An Age of AnxietyCh. 34

Probing Cultural Frontiers

Postwar Pessimism

Religious Uncertainty Attacks on Progress

• Chorus of Despair• Karl Barth –Christian theologian, Attacked liberal Christian who calledFor progress• Christ’s kingdom not of this world• Refusal to accept God’s purpose Was contemporary human society

• Great war destroyed the idea of humanProgress• Scientist dreams go awry in wantingTo help humanity• Democracy was a fallen idol• Product of decay, no positive values• Preferred elite rule

Revolutions in Physics and Psychology

Uncertainty Principle Freud’s Psychoanalytic Theory

• Werner Heisenberg-essentiallyScientists cannot observe the behaviorOf electron objectively, because theAct of observation interferes• Leading to the Uncertainty Principle-Objectivity was not a valid concept, theObserver was a part of the process

• Challenged concepts of moralityAnd values• Conflict between conscious and Unconscious mental process• Repressive mechanism• Dreams led to deepest parts of yourMind• Oedipus complex• Psychoanalysis is the key to understandingHuman behavior

Experimentation in Art and Architecture

Artistic Influences Bauhaus

• Not a reproduction of reality butAn end in and of itself• Inspiration came from Asian, PacificAnd African societies• Edgar Degas-visual angles, asymmetricalCompositions• Paul Gaugin-inspired by “primitive” art,Held wonder not in a civilized society• Pablo Picasso-cubism, African influence

• Architectural institution• Focused on urban and industrialLandscape• Functional design based on Engineering and art.• Ludwig Mies von der Rohe-glassBox skyscrapers

Global Depression

The Great Depression

Economic Problems The Crash of 1929Economic Contraction Spreads

• Tangled financial system:Allies war debts, reparationsPaid by Germany & Austria,U.S. funds to Europe• Austria & Germany relied onU.S. loans to pay France & England• France and England used thoseReparation payments to pay the U.S. Loans• 1929 U.S. lenders began to Withdraw capital from Europe,Creating strain• Poor agriculture based on overProduction and falling prices

• U.S. enjoys boom afterWWI• Invested in speculative ventures• Stock prices over valuedSo investors pull out

• Decrease in business activity,Wages & employment• Could not sell inventory,Cutback and layoffs• Nat’l income drops by half• 44% of U.S. banks out ofBusiness• A hurting U.S. economy Was felt all over the world

The Great DepressionIndustrial Economies Economic Nationalism

• Investors shaken by the crashAttempt to liquidate and take loans,But Wall Street banks refuse extendShort term loans• Germany experiences economicSlide due to U.S.• Foreign trade falls causing lossesIn manufacturing, employment andPer capita

• Great Depression destroyed int’l andFinancial commercial networks of Capitalist economies• Economic nationalism-tariff barriers,Import quotas, import prohibitions• This BACKFIRES• Smoot-Hawley Tariff (1930)-raised dutiesOn most manufactured products to Prohibitive levels• Other nations strike back, drop in trade

Despair and Government Action

Personal Suffering

• People grow desperate. • No food, housing, clothing• Shantytowns• Less marriage, children and divorce• Suicides rise• Non-existent job market• Writers put down political and social orders

Economic ExperimentationKeynes The New Deal

Gov’t responds to crisis 1/2 ways:1)Most did nothing hoping for the Economy to self correct2) gov’t took active roles (balancingNat’l budgets & cut spending)• People called for a revision of Economic thought• Keynes-economist• Not excessive supply but inadequateDemand• He urged gov’t to stimulate economiesBy lowering interest rate, encourage investment,Public works, redistribute incomes through taxPolicy would lead to reduced unemploymentAnd an economic revival

• FDR applied ideas to stimulateThe economy through policy.• Gov’t justified in intervening forSocial and economic welfare of thepeople• Policies of the “New Deal”: prevent collapse of Banks, jobs and farm subsidies,Workers the right to organize and Bargain collectively, guaranteeMinimum wages, social security

Challenges to the Liberal Order

Communism in Russia

Civil War War Communism New Economic Policy

• Russian Communist PartyGo into civil war 1918-1920• Communists begin Red Terror arresting, trying and executing the WhiteTerror• July 1918 Bolsheviks Execute Tsar Nicholas II andHis family• White terror just as bad asRed terror, often receivedForeign support• Whites defeated by RedsDue to poor organization andsupport

• No plans to change RussianEconomy• Practiced war communism –Nationalization, annulled privateProperty, controlled banks, Industry and other commercial Properties, abolished private trade• By 1920 production fell by oneTenth of its pre-war levels• Spring 1921 Lenin calls for a Reversal of war communism

• Implemented by Lenin• Restored market economyAnd some private enterprise• Small industry returns toPrivate ownership• Peasant can sell surplusAgriculture in a free market• Est. technical schools

Communism in RussiaJoseph Stalin & Five Year Plan

Collectivization ofAgriculture The Great Purge

• General secretary, promotedSocialism in one country• “Man of Steel”, 1928 est.An unchallenged dictatorship• Est. plan for rapid economicDevelopment• Emphasized heavy industryAt the expense of consumer Goods• Pushes for resources and a highLabor force• Alternative to market capitalism

• Expropriated private landTo create co-op farms• Profits shared by farmers• Helped to make sure workersWere fed• Stopped in 1931 half of the Farms in the Soviet Union wereCollectivized• 5 year plan was unrealistic• No real consumer gratificationBut balanced out with full Employment , low cost utilities,Cheap housing and food• Planned economy looks appealing

• Civil war w/in the CommunistParty• Attacked Bolshevik elitesFor treason• Purged 2/3 of the delegates• Russia’s Communism showedA viable political and socialsystem

The Fascist Alternative & Italian Fascism

Defining Fascism Benito Mussolini Fascist State

• Attractive to middle class,rural pops., and nationalists• Fascist wanted to create aNat’l community (by nation-State, ethnic or racial grp)• Fascism: honoring the State, devotion to leader, Ultra nationalism, ethno-Centrism and militarism (military life, large military Establishments, public life• Subordination of indiv. To The state• Hostile to: individualism,Liberal democracy, class basedvisions

• Leader of Italian Fascism• Emphasized nationalism,Repression of socialists• 1922 becomes primeMinister and forms new Italian gov’t

• Fascist gov’t gains powerThrough many laws: Eliminates other politicalParties, no free press, speechAnd association• No labor unions or strikes• Corporatism-organic entityThrough which different viewsCome under the control of theState• Racism and Anti-Semitism Prominent (unpatriotic, noGov’t employment, no inter-Marriage)

German National Socialism

Hitler and the Nazi Party The Struggle for Power Consolidation for Powers

• 1921 Hitler becomesChairman of the NationalSocialist Party (Nazi)• Aims to get into powerLegally after being Imprisoned due to a revolt

• Nazi party had a broad Appeal• Attracted the disillusionedWho did not agree w/the Treaty of Versailles, lowerMiddle classes• Hitler promises to end Misfortunes• He stresses racial doctrinesEsp. anti-Semitism• 1932 it becomes the largestParty in Parliament• Offered Hitler the chancellor-Ship• From republic to dictatorship

• Used all means to impose rule• Eliminates working class and liberals• Officially takes away Constitutional and civil rights• Outlawed political, crime to Create new ones• Prohibited strikes and lockouts• Took control of all police forces

German National Socialism

The Racial State & Women and Race

Nazi Eugenics Anti-Semitism

• Racial superiority• Racial purity• Eugenics to improve“quality” of German race• No room for “raciallyInferior” of “biological Outsiders”• Nazis launch campaignTo increase birthrates• Encourage marriage throughTax credits, allowances, loans• Rewrote divorce laws• Outlawed abortions, restrictedBirth control

• 1933 sterilization programFor “hereditarily determined”Illness• 1935 gov’t sanctioned Abortions• State sponsored euthanasiaProgram, for those seen “useless”To society (physically & mentallyHandicapped)

• Prejudice against Jews• Used religious descentAs a determination of Jews• Nuremburg Laws which wereDiscriminatory laws: 1) noCitizenship 2)no marriage orSexual intercourse with a non-Jew• Economically: expropriatedWealth, civil servants lost jobs,Jewish lawyers and docs couldNot help non-Jew, liquidationOf business• Kristallnacht: destruction of Jewish stores and synagogues• 250,000 Jews leave Germany(1938)