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U ni t 7 Demons from Hell PART I. RUSSIAN REVOLUTIONS. 11.. PPR RE E--R RE EV VO OL LU UT TIIO ON NA AR RY YR RU USSSSIIA A.. Russia was an autocracy. All power was in the hands of the Tsar and he could appoint and dismiss ministers as and when he liked. In 1905, a revolution broke out in St. Petersburg, and Tsar Nicholas II was forced to set up the Duma, a sort of parliament. However, the Duma had little influence and no authority. It could not pass laws, and the Tsar did not have to listen to its advice. Nicholas began to ignore the Duma and to regret that he had set it up at all. But Nicholas did have one very strong belief; he believed that it was his duty to pass on his autocratic power to his son. The autocracy maintained the extreme differences between rich and poor, which were greater in Russia than in any other European country. EXERCISES: Q1. Activity 1 (page 146). More than 80 per cent of Russians were peasants, living in the countryside and working on the estates of wealthy landlords. Most were unable to read or write and used farming methods that were passed on from father to son. They were intensely loyal to the Tsar, whom they addressed as 'Papa', and they showed little interest in life beyond their village. When war broke out in 1914, vast numbers of peasants enrolled in the Russian Army, as they had often done before, to show their support for 'Mother Russia'. There were, however, important changes taking place in Russia. Although only 4 per cent of Russians worked in industry, the number was growing rapidly. In fact, between 1880 and 1900 the population of Moscow doubled. As more and more people swarmed in to the big cities, their quality of life deteriorated rapidly. Food shortages in St. Petersburg and Moscow became common. Russia produced more than enough food to feed its population, but the railway network was unable to cope with the increased demands from the big cities. The Orthodox Church had a huge role. EXERCISES: Q2. Activity 5 (page 147).
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4º CSH Unit 7 During the First World War, the situation was chaotic; the population began to suffer extreme shortages of food and inflation was severe. Some parties appeared who were against autocracy: the Social Revolutionaries, the Kadets (Constitutional Democrats) and the Social Democrats. These ones split into two sections: the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin.
22.. T TH HE E FFE EB BR RU UA AR RY YR RE EV VO OL LU UT TIIO ON N.. The February Revolution (March 1917) was a revolution that took place in Petrograd. In the chaos, members of the Imperial parliament, or Duma, assumed control of the country and formed the Russian Provisional Government. The army leadership felt they did not have the means to suppress the revolution and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last Tsar of Russia, abdicated. The Soviets („councils‟), which were led by more radical socialist factions, initially permitted the Provisional Government to rule, but insisted on a prerogative to influence the government and control various militias. The February Revolution took place in the context of heavy military setbacks during the First World War, which left much of the army in a state of mutiny. A period of dual power ensued, during which the Provisional Government, led by the liberal Kerensky, held state power while the national network of Soviets, led by socialists, had the support of the lower-class citizens and the political left. During this chaotic period there were frequent mutinies and many strikes. When the Provisional Government chose to continue fighting the war with Germany, the Bolsheviks and other socialist factions campaigned for the abandonment of the war effort. EXERCISES: Q3. Activity 7 (page 147).
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4º CSH Unit 7 EXERCISES: Q4. Study sources.
33.. T TH HE EO OC CT TO OB BE ER RR RE EV VO OL LU UT TIIO ON N.. In the October Revolution (November in the Gregorian calendar), the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the workers' Soviets, overthrew the Provisional Government in St Petersburg. The Bolsheviks appointed themselves as leaders of various government ministries and seized control of the countryside, establishing the Cheka to quash dissent. The first action of the new government was the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918. The long awaited peace had finally been achieved.
EXERCISES: Q5. Activities 1, 2 and 3 (page 147). Russia's lost territory under the terms of Brest-Litovsk (page 147).
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44.. C CIIV VIIL LW WA AR R.. Civil War broke out in the summer of 1918. The Whites, the Bolsheviks opponents, were made up of different groups, including the Tsarist army commanders, the Czech Legion, Poles, Cossacks, and Ukrainians, who all banded together, the anarchists. Britain, the USA and France sent aid, partly because Lenin made peace with the Germans at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. This allowed 1 million German troops to be transferred to the Western Front. Lenin also cancelled all of the loans made to Russia before the seizure of power. Trotsky led the Red army. His main contribution was as a leader and organiser. He organised this new army. EXERCISES: Q6. Activity 1 (page 149).
55.. T TH HE EB BIIR RT TH HO OFF A AN NE EW WN NA AT TIIO ON N.. The USSR was created in 1922 .The former Bolshevik party turned into the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). This new country was a Federal State and it was ruled by a parliament (Supreme Soviet) and a unique party (CPSU). EXERCISES: Q7. The USSR (page 148). All of this was a totalitarian system, since institutions weren‟t elected democratically. It was a proletarian dictatorship. The ruling power was the CPSU, which represented the proletarians. EXERCISES: Q8. Activity 2 (page 149). Lenin was their leader, but he died in 1924. Two men fought for the leadership. They were Leon Trotsky and Joseph Stalin. The first wanted a world revolution, while the second one wanted “one socialist state, one nation”. Stalin won the battle and he was appointed secretary general of CPSU and he became the main leader of this new country. Trotsky was murdered in Mexico in 1940. 5
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66.. SST TA AL LIIN N:: T TH HE E FFIIR RSST TD DE EM MO ON N FFR RO OM MH HE EL LL L.. Joseph Stalin‟s policy forced a new type of economy, and a collectivist society to emerge. He changed The USSR into a great industrial power. He forbade the ownership of private property so everything was state-owned. He prioritized the heavy industry. He created an economy led by the state, which was made up of five-year plans in order to arrange agricultural and industrial production. The result was a rapid industrialization, but the agriculture suffered a big delay. EXERCISES: Q9. Activity 3 (page 149). Stalin exerted his power through a dictatorship. He promoted the cult of personality. Everyone suspected of being against him was sentenced without a trial and sent to prison or Gulags. The Stalinist purges were famous. They were violent purifications of dissidents who were executed or sent to Gulags.
EXERCISES: Q10. What were the purges? How did the purges and the Great Terror affect: The Communist Party: The Armed Forces:
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PART II. USA BETWEEN THE WARS. The First World War ended on 11 November, 1918, and over the next ten years, the USA became one of the strongest economic powers in the world. The war had had a great effect on the USA, where the economy had improved as the need for food, raw materials and manufactured goods of all kinds increased. Britain and the European countries, their economies having been destroyed by the war, were unable to produce on a sufficient scale to meet their own needs. The USA had made loans of US$10.3 billion during the war to its allies, and 90 per cent of this money was used to buy US goods. By 1918, US farmers were sending three times as much food to Europe as they had in 1914. EXERCISES: Q11. Activities 1 (page 150), 1 (page 151). In the 1920s, the USA enjoyed an economic boom due to the boost to industry provided by: 1. The First World War 2. The trade policies of isolationism 3. The new methods in factories which improved production 4. New industries which benefited from new methods and equipment to meet demand for their goods.
11.. M MA ASSSS PPR RO OD DU UC CT TIIO ON N.. The mass production system produced more goods more cheaply. How did it work? New, large factories were built with moving assembly lines. Workers stood or sat beside the assembly lines. The goods being made, for instance cars, went along the assembly line from worker to worker. Each worker had only one job to do on every car. One product that had a phenomenal impact on US life was the automobile. Henry Ford developed a system of mass production whereby large numbers of vehicles could be made by a standardised mechanical process. This was the origin of mass consumption. Cycle of prosperity The effects of the growth of these new factories were felt throughout society. A bigger demand for raw materials meant more jobs processing these materials. The new factories needed thousands of workers. High employment meant many people had money to spend. They spent some of it on the new, cheap goods. So there was a big demand for these goods. The new factories needed more raw materials and more workers to make more goods. This takes you back to the first point, creating a cycle of prosperity. 7
4º CSH Unit 7 Government policy The government encouraged the boom: It lowered taxes. This gave people and businesses more money to spend. It did not control how banks or businesses were run. This means it did not try to control bank interest rates, for example. Credit facilities Very few people could buy a new car, or even a fridge, with cash. They had to save up to buy these things. But businesses wanted people to buy straight away and to buy more. They used advertising on radio, in cinemas, on billboards, to get people to buy. They introduced the hire purchase system. People who wanted to buy a car signed an agreement to pay weekly or monthly amounts until they had paid for the car. This encouraged people to spend money they did not have. EXERCISES: Q12. Activity 2 (page 151). The Roaring Twenties The Roaring Twenties are years when the Ku Klux Klan, a group that said the only true Americans were White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASPs), began. Any other people (Jews, Catholics, recent immigrants and blacks) were not proper Americans. The Klan tortured, even killed, people who were not WASPs, especially black people. The Klan: burned down homes and churches, even with people in them and beat up or lynched people, for any reason or none at all. They put up burning crosses, the Klan symbol, to warn others or to say 'we did this'. Lynching is when a group of people take someone and hang them. The people who are lynched are not arrested or tried, simply murdered. EXERCISES: Q13. Define: Ku Klux Klan, WASP, lynch.
Prohibition In 1920, the U.S. government introduced Prohibition. This was a law banning alcohol. Alcohol could not be made or sold anywhere in the whole USA. Many temperance groups campaigned for a ban because they thought it brought poverty, broke up homes and disrupted work. Effects of Prohibition: People went to secret, illegal, drinking clubs, called speakeasies, where smuggled in alcohol from the West Indies and Canada was available. This was called bootlegging. Organised crime appeared, since Speakeasies made a lot of money. Soon gangsters, such as Al Capone, had taken over the alcohol trade. They then began to deal in drugs, prostitutes and gambling. The gangs very quickly became rich and powerful. The only way to enforce Prohibition was to break up the gangs. 8
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EXERCISES: Q14. Read the document and answer the questions: We always had our normal share of pickpockets, forgers, bank robbers, wife beaters and assorted petty criminals. But why steal an old lady's purse or the pennies out of a blind man's tin cup when you could make millions manufacturing fake booze? Despite the Eighteenth Amendment and the gradual disappearance of real whisky, people were still thirsty and still desired a shot now and then. But the government, with its habitual wisdom, instead of allowing its citizens to drink moderately like ladies and gentlemen, now fixed it so that the bonded whisky we drank was sometimes aged in tire wood for as much as two whole weeks. Millions of people, teetotalers all their lives, who had never been in a saloon or a night club and were indifferent to the joys of a highball or a martini, suddenly developed a yen for hooch. I was one of those millions. I never had a drink before January 18, 1920. It wasn't that I disapproved of it, morally, but I just didn't like the taste of the stuff. As a matter of fact, I still don't. I drink it now and then at parties to avoid being caught sober. But with the advent of prohibition, I came to the conclusion that if it was illegal there must be something to it that I had never discovered. Groucho MARX, Groucho and me
a) What were the results of prohibition? b) Who are teetotalers? c) Why did Groucho begin to drink?
22.. FFIIN NA AN NC CIIA AL LC CR RIISSIISS.. During the 1920s, more and more Americans had bought shares in companies. These shares were bought and sold in the stock market, which was located at Wall Street, New York. People expected shares to go on rising in price. They bought shares to sell at a profit a few months later. This is called speculation. Many people borrowed money from banks to do this. Some banks were using their customers' money to speculate themselves. Shares rose in price, rapidly. Because there were only a certain number of shares and everyone wanted to buy, prices were driven up far more than their real value. In 1928, the rapid rise in share prices slowed as companies sold fewer goods. Some people began to sell their shares, thinking the price of shares might actually begin to fall. This put more shares on the stock market, so prices did fall. This euphoria generated a speculative bubble stock market: shares increased in value because of an enormous increase in demand, but this increase was not due to higher industry profits. “Buy buy or sell immediately”, it is produced in a short space of time to maximize benefits. This madness is portrayed investment when people apply for credit to pay shares of stock. EXERCISES: Q15. Activity 4 (page 151).
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4º CSH Unit 7 Overproduction We have already seen that farmers were having a bad time in the 1920s. By 1929, other industries were also beginning to suffer. The construction boom began to slow and, in 1929, construction was at a standstill. Car manufacturers found that they had more cars to sell than customers to buy them, because most families who could afford a car already owned one. By August 1929, automobile factories had to lay off thousands of workers because of reduced demand. The problem grew serious because industries such as textiles, lumber, mining and the railroad were also experiencing severe difficulties. Radios, telephones, refrigerators and other goods were piling up in warehouses across the country. The USA was experiencing a very serious problem with overproduction. But they could not increase sales abroad because other countries had reacted to the Fordney-McCumber Tariff by imposing high duties on US goods. As companies' sales slumped, so did their profits and their shares. Share buying ceased be a guaranteed way of making money. The crash During the summer of 1929, share prices in New York began to fall. In September 1929, a hint of the troubles to come for Wall Street was seen when British banks sold many of their shares. Despite assurances from the financial community, panic selling began when prices continued to fall. As prices of shares fell further, brokers received more orders to sell. The panic took hold and on 24 October 1929, Black Thursday, nearly 13 million shares were sold. On 29 October, the bottom fell out of the market once again and 164 million shares changed hands at incredibly low prices. This was the Crash. Shares had become almost worthless and people who had bought 'on the margin' could not pay their debts. Americans who had known prosperity now joined the great numbers of existing poor as a result of the Wall Street Crash. But it was not just share investors who lost their money. Many banks had loaned money to investors to buy shares, or had invested large amounts on Wall Street themselves. Now these banks lost their money, too. In desperation they recalled loans they had made to companies, causing those companies to fail and leading to more unemployment. EXERCISES: Q16. Activities (page 154).
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4º CSH Unit 7 Effects of the Crash Following the Crash, there were large-scale bankruptcies in the USA. The number of businesses that collapsed in 1929 was about 20,000 and this reached a peak of some 30,000 in 1932. Consumption decreased sharply and hundreds of factories closed because they were unable to sell their products. The number of unemployed increased considerably, so millions of families fell into poverty and had to resort to welfare to live. The crisis spread to the rest of the world from the United States because U.S. banks withdrew their funds in European banks and credit disappeared.
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EXERCISES: Q17. Study sources.
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33.. T TH HE EN NE EW WD DE EA AL L.. Franklin D. Roosevelt proposed a new program to promote economic recovery and get the country out of crisis. This New Deal advocated state intervention to revive the economy. The companies were re-released to enterprises in difficulty with support; public companies were created in sectors where there wasn‟t investment in private companies. The drop of prices was stopped thanks to the destruction of agricultural accumulated stocks. The State established a control on the banks, forcing them to facilitate loans (préstamos) with low interest rates so that businessmen could decide to expand their business or to create other new businesses. These reforms were accompanied of a set of social reforms. The State stimulated the realization of a great public works construction plan (building roads, reservoirs, bridges... It promoted a policy of support, subsidizing agricultural prices, increasing wages, and reducing the work week to 40 hours of labour. These measures stimulated the recovery of the American economy and resulted in an important decrease in the number of unemployed people. EXERCISES: Q18. Activity 4 (page 155).
EXERCISES: Q19. What problems did the Tennessee Valley have before the TVA was set up? What effects did the TVA have? 13
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PART III. ITALIAN FASCISM. The First World War caused serious human and economic consequences in Italy. 700.000 men died, many industries were rendered useless and their foreign debt had increased inflation. In addition, the peace agreements caused great disappointment, since Italy did not obtain everything that it had been assigned in the agreement of London. The Italians thought that their participation in the war had been a deception and the irredentismo movement (recovery of territories inhabited by Italians) was gaining followers. EXERCISES: Q20. Activity 1 (page 156).
11.. R RE EA ASSO ON NSS FFO OR RT TH HE ER RIISSE EO OFF T TH HE E FFA ASSC CIISST TSS..
Italy‟s disgust with the terms of the peace treaties (didn‟t obtain A.H. territory). The Fascists represented a means to stop the Socialists and Communists (in the eyes of conservative politicians, who sought to moderate and control Fascism for their own purposes). Mussolini was backed by wealthy industrialists and landowners (who feared of socialist reforms). Support from Pope Pius XI and the Vatican (who saw the Fascists as an opportunity to normalize State-Church relationships). Lack of faith in Italy‟s institutions (failures of WWI, post-war violence, high unemployment…). After the March on Rome (October 22) the King offered the post of Prime Minister to Mussolini. The violence of the Fascists (Blackshirts) intimidated opponents. The complicity of the police and the army (who didn‟t suppress Fascist violence).
22.. M MU USSSSO OL LIIN NII:: T TH HE E IIT TA AL LIIA AN ND DIIA AV VO OL LO O.. Mussolini's coalition won the elections of 1924 thanks to the violence exercised against his opponents. This meant the beginning of an authoritarian regime. Formation of parties was prohibited; their leaders were chased, imprisoned or murdered. Strikes were prohibited, and the unions were replaced with corporations directed by the State, which exercised harsh control. It directed everything from mass media to the economy and supported the private companies. EXERCISES: Q21. Activities 3 and 4 (page 157).
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PART IV. EVIL LIVED IN GERMANY. 11.. R RE EA AC CT TIIO ON NSS T TO OT TH HE ET TR RE EA AT TY YO OFF V VE ER RSSA AIIL LL LE ESS.. Until1918, the German Army had been holding its own in the war. Suddenly, they surrendered and made peace. Many Germans found it difficult to believe that they had been defeated .They believed that the German Government had made peace behind the Army's back and betrayed the German people: the stab in the back. Such feelings of betrayal were made worse by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which took land from Germany, reduced the armed forces and demanded reparations. Into this turmoil of resentment and loss, came a former soldier named Adolf Hitler.
Most Germans were shocked by the harshness of the Treaty of Versailles. The German press ignored the fact that the government had had very little choice but to sign the treaty. They said it was shameful; and that Germans should remember this and get revenge. People took to the streets in angry mass demonstrations against the treaty. People blamed the government for 'giving in' and the bad feeling did not go away. The government could never be popular while constantly associated with humiliation and defeat. EXERCISES: Q22. What did German people believe after the First World War? What terms of the Treaty of Versailles did the Germans not like? Consequences: Economic crisis, poverty and unemployment and hyperinflation. One of the government's reactions to Germany's economic problems was to print more money. It hoped this would also help to pay the reparations sooner. Unfortunately, when money is added to an economy in this way its value goes down, because there is more of it. This pushes up prices. The government reacted by printing more money, which pushed up prices even more. This is called hyperinflation.
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4º CSH Unit 7 Effects of hyperinflation: Wages and prices kept rising, even several times a day. Everyone struggled to buy food and clothes and heat their homes. People who had fixed incomes, such as pensioners, found their money was worthless. People who had borrowed money could pay it back easily because wages rose rapidly and loans were a fixed amount. The government was blamed for the situation. Printing more money had been its solution to the problem and had caused hyperinflation. There were outbreaks of violence against the government. Could it survive?
22.. T TH HE E PPU UT TSSC CH H.. The German army was made much smaller by the Treaty of Versailles. Some exsoldiers joined the Free Corps, a volunteer army, which had helped to defeat early Socialist and Communist uprisings. In early 1920, the Allies tried to get Germany to break up the Free Corps, which then marched on Berlin and attempted a Putsch (a takeover) by force. By this time, the government had moved from Weimar back to Berlin. It was horrified when the police and the army in Berlin supported Kapp, the leader of the Free Corps. Hitler and his party were not well known outside Bavaria. Why did he try a military Putsch? He thought that the economic conditions were so bad that a revolt would succeed. He couldn‟t wait in case the economic conditions improved and the Weimar government became popular again. He thought the Bavarian government would support him. He thought the German army would support him.
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4º CSH Unit 7 On 8 November, 1923, Hitler and 600 Storm troopers marched into a meeting in Munich led by the Bavarian leader Gustav Kahr and tried to force Kahr to support them. Kahr agreed, but when freed he called up the army and police. The next day the Nazis took control of key buildings in Munich. They then marched on the city centre. Here they were met by armed police and soldiers. The Nazis were defeated in the fight. Hitler and other Nazi leaders were arrested. Was the Putsch a failure? 1. The Nazis did not take over Germany. . 2. Hitler failed because he had assumed the army would support him and it didn‟t. 3. Hitler was put on trial and arrested. Did the Putsch have any good results for Hitler? 1. The trial gave Hitler a chance to speak out against the Weimar government. It made him famous. 2. Hitler was sent to prison for five years, but was released after just over eight months.
33.. T TH HE EN NA AZ ZII PPA AR RT TY YU UN NT TIIL L 11992299.. Hitler used his time in prison to write Mein Kampf (My Struggle) about his life and ideas. It clearly laid out the ideas behind the Nazi Party. When Hitler carne to power, all Germans were expected to read the book. EXERCISES: Q23. Activity 4 (page 159). When Hitler went to prison, the Nazi Party was banned. When he was let out in 1924, it was re-formed. At first, the Nazi Party found it difficult to get support. Germany‟s economy was recovering and people were less willing to listen to the Nazis. They began to lose seats in the Reichstag: May 1924: 32 seats. December 1924:14 seats. May 1928: 12 seats. However, Hitler worked hard at gaining more support for the Nazis. He set up meetings and rallies to increase membership. He wanted as many people as possible to hear him speak because he made rousing speeches. Membership rose from 27.000 in 1925 to 100,000 in 1928. Even so, the Nazis were not yet a strong political group. Hitler had decided while he was in prison that the best way for the Nazis to seize power was not by a Putsch but legally, in elections. He needed something to push the voters his way. In 1929, it happened - Germany was hit by a severe economic depression. EXERCISES: Q24. Activity 3 (page 159). 17
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44.. T TH HE EN NA AZ ZII PPA AR RT TY YA AN ND DT TH HE EG GR RE EA AT TD DE EPPR RE ESSSSIIO ON N..
The Nazis won support during the Depression because they promised: work help for businesses help for farmers to make Germany great again to act against Jews and Communists who were blamed for all of Germany's problems.
The Nazis were well organised. They knew publicity was important. Their head of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels, organised 1 huge rally. Hitler flew from one rally to another, making exciting speeches. The Nazis also had a poster campaign that targeted all sorts of voters. The SA played an important part in Nazi election campaigns by breaking up opponents' meetings -especially those of the Communists-, their extremist rivals, who were also gaining support. 1932 presidential election: Hitler received thirteen million votes, while Hindenburg received nineteen million votes. Elections to Reichstag: September 1930: 107 seats. July 1932: 230 seats. November 1932: 196 seats. March 1933: 288 seats.
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EXERCISES: Q25. From all you have read about the Reichstag fire, work out who you think started it. Give reasons for your answer.
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55.. D DE EM MO ON NSS R RU UL LIIN NG GG GE ER RM MA AN NY Y.. Germany was controlled by the SS, which had several groups within it: The SS was set up as a small private bodyguard force for Hitler. It was enlarged to wipe out the SA, which it then replaced. By 1934, there were 50.000 SS members, led by Heinrich Himmler, who was totally loyal to Hitler. The Death Head Units were the SS groups that ran the concentration camps. These were prisons for various groups the Nazis saw as undesirable -political opponents, homosexuals, disabled people, gypsies and Jews. Conditions in these camps were harsh and many prisoners died. By 1939, there were many concentration camps in Germany and on land that Germany had taken over. The prisoners were used for slave labour and many were worked and starved to death. During the Second World War, some of these camps became death camps just for killing people. The SS did not run the courts, but all judges had to take an oath of loyalty to Hitler, so the courts were on Hitler‟s side too. There was no longer any hope of a fair trial. If the Nazis wanted you to go to prison, a judge would send you there whether there was evidence against you or not. The Gestapo were the state secret police, formed from the SS. They could spy on and arrest whoever they wanted. They encouraged members of the Nazi Party to report any anti-Nazi behaviour of friends, people they worked with, even their family; They had a tight hold over the ordinary police. Hitler Youth Movement. Hitler had set up his 'Hitler Youth Movement' in 1925, even before the Nazis carne to power. It organised activities for young people outside school hours. In 1913, other youth groups were stamped out. After 1935, all children had to join. There were various sections which all did 'healthy', Nazi-supporting, things together. The sections had different names and did different things, depending on the age and sex of their members.
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EXERCISES: Q26. Look at evidence in the case study. Explain the different ways that Jewish people suffered under the Nazis.
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4º CSH Unit 7 Women The Nazis wanted German women to marry and raise large families. They had several reasons for this: The birth rate had been going down in the 1920s and early 1930s. The Nazis wanted the German, Aryan population to grow. If women left their jobs to become mothers and homemakers, it helped the Nazis bring down the unemployment rate for men. The Nazi ideal world was based on large, stable, happy Aryan families.
EXERCISES: Q27. What were the three K's? Propaganda The Nazis realised that one of the best ways to control the German people was not to force them to do things, but to make them believe in Nazi ideas. To do this, they set up a Ministry of Propaganda and National Enlightenment, led by Joseph Goebbels. This Ministry flooded Germany with information aimed at getting people to accept Nazi ideas. It also made sure that it was harder and harder for German people to hear ideas that criticised the Nazis. Newspapers printed only stories that were favourable to the Nazis -or they were closed down. Goebbels took control of all radio stations and mass-produced cheap radios that could not pick up foreign radio stations. Soon, almost everyone had a radio and all they could listen to on it was what the Nazis wanted them to hear. Loudspeaker pillars were set up in streets and public squares so radio announcements could be played there, too. The Nazis took over German film-making. Films were made only if the Nazis had approved the story and the actors. These were shown at cinemas with news films or documentaries. The Nazi control of schools and youth movements gave them a chance to expose children to Nazi propaganda almost every day of their lives. Goebbels set up a Reich Chamber of Culture. This controlled all music, plays, books and paintings. 23
4º CSH Unit 7 Anything the Nazis did not like was banned. In 1933. students were encouraged to burn huge piles of banned books. The radio played the work of the German composer Wagner or traditional folk songs or marching bands. It broadcast only plays with the “right” message. Improving the economy: self -sufficiency Hitler did not want Germany to depend on other countries for loans, food or raw materials. In 1933, he made a Four-Year Plan. By the end of it, Germany was to be selfsufficient (able to produce everything Germany needed). The Plan was in two parts: to produce more raw materials (mine more coal, etc). to produce more man-made materials (rubber, etc). Both these parts needed more factories and more workers, so unemployment went down. However, they were expensive, because the state had to build factories. By 1933, Germany still had to buy over one- third of its raw materials from other countries. The only way for the Nazis to become self-sufficient was to use the army to take over land which had raw materials the Nazis could then use. EXERCISES: Q28. Activity 5 (page 161).
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R REEVVIIEEW W 1.- Complete the concept map (page 162). 2.- Answer the key questions (page 162). 3.- Correct the following sentences if necessary: Russia was an autocracy: The Mensheviks were led by Lenin: The tsar was Alexander III: In the February Revolution the Bolshevik party overthrew the Provisional Government: Lenin promised land, wheat and war in his April Theses: Trotsky led the Red army: The USSR was created in 1922: After Lenin’s death, Stalin and Molotov fought for the leadership: 4.- Fill the blanks: How I Starred in the Follies of 1929 Soon a much hotter __________ than show business attracted my __________, and the attention of the __________. It was a little thing called the stock __________. I first became acquainted with it around __________. It was a pleasant __________ to discover that I was a pretty talented trader. Or at least so it seemed, for everything I __________ went up. I had no __________ adviser. Who needed one? You could close your __________, stick your finger any __________ on the big board and the stock you had just bought would start rising. I never took __________. It seemed absurd to sell a stock at __________ when you knew it would double or triple within a __________. The most astonishing thing about the '29 market was that no one ever __________ a stock. The public just kept __________. One day I rather timidly __________ my broker about this speculative __________. "I don't know much about __________ Street," I began apologetically, "but what makes these __________ continue to __________ up? Shouldn't there be some relation between a company's __________, its dividends and the stock's selling price?" He looked over my head at a new victim who had just entered the office, and said, "Mr. Marx, you've got a lot to learn about the stock market. What you don't __________ about securities would fill a __________." One special day, the __________ began wavering. Some of the __________ I knew lost __________. I was __________. All I lost was two __________ and forty __________ dollars. (Or one hundred and twenty weeks of work at two thousand per.) I would have lost more but that was all the __________ I had. The day of the final, convulsive crash, my friend, sometime financial adviser and talented trader, Max Gordon, phoned me from New York. In five words, he __________ a statement that I think will, in time, compare favorably with any of the more memorable __________ in American history. I'm referring to such imperishable lines as "Don't give up the ship," "Don't fire until you see the __________ of their eyes," "Give me __________ or give me __________!" and "I have but one __________ to give to my country." These words sink into comparative insignificance alongside Max's notable quote. Never the frilly type of conversationalist, this time he even ignored the traditional "Hello." All he said was, "Marx, the jig is up!" Before I could answer, the __________ was dead. Groucho MARX, Groucho and me
5.- After reading the document, answer the questions: a) When did Groucho become acquainted with the stock market? b) Why did he had no financial adviser? 25
4º CSH Unit 7 c) What do you think that made those stocks continued to go up? d) How much money did Groucho lose? e) What did Max say?
6.- Indicate whether the following sentences are related to the 20’s (20), the Hoover Administration (H) or the Roosevelt Administration (R): USA stops loans to other countries: The State stimulated the realization of a great public works : The State subsidized agricultural prices: Unemployment rises rapidly in USA: More and more Americans bought shares in companies: This New Deal advocated state intervention to revive the economy: Hundreds of factories closed because they were unable to sell their products: The mass production system produced more goods more cheaply: 7.- Indicate whether the following sentences are referring to democratic regimes or fascist regimes: Anti-Parliamentarism: Multi-party system: Control of education: Rigidity of traditional gender roles Autarkic economy: (sexism): Adulation of a single charismatic Press censorship: national leader: Fraudulent elections: Disdain for intellectuals and the Belief in inequality of people: arts: Single-party system: Identification of enemies Violence against opponents: (scapegoats) as a unifying cause: Racism: Belief in equality of people: Antisemitism: Ultranationalism: Supremacy of the military: Imperialist expansionism: 8.-Read the document and answer the questions: We are an anti-parliamentarian party that for good reasons rejects the Weimar constitution and its republican institutions. We oppose a fake democracy that treats the intelligent and the foolish, the industrious and the lazy, in the same way. We see in the present system of majorities and organized irresponsibility the main cause of our steadily increasing miseries. So why do we want to be in the Reichstag? We enter the Reichstag to arm ourselves with democracy’s weapons. If democracy is foolish enough to give us free railway passes and salaries, that is its problem. It does not concern us. Any way of bringing about the revolution is fine by us… Mussolini entered parliament. Shortly afterward, he marched on Rome with his Black Shirts. Joseph GOEBBELS, Der Angriff (1928) a) b) c) d)
Why did the Nazis reject the Weimar Republic? Why do the Nazis want to be in the Reichstag? Why was Mussolini a sample for Nazis? What characteristics of Nazi fascism appeared in the document?
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4º CSH Unit 7 9.- Fill the blanks: First they came for the ____________, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a ____________. Then they came for the ____________, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a ____________. Then they came for the ____________, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a ____________. Then they came for the ____________, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a ____________. Then they came for the ____________, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a ____________. Then they came for ____________, and there was no one left to speak for ____________. Martin NIEMÖLLER
10.- Correct the following sentences if necessary: Socialists put on fire the Reichstag: Hitler used his time in prison to write Mein Krack: SS leaders were killed on the Night of the Long Knifes: The Skull Units were the SS groups that ran the concentration camps: Dachau was the first concentration camp: The Gestapo was the secret police: Germans and Jews were Aryans: In 1933 German Jews were killed in extermination camps: The Nuremberg Laws outlawed marriages and sexual relationships between Jewish men and Aryan women: On Kristallnacht Jewish homes and synagogues were looted: Women left their jobs in order to bring down the unemployment rate for men: Nazis liked reading all kind of books: If the Nazis wanted you to go to prison, a judge would send you there or not: 11.- Define: Duma Gestapo Hitler Youth NKVD New Deal KKK KKK Nuremberg Laws Putsch Red Army SA SS TVA USSR
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4º CSH Unit 7 12.- Activity 1 (page 153). 13.- Who are these people?
a) b) c) d) e) f) g) h) i) j) k)
President of the Russian Provisional Government: Founder of the Red Army: American president for 1929-1933: Leader of the Bolsheviks: Leader of the Soviet Union since 1924: German chancellor in 1933: Minister of Popular Enlightenment and Propaganda: American president since 1933: Russian tsar: Pope who wrote anti-Nazi encyclical:: Italian king:
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