Fascism, Communism and World War Two

1. Fascism, Communism and World War Two

2. The Rise of Fascism/Nazism Italy: 1922: Mussolini comes to power in Italy Sources of discontent include: depression, widespread unemployment Fascism: state management of the economy, curtailment of democratic rights, severe constriction of unions (strikes forbidden), censorship of the press: “national solidarity” under a “strong leader”. 1935: invasion of Ethiopia

3. Italian Fascist Imagery

4. Germany: Sources of discontent in the wake of World War One: Versailles Peace Treaty (1919); War Guilt clauses: territorial concessions, reparations, disarmament, loss of colonies; severe depression and widespread unemployment, especially 1919-1925; French occupation of the Ruhr Valley, 1923-24 1919 National Socialist German Workers’ Party formed, anti-Communist/anti-Semitic. Theory: Jews responsible for Communism (as well as depression, unemployment, capitalism, etc.) 1923: Hitler announces a revolution against the Weimar Republic, stages an attack on the Bavarian (State) government, and is arrested and imprisoned.

5. Germany II: 1932 Reichstag elections: number of Communists elected rises, number of Nazis, declines 1933: Hitler appointed chancellor (prime minister) of German Republic Hitler calls for new elections; despite intimidation at the polls wins 44%. The Reichstag fire, set by Nazis, is blamed on Communists. Hitler proclaims the Third Reich and assumes dictatorial powers 1935: Nuremberg laws, depriving Jews of German citizenship and imposing extensive restrictions.

6. Reichstag fire

7. Germany III: Germany repudiates clauses of Versailles Treaty requiring disarmament. German army rebuilt. 1936: Germany re-occupies Rhineland Italy and Germany establish Rome-Berlin Axis, which Japan joins: Anti-Comintern Pact

8. Axis Powers Mussolini and Hitler Japanese and German Ambassadors Sign Pact

9. Spain: 1936: Popular Front government elected (coalition of republicans, Socialists, syndicalists, anarchists, Communists) General Francisco Franco stages coup, leading to Spanish Civil War Britain, France and US forbid shipment of war materials to Spain Germany and Italy send planes, arms, troops; the Soviet Union sends arms, Communist parties in Europe and US send volunteers (International Brigades)

10. Francisco Franco

11. German Expansion, 1937-1938: 1937: Nazi agitation in Danzig, formerly Polish city (Gdansk), leads to its incorporation into Germany; Japan invades China 1938: March: Germany annexes Austria September: Germany demands part of Czechoslovakia with majority German population; British and French prime ministers, William Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier, meet in Munich, accede to German demands and pressure Czechoslovakia to yield to Hitler. The USSR is excluded and Soviet protests are ignored. November: Kristallnacht. Jewish shops and synagogues attacked, 91 Jews killed, 25,000-30,000 arrested. Many Communists and Socialists already in concentration camps.

12. Kristallnacht/ Night of Broken Glass Broken windows at Jewish businesses The burning of the synagogue

13. German Expansion, 1939: 1939: March: Germany occupies Bohemia-Moravia, Czech-majority part of Czechoslovakia, and demands Polish Corridor, northernmost part of Poland August 23: Molotov-Ribbentrop (Nazi-Soviet) Pact, agreeing to divide Poland September 1: Germany attacks Poland. Western Poland occupied by Germany, eastern Poland, by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union later occupies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as well. In the German occupied areas the Jews are forced into ghettos. September 3: Britain and France declare war

14. Molotov Ribbentrop Pact

15. Signing the Molotov Ribbentrop Pact

16. German Expansion, 1941: June 22, 1941: Germany attacks the Soviet Union and occupies its western territories, Ukraine and Byelorussia. Some 20 million Soviets are killed, including virtually the entire Jewish population of the Soviet Union, as well as that of the rest of Europe. The Holocaust begins with the German occupation of the Soviet Union; the Nazi policy of exterminating Jews is then extended westward, to Central and Western Europe. Others killed by the Germans, throughout Europe, include Socialists, Communists, dissidents of all kinds, Roma, homosexuals, the disabled.

17. Operation Barbarossa

18. Germany in 1943

19. Overall I: In the early 30s fascism looks attractive to many in the West: Mussolini and Hitler are bringing order to societies wracked by class conflicts, raising levels of employment, and creating stable conditions for business. Many compare FDR’s early measures to fascism – and for some this is not a criticism. Fascism is admired because, in addition to imposing order, it undercuts socialist and Communist movements. Fascist-oriented currents emerge in the US in the depression years: Father Coughlin, the Michigan “radio priest,” aligns himself with European fascism and attacks FDR; Germany tries to mobilize German-Americans for a fascist revolution in the US. Anti-Semitism rises. But there is no basis, in the US, for mobilizing a popular fascist movement.

20. Overall II: After the 1935 Supreme Court decision invalidating the NIRA, the US moves away from solutions resembling fascism (based on an alliance between government and the corporations) and towards solutions resembling social democracy (based on an alliance between government and labor). But in both the US and Germany, depression is ultimately overcome by preparation for war, and war itself. From 1935 on it becomes increasingly clear that fascism involves territorial expansion and that Nazism, the dominant version of fascism, involves extreme forms of racism. Fascist movements grow throughout Europe. In the US enthusiasm for fascism wanes, but isolationism is widespread; Communists are virtually alone in organizing against the spread of fascism.

21. Overall III: Europe is increasingly divided between those aligned with Germany and those aligned with the Soviet Union. The Spanish Civil War is a prelude to World War Two, and a warning that fascism could win.