THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND COMMUNIST RUSSIA

I. Legacy of WWI & Peace

A. By 1922, Germany unable to pay reparations

1. France occupied the heavily industrialized Ruhr valley, using mine and factories to collect money in place of reparations

2. Germany responded by printing more money, lowering the value and increasing inflation

3. Germany plagued with political unrest by those unhappy that Germany agreed to the Versailles Treaty

Map: Ruhr Valley

I. Legacy of WWI & Peace

B. 1924, the U.S. Dawes Plan reduced German reparation payments and based payments on the ability of Germany to pay

1. Included a loan of $200 million2. Heavy U.S. investment in Europe

C. 1925, Treaty of Locarno1. Allowed Germany into the League of

Nations

I. Legacy of WWI & Peace

2. Alsace-Lorraine returned to France3. Rhineland a neutral zone

D. Disarmament weak – League said to disarm “to the lowest point consistent with national safety” – nations not quick to disarm due to mutual lingering mistrust

II. The Great Depression

A. Domestic economies weak and increasingly controlled by governments

1. Countries plagued by war debts and reparation payments

2. Prices for agricultural goods declining due to over production

3. To protect economies, central and eastern Europeans countries closed borders off to trade and imposed tariffs

II. The Great Depression

B. Economies were international1. U.S. invested heavily in German bonds

and industries, which brought prosperity to all of Europe between 1924-1929

2. American economy booming, so investors pulled out of Germany to invest at home

a. Buying on margin (only paying 10% of cost at the time) led to a lot of buying and selling for profit – stock prices rose – when people lost confidence in the market, they sold in mass numbers

II. The Great Depression

3. October, 1929, crash of the stock market led to panicked withdrawal of money from German and European markets

4. Withdrawal of money weakened Germany and other European states

Primary Source: Newspaper

II. The Great Depression

C. Women’s roles and the family1. Women able to secure low paying jobs in

housekeeping or servants while men were unemployed – men resentful of this

2. Young men with nothing to do joined gangs

D. Government inability to fix bad conditions led some countries to be taken easily by Marxist doctrine and dictatorial solutions

Primary Source: Women Serving Soup

III. The World in Depression

A. Britain1. Suffering after WWI from a decline in the

steel, coal, and textile industry – led to unemployment

2. Labour Party replaced by Conservatives who provided low interest loans, devalued the pound, balanced the budget, and used protective tariffs

III. The World in Depression

3. Cambridge economist, John Maynard Keynes said that unemployment could be brought to an end by putting people back to work even if the government went into debt so that demand would go back up

4. Britain alleviated when it began its armament industries again

III. The World in Depression

B. France1. Not hit hard until 1932 due to its

balanced economy2. Depression led to political chaos – leftist

communist, socialist, and radicals formed Popular Front party

a. Instituted collective bargaining, 40-hour work week, two week paid vacations, and minimal wages

b. Did not solve conditions of depression

III. The World in Depression

C. Germany1. Weimar Republic established in 19182. Economic troubles led the German

people to dislike the Weimar government, which gave rise to extremist parties

III. The World in Depression

D. U.S.1. Franklin D. Roosevelt brought in the New

Deal, a program of government intervention in the economy

2. Public works projects put people back to work

3. Beginning of the welfare state and Social Security

4. U.S. alleviated by the growth of the armaments industry

IV. Socialism in Russia

A. Problems in Russia: food hording so that it wouldn’t be taken, drought, and reduced industrial production

B. March 1921- New Economic Plan (NEP)1. Allowed peasants to sell their food2. Allowed small private businesses though

heavy industry, transportation and banking remained in the governments hands

3. By 1922, the market was revived and there was a good harvest

IV. Socialism in Russia

C. Women’s Rights1. Led by Alexandra Kollontai2. Health care for women and children,

marriage as a civil act, legal divorce, and legal abortions

3. Often faced violence from men who felt threatened by the possible rights of their wives

4. Undone by later Communist leaders

IV. Socialism in Russia

D. Leadership after the death of Lenin1. Lenin died in 19242. Two political groups battled for power

a. Left- led by Leon Trotsky: end NEP, industrialize, and spread Communism abroad

b. Right- concentrate on making a socialist state and continue the NEP

IV. Socialism in Russia

E. Joseph Stalin was party secretary and used his skills of organization to become leader of the Communist Party

V. Culture and Intellectual Trends

A. WWI supported beliefs that humans were violent animals incapable of rationality

B. Women- shorter skirts, more makeup, short hair, and more exposed body – sexual issues more out in the open

C. Popularity of nihilism- being does not have purpose, value, or truth – morality or higher power does not exist

V. Culture and Intellectual Trends

D. Dadaism1. “Everything happens in a completely

idiotic way. . . . Like everything in life, Dada is useless.”

2. Anti-art to reflect the insanity of life3. Hannah Hoch- Cut With The Kitchen

Knife criticized the German Weimar Republic – popular for feminist themes

Primary Source: Cut With The Kitchen Knife

V. Culture and Intellectual Trends

E. Surrealism1. Reality outside of the material –

dreamlike – the unconscious – nightmares and fantasies

2. Salvador Dali- The Persistence of Memory – objects outside of their rightful context and place stress irrationality

Primary Source: Persistence of Memory

V. Culture and Intellectual Trends

F. Functionalism in architecture spread by German Bauhaus school

G. Arnold Schonberg created atonal music without recognizable harmony

H. “Stream of Consciousness” writing popular – stressed internal dialogue such as James Joyce’s Ulysses; other writers like Hermann Hesse wrote about the spiritual loneliness of modern life

V. Culture and Intellectual Trends

I. Mass entertainment popular1. Hollywood, radio shows, sports, and

soap operas popular