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EIT Week 21- Political Extremism in Britain and France (Emergence of…
EIT Week 21- Political Extremism in Britain and France
Germany- towards a one-party state
Army's neutrality- promises of conscription, Versailles and Marxism
Auxiliary Police- collaborate with Nazi Party to destroy Communist Party
Hitler’s leadership- ‘embodied a utopian vision of national renewal’
Ministries of Interior- control of police
Aim- coordination
The Reichstag Fire
- new elections on 5th March 1933- one enemy- Marxism- repression and propaganda- 4 years of Nazi government-
27th Feb 1933
- started by dutch workers and communists
Consequences- used as evidence of Communist threat- mass arrests without trial- armed storm troopers- suspension of freedom of speech, press
The Enabling Law
- aim- pass laws that deviate from the Constitution without the Parliament- needed two-thirds majority- reduce number of deputies- support of Centre Party- guarantee protection of Church- only Socialists voted against it- became permanent in 1943
Centre Party and German National Party- both self-dissolve
Social Democrat Party- repressed and dissolved- 21 June
Trade unions- repressed and dissolved- 2 May
14 July 1933- NSDAP only party left in Germany
The Night of the Long Knives
- SA as a threat- larger than army- aimed to replace army- call for a 2nd revolution- desire for a professional army- 30th June 1934- praise from army- Hitler as guardian of law and order
'Brutalisation Thesis'
- men and societies were 'brutalised' by experience of war- soldiers desensitised to death- killing an act of intense emotion, connected to manliness- veterans brought home with them a 'heightened indifference to death'
Britain
- fear of brutalisation- violence and unrest in several cities in 1919- strikes and riots- 379 killed in Amritsar Massacre, April 1919- condemned by Churchill as 'un-British'
France
- strikes in 1919 and 1920 led by CGT- political violence more severe than Britain
Emergence of fascism
Britain- British Union of Fascists
France- Croix de Feu
Unemployment increases in Britain after 1929- things began to improve after 1933- France avoided the Depression until 1938- war debt repayment- middle classes perceive a crisis- unemployment significantly less than Britain- political crisis
BUF
- founded by Oswald Mosley in Oct 1932- authoritarian and nationalists- between 17,000 and 40,000 members- most popular in London's East End- conservative election fortunes in 1935, voter apathy, uneven impact of depression all led to success for BUF
Outbreak of violence involving the BUF harm the movement, limiting conservative support
Croix de Feu
- large fascist movement- 500,000 in 1936- 1936- became Parti Social Francais- attracted 1 million members- founded 1928- appealed to veterans- street-fighting wing- enemy of democracy- middle classes and white collar workers joined- absence of industrial workers- didn't come to power because it was an extra-parliamentary league- no MPs- anti-fascism in France was strong- embodied in Popular Front, alliance of Socialist, Communist and Radical Parties elected in June 1936