doubled in this four year period o Between 1939 and 1980, the proportion of the Soviet population living on the land fell from two-thirds to one-third. Urban Consumer Shortages o Housing shortage Urban workers lived in barracks In older cities, individuals and families had trouble finding apartments. Several families shared kitchens, baths, and toilets. o Chronic shortages of the most basic consumer goods, including food and clothingand particularly shoes. From the end of the NEP through the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, city shops had few goods. Goods that did appear when sold exclusively to party members. The small minority of party members lived at a much higher standard of living than the general Soviet population. o Except for certain showplaces in Moscow and Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Soviet cities generally lacked the kind of infrastructure that Western European cities enjoyed. Even important cities lacked sewer systems in the mid-1930s. In the new industrial cities, running water, paved streets, and electrical lighting were rare. o The black market flourished, and peasants raised food on tiny plots. People bartered with one another. o Coping became known as the blatthe belief of the Soviet people that they were enduring hardship to build a greater socialist future. Foreign Reactions and Repercussions o Some American and British reactions After a trip to Russia, the American writer Lincoln Steffens reported, I have seen the future and it works.. Beatrice and Sidney Webb, British Fabian socialists, spoke of a new civilization in the Soviet Union. o These political ideologues did not know that the transformation of the Soviet Union came at the cost of millions of lives. o Internal difficulties caused by collectivization and industrialization led Stalin to shift his foreign policy in 1934 as he ordered the Comintern to permit communist parties in other nations to cooperate with non- communist parties against Nazism and fascism The new Stalinist policy allowed the Popular Front Government in France to come to power. The Purges o Stalins decision to industrialize rapidly, to move against the peasants, and reverse the Comintern policy aroused internal opposition. o In 1929, Stalin forced Bukharin, the fervent supporter of the NEP and his own former all against Trotsky, off the Politburo. Some lower party members rallied behind Bukharin but their opposition was modest at best. o Great PurgesStalins paranoia of threats to his power led to the a series of mysterious and horrendous human rights violations.

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Beginning of the Purges On December 1, 1934, Sergei Kirov (1888-1934), a popular party chief of Leningrad and a member of the Politburo, was assassinated. In the wake of Kirovs assassination, thousands of people were arrested, and more were expelled from the party and sent to labor camps. At the time, many thought the opponents of Stalin assassinated Kirov Today, most historians believe Stalin ordered Kirovs assassination himself. Between 1936 and 1938, a series of spectacular show trials were held in Moscow Former high ranking Soviet officialsincluding Bukharin--publicly confessed to political crimes and were convicted and executed. Stalin frequently arrested the wives, children, siblings, and in-laws of traitors and had them shot or sent to die in labor camps. Hundreds of thousandsperhaps millionsof regular Russian people received no trial at all and were either executed or deported for slave labor. The Soviet government then tried and executed army and navy officials they believed were traitors. Stalin eventually turned against the central party elite, his own supporters, and began to find or pretend to find enemies within its rank. The old Bolsheviks of the October Revolution in 1917 were among Stalins earliest targets as Stalin sought to promote young Soviets who were not committed to Leninist principles. The terror executed during this era in Russian history has been termed centrally authorized chaos.