TRN152: November 12th, The Inter-War Crisis.

Summary

The provided text is an excerpt from a book titled "The Inter-War Crisis," which examines the period of instability between World War I and World War II. The text focuses on the historical context surrounding this period, exploring the causes and consequences of the economic depression, the rise of totalitarian regimes, and the failure of international diplomacy. It delves into the social, cultural, and political changes of the era, analyzing how they contributed to a widespread sense of crisis among contemporaries. Through historical analysis and a collection of primary sources, the text reveals the complex and interconnected factors that shaped the tumultuous inter-war years.

A Culture of Despair

• The idea that the western world was in decline was exciting to those who wanted change, but for others it was a source of anxiety.

• The sense of decay showed in the widespread view of capitalism as terminally diseased and the thought that humanity would be unable to prevent another dark age.

• Simone Weil wrote in 1940 that barbarism, not progress, is the permanent and universal characteristic of humans throughout history.

• This despair in Western culture was dubbed "cultural despair" by historian Fritz Stern.

Racial Crisis

• The most extreme version of this cultural despair was the racial crisis, which alleged a threat to the white race from non-white peoples.

• This idea was widely seen in books in the 1920s and 1930s with titles like The Rising Tide of Colour and Le destin des races blanches.

• These books warned of the dangers of declining and degenerating white populations and encouraged demographic growth.

• Mussolini's Italy launched a "Battle for Births", which attempted to increase the birth rate, and passed laws against miscegenation in its East African empire.

• Many European countries promoted pro-natalist policies in the early 20th century.

  • France's National Alliance for the Increase of the French Population started in 1896.

  • France also passed tax laws in the 1920s to encourage large families.

  • A new Family Code in 1939 discouraged abortion and birth control.

  • Abortion became a capital offense in 1942 under the Vichy regime.

  • Germany similarly punished abortionists who served healthy ethnic German women.

  • Britain launched government commissions to examine the declining birth rate.

Women, Sex, and Moral Decline

• Women were often blamed for the "biological crisis", despite increased emancipation in the inter-war years.

• Many men and male-dominated institutions saw the emancipated woman as evidence of a decaying and immoral age.

The Threat of Irrationalism

• Many intellectuals felt a sense of crisis from the growing influence of irrationality and unreason.

• This fear was fueled by the ideas of thinkers like Gustave Le Bon, who argued that in crowds, individual reason was overtaken by primitive instincts.

• Critics of Bolshevism and fascism saw these fears realized in the prejudice and violence of these movements.

• This fear of irrationalism undermined a long-held belief in the power of reason.