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The Rise of Totalitarianism, 1929-1939

The Rise of Totalitarianism, 1929-1939. 1929 The start of the Great Depression The start of collectivization in the USSR In both cases: crisis and heavy statist response to the failures of the market economy

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The Rise of Totalitarianism, 1929-1939

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  1. The Rise of Totalitarianism, 1929-1939

  2. 1929 • The start of the Great Depression • The start of collectivization in the USSR In both cases: crisis and heavy statist response to the failures of the market economy • The rise of Stalin: General Secretary since 1923, concentration of power in the 1920s, the growth of personality cult in the 1930s • The rise of Hitler: leadership of the Nazis since 1923, increasing political influence in the 1920s, appointment as Reichskanzler in 1933 2 forms of totalitarianism • Similarities • Exchange of experience

  3. Differences • Germany: • to prevent a revolution • to overcome the Depression • to reverse the results of WWI • racism as the core of Nazi ideology • USSR: • to preserve Communist Party rule • to defend the country from hostile environment • to foster world revolution • class struggle as the core of Soviet ideology

  4. Has Stalin succeeded? • Totalitarianism modernized the country by means of extraordinary expansion of state power – but the costs were enormous: • The human toll* • 1927-38: 10 mln. excess deaths: famine, executions, labour camps • Incarceration: a camp population of 2 mln. throughout the 1930s • The destruction of civil society • Terrorization of the ruling class – especially the military purge of 1938-39 • The policy failures of personal dictatorship • The ideological impact of Stalinism undermined resistance to the rise of fascism: democracy was crushed from both sides • The USSR came close to defeat in World War II ______________________________ *Chris Ward. Stalin’s Russia. L.: Arnold, 1999, p.135-136

  5. Fascism and Communism as sworn enemies • Both sides tried to win allies • Hitler: I am crushing communism and protecting Western civilization (ideological) • Stalin: I am trying to stop Hitler’s aggression (geopolitical) • Both succeeded to some extent: • Hitler managed to overthrow the Versailles constraints and expand Germany’s borders • Stalin gained US recognition and a degree of respectability in the West with his policy of “collective security”

  6. Stalin’s choice: • Continued policies of collective security (alliance with democracies to stop Hitler), OR: • An alliance with Hitler to stay out of the coming war Why was the Hitler option chosen? Why did the enemies’ interests converge?

  7. Stalin and Ribbentrop sign on the division of Eastern Europe, Aug.1939

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