Key ideologies of interwar period

Communism

• Founder - Karl Marx

  • 1948, Marx + friend Friedrich Engels published ‘The Communist Manifesto’

  • Argued that ‘all history is the history of class struggles’ - that history = series of struggles between those with/without economic & political power

• Communist theory proposes idea - under capitalism, the relationship between the two major social class = exploitative, and can only be resolved through a revolution

• 2 social classes:

  • The proletariat - majority of population + must sell their labour to survive

  • The bourgeoisie - small minority + derives profit from employing the working class

• Communist governments typically involve state ownership (government ownership) of property, industry, education, agriculture, and transport

• Proposes society where the benefits of labour = shared equally + eliminated class system through the redistribution of wealth

• Goal - allocate resources ‘from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs’

Fascism

• Totalitarian society = government/group/individual has absolute control over the people + all aspects of public and private lives

• Fascism = specific type of totalitarianism

• Features:

  • One strong leader (dictator)

  • Extreme nationalism

  • Suppression of opposition with violence

  • Anti-democracy ideas

  • Anti-communist ideas

Militarism

• Great or excessive influence on the political process by the military

• A militarist state relies on force to achieve economic and political goals

Isolationism

• Policy of isolating one’s nation from involvement with others countries

• Seek to serve own interests (not becoming involved with politics, joining alliances, or making economic commitments, etc.)

Liberal democracy

• Form of government combining ideas of liberal political philosophy + organisation of a democracy

• Recognises rights and freedoms of individuals + allows them to elect governments through free and fair elections

• Liberal elements:

  • Separation of powers into branches of government to ensure that no branch = too powerful

  • Rule of law in everyday life - principle that the law applies to everybody equally

  • Equal protection of human rights, civil liberties, political freedoms for all citizens

  • Free market (capitalist) economy with private property

• Democratic elements:

  • Free and fair elections

  • Universal suffrage (right to vote to all adults regardless of gender, race, etc.)

Communist Russia

• Example: Russia

  • First state to adopt communism, after Russian Revolution 1917

  • The Tsar (monarch) forced to abdicate - entire royal family killed by revolutionaries

  • Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik (Communist) Party took control of Russia in 1917

  • Marx-inspired policies (private trading banned, grain requisitioning units staked with confiscating grain in rural areas to bring to cities, industry nationalised (seized by government), rationing of goods introduced)

Fascist Italy

• Example: Italy

  • Benito Mussolini founded the Nationalist Fascist party in 1920

  • Militaristic and nationalist ideas

  • Support from ex-soldiers and those who feared a communist revolution (landowners, industrialists, middle class)

  • Mussolini consolidated power through his secret police + outlawing labour strikes + a range of legal and illegal means

Militarism in Japan

• Example: Japan

  • After WWI, Japan = relatively new to democracy, only introduced a Parliament in 1889

  • In this limited democracy, there was a PM + cabinet who were appointed by the Emperor (supreme leader of army + navy)

  • Emperor = sovereign authority in Japan, however old aristocratic families who were closely allied to Japanese military and navy possessed significant power

  • Japan lacked raw materials + resources needed to support improving agriculture and expanding manufacturing + land required to grow sufficient food

  • Shortage of land - Japan’s territorial expansion

  • During Great Depression, Japan suffered heavily (dependent on global trade)

  • Army pushed for aggressive territorial expansion to control economic situation

  • 1931, army suggested Manchuria as target (seen as weakly controlled by China)

    • Invaded despite government not giving permission

  • Invasion created conditions to allow military to take control of Japanese government

    • Led to unprecedented period of territorial aggression + invasion of places in South-east Asia through 1930s + 1940s

    • Military took over politics completely + established military dictatorship - those who opposed the regime = arrested

Isolationism in US

• Example: America

  • Long-standing belief in America = the entanglement in Europe’s problems leads to getting the USA into trouble

  • Thomas Jefferson (US President, 1801-1809) - ‘peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none’

  • US joined WWI on Allies’ side (Britain, France, Russia) April 1917 - played key role in helping Britain + France win war, but suffered heavy troop losses (116,000 US deaths)

  • Americans - emotional and financial costs - began to feel as though the war effort = mistake

  • End of WWI - strong desire among US public to take isolationist approach to world affairs

  • President Woodrow Wilson - advocate for internationalist approach + establishment of League of Nations for international cooperation + resolution of disputes

  • Wilson = unable to convince us public of this idea + Congress voted against US joining LoN (Wilson’s idea in the first place)

  • US looks measures to restrict immigration + focused on improving economy, resisting binding international commitments

    • Immigration Quota Act of 1921 - limited immigration from each country to 3% of total number who immigrated in 1920 + yearly limit of 350,000

    • Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930 - introduced protectionist trade tariffs on overseas imports, making locally produced goods cheaper - tariffs applied 20,000+ products

    • US lowered interest rates on European war debts (Europe owed US approx. $10 billion) - refused to forgive debts entirely

Liberal Democracy in Britain

• Example: Britain

  • Most of interwar period, British King = George V (reigned 1910-1936)

  • Under Britain’s form of Constitutional Monarchy - day-to-day government administration = run by PM (leads elected government)

  • Monarch - has important role - opening and dissolving Parliament + appointing PM to lead government + approving bills before becoming law

  • Full male suffrage in Britain = only achieved in 1918 (property qualification removed saying that only men with property could vote)

    • Women gained voting rights 1928