Western Civilization II

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“POLITICAL EXPERIMENTS

OF THE 1920s”

Post-War France

• The human losses in the war deeply affected France because of a population growth slowdown that had begun in the mid-19^th century.

• Robbed of the flower of its youth, the Third Republic reflected in its political life and foreign policy a country ruled by an aging leadership that sought comfort in its rich past.

• Following World War I, France will go through many changes politically and culturally.

The Bloc National, 1919-1924

• The election of November 1919 represented a momentary shift rightward with the moderate-conservatives winning almost two-thirds of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies.

• The new government, headed by Premier Alexandre Millerand, was a coalition known as the Bloc national.

• Aristide Briand replaced Millerand in January of 1921, but was removed a year later because of lack of firmness on the German reparations question and was succeeded by Raymond Poincare.

France’s Economy in Turmoil

• France had borrowed heavily during the war and spent great sums afterwards to rebuild its devastated economy.

• Unfortunately, it relied on German reparations to fund many of these costs.

• Problems with these repayments created a financial crisis that saw the French public debt increase accompanied by a steady decline in the value of the franc.

Franco-German Differences

• Growing Franco-German differences over Germany’s willingness to meet its debt payments created friction between both countries and toppled the government of Aritide Briand.

• In December, 1922, Poincare declared Germany in default on its reparations payments.

• In January, France and Belgium occupied the Ruhr.

• Efforts to obtain payments in kind via Franco-Belgium operation of the Ruhr’s mines and factories failed because of passive resistance by German workers in the area.

• The Ruhr’s occupiers gained little more financially in payments than they had through normal means, and found the cost of occupation expensive.

– The French government raised taxes 20%.

The Cartel des Gauches
(1924-1926)

• Poincare’s Ruhr occupation policy had divided French voters, while tax increases helped defeat the Bloc National in the May, 1924 elections.

• A Radical/Socialist coalition, the Cartel des Gauches had majority control of the Chamber.

• It selected, Edouard Herriot, a Radical leader, as Premier.

• France’s ailing economy was plagued by a declining France and inflation.

• Herriot was removed from office due to his lack of success in invigorating the French economy.

Briand, as Foreign Minister

• Briand, dominated French foreign policy until 1932.

• Briand pursued a policy of reconciliation with Germany and better relations with Europe’s other pariah, the U.S.S.R.

• France granted diplomatic recognition to Soviet Russia in 1924, though relations quickly worsened because of the difficulty in gathering the tsarist debt question resolved and the Soviet’s use of their Paris embassy for espionage activities.

The Union Nationale
(1926-1928)

• The most crucial domestic problem faced by the Carte des Gauches was the declining franc, which by 1926 was only worth one-tenth of its prewar value.

• Its fall caused a political crisis so severe that the country had six cabinets over a nine month period,

• Consequently, on July 15, 1926, Briand resigned his premiership, succeeded by Poincare,who formed a Union National cabinet that had six former premiers in it.

• This move was backed by several different factions in France.

The Franc Issue

• To resolve the franc problem, the chamber granted Poincare special authority.

• Over the next two years, he dramatically raised taxes and was able to get capital that had been taken out of the country reinvested in government bonds or other areas of the economy.

• By 1928, the franc had risen to 20% of its prewar value, and Poincare was considered a financial miracle worker.

• Importunately, the political and psychological scars left by the crisis would haunt France for two more decades.

The U.S.S.R.

The Polish-Soviet War

• The new Soviet Union saw various forms of turmoil after the Brest-Litovsk Treaty was signed.

• First it was involved in a Civil War between the Reds (Communists) and the Whites (Tsarists).

• The new Polish state under Marshal Joszef Pilsudski sought to take advantage of the Civil War in Russia to retake territory lost to Russia during the Polish partitions in the late 18^th century.

• Polish forces invaded the Ukraine on April 25 and took Kiev two weeks later.

• A Soviet counteroffensive reached Warsaw by mid-August, but was stopped by the Poles.

• Both sides concluded an armistice on October 12 and signed the Treaty of Riga on March 12, 1921 that placed Poland’s border east of the Curson Line.

Domestic Policy and Upheaval

• In order to provide more food to Russia’s cities, the Soviet government implemented a “War Communism” program that centered around forced grain seizures and class war between “Kulaks” (middle class peasants) and other.

• All major industry was nationalized.

• These policies triggered rebellions against the seizures that saw the amount of land under cultivation and the total grain produced drop between 1918 – 1921.

Results of the “War Communism”

• The Civil War and the War Communism had brought economic disaster and social upheaval throughout the country.

• On March 1, 1921, as the Soviet leadership met to decide on policies to guide the country in peace, a naval rebellion broke out at the Kronstadt naval base.

• The Soviet leadership sent Trotsky to put down the rebellion which he did brutally by March 18^th.

The New Economic Policy

• The Kronstadt rebellion strengthened Lenin’s resolve to initiate new policies approved at the X Party Congress that would end grain seizures and stimulate agricultural production.

• Termed the “New Economic Policy” (NEP)

– The government maintained control over the “Commanding Heights” of the economy (foreign trade, transportation and heavy industry).

– It also would open sections to limited capitalist development.

• It required the peasants to pay the government a fixed acreage tax, and allowed them to sell the surplus for profit.

• By 1927, production was back up to 1913 levels but was limited to further growth due to outdated equipment.

The Death of Lenin

• Vladamir Ilyich Lenin, the founder of the Soviet State, suffered a serious stroke on May 26, 1922 and a second in December of that same year.

• As he faced possible forced retirement or death, he composed a secret “testament” that surveyed the strengths and weaknesses of his possible successor, Stalin who he feared would abuse power.

• Unfortunately, his third stroke prevented him from removing Stalin from his position as General Secretary.

• Lenin died on Jan. 21, 1924.

The Rise of Josef Stalin

• Josef Visarionovich Dzugashvili (Stalin) was born in the Georgian village of Gori.

• He became involved in Lenin’s Bolshevik movement in his 20s and became Lenin’s expert on minorities.

• Intimidated by the Party’s intellectuals, he took over numerous and in some cases, seemingly unimportant Party organizations after the Revolution and transformed them into important bases of power.

– Politburo (ran the country

– Orgburo (appointed people to positions within the Politburo)

– Isnpectorate (attempted to eliminate Party corruption)

– Secretariat (Set the Politburo agenda)

• Stalin served as the Party’s General Secretary after 1921.

Leon Trotsky

• Lev Davidovich Bronstein (Trotsky) was a Jewish intellectual active in Menshevik revolutionary work, particularly in the 1905 Revolution.

• He joined Lenin’s movement in 1917, and soon became his right-hand man.

– Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet

– Headed the early Brest-Litovsk negotiating team

– Served as Foreign Commissar

– Was “Father” of the Red Army.

• A brilliant organizer and theorist, Trotsky was also brusque, and some felt, overbearing.

The Struggle for Power
(1924-25)

• The death of Lenin in 1925 intensified a struggle for control of the Party between Stalin and Trotsky and their respective supporters.

• Initially, the struggle, which began in 19234, appeared to be between three men.

– Kamenev (Head of the Moscow Soviet)

– Zinoviev (Party chief in Petrograd.

– Trotsky

• The former two allied with Stalin, presenting a formidable opposition group to Trotsky.

The Fall of Trotsky

• Initially, the struggle centered around Trotsky’s accusation that the trio was drifting away from Lenin’s commitment to the revolution and “Bureaucratizing” the Party.

• Trotsky believed in the theory of “permanent revolution” that blended an ongoing commitment to world revolution and build socialism with the development of a heavy industrial base in Russia.

• Stalin responded with the concept of “Socialism in One Country” that committed the country to building up its socialist base regardless of the status of the world revolution.

Trotsky on the Attack

• In the fall of 1924, Trotsky attacked Zinoviev and Kamenev for the drift away from open discussion in the Party and for not supporting Lenin’s initial scheme to seize power in November 1917.

• As a result, Trotsky was removed as Commissar of War on Jan. 16, 1925 while two months later the Party accepted “Socialism in One Country” as its official governing doctrine.

• Zinoviev and Kamenev fearing Stalin changed their support to the “Permanent Revolution.” and Trotsky.

• Trotsky now stood ready to take on Stalin.

The Struggle for Power
(1925-27)

• The XIV Party Congress demoted both Zinoviev and Kamenev within the Party.

• A number of Stalin supporters were added to the Politburo as well as the Central Committee.

• All three men will lose their positions within the government and will end up in exile.

• At the XV Party Congress, Stalin was now firmly in charge and instituted his plan for the collectivization of farms in the Soviet Union.

Soviet Constitutional Development

• Soviet Russia adopted two constitutions in 1918 and again in 1924.

– The first constitution created the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR).

• Reflected the ideas of Lenin.

• Was named the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922.

– The second constitution was similar to the earlier constitution but reflected the changes brought about by the creation of the USSR.

• The overall organization of the government was revised.

Foreign Policy (1918-1929)

• The basis of Soviet Foreign policy during this period was that of the expansion of communism throughout the world.

• Founded in 1919, the Soviet-controlled Comintern (Third International or Communist International) sought to coordinate the revolutionary activities of communist parties abroad.

• Though it often conflicted with Soviet diplomatic interests, it was promoted by the government.

• It became an effectively organized body in 1924 and was completely Stalinized by 1928.

Italy

• Like other countries that had fought in the World War, Italy had suffered greatly and gained little.

• Its economy, very weak even before the war broke out, relied heavily upon small family agriculture which contributed 40% of the country’s GNP in 1920.

• Consequently, many of the social, political, and economic problems that plagued the country after the war could not be blamed solely on the conflict itself.

Italian Politics (1918-1919

• As a result of growing discontent over the country’s troubled economy, the Italian public looked to the parties that offered the most reasonable solutions.

• Strengthened by universal suffrage and new proportional representation in Parliament, the Socialists doubled the number of seats to 156 in the Chamber of Deputies in 1919.

• The new Catholic People’s Party gained 99 seats.

• The former party had little faith in the current state and longed for its downfall, while the latter mixed conservative religious ideals with a desire for political moderation.

• Most importantly, no strong majority coalition emerged in this or the Parliament elected in 1921 that was able to deal effectively with the country's numerous problems.

Government of Giovanni Giolitti

• From June 9, 1920 until June 26, 1921, Italy’s Premier was Giovanni Giolitti, a gifted musician and pre-war figure who had dominated Italian politics between 1901 and 1914.

• His tactics, to resolve Italy’s international conflicts and stay aloof of the domestic conflicts, exacerbated the country's problems.

• The Socialists took advantage of this atmosphere and promoted a series of strikes and other labor unrest in August and September of 1920.

• The unrest became violent and divided the country and the Socialist Party.

• Giolitti let the strikes run their course and worked successfully to lower the government’s deficit by 50%.

Benito Mussolini and Italian Fascism

• Benito Mussolini, named by his Socialist father after the Mexican revolutionary Benito Juarez, was born in 1883.

• After a brief stint at teaching, he went to Switzerland to avoid military service but returned and became active in Socialist politics.

• In 1912 he became editor of the Party’s newspaper, Avanti.

• Several months after the outbreak of the World War, he broke with the party over involvement in the war, and began to espouse nationalistic ideas that became the nucleus of his fascist movement.

Mussolini After the War

• Mussolini was drafted into military service in 1915 and was badly wounded two years later.

• After recuperating, he went back to writing his newspaper, where he blended his ideas of socialism and nationalism.

• Following the war, he formed the Fascio di Combattmento (Union of Combat) in Milan on March 23, 1919.

– Initially, Mussolini had few followers but as the fear of socialism spread, he gained support.

• Italians started to believe that only Mussolini could bring stability and prosperity back to Italy.

The Growth of Fascism

• Fascism’s most significant growth came in the midst of the Socialist unrest in 1920.

• Strengthened by large contributions from wealthy industrialists, Mussolini's black suited Squadristi attacked Socialists, communists, and eventually the government itself.

• Mussolini's followers won 35 seats in the legislative elections in May 1921, and toppled the Giolitti cabinet.

• The center of Fascist strength was in the streets of northern Italy, which Mussolini's followers, through violence, came to control.

• Mussolini now transformed his movement into the Fascist Party, dropped his socialist views, and began to emphasize predominance of Italian nationalism.

Mussolini Gains Power

• In 1922, the Fascists gained control of the cities of Milan and Bologna.

• In response Socialist leaders called for nationwide strikes, which Mussolini and his followers put down in less than 24 hours.

• On October 24, 1922, Mussolini told followers that if he was not given power, he would “March on Rome.”

• Three days later Fascists gained control of several more cities.

• The government attempted to declare martial law, but King Victor Emmanuel III would not approve it.

• On October 29, the king asked Mussolini to form a new government as Premier of Italy.

Mussolini’s Consolidation of Power

• Mussolini built a government made up of a number of sympathetic parties.

– Mussolini formed a coalition cabinet that included all major parties except the Communists and the Socialists.

• He assured the Chamber of Deputies that his government intended to respect personal liberties but with “dignity and firmness…,”

• His government was approved by a 306 to 116 vote and 9 days later the Chamber granted him quasi-dictatorial powers for a year.

Elections of 1924

• In violence marred elections on April 6, 1924, the Fascists gained 60% of the popular vote and two-thirds of the Chamber’s seats.

• The Socialist leader and member of the Chamber, Giacomo Matteotti attacked the Fascists for their strong-arm tactics during the election.

• Several days later, Fascists supporters kidnapped and murdered him.

• Italy was stunned by this event, and Mussolini was vulnerable but Victor Emmanuel refused to dismiss him form office.

Consolidation of the Dictatorship

• On Jan. 5, 1925, Mussolini accepted responsibility for events of the past year.

• What followed however, was a reign of terror that eliminated many of his opponents.

• Throughout the rest of 1925 and 1926, Mussolini will continue to expand his power, gradually taking over the reigns of the government from the Chamber.

• An unsuccessful assassination attempt, prompted the formation of the “Law for the Defense of the State,” which established a special court to deal with political crimes.

The Fascist Party

• In December, 1922, Mussolini created a Grand Council of Fascism made up of the Party’s principle leaders.

• By 1928, the Grand Council became the most important organ of government in Italy.

• The structure of the Fascist Party did not reach final form until November 12, 1932.

– It was defined as a “Civil militia” with the Duce (Mussolini) as its head.

• The Fascists took over complete control of the government as well as many youth organizations in Italy

– Giovane Italiane (girls 12 and up)

– Avanguardisti (boys 14-18)

England 1918-1922

• Like most other European powers that emerged from the First World War, England had a set of problems unique to its status as a nation absolutely dependent upon trade and commerce for its economic well-being.

• With the war at an end, the Coalition government of David Lloyd George held the first parliamentary elections since 1910.

– Known as the “Coupon” or “khaki” elections, the question of victory, the nature of the settlement with Germany, and the Prime Minister himself were the election's burning issues.

– Before the election was held, the People’s Act granted women over 30 the right to vote.

– George and his Conservative Party won by a landslide.

The Post War Economy

• Afterwards, England enjoyed an economic boom fueled by government policies and economic production based on pre-war conditions.

• Unfortunately, government retrenchment, blended with tax increases and over production resulted in a severe recession, by the end of 1921.

• It began in 1920 with almost 700,000 unemployed by the end of that year and jumped to 2 million within months.

– Until the Depression, unemployment averaged 12% annually.

– This resulted in the passage of the Unemployment Insurance Acts of 1920 and 1922 and the construction of 200,000 subsidized housing units.

Politics (1922-1924)

• These problems caused the Conservatives to withdraw from Lloyd George’s coalition.

• Andrew Bonar-Law replaced him as head of a new Conservative government, though ill health forced him to resign in 1923, followed briefly by Stanley Baldwin.

• Continued unemployment and labor problems coupled with a decline to adopt more protectionistic trade policies resulted in a significant drop in support for the Conservatives in the elections of November, 1923.

• Baldwin resigned, followed in office by Ramsey MacDonald, head of the Labour Party.

– His party only lasted nine months, and fell principally because of his efforts to establish formal ties with Russia.

England and Stanley Baldwin

• Baldwin will return as Prime Minister in 1925.

• The year saw an economic turnaround with increases in both wages and prices.

• Baldwin was able to control various labor strikes during the mid 20s.

– In 1927 he supported the passage of the Trade Union Act, which outlawed various forms of strikes.

• Baldwin’s government also passed social legislation such as the Widows’, Orphans, and Old Age Pensions Act in 1925.

• In foreign affairs, Baldwin cancelled the 1924 commercial agreement with the Soviet Union.

Weimar Germany

• The dramatic collapse of the German war effort in the second half of 1918 ultimately created a political crisis that forced the abdication of the Kaiser and the creation of the German Republic on November 9, 1918.

• The first Chancellor was Friedrich Ebert, the Majority Socialist leader.

• On November 22, state leaders agreed to support a temporary government until elections could be held for a nationally elected legislature, which would draw up a constitution for the new republic.

The Provisional Government

• Elections for the new National Constituent Assembly, which was to be based on proportional representation, gave no party a clear majority.

• A coalition of the Majority Socialists, the Catholic Center Party, and the German Democratic Party (DDP) dominated the new assembly.

• On Feb. 11, 1919, the assembly met in the historic town of Weimar and selected Friedrich Ebert President of Germany.

• Two days later, Phillip Scheidermann formed the first Weimar Cabinet and became its first Chancellor.

Problems of the Weimar Republic

• The new government faced a number of serious domestic problems that severely challenged or undercut its authority.

– Acceptance of the Frieddensdiktat “the dictated peace.”

– The violent Communist Spartikist Rebellion of 1919 in Berlin.

– The brief communist takeover of Bavaria.

• The territorial, manpower, and economic losses suffered during and after the war, coupled with a $30.4 billion reparations debt, had severe impact on the German economy and society.

Inflationary Problems

• In an effort of good faith based on hopes of future reparation payment reductions, Germany borrowed heavily and made payments in kind to fulfill its early debt obligations.

• The result was a spiral of inflation later promoted by the Weimar government to underline Allied insensitivity to Germany’s plight, that saw the mark go from 8.4 to the dollar in 1919 to 7,000 marks to the dollar by December, 1922.

• After the Allied Reparations Commission declared Germany in default on its debt, the French the Belgians occupied the Ruhr on January 11, 1923.

German Resistance

• Chancellor Wilhelm Cuno encouraged the Ruhr’s Germans passively to resist the occupation, and printed worthless marks which dropped from 40,000 to the dollar in January 1923 to 4.2 trillion to the dollar eleven months later.

• The occupation ended on September 26, and helped prompt stronger Allied sympathy to Germany’s payment difficulties, though the inflationary spiral had severe economic, social, and political consequences.

Weimar Politics, 1919-1923

• Germany’s economic and social difficulties deeply affected its infant democracy.

– From February 1919 to August 1923, the country had six Chancellors.

• In the aftermath of the Kapp Putsch, conservative demands for new elections resulted in a June defeat of the ruling coalition that saw the Democrats (DDP) lose seats to the German National People’s Party (DVP), headed by Gustav Stresemann and the Majority Socialists lose seats to the more reactionary Independent Socialists.

• Conservative Germans blamed the Weimar coalition for the hated Versailles “Diktat” with its war guilt and reparations terms, while leftist voters felt the government had forgotten its social and revolutionary ideals.

The Policies of Stresemann

• The dominant figure in German politics from 1923 to 1929 was Gustav Stresemann, the founder and leader of the DVP.

• Though he served as Chancellor fro August 12 to November 23, 1923, his prominence derives from his role as Foreign Minister from November 1923 to his death in 1929.

– In 1926 he received the Nobel Peace prize for his work.

• Stresemann reestablished the value of the German currency by establishing a new currency called the Rentenmark.

• He promoted the end of passive resistance in the Ruhr area.

• Worked with the Allies to renegotiate the debt repayment of Germany.

• The crowning achievement of Stresemann’s efforts to restore Germany to normal status in the European community was the Locarno Pact, December 1, 1925.

Weimar Politics, 1924-1928

• The elections of 1924 saw gains for both the Communists with 3,700,000 votes and the Nazis Party with almost 2,000,000 votes.

• In 1925, Paul von Hindenburg was elected president of the government.

– Hindenburg vowed to protect the Weimar government and its constitution.

• The elections of 1928 saw greater gains for the Social Democrats, getting almost one-third of the popular vote.

– The Nazis lost one seat in the Reichstag while the Communists gained seats.