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e
World between the \Mars:
Revolutions, D epression,
and Authoritarian ResPonse
The Roaring Twenties
VISUALIZING THE PAST: Guernico and the lmages of War
Revolution: The First Waves
DOCUMENT: Socialist Realism
THINKING HISTORICALLY: A Century of Revolutions
GLOBAL CON NECTIONS: Econom ic Depression, Authorita ria
Response, and Democratic Retreat
The Global Great DePression
The Authoritarian ResPonse
ussia's communist revolution in 1917 produced a regime
Úrat declared its commitment to workers' lt was understan¿aUly less clear about its commitment to consumers'
Department stores had spread in prerevolutionary Russia, almost
exclusively for the rich. lt was easy for the new communist rulers
to decide to seize the stores. ln their place' the government set up
state department stores, headed by the chain called GUM (an
acronym for State Universal Store, pronou'nced goom), with a
flagship store right on Red Square in Moscow (Figure Zg.t). lt was
also easy to proclaim that department stores were now available
to all the people. GUM advertisements featured weathered peasants pondering new leather coats, and slogans trumpeted "Everything for Everybody" and "We Have Everything You Need at GUM."
There were, however, three problems' First, this was a poor
society, and leaders were spending massive amounts of money on
further industrialization and agricultural reform. There was not
t\
l{
I \
much left for abundant consumer goods' Second, communists
were ambivalent about consumerism anyway. Sometimes they
wanted consumerism for everybody, but sometimes they worried
that consumerism was foreign, "bourgeois," and trivial' (Even in
Western countries, Communist parties took some time to adjust
to consumerism.) Third, the desire arose to protect workers in the
stores from what the communists perceived as the demeaned sta-
tus of those who "wait on" customers. The government
calling them clerks or salespeople, instead using the term
ers of the counter." They sought to protect these workers
to endure. Unfortuna
toward customers
attitude
a
surly
this led to clerks taking
subservience Western sales clerks had
sim ply called "consumers").
The result of all this was that GUM stores became
poor
supplies and bad service' Customers were free to
for
plain, and they often did, but government representatives
almost all the complaints with phrases like "does not co
to reality." Communism and consumerism were both rea
the 20th century. Both movements could claim successes,
two were not easy to combine. Russia's department
their poor quality goods and service became a symbol of
nist inadequacy to many Western observers, particula
World War ll amid the competitive pressures of the cold
compa risons wiih Western standards could be mislead
cause com munist leaders were seeking different goals'
shoddy consumer goods came not only the huge a
heavy industry and military production but also other'
sonal gains like extensive vacation opportunities for
was a different kind of industrial society, and the two
tween the wars were its seedbed.
r
m
The 1920s and 1930s-the interwar period-featured several crucial develoPments
the immediate postlvar adjustments and the rise of nationalist protest against
ism. The 1920s featured many innovations in industrial societies, but also a
tural weakness and misleading illusion. The key dynamics of the interwar Period
wave of major revolutions, a global economic depression, and new authoriþrian
headed by German Nazism.
686
re 29.1 The most famous link
in the chain of Russian department
stores known
ofthis t93S photograph of Red
Square, Moscow.
as GUM is the palatial pre_Communist
era building on
Roaring Twenties
^¡
€N
West and Japan, consumerism
and changes in women's roles gained
ground, along with new political
Back?
however, a more buoyant
attitude resumed by the middle
of the decade. A new demoGermany made some positive
strides, despite the burdensome
\{orld War I victors
reparations payhad required. Artistic creativity
included the cubist movement,
that rendered familiar objects
led
in geometrical shapes, as in Figure
also challenged
29.2.Writerc and
stylistic traditions. Modern
design in architecture and furnishing
29.3). Imporrant adrievements
gained
in science included further work
on Albert Ëin_
theories of relativity in physics.
Knowledge of atomic structure
and also of
tensions. New authoritarian
movements
surfaced in eastern Europe
and ltaly.
j:_1r-1*"t,-l
20rh-century art styte; best
pablo pi.ãrro; ,.nlllfeffnte$or
lpanish artist
oered
lamiliar objects as geometrical
shapes.
mass
consumption items, like
the radio, were rmportant as
well. Middle-class women
popular culture, some of them
going to nightclubs, smoking,
crazes that often originated
and Parin the United States or Latin America
(Figure 29.4)
Great Britain, the United States,
gained the
and Thrkey headed rhe lisr
right to vote,
687
68S
PartVI
'
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
1
910
1920
c.E.
1930
c.E.
1930
c.F.
Congres Passes the Smoot-Hawley
1917 Tsarist regime overthrown in February;
1940 Muralist movemeçt in Mexico
Bolshevik revolution in October; Mexican:
constitution includes revolutionary chângesì
lÓzt Rtuert Einstein wins'the Nobel Prize;
Chinese Communist þartY founded; Lenin's
tariff; eèonomic downturn in western Europe
19tB Armistice ends World War I in November
1919 Versailles conference; Peace qf Parls;
New Economic Policy begins in
1922 Musolini and the Fascists seize power in
Italy; fint commercíal radio station in Pittsburgh
1g2g-1g24 Hyperinflation in Germany
rapid rise of Nazi party in GermanY
leftist revolution defeated in Germany; May
Fourth movement in China
U.S.S.R'
U.S.
and throughout European;colonial' empires;
1923 Defeat ofJapanese bill for universal
suffrage;Tokyo
earthquake '
''¡"
1927 Charles Lindbergh's solo trans-Atlantic
fl ight;,Guomindang, {Nationa.lis$! c¡ptüie north
in Japa¡; Jgpa¡esç invasiori'of ,Manchuria
1932 Franklin Roosevelt begins four-term tenu
China, purge Commu¡ist PartY
1927-'t92s Stalih pushesthe first five-year,
plan in the Soviet Union, collectivization.þqgins;
agricultural slump in United States
Ukraine and other areas
1928-1929 Skyscraper craze in New York
1929 Stock market crash
6ermany
1933 Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of
1934-1940 Låiaro Cárdenas president of
Mexico, extensive land reform
1935 Nurêmberg laws'deprive Jews of
citizeqsh¡p; Mussolini's armies invade Eth
outbreak of civil war in SPain
1936 Popular Front goyernment formed in
France; juhior army officen revolt in
political leàders assassinated
1936- 1938 Height of Stalinist purges in
'1937 Full-scale Japanese invasion of China
1938 Kristall nochf begins intensification
of attacks on Jews in Germany; Munich
agreement allows Hitler to begin
of Czechoslovakia
1938 Japan's military leaden impose
control over economy and social system'
approves war budget
1939 Hitler invades Poland, leading to
of World War ll
Aspects of the new culture, however, seemed frenzied, and certainly disturbed
Key economic sectors-like agricultural and coal mining-did not reaþ r€cover
much of the British economy overall remained sluggish. Western Europe did not
markets that had been taken over by the United States or fapan. Most western European
also faced increasing political extremism. New communist parties on the left were
right-wing movements, often supported by many war veterans.
Other Industrial Centers
Canada, Australia, and New Zealanà gained rewards for their loyal participation
Australia, newly independent in 190 1, gained particular pride in its military role'
ences in the 1920s confirmed the independence of the Dominions and their
Britain (Map 29.1). The British Commonwealth of Nations was a free association
British representation in the three Dominions became purely symbolic. The
of
tered solid export growth and population gains from immigration' Australia
welfare measures, responding to a strong labor movement, and considerable economic
chapter 29
29.2
Marcel Duchamp's A/ude Descending o
No.2(1s12). Using a modified cubist style,
achieved a dramatic visual effect in an
approach
of Western art from the I 920s onward.
(American, b. France 1887-1969),,,Nude
Descending a
No.2," 1912. Philadelphia l\ruseum ofArt:
The Louise and Walter
Collect¡on. 1950-134-s9. o 2009
Artists Rights Socicty (ARS),
Pa
ris/Su
ccssion Marcel Duchamp.)
'
The world befween the wars: Revolutions,
Depression, and Authoritarian Response
Figure 29.3 The skyscraper, developed first in
the
United States, became a major expression
of art¡stic
innovation and was the result of the use
of new
structural materials that allowed for unprecedented
heights and dramatic effects. Buildings like
this one_
the Wrigley Building in Chicago_combined
the new
technology with elements of gothic architecture
that
recalled the great cathedrals of the Middle
Ages,
earning them the nickname ,'Cathedrals of
Commerce.,,
689
\
690
PartVI
'
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
million in 1900 had increased to 70 million by 19a0.) Politicall¡ tensions
between |apans military leaders and the civilian government increased
during the decade. Military leaders, trained separately and reporting directly to the emperor, resented political controls that periodically reduced
their budgets. Liberal politicians expanded voting rights to all adult males,
but there was no full agreement on the appropriate political structure. The
militar¡ suspicious of growing consumerism in Japan, regarded itself as a
guardian oftradition. It also exercised considerable independence in diplomac¡ particularþ concerning growing Japanese involvement in China.
NewAuthoritarianism: The Rise of Fascism
Explicit hostility to liberal and democratic political systems emerged first
on the fringes of western Europe. In 1919 a former socialist and (very
briefly) former soldier, Benito Mussolini, formed the føscio di combønimento, or "union for strugglg," in ltaly. Italian fascists vaguely advocated a
corporate state that would replace both capitalism and socialism with a
new national unit¡ They pointed to the need for an aggressive, nationalistic
foreign policy. Above all, fascists worked to seize power by any means and
to build a strong state under a strong leader. They violently attacked rival
political groups, seeking to promote an atmosphere of chaos.
Fascism had its roots in the late 19th centur¡ with groups disenchanted with liberal, parliamentary systems and with social conflict. Vari'
ous intellectuals, in many countries, began to urge the need for new,
authoritarian leadership and devotion to nationalist values over capitalist
profìt-seeking and socialist class struggle.
dance Conditions in postwar Italy gave these impulses a huge boost. Nationalists resented the fact that Itaty had gained so little new territory in World
crazes. Adults as welt as young people were caught up in dancing to the
new big bands.
War I. Veterans often felt abandoned by civilian society, and some thirsted for
Figure 2g.4
The interwar decades saw the rise of a succession of
âfter
Mussolini, Benito Itatian fascist leader
worldwarl; createdûrstfascistgov.er11-.1,t.-..
(1922-1943) based on aggressive foreien
u¡cr6¡¡
and new nationarist
grories.
fascism po,i,ica,phi,osophf
nolicv
PvuL/
new action. Labor unrest increased, which convinced some conservatives that
new measures were essential against ineffective liberal leadership. The Italian parliament seemed incajockeyed for personal advantage. In these conditions
pable
r--^- of
-- decisive measures, as political factions
Mussolini, fascism's leading exponent, could make his mark even with a minority of direct supporters.
,ha,be.îîìilï: rt"ri"'T#
dominant in Italy and then Germ¿
1e20s and le30s; attacked
äiîiïJ$Ïl::i,"lï",ffixt;;ï:*i'tri,i:fr:[ilïiäi-ilî:ïTi'iå;"fi':i
popular sulport, they seemed the only hope to stem left-wing agitation and parliamentary inepticorruptionofapitalism;promisedvigorufor_ i"å.. Or." itt po*.r, Mussolini eliminated most opposition (Figure 29.5), suspending elections
eign and military programs; unde
trolof economyto."¿o..so.iarrri.tiåi outright inl926,while seeking greater state direction of the economy and issuing strident proP_agandã about the glories of miliiaiy conquest. This first fascist regime moved with some caution, fitiing into the briefly hopeful negotiations among European states in the 1920s, but the principles it
espoused suggested how far European politics had been unseated from the widespread prcwar
agreements on parliamentary rule.
we"*.ijäiä.^"i'".r,
TheNewNations of East Central Europe
Authoritarian regimes also took root in east central Europe during the 1920s, though they were not
explicitþ fascist. New nations in this region began with Western-ityle parliaments, but most could
Europe in the
1 920s and
1
930s
H
not maintain them amid economic difticulties'
ô+^+ãô +^
were consumed by nadonalist
Yugoslavia, ü,a,
to v,,ô^"r.,,i.
Most of the new nations, from the Baltic states
excitement at independence but also harbored intense grievances about territories they had not acquired. Hence there were bitter rivalries among the smil eastern European states, which weakened
a
tlhem both diplomatically and economically (Map 29.2). Authoritarianism arrived either through
dictator (as in Poland) or by a monarch's seizure of new power (as in Yugoslavia, the new nation€fpanded from Serbia). This political pattern resulted from more underlying social tensions. Most
ãastern European countries remained primarily agricultural' heavily dependent on sales to western
Europe. They were hard hit by the collapse of agricul.tural prices in the 1920s and then further
?
Chapter 29
'
The World between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian
EDWARD
ISLAND
NOVA
NDW
I,OæMLB
SCO|rIA
0ò
BRTJNSWICK
"r"tt^wf
I,MrII¡METM
I
,rrrCanada
Other British Colonies
1867 Dominion of Canada
1870-1905 Provinces formed orjoined to the Domì¡ion
18911912 Establishment of federal territories
1912 Tenitories joined to the Canadian pmvinces
=
m
f::ïl
II
Canadian Pacific Railway
1,000
MIH
NEW
I,M NOMEIERS
I
:
-_-
Territory inhabited in 1860
"Profitable zones" at the end ofthe 19th century;
in descending order ofimportance
Map 29.1 From Dominions to Nationhood: Formation of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand The new states of
societies were an important development.
Figufe 29.5
I
One of the most ominous acts of Mussolini's fascist regime was the burning of books and other
iteratu re deemed "subversive."
key settler
Response 691
\
692
PartVI
'
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
Black
S¿a
Map2g.2 EasternEuropeandthesovietUnion, 1919-1939 TheSovietUnionregainedsometerritorycededtoGermanyinthel9lBpeace
treaty, but it lost ground to a number of east European states.
damaged by the Depression. Furthermore, most countries refused to undertake serious land reform, despite widely professed intentions. Aristocratic estate owners thus sought desperately to repress peasant movements, which brought them to support authoritarian regimes, which often had
vaguely fascist trappings. Peasant land hunger and continued problems of poverty and illiteracy
were simply not addressed in most cases.
A Balance Sheet
Economic and political system
based on the organization oflabor; imported in
Iatin Ameria f¡om European political movements; militant force in Latin American politic.
syndicalism
Mexican Revolution Fought over a period of almost ten years from 1910; resulted in ouster ofPorfìrio Dlaz ftom power; opposition forces led by
Pancho Vilia and Emiliano Zapata.
a^.
@)ù
revolutions broke out in Mexico,
Russia, and China before or during
World War l. All three revolutions
challenged Western dominance to some
degree, and all reflected concerns about
world economic relationships.
in Europe, other Western societies, and ]apan during the 1920s were complex. Democratic
and pãrHamentaiy political forms took further root in Germany and in places like Canada and
¡apan. Significant industrial and social change combined with signs of creativity in culture, in sciences and the arts. On the other hand, challenges to democracy arose in Italy and in much of east
central Europe, while ]apanese politics becamã less stable. The United States tried to isolate itself
Evenls would soon prov€ that the economic foundations of the major indusfrom world politics.
^were
shaþ as well. Even in the 1920s the economy of western Europe was newly chaltrial powers
'lenged by the greater vigor of the United States and ]apan.
Changes
Revolution: The First Waves
A variety of social tensions affected Latin America early in the 20th century. Many countries continued to depend on a key export crop, like coffee. These crops provided profits to owners while Western demand was high, buì they also depended on low wages for workers. During World War I'
q2
Chapter 29
'
The World between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian
Response 693
European manufactured goods were diverted. Several Latin American
countries expanded their industrial output, in a process called import substitution. This mainly involved light industry (Figure 29.6), and the initiative receded after the war, leading to further poverty.
These developments did stimulate some political change. In Argentina
a new l9I2 election law gave voice to the middle classes. Labor agitation increased, some of it under the banners of syndicalism, which sought to use a
general strike to seize power. Major strikes occurred from 1907 onward, usually brutally repressed by the state. An atmosphere of class conflict intensified. Only in Mexico, however, was there outright revolution.
Mexico's Upheaval
Several catacþmic events launched Latin America into the 20th century
and set in motion trends that would determine much of the region s subsequent history. The first of these events was the lO-year civil war and politi
cal upheaval of the Mexican Revolution, caused primarily by internal
forces. Eventuall¡ the Mexican Revolution was also influenced by another
major event: the outbreak of World War I. Although most Latin American
nations avoided direct participation in the Great War, as World War I was
called at the time, the disruption of traditional markets for Latin American
exports and the elimination of European sources of goods caused a realignment of the economies of several nations in the region. They were forced to
rely on themselves. A spurt of manufacturing continued the process begun
after 1870, and some small steps were taken to overcome the traditional dependence on outside supply. Finall¡ at the end of World War I, the United
States emerged as the dominant foreign power in the region, replacing
Great Britain in both economic and political terms. That position created a
reality that Latin Americans could not ignore and that greatly influenced Figure 29.6 The growing laborforce that resulted from Latin American
industrialization began to change the nature of urban life and politics.
the economic and political options in the region.
porñrio
The regime of
Dlaz had been in power since lg76 and Here, women in Orizaba, l\4exico, are making sacks for coffee.
seemed unshakable. During the Diaz dictatorship, tremendous economic
changes had been made, and foreign concessions in mining, railroads, and other sectors of the Dlaalorfir-io oneofJuárezlgenerals;elected
economy had created a sense of prãsperity among the Mexican elite. However, this progress had i:ìil1:i:::yË;.:lii:ïä1iåli"::iff*
been bought at considerable expense. Foreigners controlled large sectors of the economy. The ha- sovernment'
cienda system of extensive landholdings by a small elite dominated certain regions of the country. Madero, Francisco (1873-tet3) Moderate demThe political system was corrupt, and any complaint was stifled. The government took repressive ocratic.reformerinMexico;proposedmoderateremeasures against workers, peasants, and American Indians who opposed the loss of their lands
:ïTläliifi:iîï1tJfi:',1i::,?å"i#i?i3",
the unbearable working conditions, Political opponents often were imprisoned or forced into exile. temporarily-gained power, but removed and assssinated in 1e13'
In short, Díaz ruled wiih an iron fist through an effective political ,nu.hin..
Mexico nevertheless faced major issues. The economy, increasingly dependent on exports, villa,P¿ncho (t878-r923)Mexicanrevolutionlacked adequate investment funds. U.S. concerns owned 20 percent of the nation's territory. Grow- ä'J.tîr',iltri1ä"ff;ti:ijl,::::::å:,liäi
ing nationalist resentment was similar to other reactions to widespread foreign control-a major withEmilianoZapatainremovingDíazfrom
campaigns
,pir to the revolutionary wave in
By 1910, moreover, Dlazwas 80 years old, newlyvulnerable to political opposition. Francisco
Madero, a wealthy son of an elite famil¡ proposed to run agains tDlaz.Madero believed that some
moderate democratic political reforms would relieve social tensions and allow the government to 1910_ce¡æredinMorelos;succæededalongwithPancontinue its economic development with a minimum of popular unresr. This was more than Díaz $ll-r".*ffifnitä#.Ï.tffi:.isoparticicould stand. Madero was arrested, a rigged election putDiaz back in power, and things returned to Huerta;demmdedsweepinglandreform.
normal. When Madero was released from prison, he called for a revolt.
Plan de Ayala
A general rebellion developed. In the north, small farmers, railroaders, and cowboys coalesced
under the colorful former bandit and able commander Pancho Villa. In the southern province of
Morelos, an area of old conflicts between American Indian communities and large sugar estates, a
peasant-based guerrilla movement began under Emiliano Zapata, whose goal of land reform was
expressed in his motto "Tierra y Libertad" (Land and Liberty). Diaz was driven from power by this
or
general.
if}::i-:l';fj::fü:'ïji,Ï
tri1i#*:år#ffiä:i:liiffi;:i,i*;
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694
Part
VI '
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
Victoriano Att€mpted to reestablish
centralized dictatorship in Mexico following the
removal ofMadero in 1913; forced from power in
1914 byVilla and ZaPata.
Huerta,
Obregón,Alvaro (1880-1928) Emerged as leader
ofthe Mexican government in 19l5; elected Pr€sident in 1920.
coalition of forces, but it soon became apparent that Madero's moderate Programs would not resolve Mexico's continuing social problems. Zapata rose in revolt, demanding a sweeping land reform, and Madero steadily lost control of his subordinates. In 1913, with at least the tacit agreement
of the U.S. ambassador in Mexico, who wanted to forestall revolutionary changes, a military coup
removed Madero from government and he was then assassinated'
General Victoriano Huerta sought to impose aDlaz-type dictatorship supPorted by the large
landowners, the arm¡ and the foreign companies, but the tide of revolution could not be stopped so
easily. Villa andzapatarose again against the government and were joined by other middle-class polit=
ical opponents of Huerta's illegal rule. By 1914 Huerta was forced from power, but the victorious lead;
ers now began to fight over the nature of the new regime and the mantle of leadership. An
period of warfare followed, and the tides of battle shifted constantþ The railroad lines built
Dlaznow moved large numbers of troops, including soldaderas, women who sometimes
arms. Matters were also complicated by clumsy U.S. intervention, aimed at bringing order to the
der regions, and by diplomatic maneuverings after the outbreak of World War I in Europe.
Villa and Zapata remained in control in their home territories, but they could not wrest
government from the control of the more moderate political leaders in Mexico City.
Obregón, an able generâl who had learned the new tactics of machine guns and trenches from
war raging in Europe and had beatenVilla's cavalry in a series of bloodybattles in 1915,
leader of the government.
By 1920 the civil war had ended and Mexico began to consolidate the changes that had
place in the previous confused and bloody decade. Obregón was elected president in that
was followed by a series of presidents from the new "revolutionary elite" who tried to
the new regime. There was much to be done. The revolution had devastated the country; 1
lion people had died, major ir.rdustries were destroyed, and ranching and farming were
But there was great hope because the revolution also promised (although it did not always
real changes.
Mexim Constitution of l9l7
Promised land
reform, limited foreign omership of key resoutces,
guarmteed the rights ofworkers, and placed restrictions on clerical eduøtion; marked formal
end of Mexican Revolution.
What were some of these changes? The new Mexican Constitution of.l9l7 promised
form, limited the foreign ownership of key resources, and guaranteed the rights of workers.
placed restrictions on clerical education and church ownership of propert¡ and promised
tional reforms. The workers who had been mobilized were organized in a national
and were given representation in the government. The promised land reforms were slow in
though later, under President Lâzaro Cárdenas (1934-1940), more than 40 million acres
tributed, most of it in the form of ejidos (eh-HBE-dos), or communal holdings.
launched an extensive program of primary and especially rural education.
Culture and Politics in Postrevolutionary Mexico
Nationalism and indigenist?x, or the concern for the indigenous peoples and their
Rivera,
Diego
(
1886-1957) Mexican artist of the
period after the Mex.ian Revolution; famous for
nura.ls painted on walls of public buildings; mixed
romantic images of the Indian past with Christian
symbols and Marxist ideology.
Orozco,|osé Clemente (1883-1949) Mexican
muralist of theperiod a,fter the Mexican Revolution; like Rivera's, his work featured romantic images of the Indian past with Christian symbols and
Marxist ideology.
Mexican culture, lay beneath many reforms. Having failed to integrate the American
national life for a century, Mexico now attempted to "Indianize" the nation through
that emphasized nationalism and a vision of the Mexican past that glorified its
heritage and denounced Western capitalism. Artists such as Diego Rivera and
Orozco recaptured that past and outlined a social Program for the future in stunning
public buildings designed to inform, convince, and entertain at the same time' The
ist movement had a wide impact on artists throughout Latin America even though, as
self stated, it sometimes created simple solutions and strange utopias by mixing a
of the American Indian past with Christian symbols and communist ideology.
Novelists, such as Mariano Azuela, found in the revolution a focus for the
can reality. Popular culture celebrated the heroes and events of the revolution in
(corridos) that were sung to celebrate and inform. In literature, music, and the arts, the
its themes provided a stimulus to a tremendous burst of creativity, as in the following
Gabino Barrera rose in the mountains
his cause was noble,
protect the poor and give them the land.
Remember the night he was murdered
chapter 29
'
The world between the wars: Revolutions,
Depression, and Authoritarian Response
695
three leagues from Tlapehuala;
22 shots rang out
leaving him time for nothing.
Gabino Barrera and his loyal steed
fell in the hail of rounds,
the face of this man of the Revolution
finally rested, his lips pressed to the ground.
The gains of the revolution were not made
without opposition. Although the revolution preof I9I7 and. had no single ideological model, many of
the ideas of
Marxist socialism were held by leading Mexican intellectuals
and a few politicians. The secularization of society and especially education met strong opposition
from the Catholic Church and the
clergy, especiaþ in states where socialist rhetoric and anticlericalism
were extreme. In the 1 920s, a
conservative peasant ¡hovement backed by the church erupted
in central Mexico. These Cristeros,
backed by conservative politicians, fought to stop the slide
ceded the Russian Revolurion
toward secularization. The fighting
lasted for years until a compromise was reached.
The United States intervened diplomatically
and militarily during the revolution, motivated
a desire for orde¡ fear of German influence
on the new government, and economic interests.
An
provoked a short-lived U.S. seizure of Veracruz
in 1914, and when pancho Villat forces
across the border, the United States sent an
expeditionary force into Mexico to catch him.
mission failed. For the most part, however, the war
in Europe dominated U.S. foreign poliry efuntil i918. The United States was suspicious of the new government,
and a serious conflict
Cristeros
Conservative peasant movement in
Mexico during the 1920s; most active in
central
Mexico; attempted to halt slide toward seculrism;
movement lesulted in armed violence.
when U.S.-owned oil compames ran into problems
with workers.
As in any revolution, the question of continuity
arose when the fighting ended. The revoluleadership hoped to institutionalize the new
regime by creating a one-party system. This
or_
called the Party ofthe Institutionalized Revolution
(PRI), developed slowly during the
and 1930s into a dominant force in Mexican politics.
It incorporated labor, peasant, militar¡
middle-class sectors and proved flexible enough
to incorporate new interest groups as they deAlthough Mexico became a multiparry democracy
in theor¡ in reality the PRI controlled
and, by accommodation and sometimes
repression, maintained its hold on national
politiSome presidents governed much like the
strongmen in the lgth century had done, but
the
structure and the need to incorporate
various interests within the government coalition
lim_
worst aspects of caudillo, or personalist,
rule. The presidents were strong, but the policy
of
the presidency to one srx-year term ensured
some change in leadership. The question of
a revolution could be institutionalized
remained in debate. By the end of the 20th centur¡
Mexicans believed that little remained
of the principles and programs of the revolutionaries
in Russia: Liberalism to Communism
1917, strikes and food riots
broke out
in Russia's capital, St. Petersburg. The outbursts
by wartime miser¡ including painful
food shortages They also and more basically
conditions of early industrialization set
against incomplete rural reform and an unresystem. And they quickly assumed revolutionary
proportions. The rioters called
for more food and
work but for a new political regime as well. The tsar's
forces struck back
unsuccessfully. A council
of workers, called a soviet, took over the city government
and
ministers. Unable to rely on his own soldiers,
the tsar abdicated, thus ending the
rmperial rule.
months a liberal provisional government
struggled to rule the country. Russia
to launch its revolution
on a basis similar to France in 1789, where a liberal
period set
Like Western liberals, Russian revolutionary
leaders, such as Alexander Kerento see genuine parliamentary
rule, religious and other fieedoms, and a host of politchanges. But liberalism
was not deeply rooted in Russia, if only because
of the small
so the analogies
with the first phase of the French revolution cannot
be pressed too
Russia's revolution took place in
much more adverse circumstances, given the
parücipation
in the First World War. The initial liberal leaders were
€ager to marntarn
Kerensþ Alexander (l88l-1970) Liberal revo_
stages ofthe Russ_
ian.Revolution of l9l 7; sought development of
lutionary leader during the early
parliamentârf rule, religious freedom.
\
696
PartVI
'
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
the war effort, which linked them with democratic France and Britain. Yet the nation was desperateþ war weary, and prolongation drastically worsened economic conditions while public morale
plummeted. Liberal leaders also held back from the massive land reforms expected by the peasantr¡ for in good middle-class fashion they respected existing property arrangements and did not
wish to rush into social change before a legitimate new political structure could be established.
Hence serious popular unrest continued, and in November (October, by the Russian calendar) a
second revolution took place, which expelled liberal leadership and soon brought to power the radical, Bolshevik wing of the Social Democratic party, soon renamed the Communisi party, and
Lenin, their dynamic chief (Figure 29.7).
The revolution was a godsend to Lenin. This devoted revolutionary had long been writing of
Russia's readiness for a communist revolt because of the power of international capitalism and its
creation of a massive proletariat, even in a society that had not directþ passed through middle-class
rule. Lenin quickly gained a strong position among the urban workers'councils in the major cities.
This corresponded to his deeply rooted belief that revolution should come not from literal mass action but from tightly o rganized cells whose leaders espoused a coherent plan of action.
Once the liberals were toppled, Lenin and the Bolsheviks faced several immediate problems.
One, Russia's continued involvement in World War I, they handled by signing a humiliating peace
treaty with Germany and giving up huge sections of western Russia in return for an end of hostilities. This treaty was soon nullified by Germany's defeat at the hands of the Western allies, but Russia
was ignored at the Versailles peace conference-treated as a pariah by the fearfirl Western Powers.
Much former territory was converted into new nation-states. A revived Poland built heavily on land
Russia had controlled for more than a centur¡ and new, small Baltic states cut into even earlier acquisitions. Still, although Russia's deep grievances against the Versailles treaty would later help motivate renewed expansionism, the early end to the war was vital to Lenin's consolidation of power.
Although Lenin and the Bolsheviks had gained a majority role in the leading urban soviets,
they were not the most popular revolutionary part¡ and this situation constituted the second problem faced at the end of l9l7 . The November seizure of power had led to the creation of the Council
of People's Commissars, drawn from soviets across the nation and headed by Lenin, to govern the
state. But a parliamentary election had already been called, and this produced a clear majority for
the Social Revolutionary party, which emphasized peasant support and rural reform. Lenin, how-
Figure29.7
MoscowworkersguardtheBolshevikheadquartersduringthe
RússianRevolutionof 1917
Ç
Chapter 29
ever, shut down the parliament, replacing
'
The World between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian
Response 697
it with a Bolshevik-dominated Congress of Soviets. He
pressed the Social Revolutionaries to disband, arguing that "the people voted for a party which no
longer existed." Russia was thus to have no Western-sryle, multiparty system but rather a Bolshevik
monopoly in the name of the true people's will. Indeed, Communist party control of the government apparatus persisted from this point to 1989, a record for continuity much different from the
fate of revolutionary groups earlier in the Western past.
Russia's revolution produced a backlash that revolutionaries in other eras would have recognized quite easily: foreign hostility and, even more important, domestic resistance. The world's
leading nations-aside from German¡ now briefly irrelevant-were appalled at the communist
success, which threatened principles of property and freedom they cherished deeply. As settled
regimes, they also disliked the unexpected, and some were directly injured by Russia's renunciation
of its heavy foreign debts. The result was an attempt at intervention, recalling the attacks on France
in 1792. Britain, France, the United States, and |apan all sent troops. But this intervention, although
it heightened Russian suspicion of outsiders, did relatively little damage. The Western powers, exhausted by World War I, pulled out quickl¡ and even japan, though interested in lingering in Asiatic Russia, stepped back fairly soon.
The internal civil war, which foreign troops slightly abetted, was a more serious matter, as it
raged from 1918 to 1921. Tsarist generals, religiously faithfi.rl peasants, and many minority nationalities made common cause against the communist regime. Their efforts were aided by continuing
economic distress, the normal result of revolutionary disarra¡ but also heightened by earlier communist measures. Lenin had quickly decreed a redistribution of land to the peasantry and also
launched a nationalization, or state takeover, of basic industry. Many already landed peasants resented the loss of property and incentive, and in reaction they lowered food production and the
ffiil
Lenin Calls for
Electr¡fication
of All Russia
goods sent to markets. Industrial nationalization somewhat similarly disrupted manufacturing.
Famine and unemployment created more economic hardship than the war had generated, which
added fuel to the civil war fires. Even workers revolted in several cities, threatening the new regimet
most obvious social base as well as its ideological mainstay.
Stabilization of Russia's Communist Regime
Order was restored after the revolution on several key foundations. First, the construction of the
powerful new army under the leadership of Leon Trotsþ recruited able generals and masses of
loyal conscripts. This Red Army was an early beneficiary of two ongoing sources of strength for
communist Russia: a willingness to use people of humble background but great ability who could
rise to great heights under the new order but who had been doomed to immobility under the old
system, and an ability to inspire mass loyalty in the name of an end to previous injustice and a
promise of a brighter future. Next, economic disarray was reduced in l92l when Lenin issued his
New Economic Policy, which promised considerable freedom of action for small business owners
and peasant landowners. The state continued to set basic economic policies, but its efforts were now
combined with individual initiative. Under this temporary polic¡ food production began to re-
RedArny
Militaryorganizationconstructed
under leadership ofLeon Trotsþ Bolshevik follower of Lenin; made use of people ofhumble
background.
NewEconomic
Policy Initiated byLenin in l92l;
state continued to set basic economic policies, but
effo¡ts were now combined with individual initiative; policy allowed food production to recover.
cover, and the regime gained time to prepare the more durable structures of.the communist system.
By 1923 the Bolshevik revolution was an accomplished fact. There was a new capital Moscow.
And a new constitution set up a federal system of socialist republics. This system recognized the
multinational character of the nation, which was called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The dominance of ethnic Russians was preserved in the central state apparatus, however, and certain groups, notably
were given no distinct representation. Since the separate republics were
basic decisions were as firmly centralized, the impact of the new nationalities policy was somewhat mixed; yet it was also true that direct
nationalities'protests declined notably from the 1920s until the late i980s.
The apparatus of the central state was another mixture of appearance and reality. The
Supreme Soviet had many of the trappings of a parliament and was elected by universal suffrage.
But competition in elections was normally prohibited, which meant that the Communist party easily controlled the bod¡ which served mainly to rati4/ decisions taken by the party's central executive. Parallel systems of central bureaucracy and party bureaucracy further confirmed the
Communists' monopoly on power and the ability to control major decisions from the center. The
Jews,
firmly controlled by the national Communist party andsince
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Federal s¡ntem of socialist republics established in 1923 in
various ethnic regions of Russia; firmly controlled
by Communist partp diminished nationalities
protest under Bolshevils; dissolved i991.
Supreme Soviet Parliament of Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics; elected by universal sufkage;
actually controlled by Communist party; served
to ratiry part)' decisions.
THINKING
HISTORICALLY
A Century of Revolutions
Not since the late 18th and earþ 19th centuries had there been a
succession of revolutions like those in the early decades of the 20th
century. In contrast to the revolutionary movements of the earlier period, however, the early
2Oth-century upheavals were just the first waves
of a revolutionary tide that struck with renewed
fury after 1945. A number of factors account for
the successive surges of revolution in the 20th
century. Rural discontent was crucial, for peasants provided vital contributions to 2Oth-century revolutions everywhere they occurred.
Peasants were newly spurred
that they could not sustain without raw materials and manpower
drawn from their colonies and other neutral states.
Another key factor that contributed to the sharp rise in the incidence of revolutions in the 20th century was the underþing intellectual climate. Notions of progress and a belief
in the perfectibility of human society, which
were widely held in the lgth century deeply influenced such communist theorists as Marx,
Lenin, Mao Zedong, and Ho Chi Minh. These
and other revolutionary ideologues sought, i¡
part, to overthrow existing regimes that they
viewed as exploitive and oppressive. But they
were also deeply committed to building
new societies that would bring justice and a
cent livelihood to previously downtrodden
by pressures of
population growth, combined with resentment
against big landowners. Modern state forms
tended to increase taxes on the peasantr¡ while
making traditional protests, like banditry' more difficult.
Equally fundamentall¡ the rise of revolutionary movements
was fed by the underþing disruptions caused by the spread of the
Industrial Revolution and the Western-centered, global market system. Handicraii producers thrown out of work by an influx of machine-manufactured goods, and peasants, such as those in central
Mexico who lost their land to moneylenders, frequently rallied to
calls to riot and, at times, ultimately became caught up in revolutionary currents. In the colonies, unemployed Western-educated
African and Asian secondary school and college graduates became
deeply committed to struggles for independence that promised them
dignity and decent jobs. Urban laborers, enraged by the appalling
working and living conditions that were characteristic of the early
stages of industrialization in countries such as Russia and China,
provided key support for revolutionary parties in many countries.
Although global economic slumps did much to fìre the revolutionaries'longings, world wars proved even more fertile seedbeds
of revolution. Returning soldiers and neglected veterans provided
the shock troops for leftist revolutionaries and fascist pretenders
alike. Defeated states witnessed the rapid erosion of their power to
suppress internal enemies and floundered as their armies refused to
defend them or joined movements dedicated to their overthrow. In
this regard, the great increase in global interconnectedness in the
20th century was critical. The economic competition and military
rivalries of the industrial powers drew them into unwanted wars
groups, especially the worhng classes,
and urban poor. Visions of the good life in
ant communes or workers'utopias were a powerfi:l driving force
revolutionary currents throughout the century from Mexico
China. One measure of their influence is the extent to which
competitive capitalist societies developed social welfare
curb social discontent that could spiral into active protest, and
haps even revolutionary challenges to the existing social order'
A final common ingredient of 20th-century revolutions
the need to come to terms with Western influence and often
assert greater national autonomy. Mexico, Russia, and
sought to reduce Western economic control and cultural
seeking alternative models' Many revolutions involved active
Western sentiment and attacks on Western investments' In
Stalinism went on the attack against "decadent" Western
influences.
:rl', ::
QUESTIONS What
governments of
20th century and
cial groups were
Russia, and why
larities and differences
revolutions in the
Soviet political system was elaborated over time. A new constitution in the 1930s spoke
human rights.In fact, the Communists had quickly reestablished an authoritarian
it more efficient than its tsarist predecessor had been, complete with uPdated versions
police to ensure loyalty.
Soviet Experimentation
The mid-1920s constituted a livel¡ experimental period in Soviet histor¡ PartlY
jockeying for power at the toP of the power pyramid. Despite the absence of Western
competition, a host of new groups found a voice' The Communist party, though
698
chapter 29
'
The world between the wars: Revolutions, Depression,
and Authoritarian Response
. ' -, :¿':l l.r"
.
699
..).
re 29.8 Russian children help carry the propaganda for Stalin,s
ca mpaign for collectivization of
agriculture. ïhe banner reads, ,,Everybody to the collective
farms!,, These happy faces belie the tragedy
resulting
from the collectivization program, in which millions
fell victim to slaug hter or starvation.
Stalir¡ fosep.h Successor to Lenin as head ofthe
U.S.S.R,; strongly nationalist view of communism;
repre$ented anti-Weste¡n strain of Russian
tradi_
tion; crushed opposition to his rule; established
series offive-year plans to replaæ New Economic
Policy; fostered agricultural iollectivization; led
U,S.S,R. through World War II; furthered cold wa¡
with
western Europe and the United States; died
1953.
H
in
Lenin, 1920,
vs. Stal¡n,
931
Comintern International
omce of communism
under U.S,S.R. dominance established to encourage
the fo¡mation of Communist parties in Eu.ope añd
elsewhere.
ll
I
7OO
PartVI . The Newest Stage of World
collectivization
Creation of latg€, state-run
farms rather than individual holdings; allowed
more emcient control over peasmts, though often
lowered food production; part ofStalint economic
and political planning; often adopted in other communist regimes.
History: 1914-Present
Stalin also instituted a new level of police repression that ultimately led to the deaths of millions of Russian dissidents, from peasants to intellectuals. Rival leaders were killed or expelled, riy¿l
visions of the revolution downplayed. Stalin would also accelerate industrial development while attacking peasant land ownership with a new collectivization program (Figure 29.8).
The Russian Revolution was one of the most successful risings in human history, at least for
several decades. Building on widespread if diverse popular discontent and a firm belief in centralized leadership, the Bolsheviks beat back powerfirl odds to create a new, though not totally unprecedented, political regime. They used features of the tsarist system but managed to propel a wholly
new leadership group to power not only at the top but also at all levels of the bureaucracy and army.
The tsar and his hated ministers were gone, mostly executed, but so was the overweening aristocratic class that had loomed so large in Russian history for centuries.
Toward Revolution in China
The abdication of Puyi, the Manchu boy-emperor in 1912, marked the end of a centuryJong losing
struggle on the part of the Qing dynasty to protect Chinese civilization from foreign invaders and
revolutionary threats from within, such as the massive Taiping movement (see Chapter 26). The
of the Qing opened the way for an extended struggle over which leader or movement would be
to capture the mandate to rule the ancient society that had for millennia ordered the lives of at
YumShikai [yoo-ahn shur-geye] Warlord in
northern China after fall ofQing dynasty; hoped
to seize imperial throne; president of China after
1912; resigned in the face offapanese invasion in
19r6.
one-fifth of humankind. Contenders included regional warlords; the loose alliance of
middle-class politicians and secret societies, many of them attracted to a Western political
and soon, ]apanese intruders and a new communist movements as well. Internal divisions and
eign influences paved the way for the ultimate victory of the Chinese Communist party under
Zedong.
After the fall of the Qing dynasty, the best-positioned of the contenders for power were
gionally based military commanders or warlords, who would dominate Chinese politics for
next three decades. Many of the warlords combined in cliques or alliances to protect their
territories and to crush neighbors and annex their lands. The most powerful of these cliques,
tered in north China, was headed by the unscrupulous Yuan Shikai (yoo-ahn shur-geye),
hoped to seize the vacated Manchu throne and found a new dynasty. By virtue of their wealth,
merchants and bankers of coastal cities like Shanghai and Canton made up a second power
in post-Manchu China. Their involvement in politics resulted from their willingness to
both favored warlords and Western-educated, middle-class politicians like Sun Yatsen.
Sometimes supportive of the urban civilian politicians and sometimes wary of them,
sity students and their teachers, as well as independent intellectuals, provided yet another
the complex post-Qing political equation. Though the intellectuals and students played
roles in shaping new ideologies to rebuild Chinese civilization, they were virtually
situation in which force was essential to those who hoped to exert political influence.
vided, but very strong in some regions, secret societies represented another contender for
Like many in the militar¡ members of these societies envisioned the restoration of
rule, but under a Chinese dynast¡ not a foreign one. As if the situation were not confused
it was further complicated by the continuing intervention of the Western powers, eager
from China's divisions and weakness. Their inroads, however, were increasingly
the entry into the contest for the control of China by the newest imperialist poweglapan'
mid-1890s, when the Japanese had humiliated their much larger neighbor by easily
war, until 1945, when |apan's surrender ended World War II, the ]apanese were a
long and bloody contest for mastery of China.
China's May Fourth Movement and the Rise of the Marxist Alternadve
Sun Yatsen headed the Revolutionary Alliance, a loose coalition of
had spearheaded the 1911 revolt. After the Qing were toppled, Sun
of the alliance were the rightful claimants to the mandate to rule all of China. But he
to assert civilian control in the face of warlord opposition. The Revolutionary
power and virtually no popular support outside the urban trading centers of the
Ç
Chapter 29
.
The World between the Wars:
Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian
Response
70t
central and south china' Even in
these areas, they were at the
mercy of the local warlords. The
liance formalv elected sun presiden,
al_
åli;ì.,,
modeled after those
"tii."."¿
and chose cabinets *ith gr.ui
ãnrur". ¡,rt trr"i, ¿"åiriJ* iad rittre
efirecr on warlord-
;:åi:å.;
ü;';TJ;"*."t
at
enthusiasticatv the Drogram
of the May Fourth movement was adopted
china, it was såon .låu, ihat
by the
,r,"o. .-urulioi-Ji rr," riberar democracies'of
the west
(
7O2
PartVI . The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
could not provide effective solutions to China's prodigious problems. Civil liberties and demo-
LiDazh¿o [ee duh-JOH]
(1888-1927) Chinese
intellectual who gave serious attention to Marxist
philosophy; headed study circle at the University of
Beijing; saw peasants as vanguard of revolutionary
communism in China.
MaoZedong [mowdzuh-doong]
(1893-1976)
Communist leader in revolutionuy China; advocated rural ¡eform and role of peasantry in Nationalist revolution; influenæd by Li Dazhao; led
Communist reaction against Guomindang
purges in 1920s, culminating in Long Mæch
of 1934; seized control ofall of mainland China
by 1949; initiated Great Leap Forward in 1958.
cratic elections were meaningless in a China that was ruled by warlords. Gradualist solutions and
parliamentary debates were folly in a nation where the great mass of the peasantry was destitute,
much of them malnourished or dying of starvation. It soon became clear to many Chinese intellectuals and students, as well as to some of the nationalist politicians, that more radical solutions
were needed. In the 1920s, this conviction gave rise to the communist left within the Chinese nationalist movement.
The Bolshevik victory and the programs launched to rebuild Russia prompted Chinese intellectuals to give serious attention to the works of Marx and other socialist thinkers and the potential
they offered for the regeneration of China. But the careful study of the writings of Marx, Engels,
Lenin, and Trotsky in the wake of the Russian Revolution also impressed a number of Chinese intellectuals with the necessity for major alterations in Marxist ideology if it was going to be of any relevance to China or other peasant societies. Marx, after all, had focused on advanced industrial
societies and had regarded peasants as conservative or even reactionary. Taken literall¡ Marxism of.
fered discouraging prospects for revolution in China.
The most influential of the thinkers who called for a reworking of Marxist ideology to fit
China's situation was Li Dazhao (lee duh-JOH). Li was from peasant origins, but he had excelled
school and eventually become a college teacher. He headed the Marxist study circle that
after the 1919 upheavals at the University of Beijing. His interpretation of Marxist
placed heavy emphasis on its capacity for promoting renewal and its ability to harness the
and vitality of a nation's youth. In contrast to Lenin, Li saw the peasants, rather than the
workers, as the vanguard of revolutionary change. He justified this shift from the orthodox
emphasis on the working classes, which made up only a tiny fraction of China's population at
time, by characterizing the whole of Chinese society as proletarian. All of China, he argued,
been exploited by the bourgeois, industrialized West. Thus, the oppressed Chinese as a
needed to unite and rise up against their exploiters.
Li's version of Marxism, with alterations or emphasis on elements that made it suitable
China, had great appeal for the students, including the young Mao Zedong (mow
who joined Li's study circle. The¡ too, were angered by what they perceived as China's
the imperialist powers. They shared Li's hostility (very much a throwback to the attitudes of
Confucian era) to merchants and commerce, which appeared to dominate the West. The¡
longed for a return to a political system, like the Confucian, in which those who governed
deeply committed to social reform and social welfare. They also believed in an authoritarian
which they felt ought to intervene constructively in all aspects of the peoples' lives. The
study club societies that developed as a result of these discoveries soon spawned a number of
broadly based, politically activist organizations.
In the summer of L921, in an attempt to unify the growing Marxist wing of the
struggle, a handful of leaders from different parts of China met in secret in the city of
this meeting, closely watched by the agents of the local warlord and rival political
Communist party of China was born. The party was minuscule in terms of the numbers
supporters, and at this time it was still dogmatically fixed on a revolutionary program
the small and scattered working class. But the communists at least offered a clear
the ideological and institutional void left by the collapse of the Confucian order.
The Seizure of PowerbyChina's Guomindang
Guomindmg [gwoh-mihn-dohng]
Chinese
Nationalist party founded by Sun Yat-sen in 1919;
drew support from local warlords and Chinese
criminal underworld; initially forged alliance
with Comnunists in 1924; dominated by Chiang
Kai-shek after 1925.
In the years when the communist movement in China was being put together bY urban
and intellectuals, the Guomindang (gwoh-mihn-dohng), or Nationalist part¡ which
the communists'great rival for the mandate to rule in China, was struggling to
Sun Yatsen, who was the acknowledged head of the nationalist struggle from
until his death in early l925,had gone into temporary exile in )apan in 1914, while
Yuan Shikai consolidated their regional power bases. After returning to China in 1
followers attempted to unifr the diverse political organizations struggling for political
China by reorganizing the revolutionary movem€nt and naming it the Nationalist
(the Guomindang).
O
chapter 29
'
The Nationalists began the slow process
The world between the wars: Revolutions, Depression,
and Authoritarian Response
703
alliances with ky social groups and building
the only way to rid China of the warlord menace
(Map 29.3) Sun strove to enunciate a nationalist
ideology that gave something to everyone. It stressed
the need to unify China under a strong central government,
to bring the imperialist intruders under
control, and to introduce social reforms that would alleviate
the poverty of the peasants and the op
pressrve working conditions of laborers ûì China's
cities. Unfortunately for the great majority of
the
Chinese people, for whom social reforms were the matn
concern, the Nationalist leaders concentrated
on political and international $sues, such as relations with
the Western powers and lapan, and failed
to implement most of the domestic programs th"y proposed,
most especially land reform.
In this early stage Sun and the Nationalists built their power
primarily on the support provided by urban businesspeople and merchants ln coastal
cities such as Canton. Sun forged an al
liance with the communists that was officially proclaimed at
the first Nationalist party conference
1n 924. For the trme being at least, the Nationalist
leaders were content to let the communists serve
aq their major link to the peasants and the urban
workers. Nationalist leaders also turned to Soviet
Russia, and the Bolsheviks sent advisors and gave material
assistance.
In I 924 the Whampoa Military Academy was founded
with Soviet help and partially staffed Whampoa MilitaryÁ,cademy
Founded in 1924;
by Russian instructors. The academy gave the Nationalists
a critical military dimension to their pomilitarywing of the Guomindang; first head of the
litical maneuvering. The first head of the academy was an ambitious
aca<lemy was Chiang Kai-shek.
young military officer named
Chiang I(ai-shek (jee-ahng keye-shehk) The son of poor salt
merchant, Chiang had made his ca
Chiang Kai-shek
keye+hehk] A
reer tn the military and by virtue of connections
with powerful figures rn the Shanghai underworld. military officer who [jee-ahng
succeedãd Sun yat_sen as the
He had received some military training ln
Ieader of the Guomindang or Nationalist purty
in
lapan and managed by the early 1 920s to wor k his way China
in the mid-1920s; became the mosipo*erñll
Sun Yatsent rnner circle of advisors. Chiang
was not happy with the communlst alliance.
leader in China in the early 1930s, but his ñational_
But
was willing to bide his time until he had the military
torces were defeated and d¡iven from China
by
strength to deal with both the communists rst
the Communists after World War IL
the warlords, who remained the maJor obstacles
to the Nationalist selzure of
Power.
Political tensions distracted the Nationalist leaders
from the growmg deterioration of the
The peasantr¡ 90 percent of the population,
suffered lncreasrng misery following
of forging
all army of their own, which th"y now viewed
as
long
1928-t937
W¡rlo¡{s'
Areås
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MONGOLIA
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Saa
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OCEAN
O
stÁ¡vf
ìi,'i:,':
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China in the
Era
JOMILE
õ'-----ñxu¡vnr:ns
of Revolution and Civil
Se ct
rT--
IJO M¡LES
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War
rroKtrcMmRs
political reform was constrained
by the nationalist-commu¡ist dispute and by
I
\
704
Part
VI .
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
period of government ineffectiveness and depredations by the landlords. Famine and disease
stalked the countryside, while irrigation systems deteriorated. Many peasants could not even bury
their deceased parents, whose bodies were left for animals to devour.
Sun gave lip service to the Nationalist party's need to deal with the peasant problem. But his
abysmal ignorance of rural conditions was revealed by statements in which he denied that China
had exploitive landlords and his refusal to believe that there were "serious difficulties" between the
great mass of the peasantry and the landowners.
Mao and the Peasant Option
Though the son of a fairly prosperous peasant, Mao Zedong had rebelled early in his life against
schools. Having moved to Beijing in the post-May Fourth era, Mao came under the influence
thinkers such as LiDazhao (lee duh-|OH), who placed considerable emphasis on solutions to
peasant problem as one of the keys to China's survival. As the following passage from Mao's
writings reveals, almost from the outset he was committed to revolutionary solutions that
pended on peasant support:
A revolution is an insurrection, an act of violence by which one class overthrows another. A rural
revolution is a revolution by which the peasantry overthrows the power of the feudal landlord
class. Without using the greatest force, the peasants cannot possibly overthrow the deep-rooted
authority ofthe landlords which has lasted for thousands ofyears.
The Nationalists' successful drive for national power began only after Sun Yatsen's
1925, which opened the way for Chiang Kai-shek and his warlord allies to seize control of the
After winning over or eliminating the military chiefs in the Canton area, Chiang marched
LongMarch
Communist escape f¡om Hman
province during civil war with Guomindang ln
1934; center ofCommunist power moved to
Shaanxi Provrnce; firmly established Mão Zedong
as head of the Communist party ln China.
with his newly created armies. His first campaign culminated in the Nationalists' seizure
Yangzi River valley and Shanghai ln ear ly I 927 Later his forces also captured the capital at
and the rest of the Yellow River basin. The refusal of most of the warlords to end their
meant that Chiang could defeat them or b,ry them out, one by one. By the late 1920s, he
master of China in name and international standing, if not
tual fact. He was, in effect, the head of a warlord
h
most political leaders within China and in the outside
ognized him as the new president of China.
Chiang quickly turned against the communists,
them in various places. A brutal massacre occurred in
in 1927, with many workers gunned down or beheaded
29.9). Chiang carefully wooed support from western
the United States, while lining up most police and
at home. The offensive propelled Mao Zedong to
attack on the communist rural stronghold in south
supported by German advisors, caused Mao to
March of 90,000 followers ín 1934, across thousands
Figure 29.9
The Guomindang's
brutal suppression of the workers' organizations in
Shanghai in 1927 was a turning point in the history of modern China. The
Guomindang-Communist party alliance was shattered, and Mao Zedong's call for
a
peasant-based revolution became imperative as the vulnerability of the small Chinese
working
class was exposed.
the more remote northwest. Here, in Shanxi, where
communes had already been established, the new
ter took shape (Map 29.3).
While the Long March solidified Mao's
nese communism and gave many followers a sense that
not be defeated, it was the ]apanese invasions of
1930s that would begin to give communists a new
ang had to ally with communists to fight thelapanese
his own power base, along the coast, was eroded bY
fapanese advance. The Chinese revolution was far
chapter 29
'
The world between the wars: Revolutions,
Depression, and Authoritarian Respo¡ss
705
The Global Great Depression
coming barely a decade after the turmoil of
world war I, the onset of global economic
depression
constituted a crucial
the. mountinf spiral of international
crises. The crash of the New
:ttP,1:
York stock market hit""*t
the heådrines in rszs, ;;tìn f"ct rhe
Great o"pr-"rr-,, had begun, sulenl¡
in many parts of the world economy even earlie¡.
The Depression reiulted from new problems
in
the industrial economy of Europe ut ¿ ttrê u"it.¿
states, combi".ã
the long-term weakness in
economies' like those of Latin America, that depended
on sales of cheap exports in the international
market' The result was a worldwide collapse thåt
spared only a few eco'nomi", and brought
political
as well as economic pressures
*iii
IA:
@è"r,
Depression was centered
in
the West but had global roots and
impact. Western responses to the
Depression varied, but none succeeded
in ending the crisis.
on virtually errerf society.
.GTftDepression Internationaleconomiccrisis
¡ouowng the First World War; began
with collapse
Causation
ol.4.mencan_ stock market
Structural problems affected many industrial societies
during the 1920s, even after postwar
recovery. Farmers throughout much of the Western
world, including the United
States, faced almost
chronic overproduction of food and resulting low
prices. Food production had soared
in response
to wartime needs; during the postlvar inflation
many farmers, both in western Europe
and
in North
borrowed heavily to buy new equrpment,
overconfident that their good markets
would
be
But rising European production combined
with large lmports from the Americas
and
Zealand sent prices down, which lowered
earnings and made debts harder to
repay. One rewas continued population flight from
the countryside as urbanization continued.
Remainfarmers were hard pressed and unable
to sustain high demand for manufactured
goods.
Thus although economies in France
and Germany seemed to have recovered
by 1925, probcontinued: the fears massive postwar
inflation had generated limited the capacity
of governto respond to other problems Much of
the mid -decade prosperity rested on
exceedingly
grounds. Loans from U.S. banks
to various European enterprises helped
sustain demand for
but on condition that additional loans
pour in to help pay off the resultant
debts.
Furthermore, most of the dependent
areas in the world economy, colonies
and noncolonies
were suffering badly Pronounced
tendencies toward overproduction
developed
in the smaller
of eastern Europe, which sent agricultural
goods to western Europe, as well as
among tropiproducers in Africa and Latin
America. Here, continued efforts to win
export
revenue
pressed
estate owners to drive up output
in coffee, sugar, and rubber. As European
governments and
organized their African colonies for
more profìtable exploitation, t]ley set
up large esdevoted to goods of this type.
Again, production freq uently exceeded
demand,
which
drove
and earnings down in both
Africa and Latin America. This meant,
in turn, that many
and dependant economies were
unable to buy many industrial exports,
which weakened
for Western products precisely
when output tended to rise amid growing
U.S.
and |apanese
Several food -exporting regions, including
many of the new eastern European nations,
a depression, in terms
of earnings and employment, by the mid-1920s,
well before the full
catastrophe.
of the leading industrial nations provided
scant leadership during the emerging
the 1920s. Most Western
leaders had only a feeble grasp of
economlcs. Nationalistic selfishWestern nations were more concerned
about insisting on repayment of any
to them or about constructing
tariff barriers to protect their own industries
than about
balanced world economic
growth. Protectionism, in particular,
as practiced even by trafree-trade Great Britain
and by the many nations in eastern
Europe, simply reduced marmade a bad situation worse. By the
later 1920s employment in key Western
beset by new competition from imported
oil), iron, and textiles*
of more general collapse.
adyent
of the Depression occurred in October
1929, when the New york stock
market
values tumbled as investors
quickly lost confidence in prices that
had been pushed
Banks, which had depended
heavily on their stock lnvestments, rapidly
echoed
:.:'.,,¡j:n].'.,:]-å#:Þ.4u:4é!a¡1:';1;*ú$#=l:;.4.#.*üåa¡!tr.lr';.i.:1':!.æ*¿È¡.rb.":;3
in 1929; actual causes
lnctuded collapse ofagricu.ltural prices
in 1920s;
lnclud€d collapse ofbanking houses
in the United
*,.""..t
mæsive unemployment;
Ì:1li-111
Turope,
contradicted
optimisdc assumptions of the íSth
century.
706
PartVI . The Newest Stage of World History: 19l4-Present
the financial crisis, and many institutions failed, dragging their depositors
along with them. Even before this crash, Americans had begun to call back
earlier loans to Europe. Yet the European credit structure depended extensively on U.S. loans, which had fueled some industrial expansion but also
less productive investments, such as German reparations payments and the
construction of fancy town halls and other amenities. In Europe, as in the
United States, many commercial enterprises existed on the basis not of real
production power but of continued speculation. When one piece of the
speculative spiral was withdrawn, the whole edifice quickly collapsed. Ksy
bank failures in Austria and Germany followed the U.S. crisis. Throughout
most of the industrial West, investment funds dried up as creditors went
banlrupt or tried to cut their losses.
With investment receding, industrial production quickly began to
fall, beginning with the industries that produced capital goods and extend.
ing quickly to consumer products fields. Falling
dropped by as much as one-third by I932-meant falling employment
lower wages, which in turn withdrew still more demand from the
and led to further hardship. Unemployed and underpaid workers could
buy goods whose production might give other workers jobs. The
weakness of some markets, such as the farm sector or the
world, was exacerbated as demand for foods and minerals
New and appalling problems developed among workers, now out of
suffering from reduced hours and reduced pay (Figure 29.10), as well
among the middle classes. The Depression, in sum, fed on itself,
Figure 29.10
her
of a tenant farmer and
children in the American South was published in the book Let Us Now
Th¡s famous photograph
Proise Fomous Men.
lt exemplifies the hardship"and poverty endured by
many during the Great Depression.
The Great
Deprossion:
An oral
Account
ffil
steadily worse from 7929 to 1933. Even countries initially less hard hit,
as France and ltaly, saw themselves drawn into the vortex by 1931.
In itself the Great Depression was not entireþ unprecedented.
ous periods had seen slumps triggered by bank failures and
tion, yielding several years of falling production, unemployment,
hardship. But the intensity of the Great Depression had no precedent
brief history of industrial societies. Its duration was also unprecedented; in many countries,
covery came only after a decade and only with the forced production schedules provoked by
War II. Unlike earlier depressions, this one came on the heels of so much other
nomic hardships of war, for example, and the catastrophic inflation of the 1920s-and
governments totally unprepared.
The Depression was more, of course, than an economic event. It reached into
creating hardship and tension that would be recalled even as the crisis itself eased. Loss of
loss of work, or simply fears that loss would come devastated people at all social levels. The
ruined investors in New York were paralleled by the vagrants' camps and begging that sPreaú
displaced workers. The statistics were grim: up to one-third of all blue-collar workers in the
their jobs for prolonged periods. White-collar unemployment, though not quite as severe,
unparalleled. In Germany 600,000 of 4 million white-collar workers had lost their jobs by 1
uating students could not find work or had to resort to jobs they regarded as insecure or
Six million overall unemployed in Germany and 22 percent of the labor force unemploYed
were statistics of stark misery and despair. Families were disrupted; men felt emasculated
ability to provide, and women and children were disgusted with authority figures whose
now hollow. In some cases wives and mothers found it easier to gain jobs in a low-wage
their husbands did, and although this development had some promise in terms of new
for women, it could also be confusing for standard family roles. For man¡ the agonY and
ruption of the Depression were desperately prolonged, with renewed recession around
unemployment still averaging 10 percent or more in many countries as late as 1939.
The Depression, like World War I, was an event that blatantly contradicted the
sumptions of the later tgth century. To many it showed the fragility of any idea
others it seemed to condemn the system of parliamentary democracy. Because itwas a
strophic event within a generation, the D¡lression led to even more extreme
chapter 29
'
The world between the wars: Revolutions, Depression,
and Authoritarian Response
707
had done-more bizarre experiments, more paralysis
in the face of deepening despair. To be sure,
there were some escapist altern^atives: Holywåod
movies put up a cheerful front, and in l93g a new
American comic book figure, Superman, provided
un ult.rrrutiue to the constraints of normal life.
But these were modest alternatives at best.
For most of the world outside the west, moreover,
the Depression worsened an already bleak
economic picture' western markets could absorb fewer commoäiiy
ir"p*" as production fell and
incomes dwindled' Hence the
that produced foods and raí materials saw prices
and earn-nations
ings drop even more than before.
unemplãyment rose rapidly in the export sectors
of
the Latin
American economy' creating a major political challenge
,rrat faced by the western na"å, ""riL"
tions' ]apan, a new industrial country, still heavily deiended
o" .*po* earnings for financing its
imports of essential fuel and raw materials. The Japanese silk industry
an export staple, was already
suffering from the advent
of artificial silklike fibers produc¿ ty w*t.rn chemical giants.
Now
Western luxury purchases
leading to severe unemployment in }apan and a crucial
politi¡otlapse{,
cal crisis' Between 1929 and 1931' the value of
¡apanese exports plummeted by 50 percent. workers,
real income dropped by almost one-third, and more tnan : miiion
people
urr.-pt,oy.ã. o"pression was compounded by poor harvests in several regions,
I.udi"! to rural begging and near
starvation' The Great Depression' though most familiar iri its western'dim.nsiorrs,ï"r""
trrry i"ternational collapse.
*.r.
Responses
to the Depression in Western Europe
Western governments, already weakened, responded to the
onset of the economic catastrophe
counterproductively. National tariffs were raised to keep out the
goods of other countries, but this
worsened the international economy and curbed sales
for everyone. Most governments tried
cut spending, reflecting the decline in revenues that accompanied
falling production. They were
about avoiding renewed inflation, but in fact their measures
further reduced economic
and pushed additional workers-government employees-out
of jobs. Confidence in the
political process deteriorated. In many countries the
Depression heightened political polarPeople sought solutions from radical parties
or movements, both on the left and on the
Support for communist parties increased in many
countries, and in lmportant cases the aumovement on the right gained increased attention.
Even in relatively stable countries,
as Britain, battles between the Conservative
party and the labor movement made decisive poldifñcult. Class conflict rose to new levels, in
and out of politics.
In key cases, the Great Depression led to
one of two effects: either a parliamentary
system that
increasingly incapacitated, unable to come to grips
with the new economic dilemma and
to take vigorous action, even in foreign polic¡ or
the outright overturning of the parlia_
system.
France was a
prime example of the first pattern. The French government
reacted sluggishly to
Voters responded by moving toward the political
extremes. Socialist and then comparties expanded. Rightist movements
calling for a strong leader and fervent nationalism
adherents often disrupting political meetings
in order to discredit the parliamentary sysmaking orderþ debate impossible. In
response liberal, socialist, and communist parties
Popular Front in 1936 to win the election.
The Popular Front government, however,
to take strong measures of social reform
because of the ongoing strength of conservative
hostile to change and the authoritarian
right that looked to forceful leadership to conclasses. The same paralysis crept into
foreign polic¡ as Popular Front leaders, initially
support the new liberal
regime in Spain that was attacked by conservative
army leaders in
Civil War, found themselves forced to pull
back. The Popular Front fell in 193g, but
this France was close to a standstill.
were more constructive responses.
Scandinavian states, most of them directed by modpartles,
increased government spending, providing new
levels of social insurance
unemployment. This foreshadowed the welfare
state. British policy was more
,but new industrial sectors
emerged under the leadership of innovative businesspeople.
television industr¡ for example, took
shape in southern England in the late I930s,
too small to break the hold
of the Depression.
Popular Front Combination ofsocialist and
communist political parties in France; won election
in 1936; unable to take strong measures ofsocial
reform because of continuing strength of consewatives; fell from power in 1938.
(
.
7O8 PartVI The Newest Stage of World
History: l9l4-Pjresent
TheNewDeal
After a few years of floundering, the United States generated another set of creative responses. Initial American policies, under President Herbert Hoover, resembled those of western Europe, in
seeking higher tariffs and attempting to cut spending in reaction to falling revenues. The United
States also sought to accelerate war debt repayments from Europe, which also made matters worse
internationaþ In L933 a new administration took over, under Franklin Roosevelt, offering a "new
NewDeal
Prêsident Franklin Roosevelt's precursor ofthe modern welfare state (1933-1939); programs to combat economic depression enacted a
number of social insu¡ance measures and used
government spending to stimulate the economy;
increased power ofthe state and the state's intervention in U.S. social md economic life.
deal" to the American people.
NewDeal policies, as they unfolded during the 1930s, offered more direct aid to Americans at
risk, through increased unemployment benefits and other measures. Many unemployed people
were given jobs on public works projects. A crucial innovation was the Social Security system, based
on contributions from workers and employers and designed to provide protection in unemployment and old age. The New Deal also undertook some economic planning and stimulus, for both
industry and agriculture, while installing new regulations on banking.
The New Deal ushered in a period of rapid government growth, a watershed in American history particularly as it was followed by the massive expansion of military operations in World War II.
The regime did not solve the Depression, which sputtered on until wartime spending ended it
the early 1940s. It also did not install a full welfare state, holding back, for example, from plans
offer a health insurance system. But the New Deal did restore the confidence of most Americans
their political system, preempting more extremist political movements and minimizing the kind
paralysis that afflicted Britain and France in the same years.
The Authoritarian Response
@ù.,,.
fascism expanded in
German patterns differed markedly from the wavering responses of Germany's neighbors and
as well. In Germany the impact of the Depression led directly
new fascist regime. Germany had suffered the shock of loss in World War I, enhanced by
arrangements that cast primary blame for the war on the German nation, which had only
and shaþ parliamentary traditions. A number of factors, in sum, combined to make
fertile breeding ground for fascism, though it took the Depression to bring this current to the
response democratic welfare innovation
to the new crisis as Nazism took hold in
Germany. New authoritarian regimes
gained ground in Latin America, Japan
and the Soviet Union.
The Rise of Nazism
While Germany introduced the sharpest political changes in response to the depression and
tionalist pattern, important political change also affected )apan, the Soviet Union, and later
ica. Western-style democracies were in substantial retreat.
Fascism in German¡ as in ital¡ was a product of the war. The movementt advocates,
them former veterans, attacked the weakness of parliamentary democracy and the
class conflict of Western capitalism. They proposed a strong state ruled by a powerful
would revive the nation's forces through vigorous foreign and military policy. While fascists
promised social reforms to alleviate class antagonisms, their attacks on trade unions as
German
Painting
ldolizing Hitler
H
socialist and communist parties pleased landlords and business groups. Although fascism
right control only in Italy in the movementt early years, fascist parties complicated the
process in a number of other nations during the 1920s and beyond. But it was the advent
tional Socialist, or Nazi, regime in Germany under Adolf Hitler that made this new
ment a major force in world history. Here, a Western commitment to liberal,
forms was challenged and reversed.
In his vote-gathering campaigns, in the later 1920s and early 1930s, Hitler
fascist arguments about the need for unity and the hopeless weakness of parliamentary
state should provide guidance, for it was greater than the sum of individual interests'
should guide the state. Hitler promised many groups a return to more traditional
artisans voted for him in the belief that preindustrial economic institutions, such as
would be revived. Middle-class elements, iggfuding big-business leaders, were
commitment to a firm stance against socialism and communism. Hitler also
against various currents in modern life, fiom big department stores to feminism,
bY
chapter 29
'
Theworld between
the wars: Revolutions, Depression, and
Authoritarian Response
he claimed were Jewish influences in Germany.
He promised a glorious foreign policy to undo
the
wrongs of the versailles
Finall¡ Hitler rþresãnted a hope"for effective action
against
the
leay.
Depression' Although the Nazis
*o,1 a ma¡:ority vote in a free election, his party did
win the
largest single slice in 1932, and this enabled Hiiler
to *ur." utrÀg"Àãrrt, *itr, other political leaders for his rise to power legally in 1933.
Once in power, Hitler quickly set about constructing
a totalitarian state_a new kind of government that would exercise massive, direct control over
virtually all the activities of its subjects.
Hitler eliminated all opposition parties; he purged the bureaucracy
and militar¡ installing loyal
Nazis in many posts. His secret police, the Gestapo, arrested
hundreds of thousands of political opponents. Tiade unions were replaced by government -sponsored
bodies that tried to appease lowpaid workers by offering full employment and various welfare
benefits. Government economic
planning helped restore production levels, with particular
emphasis on armaments construction.
Hitler cemented his regime by continual, well staged propaganda
bombardments {Figure 29.1 1
strident nationalism, and an incessant attack on GermanÊ large
Jewish minority.
Hitler's hatred of /ews ran deep; he blamed them for
various personal misfortunes and also
socialism
for
and excessive capitalism-movements that in his
view had weakened the German
spirit. Obviousl¡ anti-Semitism served as a catchall for a host
of diverse dissatisfactions, and as
such it appealed to many Germans. Anti_Semitism also played
into Hitler's hands by providing a
scapegoat that could rouse national passions and distract
the population from other problems.
Measutes against |ews became more and more severe; they
were forced to wear special emblems,
their property was attacked and seized, and increasing numbers
were sent to concentration camps.
1940 Hitler's policy insanely turned to the literal
elimination of European ]ewr¡ as the Holoraged in the concentration camps of Germany
and conquered territories (see Chapter 30).
Hitler's foreign and military policies were based on preparation
for war. He wanted to not
recoup Germany's World War I losses but also
create a land empire that would extend across
of Europe, particularþ toward the east against what
he saw as the inferior Slavic peoples. ProHitler violated the limits on German armaments and
annexed neighboring territories,
only weak response from the Western democracies-
709
:î..t
Spread of Fascism and the Spanish
CivilWar
triumph in Germany inevitably spurred fascism
in other parts of Europe. Many east central
already authoritarian, took on fascist trappings.
Explicit fascist movements emerged in Hunand Romania. Fascism in Austria was
vindicated when Hitler proclaimed the union of
Austria
Germany
in
1l
1938, quickly spreading the apparatus of the
Nazi party and state.
The adulation
that the German masses felt for Adolf Hitler in the
mid_1930s is evident in this
popu larity rested primarily
on his promises to rebuild Germa ny's deeply depressed
economy
world power status
by reversing the j9l9 treaty ending World War'l
rotalita¡ian
state A new kind of government in
the_ 20th century that exercised massive,
direct con_
-trol over virtually all the activities of its subjects;
existed in German¡ ltal¡ and the Soviet
Union.
,Ge1tano.
Secret police in Nazi German¡ known
tor brutal tactic.
H
The Expansion
of Germany in
the 1930s
\
7lO
PartVI . The Newest Stage of World History:
1914-Present
Hitler's advent galvanized the authoritarian regime of a nearby power, Ital¡ where a fascist
state had been formed in the 1920s,led by Benito Mussolini. Like Hitler, Mussolini had promised an
aggressive foreign policy and new nationalist glories, but his first decade had been rather moderate
diplomatically. With Hitler in power, Mussolini began to experiment more boldly, if only to avoid
being overshadowed completely.
In 1935 Mussolini attacked Ethiopia, planning to avenge Italy's failure to conquer this ancient
land during the imperialist surge of the 1890s. The League of Nations condemned the action, þu1
neither it nor the democratic powers in Europe and North America took action. Consequentl¡ after
some hard fighting, the Italians won their new colony. Here, then, was another destabilizing element in world politics.
CivilWar
War pitting authoritrian and
military leaders in Spain against republicans md
leftists between 1936 and 1939; Germany and ltaly
supported the royalists; the Soviet Union supported the republicans; led to victory of the royalist
Spanish
forces.
Fascism also spread into Spain, leading to the Spanish Civil War. Here, forces supporting a
parliamentary republic plus social reform had feuded since 1931 with advocates of a militarybacked authoritarian state. In 1936 outright civil war broke out. Spanish military forces, led by
General Francisco Franco, were backed by an explicitly fascist part¡ the Falange (feh-LAHN)), ¿g
well as more conventionally conservative landowners and Catholic leaders.
Republican forces included various groups, with support from peasants and workers in vari.
ous parts of the country. Communists and a large anarchist movement played a crucial role.
won some support also from volunteers from the United States and western Europe, and from
Soviet Union.
Bitter fighting consumed much of Spain for three years. German and Italian forces
several Spanish cities, a rehearsal for the bombing of civilians in World War II. France, Britain,
the United States made vague supporting gestures to the republican forces but offered no
aid, fearful of provoking a wider conflict and paralyzed by internal disagreements about
policy. Franco's forces won in 1939. The resultant regime was not fully fascist, but it maintained
thoritarian controls and catered to landlords, church, and armyfor the next 25years.
Economic and Political Changes in LatinAmerica
In the 1920s and 1930s, the limitations of liberalism became increasingly apparent in Latin
ica. A middle class had emerged and had begun to enter politics, but unlike its western
counterpart, it gained power only in conjunction with the traditional oligarchy or the
Latin America, the ideology of liberalism was not an expression of the strength of the middle
but rather a series of ideas not particularly suited to the realities of Latin America, where
ments of the population were landless, uneducated, and destitute. Increasing
not dissolve the old class boundaries, nor did public education and other classic liberal
produce as much social mobility as had been expected.
Disillusioned by liberalism and World War I, artists and intellectuals who had looked
rope for inspiration turned to Latin America's own populations and history for values and
to Latin American problems. During the 1920s intellectuals complained that Latin America
a race to nowhere. In literature and the arts, the ideas of rationalit¡ progress, and order
with liberalism and the outward app€arances of democracy were under attack.
Ideas of reform and social change were in the air. University students in Córdoba'
began a reform of their university system that gave the university more autonomy and
power within it. This movement soon spread to other countries. There were other
Socialist and communist parties were formed or grew in strength in several Latin
in this period, especially after the Russian Revolution of 1917. The strength of these parties
originated in local conditions but sometimes was aided by the international communist
Although criticism of existing governments and of liberalism as a political and economic
came from these leftJeaning parties, it also came from traditional elements ln societY
Roman Catholic ClLurch, which disliked the secularization represented by a capitalist
The Great Crash and LatinAmerícan Responses
The economic dependency of Latin ,A.merica and the internal weaknesses of the liberal
made clear by the great world financial crisis. Export sales dropped rapidly. Amid
reform movements gained momentum. More important, however, was the rise of a
Guernica and the Images
of \4/ar
ü.. *-ol famous work of arr
of the 20th
lÏ..L1.-,1"t,.¡rrob.aþtf
century,
was Spanish artist pablo
bombing of the vilase
ni.*roi'protest
g c".1"¡.1d;;t";ï.
against the
Spanish Civil War.
on April 27, rs37,cä3ai and
Itatian plå.ïì"*Uarded
the ciry
for three hours. Guernica burned
1500 people were
killed.
ior'Ã;;"å"yr,
and more rhan
of art,
ture the notion.of
war is concerned?
Picasso's Guernico.
Picas
(188r
-r 973)' "Guernica"'
l
937' Museo Nacionar centro
de Arte Reina sofìa,
Mâdrid, spa¡n. o 2010 Estate
of påblo p¡cas/Artists R¡ghts
Soc¡ety (ARS), New york.
John B¡getow Taylor Art
/
Rsource, Ny.)
politica.l
ideology that emphasized
::p- nature
the
o^rgailc
ofsociety and ,iade the så"
tor, adjustmg the interæts
"
ofdifi[erent sociaj groups;
_o:",ir*
ili:'#Jiifl:äi::
..¿ï_
fl"i",'"1n
in61
;'"'
Cárdenas,lázaro president
ofMexico from 1934
to-1940; responsible for redistribution
p.í_'
mar-ily to create ejidos, or communal "fU"å,
fa..., ,lrã-oegan program ofp.i-*y
"nd
.urul udu.aiionl
7tt
\
712
PartVI . The Newest Stage of World
History: 1914-Present
TheVargas Regime in Brazil
Vargas, Getrllio Elected president of Brazil in
1929; launched centralized political program by
imposing federal administrators over state governments; held offcoups by communists in 1935 and
fascists in 1937; imposed a new constitution based
on Mussolini's ltaly; leaned to communists after
1949; committed suicide in 1954.
In Brazil, a contested political election tn 1929, in which the state elites could not agree on the next
president, resulted in a short civil war and the emergence of Getrrilio Vargas (1872-1954) as the new
president. The Brazilian economy, based on coffee exports, had collapsed in the 1929 crash. Vargas had
promised liberal reforms and elimination of the worst abuses of the old system. Once in power, he
launched a new kind of centralized political program, imposing federal administrators over the state
governments. He held off attempted coups by the communists in 1935 and by the green-shirted fascist
"Integralists" in L937. With the support of the military, Vargas imposed a new constitution in 1937
that establishedthe Estado Novo (New State), based on ideas from Mussolini's ltaly. It imposed an authoritarian regime within the context of nationalism and economic reforms, limiting immigration
and eliminating parties and groups that resisted national integration or opposed the governmenl
For a while, Vargas played off Germany and the Western powers in the hope of securing armaments and favorable trade arrangements. Despite Vargas's authoritarian sympathies, he eventually joined the Allies during World War II, supplied bases to the United States, and ev€n sent
to fight against the Axis powers in Italy. In return, Brazil obtained arms, financial support for
trial development, and trade advantages. Meanwhile, Vargas ran a corporatist government,
some room for labor negotiations under strict government supervision. Little open opposition
the government was allowed. The state organized many other aspects of the economy.
to Vargas and his repressive policies was building in Brazil by 1945, but by then he was turning
creasingly to the left, seeking support from organized labor and coming to terms with the
nist party leaders whom he had imprisoned.
Under criticism from both the right and the left, Vargas committed suicide in 1954. His
cide note emphasized his populist ties and blamed his death on Brazil's enemies:
Once more the forces and interests which work against the people have organized themselves
again and emerge against me. . , . I was a slave to the people, and today I am freeing myself for
eternal life. But this people whose slave I was will no longer be slave to anyone. My sacrifice will
remain forever in their souls and my blood will be the price of their ransom.
Much of Brazilian history since Vargas has been a struggle over his mantle of
death, Vargas became a martyr and a nationalist hero, even to those groups he had repressed
imprisoned in the 1930s.
Argentina: Populism, Perón, and the Military
Argentina was something of an anomaly. There, the middle-class Radical party, which
power during the 1920s, fell when the economy collapsed in 1929. A military coup
strange coalition of nationalists, fascists, and socialists seized power, hoping to return
the golden days of the great export boom of the 1890s. The coup failed. Argentina became
pendent as foreign investments increased and markets for Argentine products declined.
industry was growing, and with it grew the numbers and strength of industrial workers,
whom had migrated from the countryside. By the 1940s the workers were organized in
labor federations. Conservative governments backed by the traditional military held power
the 1930s, but in 1943 a military group once again took control of the government.
Perón, Juan
became
D.
Military leader in Argentina who
dominmt political figure after
militry
coup in 1943; used position as Minister ofLabor
to appeal to working groups and the poor; beøme
president in 1946; forced into exile in 1955; returned and won presidency in 1973.
The new military rulers were nationalists who wanted to industrialize and
gentina and make it the dominant power of South America. Some were admirers of the
ers and their programs. Although many of them were distrustful of the workers, the
became the dominant qolitical force in Argentina recognized the need to c/eate a
support for the governmãnt. Colonel fuan D. Perón (1895-l e74) emerged as a Power
ernment. Using his position ln the Ministry of Labor, he appealed to workers, rcising
rmprovlng their benefits, and generally supporting their demands. Attempts to disPlace
and he increasingly gained popular support, aided by his wife, Eva Duarte, known as
nating woman from the provincial lower classes. She became a public
among the lower classes. During World War II, Perón's admiration for the Axis
known. In l946,when the United States tried to discredit him because of his fascist
turned the attempt into nationalist support for his presidential campaign.
lu
chapter 29
'
The world between the wars: Revolutions,
Depression, and Authoritarian
Response
As president, Perón forged an alliance
among the workers, the industrialists,
and the military.
Like Vargas in Brazil' he learned the effectiveness
of the radio, the press, and public speeches
in mobilizing public support' He depended on his personal
charisma urrd o' repression of opponents
to
maintain his rule' The Peronist program was'couched
in nationalistic terms. The government
nationalized the foreign-owned railrJads and telephone
."d;i;r,";s we¡ as the petroleum resources. The foreign debt was paid off, and
for a,rhil";#;;;jrr.
in the
immediate postwar years' But by r9a9 there
were.economic problems ".orro-yboomed
again. Meanwhile, perón
ruled by a combination of inducements and repression,
while Ëvita perón became a s).,rnbol to
the
descamisados, or the poor and downtrodden,
who ,"* i" p"rã"ir;;;ù-*..
of
-hope.
oHer
death
in
at
age 33 caused an outpouring ofnational
1952
grief.
Perón's
regime was a populist government with
a broader base than had ever been
attempted
in Argentina' Nevertheless, holding the interests of
the variou, ffion.rr,s of the coalition
to_
gether became increasingly difficulias the economy
worsened. A demåcratic
opposition developed
and complained of Perón's control of the press and
his violation of civil liberties. Industrialists
disliked the strength of labor organizations. ïhe military
*or.i"Jìiuip.ron would arm the workers
and cut back on the military's gains. The Peronist
party became *or. ,.udi.ul and began
a campaign
against the catholic church' In 1955, anti-Perón
military offìcers drove him into exile.
Argentina spent the next 20 years in the shadow
of Perón. rhe peronist paúy was banned,
and
a succession of military-sulp:tl:d civjlian
governments tried to resolve the nationt
economic
problems and its continuing political instability.-But
Peronism .outa ,.rruiu. even without perón,
and the
mass of urban workers and the strongly
Påronist unions co¡tinueJto ugi,u,. for
his
programs,
especially as austerity measures began to ãffect the living
"*rLi"g
conditions
perón and his
,i.
class.
new wife' Isabel' returned to Argenti na in
l973,andihey won ttt" "i
fr*ia.",ial election in that year*
she as vice president' when Perón died
the next year, howeve¡ it was clear that
Argentinat problems
could not be solved by the old formulas.
Argentina slid once more i.rto
-ilitury dictatorshþ.
The
Militarization of )apan
Authoritarian militarv rule took over in
Iapan even earlier than in the West. Not fascist outright, it
some clear affinities with the new regimes
in Europe, including its aggressive military
stance. As
as 1931, as the Depression hit apan
hard, military officials completed a conquest
I
of the Chi_
province of Manchuria, without the
backing of the civilian government (Map 29.3).
As political divisions increased
ln response to the initial rmpact of the Depression,
a variety of
groups emerged, some advocating a return
to Shintoist or Confucian principles against
more Western values of urban
|apan. This was more than a political response to
economic de_
As in German¡ a variety of groups
used the occasion for a more sweeping
protest against
forms; nationalism here seemed a counterpoise
to alien Western values. Older miliofiìcers joined some bureaucrats
in urging a more authoritarian state that could
ignore party
some wanted further military
expansion to protect |apan from the uncertainties
of
economy by providing secure
markets and sources
of raw
the
materials.
In May I 932 a group of younger
army officers attacked key government and
banking officers
murdered the prime
minister. They did not take over the state
directl¡ but for the next four
moderate military leaders
headed the executive branch, frustrating
both the military fireand the political parties.
A¡other attempted military coup in 1936 was
put down by forces
by the established admirals
and generals, but this group, including
General Tojo Hideki,
interfered with civilian cabinets,
blocking the appomtment of most liberal
bureaucrats.
after 1936, was a series of increasingly
militaristic prime mlnrsters.
superseded civilian politics, particularly
when renewed wars broke out between
1937.lapan, continuing to press the ruling
Chinese government lest it gain sufiìto threaten Iapanese gains, became
involved
in
a
skirmish with Chinese forces in the
area in 1937
Fighting spread, initially quite unplanned.
Most Japanese military leaders opmore general
war, arguing that the nation,s only
interest
was
to defend Manchuria and Korea.
influential figures
on the General Staff held that China's armies
should be decisively deprevent trouble
in the future. This view prevailed, and
forces
|apanese
quickly occupied the
tailroads of
eastern China. Several devastating
bombing raids accompanied this invasion.
7t3
{
714
PartVI . The Newest
Japan's
Territorial
Amb¡tion
Stage
of World History: l9l4-Present
H
Although fapanese voters had continued to prefer more moderate policies, their wishes were
swept away by military leaders in a tide of growing nationalism. By the end of 1938 iapan controlled
a substantial regional empire, including Manchuria, Korea, and Täiwan (Formosa), within which the
nation sold half its exports and from which it bought more than 40 percent of all imports, particularþ food and raw materials. Both the military leadership, eager to justifr further modernization of
iapan's weaponry and to consolidate political control, and economic leaders, interested in rich resources of other parts of Asia-such as the rubber of British Malaya or the oil of the Dutch East Indies-soon pressed for wider conquests as |apan surged into World War II (Map 29.4).
As war in Asia expanded, well before the formal outbreak of World War II, Japan also tightened its hold over its earlier empire, particularþ in Korea. Efforts to suppress Korean culture were
stepped up, and the fapanese military brutally put down any resistance. |apanese language and
habits were forced on Korean teachers. |apanese industrialists dominated Korean resources, while
Peasants were required to produce rice for lapan at the expense of nutrition in Korea itself. Young
men were pressed into labor groups, as the population was exhorted to join the |apanese people in
"training to endure hardship."
Industrialization and Recovery
|apan's policies in the 1930s quelled the effects of the Depression for |apan even more fully than
Hitler's policies were able to do for Germany. While the Depression initially hit |apan hard-half of
all factories were closed by 1931, children in some areas were reduced to begging for food from passengers on passing trains, and farmers were eating tree bark-active government policies quickly
responded. As a result, Japan suffered far less than manyWestern nations did during the Depression
decade as a whole. Under the 1930s minister of finance, Korekiyo Takahashi, the government increased its spending to provide jobs, which in turn generated new demands for food and manufactured items, yielding not only the export boom but also the virtual elimination of unemployment
by L936. The same policy helped support government military purchasing, but it is not clear that
this constituted an essential response.
RUSSIA
XURIL
KURIL
Tm¡xllmchurim
CIIINÀ
Railway
Pon
c¡ilNA
CHINA
t814
\ -'RfUKfU
rsr..rvDs
-)
I 'RIUKvU
IsuNos
PACIFIC
OCEAN
PACIFIC
. Rfuxvu
?
IsuNDs
OCEAN
PACII;IC
OCEAN
1895
r.000
I
MtLB
I.M KILOMffiRS
ü
I
JapaneseEmpire
1910:AftertheWarswithChínaandRussia
¡
JapaneseEmpirc
Late1931:ThelnvaslonofManchuria
Map 29,4 The Expansion of Japan to the Outbreàk of World War
ú-=r.!11*-
I
ll
I
JspaneseEmpire
1937-1938:ThelnvasionofChina
Two stages of Japan s attacks on China are clearly shown.
Chapter 29
.
The World between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian Response
growmg
Indeed, |apan made a full turn toward industrialization after 193f its economy
of
Production
Union.
Soviet
the
of
surge
the
rnuch more rapiãry than that of the West and rivaling
The
the
world'
in
rapid
most
the
was
iron, ,,..1, and chemicals soared. The spread of electric Power
rose sevenfold during the 1930s. Quality
numb", of workers, mainly men, in thå leading industries
and |apanese manufacturing
introduced,
äifrodn.tion increased as assembly-line methods were
goods rose, the first Westindustrial
gooar U.g* to rival those of the West. As the level of fapanese
1936
the |apanese controlled
in
though
äro o,rt.ry against fapanese exports was produced-even
only 3.6 percent of world trade.
policies designed to stabilize the labor force and
Japan also initiated a series of new industrial
group loyaþ
pr"u"it ro.iul unrest. These paralleled the growing emphasis on mass patriotism and
minority of
to
a
contracts
äeveloped by the gol,r.rn.rr"nt. Big companies began to offer lifetime
to Promote
designed
activities
skilled workår, urá to develop company entertainments and other
industrialization,
its
initial
of
hard work and devotion. These distinctive fapanese policies, not Part
proved to be a durable feature of |apanese society.
'
Uy I93T lapanboasted the third largest and the newest merchant marine in the world' The
the fruit of the growth in
nation ú..u-. sãf-sufficient in machine tãok and scientific equipment,
expansion of the later
technical training. The basis had been set for the more significant economic
20th centur¡ delayed by |apan s dash into World War II'
Stalinísm in the Soviet Union
soviet leaders made
The soviet union was buffered from the Depression by its separate economy'
But the
much of the nation's ongoing industrial growth, even as Western economies collapsed'
that echoed authoritarian re1930s saw a tightening ofihe ãommunist system under Stalin in ways
in other societies.
society
Stalin devoted himself to a double task to make the Soviet Union a fully industrial
individual
and
and to do so under full control of the state rather than through private initiative
sDonses
the 1920s' inclur
ownership of producing property. He reversed the more experimental mood of
Stalin wanted modessence,
In
farmers'
peasant
wealthy
and
burine..es
p.i'täi.
tolerance for ,-ull
to borrow Western
ernization but with a revolutionar¡ noncapitalist twist. Although he was willing
he insisted on
techniques and advice, importing ã small number of foreign engineers, for example,
Soviet control and substantial Soviet isolation.
Economic Policies
the creation of
A massive program to collectivize agriculture began in 1928. Collectivization meant
party agitators
large, statelrui fur-r, rather than individual holdings as in the West. Communist
movecollectives
the
socialistic,
distinctly
being
to
join
In
addition
in collectives.
präs.d peasants to
effectivel¡ as
ment also further offered, at least in theor¡ the chance to mechanize agriculture most
Collectivization also
collective farms could group scarce equipment, such as tractors and harvesters'
form, a traditional reallowed more efficient control over peasants, reflecting, though in radical new
desirable not only
luctance to leave peasants to their own devices. Government and party control was
required that
industrialization
of
a_speedup
for
hopes
Stalins
for political ,.urórrr, but also because
industryfor
capital
provide
to
order
in
taxation,
,"ro,r..., be taken from peasants, through
reThe peasantry responded to collectivization with a decidedly mixed voice. Many laborers,
But
land'
to
access
direct
more
to
have
opportunity
the
sentful of kulak wealth,ìnitially welcomed
property rather
most kulaks refused to cooperate voluntaril¡ often destroying livestock and ottrer
pressing foron
insistence
from
Stalirls
resulted
famine
than submit to collectivization. Devastating
in one
1930s,
early
the
during
to
Siberia
or
deported
killed
ward. In addition, millions of kulaks were
Graduall¡
history.
world
in
century
brutal
a
be
to
out
of the most brutal oppressions of what turned
the kulaks
rural resistance collapsed and production began to increase once again; the decimation of
for a
hold
authoritarian
increasingly
Stalins
tã
oppose
may indeed haue *eakerred opportu.rities
for
success'
a
smash
not
was
thorough,
increasingly
generation or tvvo. But collectiïzation, though
farms
collective
the
Although
unmotivated.
fairly
seemed
ãu"r thor. peasants who participated often
propagandizing by
allowed peásants sma[ plàts of iheir own, as well as job security and considerable
discipline
factory-like
of
atmosphere
an
created
they
party
membe.rs,
the omnìpresent ComÅunist
El
Et
Stalin
Demands
Rapid
lndustrialization
of the U.S.S.R.
715
i'
DOCUMENT
Socialist Realism
One of the most fascinating features of the Soviet system was the attempt to create a distinctive art, different from the art of Western
cultures (seen as decadent) and appropriate to the communist mis-
sion. This effort involved censorship and forced orthodoxy, but it
also was an attempt to resolve earlier Russian problems of relating
formal culture to the masses and trying to preserve a national distinctiveness amid the seductions of Western influence. The following effort to define Soviet artistic policy was written by Andrey
Zhdanov in 1934, the year Stalin made him the party's spokesperson at the Congress of Soviet Writers.
There is not and never has been a literature making its basic subject-matter the life of the working class and the peasantry and their
struggle for socialism. There does not exist in any country in the
world a literature to defend and protect the equality of rights of
the working people of all nations and the equality of rights of
women. There is not, nor can there be in any bourgeois country, a
literature to wage consistent war on all obscurantism, mysticism,
hierarchic religious attitudes, and threats of hell-fire, as our literature does.
Only Soviet literature could become and has in fact become
such an advanced, thought-imbued literature. It is one flesh and
blood with our socialist construction, . . .
What can the bourgeois writer write or think of, where can he
find passion, if the worker in the capitalist countries is not sure of
his tomorrow, does not know whether he will have work, if the peasant does not know whether he will be working on his bit of land or
thrown on the scrap heap by a capitalist crisis, if the working intellectual is out of work today and does not know whether he will have
work tomorrow?
What can the bourgeois author write about, what source of inspiration can there be for him, when the world, from one day to the next,
may be plunged once more into the abyss of a new imperialist war?
The present position of bourgeois literature is such that it is already incapable of producing great works. The decline and decay of
bourgeois literature derives from the decline and decay of the capitalist system and are a feature and aspect characteristic of the present
condition ofbourgeois culture and literature. The days when bourgeois literature, reflecting the victories of the bourgeois system over
feudalism, was in the h.yduy of capitalism capable of creating great
works, have gone, never to return. Today a degeneration in subject
matter, in talents, in authors and in heroes, is in progress. . . .
A riot of mysticism, religious mania, and pornography is characteristic of the decline and decay of bourgeois culture. The "celebrities" of that bourgeois literature which has sold its pen to capital are
today thieves, detectives, prostitutes, pimps, and gangsters, . . .
The proletariat of tlle capitalist countries is already forging its
army of writers and artists-revolutionary writers, the representatives of whom we are glad to be able to welcome here today at the
first Soviet Writers' Congress. The number of revolutionary writers
in the capitalist countries is still small but it is growing and will grow
716
I
with every dayt sharpening of the
class struggle, with the growing
strength of the world proletarian revolution.
We are flrmly convinced that the few dozen foreign comrades
we have welcomed here constitute the kernel, the embryo, qf ¿
mighty army of proletarian writers to be created by the world proletarian revolution in foreign countries. , . .
Comrade Stalin has called our writers "engineers of the human
soul." What does this mean? What obligations does such an appellation put upon you?
It means, in the first place, that you must know life to be able to
depict it truthfirlly in artistic creations, to depict it neither "scholastically" nor lifelessly, nor simply as "objective reality," but rather as
reality in its revolutionary development. The truthñ¡lness and historical exactitude of the artistic image must be linked with the task
of ideological transformation, of the education of the working people in the spirit of socialism. This method in fiction and literary criticism is what we call the method of socialist realism.
Our Soviet literature is not afraid of being called tendentious,
for in the epoch of class struggle there is not and ca¡rnot be "apolitical" Iiterature.
.And it seems to me that any and every Soviet writer may say to
any dull-witted bourgeois, to any philistine or to any bourgeois writers who speak of the tendentiousness of our literature: "Yes, our So-
viet literature is tendentious and we are proud of it, for our
tendentiousness is to free the worhng people-and the whole of
mankind-from the yoke of capitalist slavery."
To be an engineer of the human soul is to stand four-square on
real life. And this in turn means a break with old-style romanticism,
with the romanticism which depicted a nonexistent life and nonexist-
ent heroes, drawing the reader away from the contradictions and
shacHes of life into an unrealizable and utopian world. Romanticism
is not alien to our literature, a literature standing firmly on a materialistic basis, but ours is a romanticism of a new ty¡re, revolutionary
romanticism. We say that socialist realism is the fundamental method
of Soviet fiction and literary criticism, and this implies that revolutionary romanticism will appear as an integral part of any literary
creation, since the whole liÊ of our Party, of the working class and its
struggle, is a fusion of the hardest, most matter-of-fact practical
work, with the greatest heroism and the vastest perspectives. The
strength of our Party has always lain in the fact that it has united and
unites efficiency and practicality with broad vision, with an incessant
forward striving and the struggle to build a communist society.
Soviet literature must be able to portray our heroes and to see
our tomorrow This will not be utopian since our tomorrow is being
prepared by planned and conscious work today.
QUESTIONS Ho'w'
tellectual life? Whât
ciety? How were
would the Soviet
objectivity
Chapter 29
'
The World between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian
and rigid planning from above that antagonized many peasants. The centralized planning process allowed few incentives for special efforts and often complicated a smooth flow of supplies and equipment, a problem also exacerbated by the Stalinist regime's priority concentration on the industrial
sector. Agricultural production remained a major weakness in the Soviet economy, demanding a
higher percentage of the labor force than was common under industrialization.
The collective farms did, however, allow normally adequate if minimal food supplies once the
rnessy transition period had ended, and they did free excess workers to be channeled into the ranks
of urban labor. The late 1920s and early 1930s saw a massive flow of unskilled workers into the
cities, as the Soviet Union s industrialization, already launched, shifted into high gear.
If Stalin's approach to agriculture had serious flaws, his handling of industry was in most
ways a stunning success. 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 cqnstructed massive factories in metallurgy, mining, and electric power to make
the Soviet Union an industrial country independent of Western-dominated world banking and
trading patterns. There was more than a hint of Peter the Great's policies here, in updating the
economy without reaþ westernizing it, save that industrialization constituted a more massive departure than an¡hing Peter had contemplated. The focus, as earlier, was on heavy industr¡ which
built on the nation's great natural resources and also served to prepare for possible war with Hitler's
anticommunist Germany.
This distinctive industrialization, which slighted consumer goods production, was to remain
characteristic of the Soviet version of industrial society. Further, Stalin sought to create an alternative not simply to private business ownership but also to the profit-oriented market mechanisms of
the West. Thus he relied not on price competition but on formal, centralized resource allocation to
distribute equipment and supplies. This led to many bottlenecks and considerable waste, as quotas
for individual factories were set in Moscow, but there was no question that rapid industrial growth
occurred. During the first two five-year plans, to I937-that is, during the same period that the
West was mired in the Depression-Soviet output of machinery and metal products grew l4-fold.
The Soviet Union had become the world's third industrial power, behind only Germany and the
United States. A long history of backwardness seemed to have ended.
Response 717
ñve-yearplans Stalinl plans to hasten industrialization of U.S.S.R.; constructed massive factories in
metallurgy, mining, and electric power; led to massive state-planned industrialization at cost of availability of consumer products.
Toward an Industrial Society
For all its distinctive features, the industrialization process in the Soviet Union produced many results similar to those in the West. Increasing numbers of people were crowded into cities, often
cramped in inadequate housing stock. Factory discipline was strict, as communist managers sought
to instill new habits in a peasant-derived worKorce. Incentive procedures were introduced to motivate workers to higher production. Particularly capable workers received bonuses and also elaborate
public awards for their service to society. At the same time, communist policy quickly established a
network of welfare services, surpassing the West in this area and reversing decades of tsarist neglect.
Workers had meeting houses and recreational programs, often including vacations on the Black Sea,
as well as protection in cases of illness and old age. Soviet industrial society provided only modest
standards of living at this point, but a host of collective activities compensated to some degree.
Finall¡ although Soviet industry was directed from the top, with no legal outlet for worker
grievances-strikes were outlawed, and the sole trade union movement was controlled by the
party-worker concerns were studied, and identified problems were addressed. The Soviet Union
under Stalin used force and authorit¡ but it also recognized the importance of maintaining worker
support-so, informally, laborers were consulted as well.
Totalitarian Rule
Stalinism instituted new controls over intellectual life. In the arts, Stalin insisted on uplifting styles
that differed from the non-representational modern art themes of the West, which he condemned
as capitalist decadence. (Hitler and Stalin, bitter enemies, both viewed contemporary Western culture as dangerous.) Artists and writers who did not toe the line risked exile to Siberian prison
camps, and party loyalists in groups like the Writers Union helped ferret out dissidents. Socialist realism was the dominant school, emphasizing heroic idealizations of workers, soldiers, and peasants
.-
realism Attempt within tlìe U.S.S.R. to
relate formal culture to the masses in order to avoid
socialist
the adoption ofwestern European cultural forms;
begun under Joseph Stalin; fundamental method
of Soviet fiction, art, and literary criticism.
\-- ,-;.-'-+.-r--
-" -..-:;:ìÂ;'-,*--
\
718
PartVI
'
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
(Figure 29.12). Science was also controlled' Stalin clamped down hard
àrr"t". scientific inquir¡ insisting for example that evolutionary biology
of scientists
was wrong because it contradicted Marxism' A number
were ruined by government persecution'
a new inStalin also combined liis industrialization program with
and state
party
tensification of government police procedures; he used
Hitler's
tothan
apparatus to mo"nopolize power' even more-thorougtrly
his
version
of
talitarian state attempte¿. ne¡ and imagined oPponents of
20th
the
of
communism were executed, in one of the great bloodbaths
in
century. During the great purge of party leaders that culminated
imagiß37-í%S,hundreds of people were intimidated into confessing
against the siute, and most of them were then put to death'
camps' News outlets
trrturry tttootuttas more were sent to Siberian labor
by the state and the party, and informal meetings also
n"f .ri*.t
*"r.'*orropolized
riskedavisitfromtheubiquitoussecretpolice,renamedtheMVDin
or
1934. Party congresses and meetings of the executive committee'
spreaf'
Politburo, became mere rubber stamps' An atmosphere of terror
Stalin's Purges, which included top army officials'. ironically
policy
weakened the-natlions ability to respond to growing foreign
initiadiplomatic
Soviet
Hitler.
of
threat
problems, notably the rising
the
given
modest,
unwontedly
been
had
iives after the 1917 revolutiãn
inon
concentration
intense
the
of
nation's traditions, largely because
were
nations
major
with
relations
ternal development. DiPlomatic
graduaþ reestablished as the fact of communist leadership was
Figure 29'12
ln his 1949 painting Creotive Fellowship' Soviet artist
Shcherbakovshowsthecooperationofscientistsandworkersinanidealized
purposes of socialist
factory setting. The painting exemplifies the theories and
realism.
Politburo
Erecutive committee of the
Soviet
Communist P¿rtYi 20 members.
ac-
of Nations' A
cepted, and the Soviet Union was allowed into the League
earlY 1920s,
the
in
Turkey
as
with
few secret militarY negotiations,
course the
of
and
diplomaqr,
active
showed a flicker of interest in more
Communist
guide
internal
often
and
nations continued to encourage
party activities in many other countries.
Hitler's rise was a clear signal that more active concern was necesfrom the west, and Hitler was vocal about
safy. A strong Germany was inevitably a threat to Russia
desire to create a "living roont'' for Gerhis scorn for Slavic PeoPles and communism, and about his
with the Western democracies in
many to the east. stalin initially hoped that he could cooPerate
in a common resPonse to
participate
blocking the German threat. The Soviet Union thus tried to
War, in 193G- 1937. But France and
German and Italian intervention during the Spanish Civil
as susPicious of the Soviets
Britain were incaPable of forceful action and were in anY event almost
war and greatly disappointed in the West, signed a
as of the Nazis. So the Soviet Union, unready for
time for greater war preparation and
historic agreement with Hitler in 1939. This Pact bought some
Finland in an effort to regain territories lost
also enabled Soviet trooPs to attack eastern Poland and
interest in conquest' which
in World War I' Here was the first sign of a revival of Russia's long
would be intensified by the experience of World War II'
Global Connections
Economic Depression, Authoritarian Response'
and Democratic Retreat
The Great Depression of the 1930s promoted a growing wave of
nationalist reactions and further weakened global ties' Western
European countries and the United States increased their tariffs
and iefused to collaborate in measures.that might have alleviated
economic dislocation' Their narrow policies made economic col-
cut
lapse even worse. |apan, badly hurt by a new U'S' tariff that
con'
the
here
was
into silk exports, increased its own nationalisrn;
for
text for the growing power of younger army ofÊcers pushing
in
n€w
empire
own
overseas expansion.-]apan began to think of its
east Asia that could shield
il
from worldwide economic trends'
Nazi Germany also pulled out of the international community'
possiseeking to -uL" Germany as economically self-suffìcient as
to
commitment
ble. TÀe Soviet Union still mouthed communist
standing
on
internationalism, but in fact Stalin concentrated
Russian
alone, in a nationalist and isolationist version of the great
\
722
PartVI
'
The Newest Stage of World History: 1914-Present
liî
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r.11. jr, :,...i.r
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parts
'vVhy did new authoritarian movements surface in
'Europe after World War I?
of
3.
, ...
:
,,
','
The Mexican muralist movement was indicative
of
(A) the anti-Communist spirit of the Mexican Revolution.
(B) the policy of indigenism that was incorporated into the
(A)
Parliamentary governments seemed incapable of managing the political, social, and economic crises.
(B)
Marxist intellectuals supported fascist challenges to
middle-class rule.
(C)
the failure of the revolution to pay attention to Indian
cultures.
(C)
Authoritarian movements were led by the Catholic
(D)
the interest in attracting investment and tourism from
the United States.
post-revolutionary reforms.
church.
(D)
Socialists and women's suffrage groups turned against
democratic policies.
4.
How did Stalin s view of Communism compare to that of
Lenin?
2. Which of the following statements
concerning women's suf-
(A)
frage in the 1920s is most accurate?
(A)
Despite their service in World War I, women failed to
win the vote everywhere but in the United States.
(B)
(B)
Winning the vote actuaþ increased feminist agitation
during the 1920s.
(C)
(C)
(D)
Women's suffrage was granted afterWorldWar I in
Britain, German¡ and the United States.
(D)
Women gained the right to vote during the prewar period, but it was suspended indefinitely during the earþ
years of the war.
Lenin was only interested in the Russian revolution and
did not visualize any further revolutionary process.
Stalin concentrated on a strongly nationalist version
of
Communism.
Stalin contributed more fundamentallyto Marxist theory.
Their views did not differ.
Chapter 29
5.
'
The World between the Wars: Revolutions, Depression, and Authoritarian
The policies of SunYat-sen and Mao Zedongdiffered prima-
rily in
(A)
advance
Sun's focus on urban and industrial interests and Mao's
commitment to the peasantry.
(B)
Sun's alliance
to do
(C)
with the Soviet Union and Mao's refusal
so.
Sun's alliance with the warlords and Mao's alliance
with
the fapanese.
(D)
Sun's commitment to Daoism and Mao's commitrhent
to Marxism.
6.
The May the Fourth Movement
(A)
marked the emergence of Mussolini as an important
fascist leader.
(B) expressed the nationalist fervor of Chinese students.
(C) took its name from the date of the first Wafd demonstrations in Egypt.
(D)
was opposed to the New Deal, whose first initiatives
were introduced on that date in 1933.
Free-Response Question
Compare the impact of the Great Depression on tlvo of the following regions: Latin America, East Asia, Western Europe, the
USSR
?
7. Which of the following factors limited
(A)
Response 7Zs
fapanese economic
prior to World War II?
continued dependence on relatively few export
products
(B) low population growth
(C) the failure of the agricultural economy
(D) rapidly increasing wages in the worKorce
(E) inability to produce the most advanced machinery