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