1. The Great Depression and the Authoritarian Response
C30
EQ: How did the Great Depression impact the world and in what ways did different nations react to it?

2. The Advent of the Great Depression
Fact: The Stock Market Crash in the US greatly affected the economic climate of the world in 1929
Fiction: IT WAS NOT THE SOLE CAUSE OF THE GREAT DEPRESSION, JUST A SPARK
Fact: Over production and over-speculation in industry in the Western world, coupled with mounting war debts in Europe and the inabilities of dying monarchical orders to rebuild Europe over the 1920s were the true driving forces behind the Great Depression

3. Causation of Depression
Step 1: World War I had a ripple effect on the world economy in the 1920s…while the US prospered immensely, Europe did not, causing an imbalance
Step 2: Farmers in the West and the European colonies overproduced, causing food surpluses, price hikes and their own incomes to fall
Step 3: Everyone was in debt to each other and everyone wanted to be repaid
Step 4: Everybody raised their tariffs to protect their economy, making trade impossible
Step 5: Industry began to decline since goods were unable to be sold/bought by consumers

4. The Spark and the Fire
The stock market crash of October 29, 1929 was the spark that set forth the impending depression
Banks failed in the US, followed by the swift decline in production, trade and loss of jobs…Europe followed suit with the same results…it has been estimated that 1/3 of the working population in the world was unemployed at the beginning of the Depression…many resorted to begging and vagrancy
Economic depressions were not a new thing, but the intensity and length of this event were unlike any felt by Western society before…western governments had no ways, no real good plans…many were forced to take active roles in their economies
People sought escape from poverty…migration reached an all time high worldwide in the 1930s as people moved anywhere to raise their status…those who did not move sought fantasy in literature and movies of the time to distract them from their sorrows

5. Responses
Most early responses by governments failed miserably, leading to increased discontent with ruling parties in various nations
There are two general political effects:
1) parliamentary governments became increasingly incapacitated with dealing with problems of Depression (US, England and France)…eventually socialist measures had to be incorporated to cause change
2) parliamentary governments were overthrown (Italy, Germany and Spain) and replaced with totalitarian governments (more later)

6. The New Deal
A lil US History review…Herbert Hoover’s laissez faire policies soured the American voting public who elected FDR in 1932 with the promise of a NEW DEAL
FDR proceeded in the first 100 days of his office to get government actively involved in fixing the shattered US economy…banks were closed, then reformed…government agencies offered jobs to the unemployed…steps were taken to modernize backwards areas of the country
Critical developments in FDR’s second New Deal were socialist ideas of a welfare state and social security
The New Deal DID NOT solve the Great Depression in America, BUT it helped rebuild the confidence of the average American in their Democratic system, avoiding the plagues of dictators that would befall European nations

7. 1930’s “-ISMS”
Outside of France and Britain, several new political philosophies gained steam
FASCISM - (from C29) authoritarian leadership devoted to nationalism rather than capitalism or socialism
NAZISM – National Socialist organization, with similarities to Fascism advocating German nationalism (unity of all Germans everywhere, even if they were the minority)
TOTALITARIANISM – absolute direct rule of the people, no party politics, government control of capital and direct economic reform (quasi socialist)
Each system’s reaction to the Great Depression was to establish imperial territorial control over states lost as a result of WWI, establish welfare states which parliaments in each country refused to do, AND most importantly, speak ardently as to who represented the greatest threats to solidarity within each nation (For Germany, it was Jews…for Italy, just about every other Imperialist nation controlling African territory…for the Soviet Union, it was anything that was anti-worker)

8. Reaction to and Spread of Ideas
Both the Nazis and Fascists in Europe received little attention from the West (US, France and Britain)…
Both proclaimed appeasement, meaning Western nations were content to allow territorial expansion by both countries in exchange for peace (Germany expanding territory in Austria and Czechoslovakia while Italy occupied Ethiopia)
Meanwhile, Fascist ideas found their way into Spain as civil war broke out in 1936, with General Francisco Franco establishing an authoritarian (not wholy Fascist but similar to a LA military dictatorship) state in Spain for the next 30 years

9. Latin America and the Depression
Latin America was hit hard by the Great Depression (losing trading partners) but responded with political reforms and an effort to gain greater economic independence
Cut off during WWI, LA nations experienced industrial growth from ISI (import substitution industrialization)…most was in the form of textile production
Real wages and poverty STILL festered though despite this growth…population growth exploded still, as immigrants and working class families emerged AND urban centers came to dominate the economic landscape

10. Latin America and the Depression
The growth of the labor class forced many traditional “land aristocratic” governments in Argentina, Chile and Brazil to open up the political process
Both the traditional educated elites and the urban laborers forged alliances, but each attempt in various nations was met with great opposition by military caudillos, peasants and even bandits who desired a return to export only capitalism (problem is, who would they export to?)
Add to this mix, a growing fervor of socialist ideas brought by immigrants, many who resorted to anarchy, others who resorted to syndicalism, using organized labor to create political forces…many labor strikes broke out as a result of the latter, focused on changing labor conditions and improving pay
Tragic Week, Argentina 1919 = government repression against these laborers mainly purported as immigrant/foreign insurgents bent on toppling order in Argentina

11. Latin America and the Depression
By the 1930s, the liberal governments of the 19th C began to show failure…the middle class had forged alliances with elites and the military rather than expressing individual democratic beliefs as was done in the West
The “intelligentsia” in LA (artists and writers) reached out to Europe for inspiration and began to form Socialist parties, particularly after the Russian Revolution of 1917
Socialist parties were not the only political entities decrying the unity of the middle and upper class elites…even the Roman Catholic church denounced this unity as “unholy”, presenting secularization in capitalist society

12. Latin American Response to the Crash
Social reform movements made great headway in the 1930s
A corporatist movement evolved emphasizing the organic nature of society and making the state as mediator in disputes
In short, it was quasi-Fascism, state control over all aspects of the economy, w/ strict authoritarian rule
The most successful form was instituted in Mexico by Lázaro Cárdenas…through land reforms known as ejidos, millions of acres of land were redistributed into communal farms AND oil production was wholly nationalized into a state controlled monopoly, NO foreign influence

13. Japan’s Response to the Depression
Japan was hit hard by the Depression BUT they easily recovered thanks to their ever expanding imperialist desires of the government (Manchuria was completely procured by 1931)
Japan was operating under a new policy of militarization… by the end of the 1930s, Japan’s government had been overtly influenced by military leaders to continue territorial expansion…China was thus invaded and most of its eastern territory conquered by 1938

14. Japan’s Instant Recovery
As it would do for the US, the build up to war reinvigorated the Japanese economy…the military government acted quickly in the 30s to increase government spending in manufacturing and food production…unemployment was virtually non-existent by 1936
The driving force behind Japan’s instant recovery was social nationalism, pride in rebuilding one’s country…the Japanese peoples ability to be self-sufficient instantly contributed to the change
Big corporations in Japan offered loyal workers lifetime job contracts, company entertainment (probably how karaoke got started ARGH), and other incentives to promote hard work and devotion (die kieretsu)
By the end of the 30s Japanese competition on the open market began to enrage the West, as Japan was now geared up and determined to establish a greater empire

15. The Soviet Union
Totalitarian Communism in the USSR helped it completely avoid the Depression (given that under Communism, a nation is meant to be wholly self sustaining)
Kulaks in Russia, who were still bent on capitalist trade, still owned (privately) a large portion of the farms and industries
Stalin had 2 simple goals: 1) make the USSR completely industrial and 2) do so under the complete control of the state (meaning eliminate the kulaks AND any foreign influences)

16. Soviet Economic Policies: Agriculture
In 1928, a massive collectivization program began in the agriculture sector, the goal being to create large state run farms rather than privately owned…the state pressured rural peasants to join these collectives in order to be controlled...any peasants who resisted were either starved or murdered
A main goal of collectivism was to further mechanize Russia’s agriculture sector (still largely without great advances in technology at this time)
Kulaks did resist these plans, many burning their farms, salting fields or killing livestock…in response, Stalin had many killed or deported to Siberia, numbers which today far outnumbered the deaths of the Holocaust
Collectivism wasn’t the biggest hit…it only provided minimal food supplies for the state, remaining as the USSR’s greatest weakness throughout its history

17. Soviet Economic Policies: Industry
Whereas agriculture was almost a failure, industry was a stunning success for the Soviet government
Stalin’s five year plans expressed priorities for industrial development as well as output goals and facility construction plans
The government sank money in building massive power plants, smelting factories and mining operations
The major focus was on heavy industry, producing military products and motorized vehicles while not really doing the job producing consumer goods (civilian vehicles, appliances, etc.)
The result of Soviet industry was inefficiency, wasting of resources and sever environmental degradation at the expense of the working populace

18. Results of Soviet Industrial Growth
There were incentives to loyal production (like Japan) and a rising nationalist fervor developed in support of the state…workers in the Communist state received welfare support AND labor unions (though government controlled and forbidden to strike) AND guaranteed protection of their job in time of illness and old age, bonuses for harder work and public recognition awards
Urban areas grew rapidly as many agriculture workers suffering on collectives made shifts to industrial production

19. Soviet Totalitarianism
Stalinist rule was harsh and oppressive…intellectuals who did not conform were sent to Siberian labor camps and many people spied on each other to rat them out to the government
Socialist realism, glorious artistic representation of workers, peasants and soldiers as heroes, dominated cultural life AND free scientific thinking was quashed
Great purges continued in the late 30s, as hundreds of people were forced to confess as dissidents or enemies of the state…many were either executed, or AGAIN sent to Siberia
Stalin’s executive committee, the Politburo, negligently followed his lead…also, many of the people they persecuted were military leaders, greatly weakening their standing army
As a result, Stalin reluctantly signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler to rebuild the Russian army with loyal leaders for impending war

20. Conclusions
The Depression clearly changed the world balance that had existed over the last century…the West was vulnerable, and new powers like Germany, Japan and the USSR emerged thanks to militaristic endeavors, some for brief shining moment
Meanwhile, revolution and disillusion existed in the colonial world, as many colonies begin nationalist movements towards independence in the 30s (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Persia (Iran), India)

21. This week… NO NOTES (Huh???)
Tuesday: Analysis of Social Realism (Document and Visual)
Wednesday/Thursday: You will work on graphic organizers and questions for this chapter that will supplant your usual notes
Friday: Test on C30, Graphic Organizers Due