A History Of Knowledge
What The Modern Age Knew
Chapter 5: Politics
Piero Scaruffi (2004) www.scaruffi.com
Edited and revised by Chris Hastings (2013)
“An eye for an eye
makes the whole world
blind”
- Mahatma Gandhi "The size of the lie is a
definite factor
in causing it to be
believed”
- Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf
“We are not shooting
enough professors”
- Lenin’s telegram
"Pacifism is objectively
pro-Fascist.”
- George Orwell, 1942
“What good fortune for
governments that the
people do not think”
- Adolf Hitler
Part 1: The Age Of World Wars
Harlem Renaissance
Marcus Garvey
1910: NAACP
2
New Isms
Lenin & Stalin: Communism
Mussolini: Fascism
Hitler: Nazism
3
New Isms
European Dictators
Russia, 1917: Vladimir Lenin
Hungary, 1920: Miklós Horthy
Italy, 1922: Benito Mussolini
4
European Dictators
European Dictators
Russia, 1924: Iosif Stalin
Portugal, 1932: Antonio Salazar
Germany, 1933: Adolf Hitler
5
European Dictators
European Dictators
Greece, 1936: Ioannis Metaxas
Spain, 1939: Francisco Franco
Romania, 1940: Ion Antonescu
6
European Dictators
Century Of Political Experiments
Self-destruction of nation state, replaced by
Multinational states
Melting pots
Free-trade areas
7
Political Experimentation
Century Of Political Experiments
Self-destruction of nation state, replaced by (cont’d)
Federations
Totalitarian bureaucracies
8
Political Experimentation
Century Of Political Experiments
Italy: 1922
Germany: 1933
Spain: 1939
9
Nazi-Fascism
Century Of Political Experiments
Latin America: 1930s
Far East: 1945
10
Political Experimentation Nazi-Fascism
Century Of Political Experiments
USSR: 1917
China: 1949
Indochina: 1975
11
Communism
Century Of Political Experiments
Cuba: 1959
Arabs: 1961
Sub-Saharan Africa: 1974
12
Communism
Century Of Political Experiments
Iran: 1979
Afghanistan: 1996
13
Islamic Nationalism
Century Of Political Experiments
USA model (multiparty system, liberal economy, free trade, globalization)
Anglo-Saxon world: 1900s
Western Europe: 1945
Far East: 1980s 14
Political Experimentation
Century Of Political Experiments
USA model (multiparty system, liberal economy, free trade, globalization) cont’d
Latin America: 1990s
Eastern Europe: 1991
Sub-Saharan Africa: 2000s 15
Political Experimentation
Century Of Political Experiments
China: 1978
Arabs: 1970s
Sub-Saharan Africa: 1990s
16
One-Party Capitalism
Communism
Similar to French enlightenment: Contempt for superstition
Similar to ancient monumental civilizations: Slave labor on mass scale
17
Communism
Communism
Similar to religion: State replaces God
Focus on this life instead of Afterlife
Paradise on Earth (via faith in communism ideal) or hell on Earth (condemned to gulags)
18
Communism
Communism
Colossal bureaucracy to run "paradise" for workers and farmers
Citizens to serve state, not vice versa (like absolute monarchies)
19
Communism
Communism
State has no obligation to provide services to citizens nor to respect their private life
No human rights
20
Communism
Communism
• In theory: Egalitarian
• In practice: No female leaders in any communist country
• Capitalism is self-organizing system, communism is centrally-organized system
21
Communism
Fascism
Mussolini’s putsch inspired by Lenin’s
Mussolini improves Italy’s infrastructure
Industrial boom
22
Fascism
Fascism
Contrast with hunger and terror of Lenin’s Russia
Mussolini lenient on Jews
Mussolini’s contempt for Hitler’s barbaric style
23
Fascism
Fascism
1935: Invasion of Ethiopia
1936: British sanctions against Italy turn Italy into enemy
1936: Italy sends 50,000 soldiers to fight in Spain against Republicans
24
Fascism
Fascism
1937: Italy joins Anti-Comintern Pact and leaves League of Nations
1939: Italy annexes Albania
1940: Tripartite Pact with Germany and Japan
25
Fascism
Nazism
Berlin: One of world’s cultural capitals
Cinema
Theater
Opera
26
Nazism
Nazism
Weimar
Walter Gropius: “Total art”
Bauhaus for architecture
27
Nazism
Nazism
Literature
Mann
Jewish writers: Kafka, etc.
28
Nazism
Nazism
Economic meltdown caused by public debt but blamed on Treaty of Versailles
Bismark had raised money for wars by offering bonds, paying debt with loot, but WWI did not bring any loot––only bonds
29
Nazism
Nazism
Hyper-inflation
National government, landowners, and industrialists who are able to repay debts with worthless paper benefit from hyper-inflation
30
Nazism
Nazism
Economic boom of Weimar republic: 1925-29
Romantic myth of “Volk”
Lenin believes in historical determinism (Proletariat), Hitler believes in biological determinism (Aryan race)
31
Nazism
Nazism
Hitler believes German race will rule world once cleansed of “impurities” (Jews)
Hitler’s vision: German expansion East (Soviet Union), medieval mission
32
Nazism
Nazism
Jews dominate communism
Jews dominate capitalism
33
Nazism
Nazism
Automobile
Autobahn
Volkswagen
34
Nazism
Nazism
Automobile cont’d
Synthetic oil from coal
Imports of oil from Soviet Union
35
Nazism
36
Nazism
Hitler’s political plan: Personal (not class) lawless dictatorship
Hitler’s economic plan: Rearmament at all costs
One-party state (like in Russia)
Nazism
37
Nazism
Large-scale terror regime (like in Russia)
Gangster-like elimination of opponents (like in Russia)
Nazism
Nazism
1933: Germany repudiates Treaty of Versailles
Fear of domestic communism put Hitler in power
Fear of Soviet communism helps Hitler appease Britain
38
Nazism
Nazism
1939: Pact Of Steel with Mussolini
1939: Non-aggression Pact with Stalin
Hitler’s real target is Soviet Union
39
Nazism
Strategies Of World Domination
Fascism/Nazism: Build empires
40
World Domination Strategies
Strategies Of World Domination
Communism: Spread communist revolution
1920s/1930s: Popular insurrections (Germany, France, Spain, Eastern Europe)
All failed
41
World Domination Strategies
Strategies Of World Domination
Communism: Spread communist revolution cont’d
1950s/1960s: Decolonization (Eastern Europe, China, Indochina, North Korea, Cuba, Africa)
Mostly successful 42
World Domination Strategies
43
The Modern Age
Sati’ al-Husri preaches Arab nationalism (1920)
Egypt (1922)
Saudi Arabia (1926)
Iraq (1932)
Arab Independence
44
The Modern Age
Syria (1943)
Lebanon (1943)
Transjordan (1946)
Libya (1952)
Arab Independence
45
The Modern Age
Morocco (1956)
Tunisia (1956)
Kuwait (1961)
Algeria (1962)
Arab Independence
46
The Modern Age
Britain, USA, and Russia win against Germany, Italy, and Japan
Holocaust
World War II
47
The Modern Age
Leagues of Nations (UN, NATO, EU, etc.)
Yalta
World War II
48
What the Modern Age knew
30: Jesus’s "Sermon on the Mount"
1661: Quakers
1713: Abbe' de Saint-Pierre's "Perpetual Peace”
Western Pacifism
49
What the Modern Age knew
1816: Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace founded in London
1864: Geneva Convention
1901: Nobel Peace Prize
Western Pacifism
50
What the Modern Age knew
1916: Conscientious objection is recognised in Britain
1921: Herbert Runham Brown founds War Resisters' International
1929: Erich Maria Remarque's "All Quiet on the Western Front”
Western Pacifism
51
What the Modern Age knew
1930: Mahatma Gandhi's passive resistance
1962: Bob Dylan's "Blowing In The Wind"
1963: Nuclear Test Ban treaty
Western Pacifism
52
What the Modern Age knew
1968: Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons
1971: Greenpeace
Western Pacifism
This is a chapter in Piero Scaruffi’s “A
History Of Knowledge:”
http://www.scaruffi.com/know