Fascism and Stalinism
Fascism's roots and its four conditions
- The ideology of fascism, with roots in the pre-World War I era, gained popularity in an environment of postwar bitterness, the rise of communism, uncertain transitions to democracy, and economic instability.
- Roots in the pre-World War I era matters: the ideology existed before the conditions that made it popular.
- So an answer must separate origin from popularity — four conditions explain the second, not the first.
Select all four conditions in which fascism gained popularity.
They explain its spread, not its origin.
The four conditions, each traceable
- Postwar bitterness comes from 8.4's settlement that satisfied few.
- The rise of communism comes from 8.3's regime based on Marxist-Leninist theory.
- Uncertain transitions to democracy and economic instability come from the war's aftermath and 8.5's Depression.
The CED dates fascism's roots to...
The ideology existed before the conditions that made it popular.
Stalin's programme, and its price
- After Lenin's death, Stalin undertook a centralised programme of rapid economic modernisation, often with severe repercussions for the population.
- Stalin's economic modernisation of the Soviet Union came at a high price, including the liquidation of the kulaks (the land-owning peasantry) and other perceived enemies of the state, devastating famine in the Ukraine, purges of political rivals, and, ultimately, the creation of an oppressive political system.
- The CED itemises the price in five parts and calls the result an oppressive political system.
A root, a condition, or a consequence of Stalin's programme?
Sort each element of the interwar regimes.
Select all the elements of the price the CED itemises for Stalin's modernisation.
Five parts, and a named result.
Origin and popularity are two different questions. Fascism had roots in the pre-World War I era but gained popularity in an environment of postwar bitterness, the rise of communism, uncertain transitions to democracy and economic instability — so the four conditions explain why it spread, not where it came from.
Stalin undertook a ____ programme of rapid economic modernisation.
Often with severe repercussions for the population.
Two regimes, one CED subtopic
- 8.6 carries two objectives — fascist and totalitarian regimes, and the consequences of Stalin's rule.
- The CED places them together without merging them: they have different origins and different doctrines.
- What they share is placement in 8.1's thread on conflicting conceptions of the relationship between the individual and the state.
Match each condition to where it came from in this course.
Each condition is traceable to an earlier subtopic.
Factors and consequences
- Factors is the word for fascism: four conditions plus a pre-war root, and none of them is sufficient alone.
- Consequences is the word for Stalin: the CED lists five and names the system they produced.
- Matching your vocabulary to the CED's is the cheapest way to answer the question actually asked.
An argument can sit unread for twenty years and then be picked up in a single season. What changed is not the argument but the number of people for whom it now explains their situation. Dating an ideology by its popularity confuses the two.
Fascism, with roots in the pre-World War I era, gained popularity in an environment of postwar bitterness, the rise of communism, uncertain transitions to democracy, and economic instability — four conditions explaining its spread, not its origin. After Lenin's death, Stalin undertook a centralised programme of rapid economic modernisation, often with severe repercussions for the population, at a high price the CED itemises: liquidation of the kulaks and other perceived enemies of the state, devastating famine in the Ukraine, purges of political rivals, and an oppressive political system.