HIST 1103-W9: Great Depression, Brazillian Authoritarianism, US Civil Rights

June 25th class.

RR: Speech by Joseph Stalin, “Building the Soviet Superpower”

What were Stalin’s goals and how did he set about trying to realize them in the interwar period?

• GOAL: kind of like Trump? MAGA, but MRGA! 

• Reference to building “tempo” or “movement” - like a wave of energy. “Must not be reduced!” 

• “Those who fall behind get beaten!” Almost competitive feelings of nationalism

• Uses repetition to hammer his point across (lists all the different countries ‘old Russia’ was beaten by’ like Mongols, Turkish, Polish/Lithuanian, British/French, Japanese)

  • Uses other powerful voices (ethos) with Lenin

• “That is why we must no longer lag behind.” Declared ‘old Russia’ as backward, weak, and dumb, basically.

• “Power’s in the hands of the working class, now we need to defend that.” 

Presenters

• Psychological pressure (not just outlining economic policy, addressing specific group and dismissing them) 

• Soviet Union can’t stop the “tempo” and falling behind

• Deliberately turns question into “lesson” on “national survival” 

  • Jungle law of capitalism - you’re weak and backwards if you don’t want to support me.

RR: “Mussolini Defines Fascism”

How does Mussolini define fascism in relation to classical liberalism and democracy? In his view, what are the attributes of fascism?

• Fascism: importance of the state ONLY. Interests of the individual are only relevant if they align w/ the state. ANTI-INDIVIDUALISTIC, “expresses the real essence of the individual”

  • Interesting notion of being “free” within the state. “A synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values” HMMMMM

• Separate from classical liberalism (“arose as a rxn to absolutism and exhausted its historical function”) - or essentially focused on the individual

• Separate from democracy; doesn’t equate “a nation to the majority” but “quality over quantity… expressing itself in a people as the conscience and will of the few, if not, indeed, of one…” 

  • So a cult, basically! “NOT A RACE, BUT A PEOPLE.” Interesting…

Presenters

• Invaluable to see into the mind of Mussolini and his motivations

• Opposed to liberalism “response to absolutism, individual more than the state”

  • Anti-individualistic, #state is life, redistribute resources evenly, etc (ideal, not realistic) 

  • “Democracy lowers itself to the majority, but doesn’t encompass everyone”

• Draws - eliminates class struggle, state is a unified people from one idea

RR: Julius Evola, The Revolt Against the Modern World: “Life and Death of Civilization”

According to Evola, what is a civilization “in the true, traditional sense of the word”? Why do you suppose Evola brings in examples from different civilizations to make his points?

• “Kings” at the top, “axis of light and eternity within the temporal framework” - similar to the Great Chain of Being during Shakespeare’s time, with God at the top and the king beneath him

• “the intimate, free, and effective dedication of one's entire life to traditional norms, even when a full understanding of their inner dimension was not present to justify such an adherence, was enough to acquire objectively a higher meaning: through obedience, faithfulness, and action in conformity with traditional principles and limitations an invisible force shaped such a life and oriented it toward that supernatural axis that in others (in those privileged few at the top of the hierarchy) existed as a state of truth, realization, and light.” (p. 1)

• Race is a facade from the “true race” and “Being” (or spirit) inside of us that prevents us from becoming “historical/what is shaped ‘from below’”? 

  • Also, civilization can be explained not by, but “through” blood??

Seems to be two components.

1. Anything external (race, gender, ethnicity, etc). Superficial, if you will. Can be mixed together and still called civilization.

2. The internal “root from above” and “spiritual” connection, what makes it it, if you get what I mean? Leads to dissolution. 

Traditional social order requires a leader above the others - allows obedience (not sterile, interesting) and participation effectively.

• Totalitarian regimes inevitably lead to chaos, no structure, anarchy. 

• Indo-Arayan tradition 

• China, Greece, Rome, Islam - all over the world, when they lose their “spiritual root” they break down (tradition, hierarchy - who’s at the top? Priests, warriors) self-serves neo fascists

• Time is cyclical, Traditionalists. They say it’s currently chaos - look who ends up at the top in the end (Traditionalists are usually people higher in the church or military) 

Interwar Era (1919-1939)

1. Instability (1919-24). Wars, unrest, instability, questioning

   1. Loose ends with trained men

2. Prosperity (1925-29) Roaring 20s! 

   1. Economic growth, consumerism, mass culture (capitalism, dependable, affordable car)

3. Great Depression (1930-9) “Dirty 30s” - lasting, extreme unemployment

   1. Economic downturn, extremist movements rise, collapse of international relations (LON tries to resolve disputes peacefully, 1931 Japan leaves), war

   2. Italy/USSR/Germany sees higher employment rates. Maybe they’re doing something right…

Feeling disillusioned/uncertain about what to do, religious movements/radical political ideologies are offering different roads forward. 100 year turnover, fascinating.

Big changes, ideas kickin’ around

Russian Civil War, recap on Socialism/Communism

• Response to Liberalism. Government is Communist party

• Property collectivized/owned by the state.

Bolsheviks consolidated power after 1917 Revolution

• 1% of pop., Lenin at the top, repressed opposition & cancelled foreign debts (thinking big, international view. SPREAD!!) Published diplomatic documents, forcibly made things communal

Civil War (Reds vs Whites) 1917-22

• Leon Trotsky organizes Red army, stops internal/foreign opposition (ruthless, Red Terror)

• White Russian opposition not organized - outside Pro-White Intervention strained relations for years to come (fight for survival). Eventually defeated in early 20s

Beginning of Soviet Project

NEP (New Economic Plan) outlined by Lenin, 1921 (response to strikes/protests)

• Private industry EXCEPT in banking, heavy industry, transportation, commerce

• Peasant farming legalized for $$, countryside stabilized 

• “We are a liberationist force” doesn’t work in a communist state. So USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) - give republics things they need (Affirmative Action Empire)

• Give representation in the capital, promote territory, boundaries, culture, language

EXAM Q: HOW DO THINGS CHANGE FROM TROTSKY TO STALIN? Go back and note differences

Lenin dies, RIP. Two factions emerge (Leon Trotsky, Joseph Stalin); latter prevails

• Bureaucratic/admin power

• Exiles Trotsky by 1929. New policies (Stalin calculating)

  • ‘Russification’

  • Purges, forced migrations, collectivization

  • Cyrillic & centralization 

• Scraps NEP and free market. FIVE YEAR PLANS.

  • Build up economy (State Planning Commission, Gosplan) - populations moved to suit state (minorities)-reduce chance of political trouble/fulfill economic function!

  • Economy grows 400% between 1928-1940, “100% employment” 

  •  Must catch up to other countries

  • “Tempo, tempo must not be stopped. Build, build, build, by Stalin”

Collectivization

• Peasants forced to work on farms “collectives” called “Dekulakization” (remove ‘wealthy’ peasants who resist)

  • Mass imprisonment, killing, exiled to Siberia, starvation

  • Ukraine Holodomor 2.5M starved to death

• 1.6M non-Russians died from forcible resettlement

Purges (1936-9)

• Elimination of enemies/opponents, NKVD (secret police); product of Stalin’s paranoia/thirst for power

• Order 00447, July 30, 1937 “repress former kulaks, criminals, anti-soviet elements”

• Quotas: execute 80k and sentence 193k, fulfilled FIVE TIMES OVER

Gulags = labor camps

• Prisoners as slave laborers (zeki) - high mortality rates, 14-16 hour work days, inadequate food, sadistic guards 

• Camps built from centers of power (Siberia). Colonize/develop w/ labor of internal enemies

BQ: What were some of the ideas and attitudes behind Italian Fascism? Why do you think people were attracted to Mussolini and to Fascism?
See: Italian Futurism, “the State > the Individual”

• State is more important than the individual, strength, obedience (charismatic, attractive to the people) 

• Build off the frustration and anger from WW1 results  
  

Italian Futurism - young, modern, virile, insurgent 

• Avant-garde, printed word, manifesto, poems, journals, visual performing arts, politics

• Wiping Russian elaborate coat of arms to something MODERN!

• Embrace of newness and technology (named a child Propeller)

Italy at War’s End - why so bitter?

• Heavy losses (250k civilian, military)

• Heavy debt

• Did not receive all territory promised (gains didn’t justify losses)

• Political instability (weak Liberal government, struggling economy, Left vs Right)

“Free State of Fiume” 

• WW1 settlement fueled Italian nationalism 

• Futurist/war hero Gabriel D’Annunzio + 2500 soldiers occupied Fiume

• Galvanized fascist movement in Italy

Benito Mussolini (1883-1945)

• Working-class family

• Aggressive child - bully, but intelligent

• Didn’t enjoy teaching career, got into Socialism, public speeches, journalism

• WW1 influence (went from socialist to radical nationalist)-brought politics of trenches to Italy

Rise to power (Mussolini/Fascism)

• Advocated for Italy’s dictatorship

• Organizes ‘fighting bands’ adopted symbols/salutes of Ancient Rome/Black shirts (look good, project power)

  • Liberal government does little to stop them, attacks leftists/trade unionists 

• Marches on Rome, 1922-demanded government yield, Mussolini prime minister

• Liked by landowners, upper/middle class (economic/political stability, national pride)

• Goodbye democracy, one-party rule (opposition shut down/killed) 

• Invades Ethiopia (Abyssinia), 1935

• Strength, shut down political left (vs Germany and race)

• Technology (mics, amplifiers) help with achieving strength. See: Mussolini’s palace.