Understanding 20th Century Political and Economic Concepts
Definitions
Totalitarianism: A political system in which the state has strong involvement in all aspects of life and a focus group or political party holds all state power, not allowing the actions of other parties.
Weimar Republic: The German political system established after the First World War, lasting from 1919 to 1933.
Collective Security: A basic principle of the League of Nations, whereby the security of each member country was assured by the others.
Liquidity: The ease of conversion into cash.
Shares: Securities or shares of a company that have a certain market value.
Paramilitary Forces: Civil organizations that have a military-type structure.
Autarky: A state policy aimed at self-sufficiency using its own resources and avoiding imports, if possible.
Corporatism: A social and political doctrine that advocates government intervention in the settlement of labor disputes through the creation of associations that bring together workers and employers.
National Socialist (Nazi) Party: Created by Hitler, this party held an anti-capitalist, anti-Marxist, anti-democratic, and ultra-nationalist ideology. It sought to return to Germany the pride lost in the Treaty of Versailles.
Pan-Germanism: A doctrine that seeks the unity of all German towns in one state, through territorial expansion and expulsion of foreigners.
SA: Paramilitary forces that supported Hitler. They were distinguished by their brown shirts. Hitler ordered the murder of their leaders on the Night of the Long Knives.
Superman: Nietzsche’s name given to his higher ideal of man. This man would develop a new scale of values: the predominance of the strong against the weak. It was not an exceptional man, as it was not individual, but a goal to be achieved.
Theory of Relativity: The theory that space and time are not absolute magnitudes, as proposed by classical physics.
Read and Discuss
The Communist Party in the USSR
1. Why was the number of members of the Communist Party reduced from 1933?
Because Stalin came to power and began to purge the party.
2. What was the source of the majority of the members of the Communist Party in 1929?
Workers.
3. In the period 1936 to 1939, whence came most of the new party members? Was it still a workers’ party? Why?
The Intelligentsia. Yes, theoretically, but it had already evolved, and most members were from the Intelligentsia.
Inaugural Address of Roosevelt
1. What did President Roosevelt want to fight so urgently?
The economic crisis.
2. What position was your country in?
(The question is incomplete and cannot be answered)
3. How is the program that was facing the problem called?
New Deal.
4. List adopted measures applied to banking, unemployment, agriculture, and public works.
Agricultural subsidies, unemployment subsidies, wage growth, intervention in banks, and investments in public works.
5. According to the speech, on what is Roosevelt intending to act?
Activities.
Activities
1. What causes explain the rise of totalitarianism in Europe during this time?
The recovery after a terrible war, concern about the possibility of the outbreak of a workers’ revolution similar to that which had triumphed in Russia, and the fear of the economic crisis that began in 1929.
2. List the three most important features of Italian Fascism.
- In domestic politics, Mussolini and the Fascist party won absolute power and eliminated the political opposition. The Fascist Grand Council replaced the Parliament.
- In foreign policy, ultra-nationalist ideology resulted in aggressive action against other nations.
- In economics, a system imposed by the Antarctic and interventionist government: private companies were controlled by the state.
- In society, corporatism was encouraged, and labor rights were terminated.
3. What were the system features introduced by Hitler in domestic and foreign policy?
Domestic policy was imposed by the control of the Nazi Party, whose instruments were an implacable political police and various paramilitary forces, such as the SA. Foreign policy focused on denouncing the Versailles Treaty, and land claims were raised.