Political Scenario of The World from 1918 to 1939

  The end of the First World War, “the war to end all wars”, it was believed, would be followed by an era of peace, freedom, democracy, and a better life for everyone. When the USA entered the war, Woodrow Wilson declared, “...we shall light for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts--for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their ‘own Governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free”. Seven months later, the Russiari Revolution took place and the Soviet government issued the Decree on Peace, which called on all the belligerent nations and peoples to enter into negotiations for a peace without annexations and indemnities. The Russian revolutionaries also hoped that their example would be followed by the working classes of some other countries of Europe. The Soviet appeal was rejected by the Allied Powers, and Germany extorted a heavy price for letting Russia withdraw from the war, which continued for another year. On 8 January 1918, Wilson had presented his peace proposals, called the Fourteen Points. These included the abolition of secret diplomacy, freedom of the seas, reduction of armaments, and redrawing the boundaries of European countries on the principle of nationality. In the case of colonies, what was proposed was an “impartial adjustment of all colonial claims”, not application of the principle of national self-determination. The last point was about the formation of “A general association of nations…for the purpose of affording mutual guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity to great and small states alike”. The Fourteen Points were expected to form the basis of peace.
   The developments during the next twenty years, however, belied these hopes. The countries of the world did not become more democratic than before in spite of the collapse of four imperial dynasties. The social revolution which the Russian revolutionaries had hoped would occur in some countries of Europe, failed to materialize and the uprisings which took place in Germany and Hungary were suppressed. In many countries of Europe, dictatorial regimes came to power, which fostered national chauvinism and prepared for war. The fear of a social revolution was a major factor in the rise of dictatorial regimes and it also haunted those countries of Europe that had democratic political systems and influenced their internal and external policies. The power of Europe was much diminished as a result of the war though its hold over the colonies did not end. A number of new independent nations emerged in Europe, generally but not entirely based on the principle of nationality, but the conflicts within Europe over European affairs did not end. Some of the roots of the conflicts in Europe lay in the peace treaties which were-signed after the war. The inter-imperialist rivalries, which had been a major cause of the war, also did not end and they again became a major factor in international conflicts. The USA in this period became the leading power in the world. Most European economies became dependent on her. It became clear when the economic depression which started in the USA in 1929, had its disastrous effects on the economy of every country in Europe (except Russia), and in other parts of the world. The social and economic inequalities that marked the pre-war societies in industrialized countries, remained a characteristic feature during this period too though for some time some progress, was made in improving the standard of living of the people. The economic crisis of 1929-33, however, brought into sharp focus the fundamental weaknesses of the existing system of which misery and poverty of the vast masses (the population seemed to have become essential part. Outside Europe and North America, this was a period of the growing strength the movements of national liberation though their success was to come only after another world war had ended. The League of Nations, envisaged in Wilson’s Fourteen Points, came into being as a result of the peace treaties but it proved totally ineffective in preventing the world from relapsing into another war. A second world war seemed to have become inevitable since the mid-l930s and when it broke out in 1939, barely twenty years after the end of the first one; it was much more widespread and many times more destructive than the first one.

THE PEACE TREATIES

  The main enemy of the Allied Powers in the First World War had been Germany. The Peace Conference of the Allied nations opened in Paris on 18 January 1919 to draft a peace treaty with Germany. The Conference was dominated by the US President Wilson, the British Prime Minister Lloyd George and the French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. The German surrender had been obtained on the understanding that the Fourteen Points and other statements made by Wilson would be the basis of the peace treaty. Wilson had, besides the Fourteen Points, announced that “There shall be no annexations, no contributions, and no punitive damages” and that free acceptance by the people concerned would be the basis of any settlement. This principle was totally violated when the treaty was drafted. Neither Germany nor any other Central Power was represented at the Conference. When the victors had finalized the treaty, they gave Germany five days’ time to sign it or face an invasion. Germany had no choice but to sign what she called “dictated peace”. Even at the time of signing the treaty, the German representatives were humiliated. They were not asked to sit in the hall along with the representatives of the Allied Powers where the signing ceremony took place and were “escorted in and out of the hall in the manner of criminals conducted to and from the dock”. Germany was also forced to accept her “war guilt”. The treaty had a chapter on reparations, which started by stating that “Germany accept the responsibility of Germany and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to which the Allied and Associated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies”. When this was shown to the German foreign minister, he said, “It is demanded of us that we shall confess ourselves to be the only ones guilty of the war.... We are far from declining any responsibility... but we energetically deny that Germany and its people... were alone guilty.... In the last fifty years the Imperialism of all the European States has chronically poisoned the international situation....” The treaty also had articles providing for trial of Germans whom the Allies accused of committing war crimes. The list of the accused included the German emperor, who had taken refuge in Holland. The framers of the treaty were guided by the various secret treaties and agreements that the major Allied Powers had signed during the war. One of the signatories to these secret treaties, the main purpose of which was to divide the spoils of war, was Russia. After the Revolution, she not only denounced these agreements but made them public. This exposed the claims of the Allies that they had been fighting the war for freedom and democracy. These treaties were published in the American and the British press but the scandal did not deter the victors from implementing these treaties while deciding the fate of Germany (and later of Turkey and others). President Wilson, for all his insistence on open diplomacy, was persuaded to give his consent.
   One of the first acts of the Peace Conference was the decision on the creation of the League of Nations (Wilson’s Fourteenth Point). The Covenant (or the formal, solemn and binding agreement) of the League of Nations was approved by the Conference in April 1919. The primary objective of the League was stated to be the promotion of “international cooperation, peace and security”. Three Articles of the Covenant were particularly important for the primary objective of the League. Article VIII mentioned that “the maintenance of peace requires the reduction of national armaments”. Article X stated - “Members of the League undertake to respect and preserve as against external aggression the territorial integrity and existing political independence of all Members... In case of any such aggression or in cases of any threat or danger of such aggression the Council [of the League] shall advice upon the means by which this obligation shall be fulfilled”. Article XVI related to sanctions. It stated, “Should any Member of the League resort to war..., it shall ipso facto be deemed to have committed an act of war against all other Members of the League...” This Article laid down that other Members would sever all trade or financial relations with that country and. on the recommendation of the Council, make collective use of armed forces against the country resorting to war. As will be seen, the League proved to be totally ineffective in maintaining peace and taking any effective steps against the aggressor countries. Nor was any progress made towards the reduction of armaments. Two agencies created by the League did useful work. These were the Permanent Court of International Justice (popularly known as the World Court) and the International Labour Organization. Major developments relating to the League will be mentioned later.
   The peace treaty with Germany was signed at Versailles 28 June 1919 and is known as the Treaty of Versailles. According to the provisions of this treaty, Alsace-Lorraine. which Germany had seized from France in 1871, was returned to France; the newly created State of Poland was provided with access to the sea by giving about 65 km of ‘corridor’ which Separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany and Danzig was made a free city under the political control of the League of Nations and economic control of Poland. Belgium, Denmark and Lithuania also gained territories from Germany. The Saar coal-mining area was brought under the control of the League of Nations for fifteen years while the mines in the area were transferred to France as compensation. Germany was debarred from a uniting with Austria. The Rhineland was to be permanently demilitarized and occupied by the Allied troops for fifteen years. The Strength of the German army was fixed at 100,000 and she was not to have any air force and submarines. (She was to have only a limited number of naval ships). Having been forced to admit her “war guilt”, she was required to pay reparations to the Allies. These reparations were assessed later and amounted to £ 6600 million.
   Germany was also deprived of all her colonial possessions, and they were divided among the victorious powers as had been agreed to in the secret treaties among them. Most of German East Africa-Tanganyika-went to Britain, with some portions going to Portugal and Belgian Congo. Cameroons and Togoland were divided between Britain and France. Ruanda-Urundi was handed over to Belgium and South-West Africa to South Africa. The Pacific islands under German controls were divided among Australia New Zealand and Japan. Japan also acquired, Shantung, which had been a German sphere of influence. These acquisitions have already been referred to; now they were given the legal sanction of a peace treaty, which Germany Signed, as well as of the League of Nations. In theory, these German colonies were not annexed by the Victorious colonial powers. The Covenant of the League provided for a system of what was called the Mandates. This system was applied to the colonies of the defeated colonial powers. The Covenant stated that these colonies and territories were “inhabited by peoples not yet able to stand by themselves under the strenuous conditions of the modern world” and “that the well-being and development of such peoples form a sacred trust of civilization”. To give practical effect to this trust, the Covenant stated, the peoples inhabiting these colonies and territories should be placed under the ‘tutelage’ of ‘advanced nations’. However, which ‘advanced nation’ would bring which country under her tutelage had already been determined by the ‘advanced nations’ themselves and therefore, the League had nothing to do with this aspect.
   The Treaty of Versailles was the main treaty as it concerned the main defeated country. Separate treaties were signed with other Central Powers. The Treaty of St. Germain was signed with Austria on 10 September 1919. According to this treaty, Austria recognized the independence of Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia, and ceded territories to these countries and to Italy. Austria was reduced to the position of a small State and was debarred from forming a union with Germany. A separate treaty was signed with Hungary, which was now an independent State. She was required to cede territories to Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Rumania. The treaty with Bulgaria required her to cede territories to Rumania, Yugoslavia and Greece. The final treaty was signed with Turkey. According to their agreement, Britain and France had already divided the Arab territories between themselves. Syria and Lebanon had come under the French control and Iraq, Palestine and Transjordan under the British, as Mandates. Some Arab territories such as Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar had come under the British influence even earlier, while some others which had enjoyed autonomy under local rulers continued as before. Hejaz became a separate State but was soon conquered by Ibn Sand, the ruler of Nejd, to form Saudi Arabia. The loss of their Arab empire by the Ottomans had been inevitable. The Allies had given support to Arab nationalist uprisings against the Ottomans, only to acquire their territories after the war. However, the dismemberment of Turkey herself led to Turkish nationalist revolt. Greece and Italy had occupied large pans of Turkey. The Sultan of Turkey signed a treaty in September 1920 agreeing to Turkey's near-total dismemberment. In the meantime, the national revolt led by Mustafa Kemal, who had established a government in Ankara, swept the country. Kemal’s armies drove the Italians and the Greeks out of the country and the Allies were forced to sign a new treaty with Turkey in July 1923. Turkey was declared a republic, and her development as a modem secular nation began. The office of the Caliph (Khalifa) was abolished.
   These treaties formally brought the First World War to an end. Many provisions of these treaties, however, were to become the source of new tension in Europe. Russia had been excluded from the beginning from all negotiations, and was kept out of the League of Nations (as was Germany). In fact, while the treaties were being drafted and the League of Nations created to ensure the maintenance of peace, the troops of many Allied nations were fighting against the revolutionary government of Russia. The colonial question was settled to the satisfaction of the victorious colonial powers and not of the peoples of the colonies. China had been one of the Allies in the First World War and she was represented at the Peace Conference. However, her territories, formerly under the German control, had been given away to Japan.

THE USA, THE USSR AND JAPAN BETWEEN THE TWO WORLD WARS

  Three major powers during the inter-war period were the USA, the USSR, and Japan. All the three had been Allies for some time during the First World War until the Russian Revolution. After the war, while Russia was ostracized, the USA played the most important role in the framing of the peace treaties and, therefore, in the making of the post-First World War world. She became the world’s dominant economic powers Russia, later a part of the USSR when it was formed, emerged from the war, the Revolution, the Civil War, and foreign intervention as the most ravaged country in Europe. However, by the late 1930s, she had emerged as a strong industrial and military power. Her political, economic and social system distinguished her from the rest of the world and she played a distinctive role in world affairs. Japan emerged from the war as the strongest power in Asia and the Pacific with ambitions of establishing her hegemony in that region.

The USA

  The Treaty of Versailles in the formulation of which the US President Woodrow Wilson had played a leading role, was rejected by the US Senate. The USA refused to join the League of Nations, which had largely been a creation of Wilson. In the elections held in 1920 for the offices of the President and the Vice-President of the USA, the candidates of the Democratic Party, to which Wilson belonged, were defeated by the Republican Party. The candidates of the latter party also won two more successive elections held in 1924 and 1928.
   The immediate post-war years in the USA were the years of a serious economic crisis. During the war years, while the European economies suffered serious damages, the US economy expanded. No battle was fought on the US soil and no damage done to her cities industries and farms. With the end of the war, the expansion which was the result of the war, the suddenly ceased and it created a serious crisis. About 100,000 businesses were reduced to bankruptcy and about five million people lost their jobs. The resulting labour unrest led to strikes and there was a wave of them. In 1919 there were over 3500 strikes, some of them involving hundreds of thousands of workers and lasting for many months. The strikes were put down with a heavy hand, and attempts were made to create a scare of a revolutionary outbreak like the one that had occurred in Russia. However, soon after, the US economy experienced an unprecedented growth. During this period, when the rest of the capitalist world was recovering from the destruction caused by the war the USA began her industrial expansion based on major advances in technology. She had emerged as the main creditor nation in the world, and most countries of Europe were her debtors. An indication of the tremendous industrial expansion may be seen in the fact that in 1929, more than five million cars were sold in the USA. The industrial expansion was accompanied by a further concentration of economic power. Thousands of small companies were swallowed up by the few big ones. Competition between different manufactures, which had been a characteristic feature of capitalist economies, almost ended. In some cases, such as steel, almost the entire industry in the country was in the hands of one company. These companies enjoyed enormous influence. It used to be said that what was good for General Motors, the chief manufacturer of cars, was good for America. The growth of concentration of economic power led to increased corruption and there were many scandals involving politicians and top levels of the bureaucracy.
   The unprecedented economic growth, however, brought little benefits to the workers, most of whom continued to lead lives of poverty and misery. Besides low wages, there was the ever-present danger of being thrown out of employment. A strong trade union movement also could not emerge because the companies often got the support of the government and the courts and frequently resorted to violence against the workers, with the help of the police and hired gangs.
   The unprecedented expansion came to an end with an unprecedented catastrophe. Early in 1929, Herbert Hoover, who had been elected President of the USA, declared, “Ours is a land rich in resources, stimulating in its glorious beauty filled with millions of happy homes, blessed with comfort and opportunity”. The future of the country, according to him, was “bright with hope”. Within a few months, on 24 October 1929, the crash which has come to be known as the Great Depression began. The basic cause of the economic crisis lay in the nature of the economy which went on expanding, making huge profits, while keeping most of the people in a state of impoverishment. The tremendous increase in production facilitated by advances in technology and increasing profits created a situation in which there were not many people who had the means to buy what was being produced. Between 5 and 7 per cent of the non-agricultural population had been unemployed throughout the 1920s. In spite of almost a decade of unprecedented economic growth, “more than half the families in America lived on the edge of or below the minimum subsistence level”, and were in no position to buy the goods that were being produced. It has been estimated that, in 1929, about a third of all personal income went to about 5 per cent of the population. The “fundamental mal-distribution of purchasing power” is agreed to be a major factor leading to the crash by even those who were by no means critics of the capitalist system of economy.
   The crash began when the prices of shares began to fall, creating a panic, and people rushed to sell their shares, which led to a further fall. This led to the collapse of the stock market. This was followed by the failure of banks--between 1929 and 1932, over 5700 banks failed and another 3500 ceased their operations. The failures of the banks wiped off the life’s savings of millions of Americans. This meant that even fewer people had the money to buy goods. The industries could not get loans from the banks, and the goods they produced could not be sold, and so they began to close down. This meant that more people lost their jobs and the demand for goods further went down leading to the closure of more factories. The number of the unemployed rose from 1.5 million in 1929 to 5 million in 1930, to 9 million in 1931 and to 13 million in 1932--the figure of 1932 being over 25 per cent of the total US work force. The condition of farmers was no better than that of urban workers. The prices of agricultural produce fell, and millions of farmers lost their lands and were reduced to the position of destitute.
   The 1930s were a terrible period for the American people. The worst affected were the black people. Over 200,000 had served as soldiers in Europe during the war and on their return home they found that racial discrimination against them had further worsened. The lynching’s had increased and even the war veterans were victims of humiliation; indignities lynching’s. They were the first to be thrown out of employment and often their jobs were taken over by whites. The right to vote continued to be denied to them. Racial segregation and discrimination had spread throughout the country and was no longer limited to the southern States. White terrorist gangs such as the Ku Klux Klan were active in many parts of the country. The victims of their violence now included, besides the black people, Jews, foreigners, and other groups regarded as “racially impure”. During the Great Depression the condition of the black people further worsened. White racists demanded that no jobs should be given to ‘niggers’ until every white man was employed. Hundreds of thousands of them migrated from the southern States to the north but there, too, conditions were no better. It has been estimated that, in 1932, about one-third of the black population was unemployed besides another one-third which was underemployed.
   The 1930s were a period of growth of radicalism in the US society. A strong trade union movement began to emerge. There were radical political movements advocating socialism. The Communist Party of the USA which had been formed earlier grew in strength and played an important role in organizing the workers, black and white, and fighting against racism. The black people also organized themselves to fight back racism. The NAACP, which has been mentioned earlier, played an important role in the fight against racism and in uniting the black and the white workers.
   Two cases of blatant injustice rocked the USA during this period and aroused protests by people in many other countries. The first case concerned two Italian immigrants, Sacco and Vanzetti, who were arrested on the charge of committing a murder. The evidence against them was considered “at best questionable”. They were sentenced to death. It was generally believed in the USA and elsewhere in the world that they were innocent and had been framed in a false case to add to the scare that the USA was in danger of a revolution by subversive elements. There was a worldwide demand for a retrial of the case but it was refused and Sacco and Vanzetti were executed. The second, known as the Scottsboro Case, was a case of racism. Nine young black boys were tried in Alabama in 1931 on the charge of raping two white prostitutes and eight of them were sentenced to death by a jury consisting entirely of whites. The Case was generally considered to be completely fabricated and a nation-wide campaign, supported by world opinion, was launched for the defense of the boys who had been convicted. In this case the executions were not carried out though mo of the boys languished in prison for many years.
   The Great Depression, which had its origin in the USA, affected almost all countries of Europe and, to some extent, almost every country in the world. Its effects on Europe were extremely grave, and would be mentioned subsequently. In the USA, some of the worst effects of the economic crisis began to be remedied after 1933. This happened during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was first elected in 1932 and won three subsequent elections. The programme of reform which he started is known as the New Deal. A large programme of welfare was initiated, which alleviated the misery of many sections of the population, though the effects of the Great Depression continued right up to the US entry into the Second World War. Though Roosevelt was generally believed to be sympathetic to blacks, little was actually done to improve their lot.
   The US refusal to join the League of Nations was a big blow to that organization. The main preoccupation of the USA during the period was expansion of her economic control over the rest of the world. The growing US domination of the world economy had serious consequences for Europe and the rest of the world. The USA supplied vast amounts of credits to Germany and some other countries in the 1920s, which helped in the economic recovery of Europe but the increased dependence on the USA had disastrous consequences for these countries as was to happen during the Great Depression. She was initially concerned at the growing Japanese ambitions in China as it might harm the US economic interests. In 1922, a treaty was signed with Japan, Britain, France and Italy, which aimed at ensuring Open Door in China so that no one country established her exclusive control over China. The treaty also imposed some restrictions on Japan‘s naval strength but left her as the greatest naval power in the Pacific. Like other Western countries, the USA refused to be involved in any efforts to curb the acts of aggression started by Japan in 1931 and later by Italy and Germany. For sixteen years, she refused to recognize the government of the USSR (as, later, It took her over twenty years to recognize the government of China). In Latin America, the US economic domination was further strengthened, and direct military intervention continued until the time when Franklin Roosevelt became President. The US domination of Latin America-or “Yankee Imperialism”, as the Latin Americans called it caused widespread resentment there.

The USSR

  Many historians consider the Russian Revolution the most significant event of the twentieth century and some consider it to be the beginning of a new era in human history. By all accounts, it has been a major factor m the shaping of the twentieth century world. No other revolution in human history had attempted such fundamental transformation of society as the Russian Revolution of 1917. Since the beginning of civilization over 5,000 years ago, if we take the world as a whole, the common feature of all ‘civilized’ societies had been social and economic inequalities and exploitation of one class by another. The State, whatever its form was used to maintaining the system of inequality and exploitation. The Russian Revolution aimed at ending the system of inequality and exploitation and creating a society in which no one would live off the labour of another. The Decrees on Peace and Land have already been mentioned. Soon after, all industries and banks were nationalized.
   A Declaration of the Rights of the Peoples of Russia was issued. It announced the end of the oppression of the non-Russian nationalities of the Russian empire and proclaimed the right of all nationalities to self-determination, equality and sovereignty. All the secret treaties signed by the Czar‘s government were annulled and peoples of the East were called upon to overthrow colonial rule. In January 1918, Russia was proclaimed as the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). By the time the First World War ended, the Bolsheviks had established their control over almost all the territories of the former Russian empire, except Estonia, Latvia. Lithuania and Finland, which had emerged as independent nations. Poland also emerged as an independent nation and included all the Polish territories which had earlier been part of the Russian empire. In the meantime, Civil War had broken out and foreign military intervention started. The Soviet policy on land and non-Russian nationalities made it impossible for the White Russians and their foreign supporters, who wanted to restore the old order in Russian, to gain much support in Russia or of the people of non-Russian nationalities, and by the end of 1920, the Civil War and the armed intervention by other countries had been brought to an end. The opposition by the people of the countries who had sent their troops to Russia also played an important role in ending the foreign intervention.
   The First World War and the Civil War and the foreign intervention which followed the Revolution had totally ravaged the economy of Russia. These and the famine that followed resulted in the death of millions of people. In 1921, industrial production came down to 13 per cent of what it had been before 1914. The government had resorted to what is known War Communism to prevent a total collapse. Landed estates had been confiscated and distributed to peasants but all that the peas produced beyond their minimum essential requirements was appropriated by the government to feed the rest of the population. Almost nothing could be bought and sold. Whatever produced by industries was distributed workers and other people to meet their minimum essential requirements in lieu of wages measures, which were essential for survival the conditions created by the war, the Civil war and the foreign intervention, led to widespread discontent and in some places there were rev In 1921, a new policy, called the New Economic Policy (NEP), was adopted and the measures adopted under War Communism were withdrawn. Peasant control over their prod was restored, salaries were paid in cash, trade in goods was reopened, and efforts were made to rehabilitate the economy. In some industries, private management was introduced and many small industries were allowed to remain in private hands. A large number of cooperatives were set up. In 1921, there was a large-scale failure of crops in a large part of the country creating conditions of mass starvation. A massive nation-wide effort was launched provide relief. People from many other countries also organized relief aid to the Soviet people. The USA, though refusing to recognize the so government, also sent food supplies.
   The NEP helped the economy to recover to the pre-war level and laid the foundations of further development. This policy remained in force till 1928 when a massive effort was launched to achieve a high level of economic development through successive Five Year Plans. The first Five Year Plan was launched in 1929 and the second in 1934. By the time the Second World War started, Soviet Russia (part of USSR, for short Soviet Union, since 1924) had become a strong industrialized and military power. No other country had industrialized herself as fast as the USSR. Also, the conditions under which her economy developed were totally different from those of other countries. This was achieved by mobilizing her own internal resources, entirely under the auspices of the State and under State ownership. Whatever private enterprises existed during the period of the NEP had also been taken over by the State and private ownership of and control over industry and trade had become non-existent. It is notable that the only country to escape the effects of the Great Depression was the Soviet Union; Vast changes took place in the agricultural sector which, while helping the modernization of agriculture with the help of machines and tractors, had disastrous consequences in human terms. Vast State farms were set up and the rest of the farmlands were collectivized. The individual small holdings of the peasants were brought together and collective farms, called kolkhozes, were set up. By the end of the 1930s, almost all land was brought under collective farms, and the peasants worked collectively on the State farms. This was often done by adopting measures of extreme coercion. The class of rich peasants was eliminated. Many million peasants are believed to have perished during the period of collectivization.
   According to a new Constitution proclaimed in 1924, all the Soviet Republics such as the Russian (RSFSR), Georgian, Armenian, Turkmen, Ukrainian, Ajerbaijan, Caucasian, etc., were brought under one union-the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In 1936, when another Constitution came into force, there were eleven Republics constituting the USSR. These Republics were formed on the basis of the principle of nationality and the equality of all' nationalities. According to the Constitution, they were even free to secede from the Union. Generally speaking, each nationality of the former Russian empire was able to promote its own language and culture. The cultural and economic development of the Asian Republics of the USSR was particularly impressive to the peoples of other countries of Asia who were struggling to liberate themselves from colonial rule.
   The political development of the Soviet Union was accompanied by gross violation of liberties of the people and the principles of democracy. The Soviets, which had been formed during the struggle for revolution, had been acclaimed as the true and authentic form of democracy. They involved vast masses of people in the process of decision-making, which affected their lives and brought millions of common people into direct political activity. A number of political parties and groups-such as the Mensheviks, the Socialist Revolutionaries-- had their members in the Soviets. During the Civil War and attempts at uprisings, they were eliminated from the political life of the country. Most of the leaders of these parties either left the country or were exiled to Siberia. Even after the Revolution had consolidated itself and there was no longer any possibility of a counter-revolutionary movement succeeding, they were not allowed to play any role in the political life of the country. The Bolshevik Party, later known as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, became the sole political party in the country. This Party established its exclusive control over the country. Even within this Party, gradually all democracy was extinguished. The Bolshevik Party had grown in conditions of Czarist autocracy which had made it impossible for the Bolsheviks to function in the Open as a legal party. As a party which was working to bring about the revolutionary overthrow of the existing order, it had developed a certain system of functioning that allowed debates and controversies, sometimes fierce, within the party but obliged the members to follow the decisions once they had been taken by the majority. This way of functioning of the Party continued as long as Lenin, the greatest leader of the Russian Revolution, was alive. There were occasions when other Communist leaders openly opposed Lenin’s views and there are also instances when Lenin was isolated. However, the expression of these differences did not lead to suppression of the people who differed with the view of the majority or of the leadership. Thus, democracy within the Party was maintained. After the death of Lenin in 1924, there was a fierce struggle for power within the Party. There were serious differences over the means and methods which should be adopted for building socialism and also on whether it was at all possible to build socialism in one Country and whether primary task of the Soviet government should be the promotion of world revolution. There were differences on the question of collectivization and the methods of industrialization. The method adopted in resolving these differences was not just taking a decision by the majority and going ahead with implementing it but also treating those who had opposed the decision, as enemies of the Party and the country. The first major struggle inside the Party took place between Stalin and Trotsky. Stalin had become the General Secretary of the Party. Trotsky’s role in the Revolution and subsequently as Foreign Minister and still later as War Minister is considered by many to be second only to Lenin’s. In 1927, however, Stalin emerged victorious, and Trotsky was expelled from the Party and, in 1929, he was exiled. In 1940, Stalin, it is believed, got him assassinated in Mexico where he had been living for some years. Later, many other leaders were accused of being Trotskyites and they were arrested and executed. Two other leaders of the Party Zinoviev and Bukharin--, who disagreed with Stalin’s policies on different occasions, were eliminated.

THE CULT OF STALIN

  Soon after my arrival in Moscow the editor gave me a ticket for a conference of Stakhanovites. I came an hour before the appointed time but the Great Hall in the Kremlin was already packed. People in their seats talked in low voices; no one stood about. It was quite unlike the noisy Paris meetings in halls tilled with tobacco smoke. I asked my neighbors to point out Stakhanov and whether they know Krivonos, lzotov the Vinogradovs. Suddenly everyone rose and began to clap furiously: entering from a side door, which I could not see, Stalin appeared followed by the members of the Politburo-I had met them at Gorky‘s dacha. The audience clapped and shouted. This went on for a long time, possibly ten or fifteen minutes. Stalin clapped in response. When the applause began to die down someone shouted - ‘Hurrah tor the great Stalin and it started up all over again. At last everyone sat down and then a woman's Wild cry went up: Glory to Stalin! I’ we jumped to our feet and started clapping once more.
   By the time this came to an end, my palms positively hurt. I was seeing Stalin tor the first time and could not take my eyes off him. I know him from hundreds of portraits, know his tunic and his moustache, but I had imagined him taller. His hair was very black, his forehead low, his eyes keen and expressive. At times, leaning to the right or left, he smiled, at others he sat motionless though his eyes continued to gleam brightly. I found that I was hardly listening; I was so intent on watching Stalin. Turning round I saw that everybody else was doing the same.
   On my way home I felt uneasy. Of course Stalin was a great man, but he was a Communist, a Marxist: we talked a lot about a new culture, but behaved not unlike the shaman whom I had seen in Upper Shoria. I immediately pulled myself up short - I was probably reasoning in an intellectual’s way. How many times I had heard it said that we, the intellectuals, did not understand the needs of the age! ‘intelligentik’. ‘muddler’. ‘rotten liberal ....And yet it was incomprehensible - wisest of ‘leaders’, ‘people’s leader of genius', ‘beloved father‘, ‘great helmsman‘, ‘reformer of the world, ‘forger of peace‘, ‘sun'. However, I succeeded in persuading myself that I did not understand the psychology of the masses and was judging everything as a member of the intelligentsia and, what was more, one who had spent half his life in Paris.

[From llya Ehrenburg's Men, Years Life, Volume 4]

Gradually, in the 1930s, in a country which was building a new type of society and a higher type of civilization and which would be free from all exploitation, dictatorship of one man took shape. All power was concentrated in the hands of Stalin, who was viewed as the source of all wisdom. His decision could not be questioned. In the development of socialist thought, “Dictatorship of the Proletariat” was envisaged as a stage in the building up of socialism. All capitalist countries were viewed as having dictatorships of the bourgeoisie, even when they had democratic political institutions, because the State in these countries was the instrument for the maintenance if the domination of the bourgeoisie. The “Dictatorship of the Proletariat”, in the same way, was viewed as a State which would use its power to maintain the domination of the working class. This “Dictatorship” did not mean abolition of political freedom, elimination of all other political parties, and rule by one single party. However, the way the Soviet Union’s political system developed, it came to mean, first, the dictatorship of the Party and, by virtue of Stalin’s domination of the Party, the dictatorship of Stalin. After Stalin’s death in 1953, this phenomenon was described by the Soviet Communist leaders as Stalin’s “cult of personality”.
   The dictatorship or “cult of personality” of Stalin led to grave distortions in the building of socialism in the Soviet Union. In 1934, Kirov, the leader of the Communist Party in Leningrad (formerly Petrograd), was assassinated. It is now generally believed that he was got assassinated by Stalin. The assassination was, however, utilized by Stalin to launch repression against everyone who was suspected of the slightest disloyalty. It soon developed into what has come to be known as the Great Purge. The number of people who perished in the Great Purge is only now beginning to be fully estimated. Their number was enormous. They included some of the most prominent communist leaders, veterans of the Revolution, writers, artists, scientists, military and civilian officers as well as some leaders of the communist parties of other countries. For a long time, the people outside the Soviet Union who were sympathetic to socialism and in their own countries were involved in the struggle against colonial rule or capitalist exploitation, did not realize the enormity of the crimes that were being committed in the name of socialism. One reason for this was that the Soviet Union was surrounded by countries which were hostile not only to the Soviet Union but to socialism itself. Some of these countries made no secret of their aggressive designs against the Soviet Union and declared that they would destroy commumsm. Many of these countries held Marty - countries under their colonial subjugation. The economic system of these countries bred inequalities, and resulted in mass unemployment, misery and poverty. Repression inside the Soviet Union came to be seen in the context of the Soviet Union's efforts at preserving her independence and her socialist system in a hostile world.
   The international role of the Soviet Union demarcated her from all other great powers of the time. She had been kept out of the Peace Conference held in Paris after the war to prepare treaties of peace with the Central Powers. In 1921, she entered into treaties with Iran and Afghanistan which aimed at strengthening the independence and sovereignty of these countries. A treaty was signed in the same year with the government of Mustafa Kemal, which was engaged in a war to restore the territorial integrity of Turkey. She participated in various disarmament conferences and made proposals for general and complete disarmament. In the 1930s, she took a forthright stand against the fascist countries acts of aggression and strove for united action with other countries to check fascist aggression. Most Western countries, however, chose to appease fascism in the hope that fascism would destroy communism. In 1934 the Soviet Union joined of the League of Nations and made efforts in the direction of making the League take resolute action for the maintenance of peace and independence of nations. The Soviet Union was also the only major power at that time which was totally opposed to the continuance of colonialism and imperialism. She came to be looked upon as a friend of the peoples the world over fighting for their independence.
   It may be appropriate to mention here the formation of the Communist international which was, in a sense, a consequence of the Russian Revolution. With the outbreak of the war, the Second International had collapsed. During the all war, some efforts were made to bring together some sections of the socialist parties of various countries. After the Revolution in Russia, the Left-wing sections of socialist parties in many countries were formed into communist parties. A move to bring all communist parties into an international organization was initiated. In March 1919, a conference was held in Moscow, which was attended by representatives of the communist parties of thirty countries. The Communist International (Comintern, for short), or the Third International, was formed at this conference. By the mid-1930s, there were communist parties in more than sixty countries. Some of these were very strong, such as the Communist Party of Germany before Hitler captured power and launched a systematic campaign to exterminate it, and the Communist Party of France. The Communist Party of China had also emerged; a powerful party. The communist panics built a strong support for themselves among the workers of the capitalist countries as well as in the colonies. In almost all countries, they played a leading role in the organizing the workers against the misery created by the capitalist system of society during the period of the Great Depression. In some countries under colonial rule, they became the leading force in the struggle for independence. Formed under the impact of the Russian Revolution, most communist parties looked upon the Communist Party of the Soviet Union as their model and often as the leading force of the world communist movement. The Russian Revolution was also looked upon as the model of a socialist revolution. Because of their close association with the Soviet Communist Party, all communist parties were often viewed by others with suspicion. The Comintern with its headquarters in Moscow was dominated by the Soviet Communist Party and the activities of the communist parties in other countries were seen to be directed by Moscow.
   While the formation of the communist parties and the Comintern strengthened the revolutionary movement for socialism, there was also a weakening of the socialist movement if we view the socialist movement as a very broad movement for social change. The communist parties and the various socialist and social democratic parties had many differences and they began to view each other as enemies instead of trying to find points of common agreement and action. The cleavage between the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany made it easier for the Nazis to capture power, which proved disastrous not only for socialism and democracy but also for the peace of the world. In 1935, the Comintern, at its seventh congress held under the leadership of Georgi Dimitrov, a communist leader from Bulgaria, called for a united popular front against; fascism and a united anti-imperialist front in the colonies. This was a significant development which helped unite vast masses of people, communists, socialists and others, for the achievement of common aims. The popular fronts which were set up as a result of this policy prevented fascists from taking over power in some countries. In the meantime, the world was relapsing into war.

Japan

  The drive for expansion had been a characteristic feature of Japanese history since the beginning of her modernization in the second half of the nineteenth century. The colonial gains made by her at the end of the First World War have already been mentioned. The treaty she signed in Washington restricting the growth of her navy had still left her as the greatest naval power in the Pacific. For a time, she pursued ‘peaceful’ ways of extending her domination over China as well as South-East Asia through economic means. However, the growth of the movement for China’s national unification as well as of the influence of the Chinese Communist Party created the danger that she would not be able to extend her control over China. One of her major objectives was to prevent China’s national unification. One of the first major acts of aggression after the First World War was commuted by Japan when she occupied Manchuria and later set up a puppet government there. This was followed by a massive invasion of China in 1937. In 1936 she had signed the Anti-Comintern Pact with Germany. She planned to establish her hegemony all over Asia and the Pacific, as Germany along with Italy planned doing it over the rest of the world.
   The Japanese economy continued to grow after the war and she became the biggest exporter of cotton textiles, rayon and raw silk. Her dependence on other countries for raw materials, machinery and food stuffs had made the economy somewhat fragile. To overcome some of these problems, there was a lot of expansion of iron and steel and heavy engineering industries. But direct control over the resources and markets of China and other countries was considered essential by Japanese industrialists and political and military leaders.
   The Japanese industrial expansion had taken place under conditions of extreme exploitation of the workers. The industry and the banks were under the domination of the zaibatsu, a small group of ‘money-cliques’. The zaibatsu had close links with the Japanese government and the politicians. The living conditions of the workers were miserable. The conditions of farmers were no better. Most of them had extremely small holdings, a little more than an acre, and a large number of them worked as tenants. The Japanese agriculture was unable to absorb Japan’s growing population or meet its requirements of food. There was widespread unrest in the country. In 1919, there were disturbances throughout the country over the high price of rice which most people, the general level of their wages being low, could not afford to pay. These are generally referred to as ‘rice mutinies’. Factories, the houses of the rich, and the shops of rice traders were attacked and burnt. In the 1920s, there was a wave of strikes, and trade unions began to gain strength. Communist and Social Democratic Parties were also formed and they tried to organize workers and peasants against the oppressive economic system. These parties also aroused the people of Japan against the policy of imperialism and war. However, they were suppressed ruthlessly as were the trade unions and the peasants’ organizations. In 1925, the Peace Preservation Law was passed to suppress ‘dangerous thoughts’. According to this law, anyone forming or joining an organization which advocated change in the form of government or the abolition of private property could be arrested. Even academic discussions on these questions or other political problems were banned.
   Japan seemed to be making some progress in having a parliamentary form of government in the 1920s. In 1924, the franchise was extended to all males-women continued to be denied the right to vote. For some time the government seemed to work under the control of the civilians. However, the military continued to be a major force in the political life of the country and from the early 1930s increasingly dominated the government. Even before the military had established its domination over the government, in would openly defy the government, and government could do nothing to control it Japanese military was the most aggressive force in Japanese society. It had close links with a number of secret societies, which had been formed. All these societies attacked ideas of liberalism, pacifism and democracy, and advocated id national chauvinism, the superiority of the Japanese culture and preservation of the purity Japanese culture from foreign influences. Ideas of peace, socialism and democracy were considered foreign ideas from which Japan had to protect. These societies had their specific notions of what constituted the ‘national essence’ of Japan. Emperor-worship was an idea common to most of them. They advocated the belief that “To die for the Emperor is to live forever”. They had their armed gangs, and resorted to political assassination. The ideology of the armed forces and of many political leaders of Japan largely shaped by these secret societies. The imperialist expansion of Japan was considered a desirable aim by all political forces except the Communists and the Social Democrats. The latter had been reduced to a position of insignificance by the repressive policies followed by the Japanese government during the inter-war period. The political system which emerged in Japan may be called ‘military fascism’. Its growing affinity with the fascist governments of Germany and Italy was natural.
   In 1926 Emperor Hirohito succeeded to the throne of Japan. The reign of the emperor under whom modernization of Japan had begun in 1868 was known as Meiji, meaning ‘enlightened government’. Emperor Hirohito took the title of Showa for his reign, which means ‘enlightened peace’.

ASIA AFRICA AN D LATIN AMERICA

Asia

  The inter-war years saw the growth of the nationalist movement in evey country of Asia. The freedom movement in India, which you have already studied in detail, entered a new phase the phase of a mass anti-imperialist upsurge; soon after the First World War was over. On 13 April 1919, British imperialism committed the barbarous massacre at Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar. The Non-Cooperation Movement launched soon after drew millions of common people-peasants, workers, students, women, and almost every other section of Indian society-into the struggle for freedom and the open defiance of the British authority became the creed of the millions of Indians. At the end of 1929, Poorna Swaraj (Complete Independence) became the objective of the Congress, which led India’s struggle for independence. In 1930, a great mass movement was launched and hundreds of thousands of Indians broke the British rulers’ laws and went to prison. As a part of the nationalist snuggle, there also grew the vision of a new India-free, democratic, secular and egalitarian. The struggle also extended to l” the areas which were, with British support, under Indian princes. The Indian freedom movement also developed close contacts with the freedom movements in other colonies as well as with the anti-fascist democratic movements in European countries. The attainment of political independence came to be increasingly viewed as an essential pre-requisite for the reconstruction of Indian society. The basic features of the role which independent India would play in world affairs also were formed during the period of the struggle for independence. The nationalist movement in every country, while uniting the people for the immediate task of overthrowing foreign rule, also increasingly thought in terms of social and economic reconstruction and building a modem nation.

China

  The role of Dr Sun Yat-sen in the revolution of 1911, which resulted in the proclamation of China as a republic, and the usurpation of power by Yuan Shih-kai, who dreamed of becoming the emperor, have already been mentioned. China - was ruled by warlords who controlled different regions of China and fought among themselves for supremacy. They were supported by various foreign powers in exchange for concessions. At the end of the First World War, there were two main governments in China. One of these was controlled by the Guomindang and had its headquarters at Canton. Dr Sun Yat-sen became the President of this government. The other government was headed by a military general and had its headquarters at Beijing. The decision of the Paris Peace Conference to hand over Shantung to Japan led to an anti-imperialist upsurge in 1919. It began with a protest demonstration by the students of Beijing University on 4 May 1919 and the movement that started with it is known as the May Fourth Movement It soon spread to various parts of China. The Russian Revolution had a deep impact on the Chinese nationalists, and radical tendencies began to grow. In 1921, the Communist Party of China was formed, and it soon became a major, force. In the meantime, Dr Sun Yat-sen, having failed to secure Western countries’ help to unify China, sought the support of the Soviet Union. In 1924, the Guomindang and the Chinese Communist Party came together. While the Communist Party continued as a separate party, the communists also joined the Guomindang. It was decided to form a national revolutionary army and for this purpose a military academy was set up with the help of Soviet military and political advisers. In 1925, the Chinese national revolutionary army launched its operations against the warlords. However; in Chiang Kai-shek about two years after the death of Dr Sun Yat-sen in March 1925, the situation in China underwent a drastic change. The alliance between the Guomindang and the Communist Party broke up, and soon conditions were created for a civil war in China.
   The operations of the national revolutionary army for the political unification of China were accompanied by workers’ and peasants’ movements. In 1925, in Shanghai, there were strikes and demonstrations against the killings of workers’ leaders organized by the Japanese industrialists and the shooting of the demonstrators by the British police. In many areas, the peasants started seizing the lands of the landlords. In March 1927, when the national revolutionary army reached Nanking, the British and the US Warships opened fire, killing hundreds of people. Al this time, there was a split in the Guomindang, and General Chiang Kai-shek, who was chief of staff of the national revolutionary army, set up his government at Nanking. The growth of the peasants’ and workers’ movement and the increasing strength of the left-wing elements in the Guomindang had alarmed him. He was now less concerned with putting an end to foreign domination of China and her political unification than with the suppression of the left-wing and the communists. His troops raided workers’ quarters in Shanghai, killing thousands of workers and communists. In December 1927, the communists led an uprising in Canton, and set up a Soviet government there. However, the uprising was suppressed and over five thousand workers were killed. This marked the split in the nationalist movement in China. The Soviet advisers were expelled, and many leaders of the Guomindang, including the widow of Dr Sun Yat-sen, went into exile. After the suppression of the Canton uprising, the communists were scattered in different parts of the country and brought some areas under their control. China now entered a long period of civil war between the armies of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chimes Communist Party.
   After the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, a wave of anti-Japanese feelings swept the country and there was a nation-wide movement to boycott Japanese goods. However, the Guomindang led by Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist Party failed to unite against the Japanese aggression. The communists gave a call for anti-Japanese resistance but were not willing to ally with Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek’s armies launched operations against the communist strongholds but not against the Japanese. In the meantime, the Communist Party’s influence had been growing, particularly in the countryside. The most important leader of the Communist party to emerge during this period was Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung). He advocated the view that in China the peasantry was the main revolutionary force, and he built up the strategy of bringing about socialist revolution with the help of the peasantry. In 1934, Chiang Kai-shek launched an attack on the communist-held areas in southern China with the help of a million strong army. The communists were forced to give up their base and, to escape annihilation, about 100,000 of them moved to Yenan in north-western China. This movement, known as the Long March, in which they covered a distance of about 100,000 km, added to the nation-wide popularity of the communists. During the Long March, they seized the lands of the landlords and distributed them among the peasants, thus continuosly strengthening support for themselves against Chiang Kia-shek’s government which was by now associated in the minds of the people as the government of big landlords, merchants and bankers. The communists also called for a national war against the Japanese aggression it while Chiang Kai-shek’s armies’ target of attack was only the communists. In 1937, the massive Japanese invasion of China began. The armies of Chiang Kai-shek retreated in the face of the Japanese attack, and his government moved from Nanking to Chungking. However, by this time, a united front to resist the Japanese invasion had come into being. In December 1936, a dramatic incident had taken place. Chiang Kai-shek had gone to Sian to persuade his troops to fight against the communists. His troops arrested him and released him only when he agreed to end the civil war and form a joint front with the communists to fight against the Japanese. From that time on, the semblance of a national war of it resistance against the Japanese aggression was maintained though each side-Chiang Kai-shek’s Guomindang and the communists under Mao Zedong’s leadership-remained suspicious of the other and tried to increase its own influence against the other. The communists, during this period, emerged as the genuine representatives of China’s national struggle against the Japanese aggression.

Korea

  The movement for the independence of Korea from Japan’s colonial rule became powerful soon after the First World War was over. The Russian Revolution also helped the spread of anit-imperialist ideas in Korea. In 1918, the Korean nationalists drafted a Declaration of Independence. In March 1919, the Declaration was read out at a public meeting in Seoul, and there were demonstrations in which thousands of people participated. Soon the demonstrations took the form of a country-wide uprising in which over 150,000 people participated. The uprising was suppressed by the Japanese army, killing 8000 people and seriously wounding 16,000 people. About 50,000 people were arrested. However, the peasant revolts and workers’ strikes continued. The Koreans settled in China, Japan, the Soviet Union and other countries also played an important role in strengthening the anti-Japanese struggle in Korea. After 1931, following the Japanese seizure of Manchuria, the Koreans began organizing anti-Japanese armed actions in Manchuria as well as in Korea. The Japanese made use of Korea as a base for launching military operations against China and, later, other countries of Asia as well as against the Soviet Union. They also tried to set up organizations of Koreans who were loyal to them, and to use the Korean people in their aggressive wars against other countries.

South-East Asian Countries

  During the period of the US colonial rule, the Philippines had been reduced to an economic appendage of the US. She exported about 80 per cent of all her exports, mainly sugar, coconuts and tobacco, to the US, and was dependent on the US for about 70 per cent of her imports. The pattern of her economic development under the US was similar to the one that obtained in most Latin American countries, that is, production of a few crops mainly for export to the colonial country. Also, as in most Latin American countries, the land was owned by big landlords. The peasant unrest had given rise to radical political movements which aimed at the ending of colonial rule as well as feudal exploitation. A peasant uprising took place in early 1930s but it was suppressed. There were other political movements for the independence of the country. In 1935, autonomy was granted to the Philippines with the promise of independence after ten years.
   The most outstanding leader of the freedom movement in Indo-China, comprising Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, was Nguyen Ai Quoc who, later, became known as Ho Chi Minh. During First World War, about 100,000 Vietnamese had been sent to France, some as soldiers and many to work as labourers. They came into contact with the socialist and other radical movements in France. Ho Chi Minh was actively associated with the formation of the communist Party of France. In 1925 he set up the Revolutionary Youth League of Vietnam. In 1930, the various communist groups came together to form the Vietnamese Communist Party, which was later renamed as the Communist Party of Indo-China. This party became the leading force in the struggle for independence against French rule. There was another party, the Vietnam National Party, which was modeled on the Guomindang. This party organized a rebellion in 1930, which was suppressed.
   In Indonesia or the Dutch East Indies; the colonial rulers called her-political movements for freedom from the Dutch rule an workers’ and peasants’ organizations had emerge during the early years of the twentieth century These included the Islamic Alliance and the Indies’ Social-Democratic Association. In 1920, the Communist Party of Indonesia was formed, which organized uprisings in Java and Sumatra. The uprisings were suppressed by the Dutch authorities. In 1927, the Nationalist Party was formed under the leadership of Ahmed Sukarno, who later became the President of independent Indonesia. This party brought together various other organizations and parties for launching united struggle for freedom. It also adopted the objective of establishing socialism once the country had won her independence. Alarmed all growing strength of the nationalist movement the Dutch authorities banned the National Party and arrested many of its leaders, including Sukarno. The repression continued for many years, and even political discussions on the demand for independence were banned.
   After her annexation by the British, Burma had been made a part of Britain’s Indian empire. She was separated from India in 1937. The nationalist movement had started emerging in Burma in the early years of the twentieth century with the formation of the Young Men's Buddhist Association in 1906. The growth of the anti-imperialist struggle in India was an important influence on a the Burmese nationalist movement, and the lead years of the freedom movements in the two countries developed close contacts with each other. In 1921, the General Council of Burmese Association was set up and, like the Indian National Congress at the time, raised the demand for self-government for Burma. In the 1930s, an organization of the youth who called themselves Thakins, or owners of their country, was set up. It demanded complete independence. The most prominent leader of this organization was Aung San who later became the leader of the Burmese Communist Party. After her separation from India, constitutional reforms similar to the Government of India Act of 1935 were introduced in Burma but these failed to satisfy the Burmese nationalists. There was a mass anti-British upsurge and protest marches and strikes all over the country.
   The British colony of Malaya comprised a number of Stats some of which were under direct British administration while others enjoyed some, measure of autonomy under local rulers. The, country was exploited by the British mainly for her rubber and Lin. The plantations and mines were owned by the British but the workers were mostly of Indian origin. Singapore was crucial to British imperialism in Asia because of its commercial and strategic importance. Besides the Malays and the people of Indian origin, Malaya had a large population of Chinese origin which was mostly engaged in trade and commerce. The different ethnic groups had formed their own political associations, and the British authorities exploited the differences among them to prevent the rise of a united nationalist movement in Malaya.
   The population of Sri Lanka comprised mainly the Sinhalese, the Tamils and plantation workers of Indian origin. The British authorities introduced constitutional changes which gave the upper sections of the Sri Lankan society a share in the administration of the country. In 1931, under a new constitution, adult franchise was introduced and an assembly was created. The members of the assembly along with the British secretaries ran the government. A number of political parties were formed and a number of leaders, who later played a leading role in the political life of independent Sri Lanka, rose into prominence in the 1930s.

Countries of West Asia

  Soon after capturing power, Amanullah Khan declared the independence of Afghanistan. The treaty signed by the Soviet Union with the new government of Afghanistan, which helped Afghanistan in consolidating her independence, has already been mentioned. Amanullah Khan took some steps to modernize the country. In 1929, he was overthrown and Muhammad Nadir Shah became the king. During Nadir Shah’s reign, a new constitution was introduced, which aimed at making Afghanistan a constitutional monarchy.
   After the Revolution, Russia had renounced the Anglo-Russian agreement of 1907 under which a part of Iran had become a Russian sphere of influence. The British, who were worried over the spread of revolutionary ideas and the danger to their oil interests in Iran threatened to, occupy the entire country. In 1919, they signed an agreement with the government of Iran, which established British control over the army and the economy of Iran. There were uprisings in different parts of Iran against British occupation and the agreement which the government had signed with Britain. The Iranian communists tried to use these uprisings to establish a Soviet republic but failed. However, in 1921, the pro-British government of Iran was overthrown with the help of Reza Khan, an army officer. The new government, while it ruthlessly put down the revolutionary uprisings, also annulled the 1919 agreement with Britain, which had made Iran more or less a protectorate of Britain. Many Iranians looked up to Reza Khan as the Mustafa Kemal of Iran and supported him in his quest for absolute power. In 1925, the Iranian Constituent Assembly called the Majlis, deposed the ruler of Iran, and made Reza Khan the Shah of Iran. The dynasty of Reza Khan is known as the Pahlavi dynasty. The new ruler took many steps for the modernization of Iran. Industry and transport were developed, and efforts were made to introduce modern education and curb the influence of the mullahs. Many reforms were made in the legal system. Women were forbidden to wear the veil. While the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company continued to remain important, a larger share of its profits now went to Iran. However, in spite of these measures, the Shah’s rule was tyrannical and brought few benefits to the common people of Iran.
   As mentioned earlier Iraq, Palestine and Transjordan had been given to Britain as man= dates. The decision to hand over Iraq to Britain provoked a rebellion there, which was suppressed by the British troops. In 1921, the British installed Faisal, who had been deposed in Syria by the French, as the King of Iraq but they retained with them the ultimate military, political and economic control of the country. Iraq’s rich oil resources were also brought under British control. In 1930, Iraq was granted full independence, and soon after it became a member of the League of Nations. However the British troops continued to remain in Iraq and the British hold On Iraq’s economy also remained. Iraq had become a constitutional monarchy with a pro-British government. In 1936, the National Reform Party, with the help of a section of the army, overthrew the pro-British government and tried to introduce agrarian reforms and build Iraq's economy. In 1937, however, this government was overthrown and was replaced by one headed by the pro-British Nuri Said.
   The British followed the same policy in Transjordan. They installed Faisal’s brother, Abdullah as the king and, in 1928, granted independence to that country while retaining military and financial control in their hands. In Palestine however, the British policy ran into serious difficulties, and the region became a source of tension and conflict. In the late nineteenth century, Zionism had emerged as a movement in the West. The Jews in Europe and the USA had been fighting for equal rights and for an end to discrimination which was commonly practiced against them. Many of them had joined radical political movements. Zionism, however, proclaimed that all Jews, irrespective of the countries to which they belonged, constituted a single nation and that they should have a State of their own in Palestine where they had a kingdom over 2500 years ago. The influence of the Zionist movement among the Jews was limited but it was supported by the British government During the First World War, as mentioned earlier, the British government had promised the setting up of a ‘national home for the Jewish people’ in Palestine. During the war, Arab nationalism had grown, and as soon as the British mandate in Palestine was set up, serious disturbances broke out. However, while the nationalist aspirations of the Palestinians were suppressed, there was a massive migration of Jews from the West. The Jews took over some of the best lands from the Palestinians, who were rendered landless. In 1919, the population of Jews in Palestine was 58,000. In 1934, it had gone up to 960,000. In 1929, there was an Arab rebellion for the independence of Palestine and an end to Jewish migration to that country. The rebellion was crushed, and hundreds of Arabs were killed by the British police and army. The national struggle, led by the Arab Palestinian Congress, however, continued. In 1937, a British Royal Commission recommended the partition of Palestine into three States, one of which would be under Arab control, another under Jewish control, and the third under British control. This recommendation was rejected by everyone and a there were strong protests by the Arabs of Palestine and of other Arab countries. In 1939, the British government issued a White Paper in which independence was promised to Palestine after ten years, with guarantees for the rights of both Jews and Arabs. In the meantime, the Jewish migration was to be restricted and then completely stopped. Restrictions were also placed m on the sale of land. However, the issue took a serious form after the Second World War was over with dangerous consequences for the peace and stability of West Asia.
   Syria and Lebanon had become French mandates, and the French troops occupied these countries in the face of fierce resistance. Faisal, who, earlier, had been made king of Syria, with French support, was deposed by the French. The people of these two countries resisted the imposition of French rule from the beginning. In 1925, a rebellion broke out in Syria and the rebels occupied almost the entire country, including the capital city of Damascus. The rebellion also spread to pans of Lebanon. It took the French two years to suppress the rebellion. During this rebellion, Damascus was subjected to heavy bombing, which killed about 25,000 people. However, strikes, demonstrations and armed uprisings for ending the French mandate continued. In 1936, when the Popular Front came to power in France, the French government signed agreements with representatives of Syria and Lebanon, promising independence after three years. However, later, the French government went back on its promise, and both Syria and Lebanon failed to win their independence.

Africa

  By the end of the First World War, there were about fifty States in Africa and. with the exception of Liberia and Ethiopia; they were under the rule of one European colonial country or the other. While the stirrings of nationalism were felt everywhere, the level of political struggles varied from country to country. During the interwar years, generally speaking, the resistance and revolts of the type that had occurred during the early period of colonial rule were no longer the form of struggle waged by the African people. On the surface, colonialism seemed to have established itself, and the stability of colonial rule led some people to refer to this period as the ‘golden age’ of colonialism in Africa. However, the stability was more apparent than real as new anti-colonial forces had already begun to take shape. In some countries of North Africa, this period saw the emergence of powerful nationalist movements and struggles. In others, including most countries of Southern Africa, this period marked the beginning of the rise of modern nationalism and of nationalist political movements.
   One of the most powerful nationalist movements in North Africa arose in Egypt. In 1918, an organization, called the Wafd, was set up, which led the Egyptian snuggle for independence. A delegation of Egyptian nationalists prepared to go to Paris during the Peace Conference to demand independence for Egypt but the members of the delegation were arrested by the British and the Wafd leader Saad Zaghlul Pasha was deported. This provoked a rebellion in Egypt which was suppressed. However, anti-British disturbances continued and, in 1922, the British government was forced to end her protectorate over Egypt. Ahamd Fuad was made king of the independent Egyptian kingdom. In 1923, a constitution came in force, which gave Egypt a parliamentary system of government. The British forces, however, continued to remain in Egypt in the name of providing “defence of Egypt and the Canal” and for continuing British rule over Sudan which, nominally, was under joint Anglo-Egyptian control. In the elections to the Parliament, Zaghlul Pasha’s Wafd party swept the polls and formed the government. The government demanded complete independence. The Egyptian king dissolved the Parliament. The Wafd party swept the polls in every free election and the king, instigated by the British, dissolved the Parliament four times in a period of six years. After the death of Zaghlul Pasha, Nahas Pasha became the leader of the Wafd party, which continued to pursue an anti-British policy. In 1930, a new constitution was proclaimed, which increased the powers of the king and reduced those of the Parliament. There were widespread popular protests and, in 1935, the constitution of 1923 was restored. In the elections held in 1936, the Wafd party again came to power. This marked a victory for the nationalist forces. The new government signed a treaty with Britain, which ended the British occupation of Egypt but Britain was allowed to keep 10,000 soldiers in the Suez Canal zone. The continuation of the British troops in Egypt was to become a major source of conflict between Britain and Egypt after some years.
   Powerful nationalist movements also arose in Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Morocco. In 1921, the Rif tribes of Spanish Morocco rose in rebellion under the leadership of Abdel Karim. They inflicted a crushing defeat on the Spanish troops and proclaimed the Riflan Republican Nation. Soon after, the French sent their troops against the Rifian Republic but they were repulsed. Finally, in a war which continued for two years. Spain and France launched joint military operations with a disproportionately large army of 400,000 soldiers. In May 1926, Abdel Karim surrendered and, by 1927, Spain and France were again masters of their respective parts in Morocco. The Rif Rebellion became a source of inspiration to anti-imperialist movements all over Africa. During the French war against the Rifian Republic, many people in France, notably the Communist Party and the trade unions, extended their support to the Riffs. On 12 October 1925, the French workers went on strike and held demonstrations against the French policy in Morocco. The French working class and the Communist Party also extended support to the Cause of Algerian and Tunisian independence, and helped in the formation of communist parties in these countries.
   In the countries of Southern Africa, the growth of nationalist movements was uneven. The States which the colonial rulers created in Southern Africa were mostly new entities and the people inhabiting most of these States did not necessarily share a common past. Therefore, it took the people in these States time to develop a sense of national identity. This situation was different from the one in most Asian countries or, earlier, in the countries of Europe. The growing sense of national identity among the people of these States was a major development during the interwar years. In every country, the grievances of the peasants, workers, the intelligentsia and other sections of society led to the formation of trade unions and various other types of organizations. These organizations inevitably had an ant-colonial political character as the source of all grievances was the existing colonial regime. The intelligentsia played a leading role in arousing political consciousness and setting up nationalist political organizations. The educational facilities in Southern Africa had been extremely limited and even secondary education was considered dangerous for the continuance of the colonial rule. Many African historians are of the view that the European colonial rulers of Africa deliberately kept the level and facilities of education in the colonies extremely low because of the experience of the British colonial rule in India. There a large number of Indrans who had been able to get education organized a powerful nationalist movement to overthrow the British rule. However, some Africans did receive education; the colonial administration could not be run solely with the help of people from the mother countries. The educated Africans, many of whom were absorbed in colonial administration, experienced the dissemination against them practised by the colonial rulers and were increasingly made aware of the exploitation of their people. Many of them went to other countries, particularly Britain, France and the USA, for higher studies, and came into contact With the revolutionary and democratic ideas and movements. Some of the future leaders of Africa who rose into prominence during their stay in other countries were Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya, Nnamdi Azikiwe who became the first President of the Republic of Nigeria, Kwame Nkrumah of Gold Coast (Ghana) and Leopold Senghor of Senegal.
   A number of organizations were set up in different countries of Southern Africa in the 1920s. In the countries where some representative institutions had been introduced, regular political parties came into being. For example, the National Democratic Party of Nigeria was formed with the introduction of constitutional reforms in that country. Some of the organizations which were formed during this period were the Young Kikuyu Association, the Gold Coast Youth Conference, the League of the Rights of Man and Citizenship, and the Liga Africana in Angola.
   Many international organizations and movements played an important role in the emergence of anti-colonial movements in Africa in this period. Many of these movements were initiated by the leaders of the black people’s struggle for equality in America. Some had their origin among the black people in the French and British colonies in the Caribbean. A common feature of these movements was the advocacy of the unity and solidarity of all the black peoples. The most important among these were the Pan-African Congresses organized by W.E.B. Du Bois whose role in setting up the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has been mentioned earlier. Du Bois convened the first Pan-African Congress at Paris in 1919 during the Paris Peace Conference. The Congress passed resolutions demanding equal political rights for the black people in the US and other parts of the, world and the right of self-determination for the African people. In 1921, 1923 and 1927, the Pan-African Congresses were held in different capital cities of Europe and brought together black intellectuals from Africa, the USA and the Caribbeans. Another Pan-Africanist movement was initiated by Marcus Garvey, who was, by birth, a Jamaican. In 1914, he had set up an organization, called the Universal Negro Improvement Association. He organized a campaign to encourage black Americans to emigrate to Africa, and played an important role in developing a sense of pride among the black people everywhere. In the 1920s and 1930s, there also emerged a cultural movement which promoted a sense indentity and pride among the black people and a rejection of white and colonial domination. This is known as the negritude movement It was based on an affirmation of black culture, the beauty of African art and music, and “a belief In a common cultural heritage among all African and African-descended peoples”. Some of the prominent figures in this movement were Aime Cesaire of Martinique, a French colony in the Caribbean, Leopold Sedar Senghor of Senegal, who later became the President of Senegal, and Langston Hughes of the USA. All the three were poets of great eminence, the first two of French and the last of English. Another poet, of Jamaican origin, who inspired black people to “protest against their common suffering and assert their dignity”, was Claude McKay.
   The anti imperialist movements which had their origin in Europe also promoted nationalist movements in Africa. In 1927, an international Congress was held in Brussels at which the League Against Imperialism was formed. This Congress was attended by Jawaharlal Nehru as a representative of the Indian National Congress and leaders of left-wing movements and radical intellectuals from Europe, and representatives of Asian and African countries which were under colonial rule. They included delegates from Egypt, Kenya and South Africa. Among them were Jomo Kenyatta and La Guma. The Italian invasion of Ethiopia and world-wide protests against it also strengthened anti-imperialist feelings in Africa.
   The inter war years saw the further strengthening of the system of racial oppression in South Africa as well as of the struggle against it. In 1910, the British colonies, Natal and Cape Colony, and the Boer States, the Orange Free State and Transvaal, had been brought together as a self-governing State-called the Union of South Africa-of the British empire. After the First World War, the white population of South Africa was about 1,800,000, which was about 20 per cent of the total. The whites comprised people of British origin and Boers, who were of Dutch origin. The majority of the population was African. There were about 200,000 people who were of Asian, mainly Indian, origin. The government was completely in the hands of the whites. You are familiar with the struggle which Gandhiji had waged in South Africa against racial discrimination to which Indians were subjected. In 1912, the African National Congress was formed. It was to play the leading role in the struggle against racial oppression in South Africa. In 1921 was formed the Communist Party of South Africa.
   The Nationalist Party, which was mainly a party of the Boers (or Afrikaners), was dominated by ideas of extreme white racism. It advocated a policy of colour bar to maintain the social and political supremacy of the whites who, it said, were threatened by the blacks. From the mid-1920s onwards, the white rulers, influenced by racist ideas, passed laws to exclude the black people from getting skilled jobs or getting training for skilled jobs, or living in areas where the whites lived. All the best lands had already been taken away from them, They were asked to move to areas called ‘tribal reserves’, and were required to seek permission to work in the cities or on the farms owned by whites. They had to carry identity cards and passes in the cities to prove that they had been permitted to be there, and were arrested if found without them. They were forced to live in the areas in towns which were allocated to them, under horrible conditions. The average wage of a white worker was about ten times that of his African counterpart. The blacks were debarred from forming trade unions or joining unions of white workers. They had no right to vote, and were completely debarred from having any say in the political life of their country. In the 1930s, the white racists organized fascist movements on the model of the Nazi party of Germany. There was widespread discontent against the racist policies, and a united struggle to overthrow the vicious system began to be built up.

Latin America

  Most of the countries of Latin America continued to have regimes dominated by big landlords and the army. However, in almost every country, democratic and left-wing political movements and workers’ and peasants’ organizations gained in strength. In most Latin American countries, communist parties were also formed during this period. There was a popular uprising led by Augusto Cesar Sandino against the puppet government in Nicaragua, which had been installed with the help of the US troops. The uprising continued for many years and, in 1933, the US troops were withdrawn. However, Sandino was assassinated and power was captured by Anastasia Somoza, who established his dictatorship in Nicaragua. The popular uprising led by Sandino had won the sympathy and support of people in all Latin American countries and, because of this, the US policy of sending troops to intervene in the affairs of Latin American countries had changed. The economic crisis of 1929 had affected the economy of all Latin American countries. Most of the economies were heavily dependent on exports and they faced a serious crisis when the USA and other countries imposed severe restrictions on imports. This resulted in a vast increase in the number of unemployed in industry. The impact on the people engaged in agriculture was even worse, and they constituted an overwhelming majority of the population in these countries.
   Significant developments took place in Mexico during the inter-war period. Mexico had been one of the first countries in Latin America to assert her independence from the US as well as to adopt social and economic policies in the interests of the peasants. She was the first country in the Americas to establish diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. Between 1934 and 1940, Lazaro Cardenas was the President of Mexico. He introduced many radical steps to end the power of big landowners and to build up the economy. Many landed estates were confiscated and lands distributed to the peasants. He nationalized the railways and some other industries and. finally, the entire petroleum industry which had been owned by the British and American oil companies. The nationalization of the petroleum industry had a far-reaching significance as it meant an assertion by the people of their right over the wealth and resources of their country. In course of time, the example of Mexico was followed by many other Latin American countries. A major feature of this period was the assertion by the Latin American countries of their independence from foreign interference as well as their independent role in world affairs. This was the major objective behind their joining the League of Nations. An All-American Anti-Imperialist League was formed, and its representatives attended the Brussels Conference in 1927 where the League Against Imperialism was set up. All Lain American countries were united in their opposition to the US domination of the Pan-American Union which had been set up on the US initiative earlier. They also opposed the claim by the US of her right to interfere in the affairs of other countries in the Americas. At a conference of the Pan-American Union in 1933 the US had to formally affirm its support to the declaration that “no state has the right to interfere in the internal or foreign affairs of another”. There were some important changes in the US policy towards Latin America. From the 1920s, she relied more on what is called ‘dollar diplomacy’ by increasing investments in Latin American countries and controlling their economy rather than on direct military interference. The withdrawal of troops from Nicaragua has already been mentioned. The US policy towards Latin American countries during the period of Franklin D. Rossevelt‘s presidency is described as the Good Neighbors Policy. In some respects, the changes in policy were significant. The US annulled what is known as the Plan Amendment which gave her the self assumed right to send troops to Cuba. She withdrew her troops from Panama, except from the Panama Canal Zone which continued to remain under the US control. These steps, however, did not end the hegemony of the US over Latin America, and the policy of non-interference was not adhered to in the subsequent years.
   After the rise of fascism in Europe, fascist groups and parties began to be set up in some Latin American countries some of whom had many immigrants from Germany, Italy and Spain. The peoples of Latin America were awakened to the danger of fascism, and efforts were made to set up united front’s to curb the activities of fascist groups and parties, and the aggressive acts of fascist countries and Japan were condemned. Mexico consistently followed an antifascist policy. She condemned the Japanese aggression in Manchuria, the Italian invasion and occupation of Ethiopia, and Germany’s annexation of Austria. She also provided shelter to thousands of Spanish Republicans who had to leave their country after Franco, with Italian and German support, had destroyed the Spanish Republic.

DEVELOPMENTS IN EUROPE

Europe from 1919 to 1923

  The end of the First World War, as already mentioned, was accompanied by the emergence of a number of European nations as independent States. These included Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Finland, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Some new States were formed such as Yugoslavia by merging new territories to an already existing State. By 1922, Ireland, which had been fighting for independence from Britain, was partitioned. An Irish Free State was given the Dominion status while Northern Ireland (Ulster) comprising six counties retained her connection with Britain. A few years later, the Irish Free State separated herself completely from the British Common wealth and proclaimed herself the Eire. Hungary and Austria became separate states with the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
   The settlements of the boundaries of various States in Europe as a result of the peace treaties became a source of tension and conflicts. Most countries of central, southern and Eastern Europe were dissatisfied with the boundary settlement and many of them continued to feel insecure. Many ententes, alliances and treaties of friendship and non-aggression were signed between different countries during this period and, later, many shifts in alliances and friendships took place. Some of the territorial disputes within Europe were to provide the immediate causes of the Second World War twenty years later.
   In almost every country of Europe, the immediate post-war years were a period of unrest The dislocation of the economy during the war years, the problem of reorganizing it to meet the requirements of peace, the misery caused by the war in terms of the millions who had been killed and the millions who had survived but were crippled, the problem of survivors who had to return now to civilian occupations, the unemployment-all these had given rise to widespread discontent. There was a wave of strikes in every country of Europe and attempts at a revolutionary overthrow of the existing order in some countries. The example of the Russian Revolution was a source of inspiration to the working class of many countries, and the communist parties and some sections of Social Democrats tried to organize Soviet-type revolutions. The most serious revolutionary outbreaks took place in Germany. In Hungary, a revolutionary government, under the leadership of Bela Kun, came to power in 1919. However, by 1923, the prospect of a socialist revolution succeeding in other parts of Europe had receded-the Hungarian revolution having lasted barely five months. The collapse of expectation of revolution, often due to lack of unity among various socialist parties and radical groups, led to the strengthening of anti-democratic and authoritarian forces in many countries, and by early 1930s, only a few countries of Europe had succeeded in maintaining the democratic institutions and the democratic forms of their governments. In Hungary, an authoritarian government came to power under Horthy as Regent. In Rumania and Yugoslavia, authoritarian monarchical governments came to power. In Poland, a dictatorial government was established under Josef Pilsudski. In Greece, where monarchy had been restored, political conditions remained unsettled for many years with kings changing and army generals staging coup detats. In 1936, a fascist dictatorship was established there under Joanne Metaxas. In Spain, which was a monarchy, General Miguel Primo de Rivera had established military dictatorship in 1923. The dictatorship lasted till 1930 and in 1931, when anti-monarchical forces swept the polls, Spain became a republic. The most serious development during this period was the establishment of a fascist dictatorship in Italy, which will be described separately.
   The countries that did not give way to authoritarian governments included Britain, France and Czechoslovakia, besides the countries of Scandinavia. These countries, however, also faced serious problems. In Britain, there were two million unemployed people in 1921. In the 1923 elections, the Labour Party, which had been campaigning for steps to end unemployment, nationalization of key industries, imposition of heavy taxes on the rich, increase in wages, meeting shortages of housing by launching a massive programme of construction, was victorious. But the about Party’s government, which came to power in early 1924, did not last long and fulfilled few of its promises. During this period the French government was dominated by big industrialists and bankers. Its ambition was to become the dominant power in Europe for which purpose it tried to bring the resources of Germany under her control. Czechoslovakia, which had emerged as a new State, was proclaimed a republic with Tomas Masaryk as President. In 1919 Czechoslovakia adopted a democratic constitution. Many important reforms were introduced in Czechoslovakia and while most countries of eastern and southern Europe remained economically backward throughout the inter-war period, Czechoslovakia saw a period of rapid industrial growth. In Germany, in 1919, a parliamentary republic was proclaimed. This is known as the Weimar Republic, after the name of the town where the constituent assembly had met and framed the new constitution. The constitution provided for a President enjoying many special powers, Chancellor responsible to the parliament, called the Reichstag, which was elected on the basis of universal adult franchise, and safeguards for the rights and liberties of the people. There was much discontent in Germany against the ‘dictated peace’ and many provisions of the Versailles Treaty were almost universally considered unjust. In spite of this, the Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party who were opposed to aggressive nationalism had emerged as powerful parties. The Social Democratic Party was one the ruling parties in Germany till 1930. The Communist Party had made another attempt at revolution in 1923 but had failed. In the meantime, authoritarian groups and parties had begun to emerge, which denounced democracy, advocated repudiation of the Versailles Treaty, extolled war, and organized conspiracies to overthrow the democratically elected government and establish a dictatorship. Big business and a large section of the German army supported them. They blamed the Jews and the communists for the defeat of Germany in the war and organized assassinations and terror to rid the country of their influence. In 1920, a putsch to capture power was organized Berlin was occupied by the volunteers of a conspiratorial organization and their supporters in the army. The government of the Social Democratic Party was dissolved and a new government was installed under Kapp. This event brought together all the socialist and democratic parties. There was a general strike and the workers armed themselves to fight against the conspirators. Soon the putschists were overthrown. In 1919, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (for short, Nazi Party) had been formal. This Party, led by Adolf Hitler, also attempted a putsch in 1923 but it was suppressed.
   The Wiemar Republic, although it succeeded in establishing a democratic form of government in Germany, was faced with grave economic problems. These problems were aggravated by certain provisions of the Versailles Treaty and the attitude of some other European powers. The amount of reparations to be paid by Germany to the Allied Powers had been fixed at £ 6600 million. She had paid the first installment of £ 50 million in 1921 but was incapable of fully making further payments. She simply did not have the resources to meet this obligation. In the meantime, German economy came to a near collapse because of unimaginable inflation. By the end of 1921, the value of mark, the Germany currency, fell by over 50 times. It had been 20 marks to the British pound; now it was over 1000. In 1922, it fell further. In January 1923, Belgian and French troops occupied the Ruhr valley, which was the centre of Germany’s coal and metallurgy industry, to recover from Germany the reparations by taking over her coal and steel. The German workers, however, refused to cooperate with them and went on strike. They resorted to passive resistance and were supported by their government. The German government started printing enormous amounts of paper money, which led to a catastrophe. The German currency became utterly worthless by November 1923. One British pound was now valued at 50,000 milliard marks (one milliard = 1000 million). By the end of 1923, a currency reform was introduced, which was essential under the circumstances, but it had disastrous consequences for many sections of the German population. A new currency was introduced. This meant that the savings of millions of people were wiped out. The worst affected were the people of the middle class and the lower middle class-the salaried people. Millions of people were suddenly impoverished. The Nazi Party gained most from this disaster Many people turned, in despair, to this Party for their salvation.
   In the meantime, the reparation problem was sought to be overcome under what is known as the Dawes Plan (named after the American General who headed a multinational committee which had been set up to examine the problem); All Allied countries had raised large amounts of loans in the US during the war, and the USA had emerged as the main creditor country in the world. This showed Europe’s dependence on the US. Most countries were unable to pay back their loans unless they could raise more loans. Under the Dawes Plan, Germany borrowed huge sums of money from the US as also from other countries, and promised to start the payment of reparations in higher installments. These payments were to continue till 1988. The loans helped Germany to start building her economy again and she started paying the reparations. The payments were finally stopped in 1932 when the world-wide economic crisis again brought the economy of Germany and other countries to a state of ruin. In the meantime, however, the economies of most countries of Europe recovered though the recovery lasted only a few years, and showed Europe’s increasing dependence on the US.
   The immediate post-war years in Italy, as in other countries of Europe, were years of widespread unemployment and popular unrest. The socialist movement had emerged as a powerful movement though its effectiveness was weakened by many internal divisions. In the meantime, a violent anti-democratic movement the fascist movement had emerged in Italy. Armed bands, called the fasces, were formed to create terror among the people who were considered enemies of the nation mainly the socialists, the communists, and the leaders of workers’ and peasants’ movements. They were inspired by the glory of the ancient Roman Empire and preached the cult of violence and war to revive Italy’s greatness. The ruling classes of Italy had led their country to war on the side of the Allies. At the end of the war, they felt cheated. The Allies failed to satisfy the colonial and great power ambitions of Italy and though she gained territories in Europe at the cost of Austria, she was denied the gain’s in the colonies she had aspired to. The ruling classes found in the fascist movement an instrument to satisfy their ambitions. Within the country, the fascist movement was seen as the only force that could save them from a social revolution. The National Fascist Party-was formed in November 1921, under the leadership of Benito Mussolini. Thousands of ‘Black shirts’ were recruited to break up swim and assassinate socialist and communist leaders. The popularity of the fascist movement did not extend much beyond these armed gangs and the ruling classes-the industrialists and the big landlords. But they succeeded in smashing the strikes and demonstrations which were held to protest against the growing fascist menace. The government chose to remain a silent spectator to the increasing fascist violence. In 1919, the fascists had failed to win even a single seat in Parliament. In 1921, they won thirty-five seats. However, fascists’ failure to make much headway in winning popular support did not prevent the ruling classes of Italy from conniving with them. The fascists seized the cities of Bologna and Milan by force. On 24 October 1922, they organized a march on Rome. The government, instead of crushing the armed marchers, surrendered. The king of Italy invited Mussolini, who had not even taken pan in the march] to form the government. He soon assumed dictatorial powers and, in the midst of a reign of terror unleashed by the Black shirt gangsters, held elections in 1924. When a socialist Member of Parliament, Giacomo Matteotti, spoke in the Parliament against the violence by the fascists during the elections, he was assassinated. Shortly after, organized murders of socialists, communists and other political opponents took place and, in 1926, all non-fascist parties and organizations were declared illegal and dissolved.
   The methods adopted by Italian fascists were emulated in other countries, in some countries with success.

Europe from 1924 to 1936

  The period beginning from 1924 to the Great Depression was generally a period of economic recovery and growth. The social tensions resulting from the capitalist system of economy, however, were not overcome even though the danger of a revolutionary overthrow of the existing order had passed. The governments of many countries as well as the opponents of socialism and radical changes in society for the benefit of the workers continued to raise the scare of a revolution for pursuing conservative policies; in some countries fascist movements, with the backing of big industrialists and connivance of the army and the government, openly advocated the establishment of authoritarian rule. By 1929, the period of economic recovery, which had started in the mid-1920s, came to an end. The year 1929-30 has been described as the “beginning of nightmare”, which continued till 1933 when again a period of recovery began. The crisis in European economies was the direct consequence of the Great Depression which had hit the US in 1929. It showed how dependent Europe had become on the US. The American loans to Europe were completely stopped and the economies of the countries that had grown as a result of the continuing supply of loans, such as Germany, were the worst affected. As was happening in the US at that time, industrial enterprises began to close down and millions were thrown out of employment. In Germany, there were six million unemployed in 1932 and about half the population impoverished; in Britain the unemployed numbered three million. The European countries that had remained basically agricultural were also badly affected. They depended entirely on the export of their agricultural products. The sharp fall in agricultural prices badly affected their economies. Each country imposed restrictions on imports from other countries, which had serious consequences. The political effects of the economic crisis in Europe were disastrous for democracy. Before this period ended, authoritarian, semi-fascist arid fascist regimes had been established in most countries of Europe and even in the countries where democracy survived, fascist forces were gaining strength. In Germany, the most barbarous regime of modern times was established. Towards the end of this period, Europe and the rest of the world were relapsing into war.
   In January 1924, the first Labour Party government came to power in Britain on the basis of promise of radical changes in the economy. It accomplished little and its rule came to an end after about ten months. A forged letter meant to create scare played some part in the defeat of the Labour Party. The letter was forged in the name of Zinoviev, who was Chairman of the Comintern at that time. It instructed the communists in Britain to start uprisings in Britain and take steps to subvert British army and navy. In October, the Conservative Party, which had used the forged letter to attack the Labour Party for being friendly to the communists, came to power and remained the ruling party till 1929. The biggest strike in British history took place during this period although it ended in a failure. In May 1926, the British coal-miners went on strike against the threatened cut in wages and increased hours of work. The British government fully sided with the owners of the collieries. On 4 May 1926, three million workers struck work in support of the miners. They included railway men, transport workers, steel workers, and workers from other industries. This is known as the ‘general strike’. The strike alarmed the government and the industrialists of Britain, and every effort was made to subvert it. In the face of the total hostility of the government and the massive propaganda campaign launched by it to rouse the general population against the strikers; the strike was called off on 12 May. The miners’ strike, however, continued for many months but it ended in total failure, and workers were forced to go back to work at reduced wages and for longer hours of work. Soon after, the government declared general strikes illegal. In 1929, the Labour Party was again returned to power. However, the Labour Party government did not take steps even to withdraw the anti-labour laws which had been enacted after the failure of the general strike. When the economic crisis hit Britain, the Labour Prime Minister wanted to cope with the crisis by imposing cuts in wages and salaries as well as in unemployment relief and other social welfare programmes. Most of the other ministers refused to go along with him and he resigned, only to form a new government, called the National Government, in which the majority of the ministers were from the Conservative Party. The parties supporting the National Government remained in power after the 1935 elections, though with a reduced majority. The Labour Party grew in strength and polled eight million votes in the 1935 elections. In the meantime, a fascist movement had emerged in Britain, which advocated violence against the Jews and created disorder and riots. Britain began to recover from the economic crisis after 1933 though the number of the unemployed remained at about one and a half million. The international position of Britain was further diminished during this period as a result of the growing strength of the nationalist movements in the colonies. In 1931, the ‘while’ dominions of the British Empire became virtually free. They remained as members of what was now called the British Commonwealth of 'Nations but British laws were no longer applicable to them and they pursued their own policies. By 1936, the fascist countries had started their wars of aggression, which led to the catastrophe of another world war. The British government, however, like other Western countries, followed a policy of appeasement of fascism though efforts were made by anti-fascist parties and groups to rouse the people against the dangerous consequences of this policy.
   In France, this period was one of instability. France had ambitions of becoming the dominant power in Europe and had launched a massive armament programme. The occupation of the Ruhr Valley by France to take over Germany’s coal and steel industry has been mentioned. After the Dawes Plan came in operation, France had to withdraw from the Ruhr. The government of France, generally dominated by business interests and corrupt politicians who were in league with them, rose and fell every few months. During the economic crisis, when the number of the unemployed rose to about one and a half million and industrial and agricultural production fell by over 30 per cent, the socialist and communist parties gained in strength. At the same time, however, a strong fascist movement also arose and took to the methods of violence and terror to capture power. In 1933, a major scandal rocked France. Alexander Stavisky, a speculator, had amassed six hundred million francs through fraudulent means and by cheating people When the scandal broke, it was found that many politicians, including those holding positions in the government, were also involved and were the beneficiaries of Stavisky’s corrupt dealings. Making use of this scandal, the fascists tried to occupy Paris, dissolve the government and take over power. However, the communists and the socialists mobilized workers to prevent the fascist take-over. There were violent clashes between them and the fascists, and the fascists’ attempt to seize power was foiled. In 1936, a significant development took place. This was the formation of the Popular Front comprising Communist, Socialist and Radical Socialist parties to counter the danger of fascism and bring about long-needed economic reforms, particularly relating to the promotion of workers’ welfare. The Popular Front swept the polls and the Socialist and the Radical Socialist parties formed the Popular Front government under Leon Blum. The government, which was supported by the Communist Party, lasted for about an year. It took many important steps-the armament industry was nationalized, the cuts in wages and salaries were withdrawn, and forty-hour week was established for the workers.
   The foreign policy of France aimed at the realization of her great power ambitions as well as to safeguard herself against any possible German aggression. She had encouraged what is known as the Little Entente comprising Rumania, Yugoslavia and Czechoslovakia and provided it with arms in the hope that these countries would help divert any future German aggression to be concentrated against her. In the 1920s, she had also sinned constructing strong defences to prevent a quick German advance into France, as had happened at the beginning of the First World War. This defence system is known as the Maginot Line. In 1935 she signed a mutual aid agreement with the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union signed a similar treaty with France’s ally, Czechoslovakia. Thus, in a sense, a tripartite mutual aid pact had been signed. When the Popular Front government was formed, it was hoped that France would take a forthright stand against fascist aggression. However, the Popular Front came to an end in 1938 and was succeeded by a government headed by Edouard Daladier. The new government followed the British government in appeasing fascist countries, and it was to betrary her ally, Czechoslovakia, soon.
   It has been mentioned earlier that authoritarian and semi-fascist governments had been established in Hungary, Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia and other countries. In Portugal, Salazar had established a fascist dictatorship, with the help of the army, in the early 1930s. He was sympathetic to the fascist regimes in Italy and Germany and helped in the overthrow of the Republicans in Spain even while maintaining friendly relations with Britain. After proclaiming herself a republic, Spain underwent many serious difficulties. In 1932, there was a revolt led by an my general but it was crushed. In the mantime, a fascist movement, called Falange, had started growing; it was supported by the Catholic Church. The Spanish fascists committed political murders and won many supporters in the army. The fascists and the monarchists were promised aid by Mussolini and there was an uprising with the objective of uniting anti-fascist forces but it was rushed. In October 1935, the miners in Asturia rose in revolt and General Francisco Franco was asked to crush the rebellion against the unpopular government. In 1936, elections were held in Spain. The Popular Front which was formed to resist the fascist danger, was victorious in the elections. It comprised all the socialist parties, the Communist Party, the Anarchists and the Republican Left. Thousands of political prisoners were released by the Popular Front government and major economic and political reforms were initiated. However, soon Spain was plunged into a Civil War when the Spanish fascists----the Falange-joined together with the army generals and with the active support of fascist countries, to overthrow the Republican government. The Civil War and its outcome will be described separately.
   The most serious development during this period was the triumph of fascism in Germany. The formation of the Nazi Party and its attempt at a putsch similar to the one that had brought Mussolini to power in Italy have already been mentioned. The impact of the post-war inflation and the terrible misery caused by the economiccrisis of 1929 have also been mentioned. Nazism, as the German version of fascism is called, was the most barbarous form of fascism. Like the Italian fascism, Nazism also held political democracy and civil liberties in contempt and glorified war, and like the Italian fascists’ slogan of reviving the Roman Empire, the Nazis Wanted to revive the greatness of the Teutonic empire. The Nazis aroused anti-Semitism-the hatred of the Jews-among the non-Jewish Germans, holding the Jews responsible for the defeat of Germany; For all the miseries of the German people, the Jews were blamed. The Nazis extolled the purity of the German race-‘pure blond Aryan’--and considered it superior to other races over whom they had a right to rule. They aimed at uniting all the people of the German ‘race’ under one State, to form a great Germany, and claimed “land and territory for the nourishment of our people” and for settling their surplus population. The idea of a great leader who would set everything right and would make Germany great was fostered. Communism was viewed by the Nazis as their greatest enemy and .its destruction as their main aim. The Nazis made use of the sense of humiliation of the German people for their defeat in the war and the “dictated peace” with its many unjust clauses, including the war-guilt and the reparations, and promised to restore them their national pride. These ideas also found much support in the army, with its officers drawn mostly from the class of big landlords, who wanted to avenge the humiliation of their defeat. Most of all, they received the full backing of the German industrialists who were alarmed at the growth of the socialist and communist parties and from whom the Nazis alone, they thought, could save them. The Nazis, like the Italian fascists, organized gangs of armed volunteers, called the SA, popularly known as the Brown-shirts, who increasingly resorted to beating and murdering antifascists and Jews, destroyed their property and perpetrated various other acts of public humiliation. By 1930, the Brown-shirts numbered about 100,000. There were frequent violent clashes between them and the communists but the government did little to stop the Nazis’ growing brutalities. Before the 1929 economic crisis, however, the Nazis’ popular support was limited. In 1928, they had won only 12 seats in the Reichstag. They had polled about 800,000 votes as against 9 million polled by the Social Democrates and over 3 million by the Communists. In the 1930 elections, however, the Nazi vote rose to about 6.5 million while the Social Democrats polled 8.5 million and the Communists over 4.5 million. In the elections for the presidency held in April 1932, Field Marshall Paul von Hindenburg, who had led the German armies in the First World War and was now in his eighties, was elected, polling over 18.5 million votes. He had been supported by the Social Democrats. Hitler polled over 11 million votes in this election while the Communist candidate Ernst Thalmann polled over 3.7 million Votes. In the elections to the Reichstag in July 1932, the Nazi Party emerged as the single largest party, When the Regime commanded that books with harmful knowledge polling over 13.7 million votes against the Social Democrats’ about 8 million and the Communists’ 5.2 million. In November that year, there was another election for the Reichstag in which the Nazi vote declined by about 2 million while the Communist vote rose to about million. However, other forces were now at work, which would bring the Nazis to power. On 30 January 1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler as the Chancellor of Germany. Thus his coming to power was not the result of a victory in elections nor of a violent overthrow of the existing government but it was part of a “backstage deal” with the politicians of the rightwing parties. These parties and the bankers, the industrialists and the big landowners of Germany, had persuaded Hindenburg to make him Chancellor. Soon after coming to power, he set about consolidating his rule. He persuaded Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and call for another election on 5 March 1933. On 27 February 1933, five days before the elections, the Reichstag building was set on fire by, it is generally believed, the Nazis themselves. This was done to create terror and to intimidate voters. The government blamed the Communists for the fire. Thousands of people were immediately arrested, including Georgi Dimitrov who was a leader of the Bulgarian Communist Party and was 'in Germany at that time. The elections were held in the midst of these developments but even then Hitler failed to secure a majority. Within a few months, however, Hitler consolidated his dictatorial rule by the use of terror and assassination against the Social Democrats, Communists, trade union leaders, and other anti-Nazis. The Social Democratic Party and the Communist Party were banned. Over 60,000 people were imprisoned or sent to concentration camps. By mid-1933, all other parties were also dissolved; some of them dissolved themselves. In 1934, Hitler became President of Germany. Within a few months of coming to power, Hitler had perfected his machinery of terror and had begun to command the absolute obedience of the German people, and the entire country had been transformed into an armed camp.
   Soon after coming to power, Hitler began, secretly, the rearmament of the country and took a whole series of steps in violation of the Versailles Treaty. In October 1933, Germany withdrew from the League of Nations. The building of an air force was taken up, which had been specifically prohibited by the Treaty. In March 1935, Hitler announced that Germany was no l longer bound by the restrictions which the Treaty ‘1: had imposed on the strength of the German military, and along with the army and the air 7| force started building a navy. In March 1936, the Rhineland, which had been demilitarized, was by occupied by German troops. All these moves which were in total defiance of the Treaty, met with no resistance from the other Western powers. After all these violations, in fact, Britain signed a naval treaty with Germany, which was contrary to the restrictions the Treaty had imposed on Germany‘s naval strength. By 1936, Germany had built her military strength and the stage was set for acts of aggression which would lead to the Second World War.

The League of Nations

  It may be appropriate to deal with the League of Nations here. 'Although its members included countries from all continents, its fate was ultimately decided by the major European powers who dominated it. At the time of its formation, it rd had forty-four members-most countries of Europe, except Russia and Germany which were kept out, most countries of Latin America, Iran, Japan, China, Thailand and India (which was still a colony) from Asia, the Union of South Africa, Ethiopia and Liberia from Africa, and. Australia and New Zealand. The League had an Assembly, a Council and a Secretariat. In the Assembly, all the member-countries were represented, and each country had one vote. The Council initially had nine members out of whom five-Britain, France, Italy, Japan and the USA were to be permanent and four non-permanent members. The US did not join the League and her place on the Council was taken by Germany when she was admitted in 1926. Germany’s admission came after a conference held in October 1925 at Locarno, Switzerland, and attended by seven European nations, including Germany but excluding the Soviet Union. At this Conference, a Pact was signed guaranteeing the existing frontiers between Germany and France, and Germany and Belgium. These three countries undertook not to commit aggression against each other. By 1928, all countries of Europe had became members of the League of Nations. The Soviet Union was admitted as a member in 1934. By then both Japan and Germany had walked out of the League of Nations.
   The League, as has been stated earlier was dominated by the major European powers, notably Britain and France. It was able to resolve minor disputes between small States but it proved adismal failure where a big power was involved, to prevent aggression, maintain the independence and territorial integrity of member-states, and preserve peace. The League’s dismal record in this regard was a reflection of the policy of appeasement which the big powers had adopted towards aggression by fascist and militarist powers. The Covenant of the League, as has been pointed out earlier, provided for effective means to prevent aggression. These means were, however, not applied. The Japanese occupation of Manchuria and the subsequent setting up by her of a puppet government, called the Manchukuo, were the first major acts of naked aggression after the First World War. The League refused to recognize the Manchukuo government but it did not ask Japan to restore the pre-1931 position in Manchuria and end her aggression. Japan left the League of Nations and nothing further was heard of the matter. A few years later, Japan launched a massive attack on China. In October 1935, Italy invaded Ethiopia with an army of 600,000 people. In November the League announced limited economic sanctions against Italy, but in May 1936, despite stiff resistance by the Ethiopians, Ethiopia, a member of the League of Nations was annexed by Italy. In July 1936, even the limited sanctions applied earlier were withdrawn. The countries dominating the League showed total unwillingness to resist acts of aggression. The USA, which was not a member of the League, followed the same policy. The only country which advocated the use of sanctions to stop aggression and the formation of anti-fascist front comprising Britain, France and herself, was the Soviet Union. The position ‘adopted by the Soviet Union was supported by anti-fascist opinion the world over. However, the Western countries’ appeasement of fascism and aggression was based on the belief that fascist countries’ aggression would be directed against the Soviet Union. During the next three years; the world was slowly relapsing into another world war. In October 1936, Italy and Germany signed an agreement on political cooperation. This is known as the Rome-Berlin Axis. In November 1937, Italy joined the Anti-Comintern Pact which Germany and Japan had signed in November 1936. In 1937, Italy left the League of Nations. Even before the Rome-Berlin Axis came into being, Germany and Italy had already started cooperating with a view to installing a fascist dictatorship in Spain.

AGGRESSION AND APPEASEMENT

  During 1936-37, the bloc of aggressive powers Germany, Italy and Japan-had emerged. It had been strengthened by the policy of appeasement followed by major Western powers, notably Britain and France. The US also remained indifferent to the various acts of aggression committed by these countries. The policy of appeasement continued, and Hitler was convinced that his invasion of Poland which precipitated the war in September 1939., would not provoke Britain and France into action. The basic cause of the war was the imperialist ambitions of these three countries-Germany’s to conquer Europe and establish her world supremacy, Italy’s to conquer the Balkans, the Arab countries and large parts of Africa, and Japan to become master of Asia and the Pacific.

The Spanish Civil War

  The first victim of joint German-Italian aggression in Europe was Spain. The victory of the Popular Front in the elections held in February 1936 has already been mentioned. The new government started introducing reforms by restoring political liberties, meeting the peasants’ demand for land by breaking up big estates, and improving the lot of miners and other industrial workers. A programme of educational development was taken up. The Falange and other right-wing parties and groups, representing interests which had kept Spain a backward country, and their allies-the army generals-now made plans to overthrow the government of the Popular Front and establish fascist rule. In July 1936, the fascists organized mutinies, supported by most of the Spanish army, both within the country and Spanish colonies. The main leader of the mutineers was General Franco, who led his army from Spanish Morocco to join the rebels in Spain. Three years of brutal war followed. The Nationalists, as the anti-Republican fascist forces and their allies were called, had in the meantime secured the help of Italy and Germany to overthrow the Republican government. In fact, the Civil War in Spain brought the two fascist countries of Europe together and they poured in vast quantities of arms and ammunition and aeroplanes as well as Hoops to support the Spanish fascists. The rebels, with foreign support, captured many pans of the country and unleashed a reign of terror against the peasants and all those who were suspected of being supporters of the Republic. At this time, Britain, France and the USA adopted a policy of non-intervention. This policy meant that no aid could reach the Republicans while the German and Italian military Support to Franco continued unchecked. Th8only country that came to the support of the Republicans was the Soviet Union. The Republicans organized the defence of the Republic with the help of the citizens, who formed their militia and fought many fierce battles. In November 1936, they heroically defended Madrid, the capital city, and prevented its capture by Franco troops.
   The Spanish Civil War had aroused the conscience of the world. Anti-fascists from over ‘fifty countries enrolled themselves as volunteers to fight in defence of the Spanish Republic. An International Brigade with over 40,000 volunteers was formed and fought in Spain and thousands of them died on the Spanish soil. The volunteers included anti-fascist Italians and Germans. The battalion of the German volunteers was named after Thalmann, the German Communist leader who had been put in a concentration camp by the Nazis and was later murdered. The American battalion was named after Abraham Lincoln, the US President who had abolished slavery in the USA. The international solidarity with the Spanish Republic reflected the growing concern all over the world at the rise of fascism. The Civil War in Spain was not viewed as merely a Spanish affair but one in which the entire world threatened by fascism and aggression was involved. Jawaharlal Nehru went to Spain to express the solidarity of the Indian freedom movement with the cause of the Republicans. Many writers, poets and artists from different parts of the world fought in' the Spanish Civil War and mobilized world public opinion in support of the Republic. Pablo Picasso, the greatest artist of the twentieth century, painted Guernica, a great work of art. Guemica was a Spanish town which was destroyed by aerial bombing by the fascist planes. The painting, named after the town, was a powerful protest against the brute force which fascism represented... By February 1939, most parts of Spain had fallen to the fascists and Franco’s government was recognized by Britain and France, and, a little later, by the USA. The city of Madrid continued, to resist till about the end of March and after the fall of that City the fasc1st takeover of Spain was complete.
   The Spanish Civil War 13 often described as the “Dress rehearsal’ of the Second World War in which the fascist countries tested their new weapons on the battlefields of Spain.

Japanese Aggression on China

  Japan consolidated her conquest of Manchuria and in July 1937 launched a massive invasion of China. Within a few months, large parts of northern China, including the cities of Beijing, Nanking and Shanghai, were occupied by the Japanese troops. The Japanese bombed the Chinese cities, which had no military significance, and committed atrocities on the Chinese population. In 1938, they proclaimed what they called a “New Order in East Asia” which would bring Japan, China and Manchuria into a political union. By this time, united Chinese national resistance to Japan had emerged. The League of Nations condemned the Japanese aggression but nothing was done to put an end to it.

Annexation of Austria

  The treaties with Germany and Austria had prohibited the political union of the two countries. With the rise of Hitler to power, however, the danger of Germany annexing Austria had emerged. A Nazi movement had .also begun to grow in Austria with the aim of bringing about an Anschluss (union with Germany). During the early 1930s, Engel burt Dollfuss had established his dictatorship in Austria. He suppressed the Socialist and Communist parties in-Austria but he was also opposed to the union with Germany. He was supported by Mussolini, who till then was not allied to Germany and was pursuing his own independent great power ambitions. In 1934, Dollfuss was assassinated, and Austrian Nazis tried to capture power through a putsch. There were violent clashes between the Nazis and the communists and other anti-Nazis. The attempt at putsch failed. Mussolini also moved his troops to the border with Austria, and Hitler, who was still not confident of Germany’s strength, decided not to intervene in Austria. By 1938, however, the situation had changed. After the Italian conquest of Ethiopia and during the Civil War in Spain, Italy and Germany had been drawn together through the Berlin-Rome Axis “and the Anti-Comintern Pact. Hitler, with Mussolini’s connivance, marched his troops into Austria on 11 March 1938, and the Austrian Nazis caputred power. Hitler announced that German troops had been sent to Austria “to the help of these brother Germans in distress” who had been suffering under the misrule and oppression of the Austrian government. The Anschluss was achieved without any opposition from the Western powers, even though it was in total violation of the peace treaties. Britain’s Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was of the view that Germany’s eastward expansion and the satisfaction of Germany’s “just territorial demands” would save Western Europe and help in safeguarding peace.

ON THE AMERICAN DEAD IN SPAIN

  The dead sleep cold in Spain tonight. Snow blows through the olive groves, sifting against the tree roots. Snow drifts over the mounds with the small headboards. (When there was time for headboards). The olive trees are thin in the cold wind because their lower branches were once cut to cover tanks, and the dead sleep cold in the small hills above the Jarama River. It was cold that February when they died there and since then the dead have not noticed the changes of the seasons.
   It is two years now since the Lincoln Battalion held for four and a half months along the heights of the Jarama and the first American dead have been a part of the earth of Spain for a long time now.
   The dead sleep cold in Spain tonight and they will sleep cold all this winter as the earth sleeps with them. But in the spring the rain will come to make the earth kind again. The wind will blow soft over the hills from the south. The black trees will come to life with small green leaves, and there will be blossoms on the apple trees along the Jarama River. This spring the dead will feel the earth beginning to live again. For our dead are a part of the earth of Spain now and the earth at Spain can never die. Each winter it will seem to die and each spring it will come alive again. Our dead will live with it forever.
   Just as the earth can never die, neither will those who have ever been tree return to slavery. The peasants who work the earth where our dead lie know what these dead died for. There was time during the war for them to learn these things, and there is forever for them to remember them in.
   Our dead live in the hearts and the minds of the Spanish peasants, of the Spanish workers, of all the good simple honest people who believed in and fought for the Spanish Republic. And as long as all our dead live in the Spanish earth, and they will live as long as the earth lives, no system of tyranny ever will prevail in Spain.
   The fascists may spread over the land, blasting their way with weight of metal brought from other countries. They may advance aided by traitors and by cowards. They may destroy cities and villages and try to hold the people in slavery. But you cannot hold any people in slavery.
   The Spanish people will rise again as they have always risen before against tyranny.
   The dead do not need to rise. They are a part of the earth now and the earth can never be conquered. For the earth endureth forever. It will outlive all systems of tyranny.
   Those who have entered it honorably, and no men ever entered earth more honorably than those who died in Spain, already have achieved immortality.

[Ernest Hemingway’s article published in New Masses, 14 February 1939]

The Munich Pact

  The worst act of appeasement and shameful betrayal took place when Czechoslovakia’s Western allies handed her over to Germany. Czechoslovakia had emerged as an independent State after the First World War. She was one of the few States in Europe which had maintained her democratic political system while most other parts of eastern, southern and central Europe had fallen victims to authoritarian rule. She was also the most industrialized country in Eastern Europe. A part of Czechoslovakia, called Sudetenland, had a large German population. It was also the centre of some of Czechoslovakia most important industries. After the annexation of Austria, the next target of Hitler’s aggressive, designs was Czechoslovakia. The initial German demand was the handing over of Sudetenland to her. France had been allied to Czechoslovakia since the 1920s. The rejection by Czechoslovakia of Germany’s demand to cede Sudeten land was supported by the Soviet Union, which’ had signed a treaty with that country in 1935. The Soviet Union offered to immediately come to the aid of Czechoslovakia if she decided to resist German aggression. However, on 29 and 30 September 1938, a meeting was held in Munich, which was attended by Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain, and the Prime Minister of France, Daladier. Neither Czechoslovakia the fate of which was being decided nor the Soviet Union, which had a treaty with Czechoslovakia, was invited to the meeting. At this meeting it was decided to hand over Czechos10vakia to Germany. Czechoslovakia was made to surrender Sudetenland to Germany by Britain and France. She chose not to seek Soviet help, and surrendered. Sudetenland was occupied by German troops and parts of Czech territory were also handed over to Hungary and Poland. In March 1939 Germany matched her troops into the remaining parts of Czechoslovakia and occupied them. Around the same time, Lithuania was forced to surrender the town of Meme, on the borders of East Prussia to Germany.

ON THE BRINK

  It has also been clear that it a powerful peace front was created against Nazi or fascist aggression, this war could be checked and peace ensured. This peace front could have consisted of the Soviet Union, France, England, and Czechoslovakia with the goodwill of the United States of America To this peace front would have inevitably gravitated Poland, Rumania, and some at the lesser powers. It would have been an overwhelming combination against Germany and Italy (it Italy joined Germany, which was by no means certain). If this had happened, it would have been madness on the part of the Nazi government to play the part of the aggressor and peace would have been assured.
   This straight and obvious policy, inevitably leading to peace, was not to the liking of the British Government, for it meant cooperation with the Soviet Union. It meant the strengthening of the Soviet Union and releasing of popular forces all over the world. The class sympathies of the British Government made them View the Soviet Union with horror and inclined them towards Nazism and fascism. And so although they talked of democracy and peace, they pursued a policy of appeasement of fascism and thus directly led to war.
   Chamberlain is at Berchtesgaden. What further infamy, what greater betrayal is afoot? Incredible, unbelievable things have already happened and one’s capacity for astonishment is already past. A British Prime Minister functions as an emissary of Hitler and fascism and works for fascist domination over Europe. A French Foreign Minister, M. Bonnet, goes even a step further and actively works for the destruction of his ally Czechoslovakia, tor the greater glorification of Hitler. Patriotism, nationalism, peace are mouthed by all these gentlemen, but the object In View is the triumph of Hitler Suddenly, as it by a flash of lightning, the true motives of the statesmen are lighted up.
   The ruling classes, the top dogs have no use for freedom or democracy. They tear both and they see in Hitler the champion of reaction, who though hard and difficult to tolerate, is infinitely better than real democracy. They forget conveniently that Hitler aims at the destruction of France and the complete domination of Europe. They forget that Czechoslovakia is the sole rampart of democracy in Europe It that goes. France also goes what does it matter provided the class Interests of M. Bonnet and Mr. Chamberlain are safe? We see how class feelings are the final criteria in meeting a crisis.
   Frenchmen and Englishmen hang their heads in shame. Stupefied at the rapid turn of events, with not only dishonor but ultimate destruction at their proud countries facing them, Chamberlain and Bonnet send their ultimatum to the Czechs. Accept Hitler's demands, or we also will range ourselves against you. Note this - it was not only an abandonment of an ally and friend, it was also a threat at supporting the enemy. In torment and agony of spirlt the Czech cab net sits continuously for nearly forty-eight hours. Chamberlain gets very angry at the delay in the answer and his minister and the French minister keep on calling on the Czech ministers throughout the night ever adding to their threats The Czech Government surrenders.
   How shall we describe this? The perfect description has been given by someone. It was the rape of Czechoslovakia by Germany with England and France holding her forcibly down.
   Parliaments are not consulted They are not even called Chamberlain says that it would be inconvenient to call It while delicate negotiations are going on In France, meetings and demonstrations are forbidden. We have the fascist methods developing In England and France.
   Englishmen say that they are ashamed of being English. In France, the news at one deed spreads like a hash and brings some pride to a disillusioned people. A French general serving on a French military mission in Prague, declares that the betrayal of the Czechs by his country has disgusted him so much that he renounces his French citizenship and swears he will never return to France Henceforth, he considers himself a Czech citizen Strange that this act at renouncing French citizenship, because he thought It a dishonor, should fill with pride large numbers of Frenchmen They were proud that one brave Frenchman had said frankly what he thought and braved the consequences.
   Chamberlain is meeting Hitler Meanwhile the masses stir and strange rumblings are heard In France and Britain. They had been tooled long enough by these ministers and governments of theirs Yet their predicament IS a hard one. They least at all want war. It is they and their sons and brothers and husbands who will die, and their children and wives and mothers and sisters who will be bombed. What are they to do?
   All this could have been stopped so easily if England and France and Russia had stood together in the cause of peace. But Chamberlain and Bonnet prefer Hitler.

[From an article written by Jawaharlal Nehru in Paris
and published in National Hem/d. 5 October 1938]

Jawaharlal Nehru was in Europe at the time and went to Czechoslovakia and “watched at close quarters the difficult and intricate game of how to betray your friend”. In an article, entitled ‘On the brink’, which he wrote a week before the Munich Pact was signed; he said that Nazi aggression could have been stopped “if England and France and Russia had stood together”. But Britain and France preferred Hitler.

The Polish Question and Negotiations with the Soviet Union

  The next threat from Germany came to Poland. Germany demanded the return of the corridor and the city of Danzig which separated East Prussia from the rest of Germany. After the First World War, the corridor had been given to Poland and Danzig had been turned into a “free city”. The British and French governments delcared that “in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence”, they would extend to Poland “all support in their power”. Germany did not seem to have taken these promises of support to Poland seriously.
   For the first time, however, since the aggression by the fascist powers began, Britain and France started negotiations with the Soviet Union for an alliance against Germany; Both Britain and France had no border with Poland and could not directly come to the aid of Poland in case she was attacked by Germany. Poland had a long frontier with the Soviet Union and an alliance between France, Britain and the Soviet Union alone could effectively check German aggression against Poland. However, Poland, which had occupied Soviet territories after the First World War and had been consistently following anti-Soviet policies, was not prepared to let Soviet troops enter Poland even when her existence was in danger. This hampered the talks which were held in Moscow by the military missions of Britain, France and the Soviet Union from 12 to 21 August 1939. The talks finally broke down when the British and French military missions made it known that they had not been given the necessary powers by their respective governments to conclude any effective alliance with the Soviet Union. On 23 August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression pact. On 1 September, Germany invaded Poland. On 3 September, Britain, followed by France, declared war on Germany.