hist 123c course reader excerpts

George Kennan, “Long Telegram” (1946)

• Kennan sent an 8000 word telegram from US Embassy in Moscow on aggressive nature of Stalin’s foreign policy

• Soviet worldview: leadership was deeply paranoid and believed it was in constant struggle with capitalism, viewed West as hostile and wanting to destroy communism, Marxist-Leninist ideology and traditional Russian insecurity

• Nature of soviet power: authoritarian and highly centralized, relied on control over info, repression of dissent, use of fear, regime would not cooperate with the West in any sincere way and saw compromise as weakness

• USSR Strategy: expanded influence indirectly (through subversion, propaganda, manipulation- rather than direct military action), opportunistic- pushed where there was weakness but backed off when faced with strong resistance

• Recommended US response- Containment: US should counter Soviet moves where they occur but avoid direct confrontation/war, focus on building strong, stable institutions in the West and in vulnerable countries to resist Soviet influence, Kennan believed internal contradictions of Soviet system would lead to its decay

Nuremberg Trials- Opening statement of the Prosecution by Brigadier General Telford Taylor (1946)

• Presented opening statement for the prosecution, detailing both the specific crimes committed by defendants and broader significance of the trial

• Argued that the Nazi defendants were not simply guilty because they lost a war, but because they committed crimes against humanity- enabled atrocities like mass murder

• Not acts of few crazed individuals, but part of broad, coordinate system involving leaders, businesses, and professionals who chose to serve evil

• Warned that holding them accountable was essential- not just for justice- but to prevent future crimes on that scale

Winston Churchill, “The Sinews of Peace” (1946)

• Defining moment of emerging Cold War- Churchill who had been voted out of office as British Prime Minister that year, gave a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, attended by US Pres Harry Truman

• Called on Americans and Western Europeans to maintain a unified front against Soviet threat

• Introduced term “iron curtain” that had descended across the continent

  • Behind the line lie nations in the Soviet sphere, all subject to Soviet influence and incr measure of control from moscow

  • Communist parties in eastern european states have become much more powerful, and are seeking to obtain totalitarian control, police govts prevailing

• Encouraged grand pacification (peace) of Europe, through UN

• Encouraged US and Britain to maintain relationship and work together to deter Soviet aggression: strong Western alliance

George C. Marshall, “The Marshall Plan” (1947)

• Speech given at Harvard by US Secretary of State George C. Marshall- signaled the Truman administration’s readiness to engage in a massive “European Recovery Program,” came to be known as the Marshall Plan

• Proposed massive American aid program to help rebuild Europe after WWII- US should offer economic assistance to any European country that needed it, because recovery was essential for peace and stability

  • Europe in crisis- ruined cities, broken economies, shortages of food, fuel, jobs

  • Without help, Europe would fall into chaos and hands of communists

  • US had obligation to step in

  • Offered aid to all european countries incl USSR and its allies, though Stalin rejected it

• 1948-1951: US distributed almost $13 bil to 17 European nations, stimulating economies of western and southern European and helping them resist communism and strengthen ties with US

Vaclav Havel, “The Power of the Powerless” (1979)

• One of most important political essays of cold war, esp from behind the iron curtain

• argues that in a totalitarian system like communist Czechoslovakia, ordinary people have more power that they realize if they choose to “live in truth” rather than accept lies

  • Totalitarianism survives because people go along out of fear, habit, or hopelessness, rather than true belief

  • If individuals stop participating in the lies, can weaken/overthrow system

• “The Greengrocer” example

  • Shopkeeper (greengrocer) put sign in his window: “Workers of the world, unite!”

  • Doesn’t believe in it, puts it up to avoid trouble

  • By doing so, helps maintain lie that everyone supports regime

  • If he refuses to put it up, making powerful political act and stops living in the lie

• True political change doesn’t come first from big revolutions, but from individuals quietly refusing to lie anymore

Czeslaw Milosz, “The Captive Mind” in “Looking to the West” (1953)

• Deep reflection on how intellectuals in Eastern Europe (esp post-WWII) came to accept/justify totalitarianism, particularly under Stalinist communism

• Many Eastern Europeans admired Western freedoms and prosperity but felt disillusioned because West seemed weak, divided, unable to understand horror of occupation and war they lived through

• Intellectuals, especially, were torn: envied western democracy, but living under communist regimes, often justified cooperating with new powers out of fear, cynicism, hope communism might “fix” society rather than true beliefs

• Many felt abandoned by the West after the Yalta Conference, where big powers divided Europe- dream of Western democracy felt unreachable

• Deep psychological self-justification when you betray your ideals to fit oppressive system—> explains why smart people could end up serving evil systems (not just rule through fear, but seduces the mind)

Mahatma Gandhi, “The Doctrine of the Sword” (1920) and “On Non-Violence”

• Doctrine of the Sword

  • Gandhi criticizes idea that violence (the sword) is for the best/only way to fight injustice

  • Using violence may seem quicker/easier, but corrupts both oppressor and oppressed

  • Instead calls for satyagraha- truth-force or soul-force, meaning resisting evil with courage, but without hatred or violence

• Non-Violence- The Greatest Force

  • Non-violence based on belief that all life is one- hurting another being is like hurting yourself

  • True nonviolence demands love, patience, forgiveness, understanding- even towards those who hurt you

  • Nonviolence based on belief that all life is one- hurting another being is like hurting yourself

Frantz Fanon, “The Wretched on the Earth” (1961)

• Book: Analyzed anti-imperial violence as a pathological response to a pathological system, and as a necessary therapy for the social maladies generated by colonialism

• Violence as a tool for liberation, colonization was maintained by violence so the only way for colonized people to reclaim humanity is by engaging in violence

• Challenges belief that violence is inherently evil, suggesting that in face of colonial oppression, it’s a necessary tool for breaking chains of oppression, cathartic and means of self-liberation

• Colonization leads to psychological trauma- internalized oppression, inferiority

• Now, can rebuild new, independent community based on shared experience of retaliation