The period between the first and second. §4. The economic situation between the First and Second World Wars. An excerpt characterizing the Interwar period

The geopolitical situation in Europe and in the world after the First World War changed a lot. The world balance system of the post-war period was disturbed by two factors: the Treaty of Versailles, which placed Germany in the most humiliating conditions, and the 1917 revolution in Russia. Both factors will become the source of new social upheavals and the Second World War: the first because such humiliation of the whole nation could not but push it towards revanchist sentiments; the second - because the Bolsheviks proclaimed as their goal (along with the construction of socialism) the world proletarian revolution and made certain efforts to implement it as soon as possible, stimulating the activities of the Communist International to the maximum for this.
The Treaty of Versailles put Germany in an extremely difficult position, in fact, she found herself in international isolation. This was facilitated by both the policy of the victorious powers and the policy of Soviet Russia, which was in a similar position and therefore became, as it were, a “natural ally” of Germany, which took advantage of the situation and, blackmailing the victorious countries with the possibility of folding the German-Soviet alliance, forced them to make certain concessions. Another reason for France, England, and the United States to want Germany's economic revival was that the impoverished country that Germany had become simply could not pay the huge reparations imposed on it.
France found itself in the most difficult situation: having lost its natural continental ally - Russia, it received in the neighborhood a potentially more dangerous enemy than before the war - Germany. In addition, the French were worried about the Soviet-German rapprochement. During the 20-30s. France will try to rectify the situation by creating a system of alliances with the "small" countries of Europe (Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Romania). However, this does not compensate for Russia's "dropping out" of world politics. All this - together with the position of England, which had more moderate views on the position of Germany (caused by the reluctance on the part of Great Britain of French predominance on the continent) - made it very difficult to achieve the main goal of French foreign policy - to preserve the situation in Europe in the form in which it was formed after the world war.
The only country that benefited from the war was the United States of America, which went from a European debtor to a major creditor. Two directions have emerged in American foreign policy: the traditional, isolationist, and the new, internationalist. Supporters of the first insisted on the rejection of "automatic" participation in European affairs and extreme caution in accepting international obligations. Supporters of the second spoke about the "historical mission" of the United States, which is to bring the light of the liberal idea to all countries and peoples. The struggle of these directions ended with the victory of the internationalists. As a result, the interwar world turned out to be arranged in such a way that practically not a single serious problem of European politics could be solved without American participation. The United States continued to invest in Europe in peacetime, which, combined with the policy of protectionism in relation to European goods, which closed their access to the US domestic market, also adversely affected the European situation.
The United States proposed its own version of the solution of the German issue - the Dawes reparations plan, which was supposed to ensure that Germany continued to pay reparations (and simultaneously open the German market to America as much as possible). His most important task was to stabilize the German mark. This plan established the size of payments to Germany and the control of the Allies over the German state budget, finances and railways. In 1929, due to the slow recovery of the German economy, this plan was revised. The new plan (the Young Plan) provided for some reduction in the size of annual payments and the elimination of foreign control bodies. The adoption of the Young Plan had one distant but very important consequence: it was during its approval that an agreement was reached on the withdrawal of allied troops from the Rhineland. This happened in the summer of 1930 and allowed Hitler to bring German troops there in March 1936.
The First World War brought Japan into the ranks of active players in the world political arena, which became a powerful dominant in Asia and the Pacific. Decades behind the Western countries in terms of technology, it needed colonies where it could export its products without fear of competition from Western goods. A clash of interests with the United States and Great Britain led to the rupture of the Anglo-Japanese alliance in 1921; As for the United States, Japan has never ceased to be a potential enemy for them. All this led to a rapprochement between Japan and Germany, which resulted in their alliance in World War II.
The entire 1920s were marked by the problem of the allies' debts to each other and the reparation payments they were to receive from Germany. The United States was the main creditor, while France, Italy, Belgium and the United Kingdom were the main debtors. Negotiations on this issue lasted four years (from 1922 to 1926) and ended with an agreement providing for the return of $ 2.6 billion, that is, a little more than a quarter of the amount originally requested by the States.
As for the problem of reparations, there were also serious contradictions between the allies, and, above all, in the issue of the dependence of inter-allied debts on the payment of German reparations: France considered them to be tightly interconnected and intended to pay their debts from what she would receive from Germany, while the United States and Britain considered German reparations a separate problem. Numerous attempts to reach a compromise on this issue did not lead to success, and on December 26, 1922, the reparation commission, by three votes to one, stated the fact that Germany had not fulfilled its reparation obligations and, as a result, declared default on Germany, which (according to the Treaty of Versailles) gave France the right to occupy the Rhine zone and the Ruhr. Meanwhile, social inequality and unemployment were rising in Germany. Anti-Versailles moods were superimposed on the usual social tension in such conditions: the Germans accused the great powers of intending to completely ruin the country with reparations. The communists' desire to subdue these anti-government and anti-foreign sentiments and direct them into a revolutionary direction did not help to de-escalate the situation either. All this was accompanied by an increase in anti-Semitism, partly provoked by the influx into Germany of wealthy Jewish emigrants from Poland (where under Piłsudski's regime anti-Semitism became almost state policy), as this emigration coincided with the worsening economic situation in Germany.
The occupation of the Rhineland escalated the situation to the limit, which resulted in armed uprisings and demonstrations by both left and right forces, which, however, were poorly prepared and suppressed. As a result, a state of emergency was introduced in the country. Great Britain and the United States blamed France for the aggravation of the situation in Germany and put it before the threat of isolation by signing agreements with Germany at the end of 1923 on granting loans to it. From now on, in its confrontation with France, Germany could firmly count on the help of London and Washington.
The upheavals caused by the consequences of the First World War subsided by 1924. At this time, important changes began to occur in the world related to the change in the role and place of the social democratic movement in the socio-political life of states. This was manifested by the "entry into power" of the social democratic parties and the strengthening of the influence of the ideas of reformism in the ranks of the social democracy. Both of these points were both a consequence and a reason for the fact that the theory and practice of the social democratic parties increasingly acquired a reformist orientation with an emphasis on the gradual peaceful transformation of capitalist society into a socialist one. The leaders of social democracy considered their main task to be participation in the work of the parliamentary system and the restructuring of the capitalist economy through "equal business cooperation" between workers and entrepreneurs, as well as through the adoption of social legislation.
Representatives of the communist parties absolutized the tendencies of the acute crisis of capitalism, on the basis of which they demanded an immediate armed and uncompromising struggle for power. Most of these parties, united in the Communist International (Comintern), were under the strong influence of the CPSU (b), which was the reason for such a position.
The change in the role of social democracy in the political life of European states was evidence of the growing crisis of traditional forms of statehood in the post-war development of Europe. However, if in countries with established traditions of bourgeois democracy this process proceeded quite peacefully, then in countries where democratic traditions had not yet had time to take root, the liberal-reformist path turned out to be extremely difficult, or even impossible. Here, the place of social democracy was often taken by reactionary mass movements, which eventually led to the elimination of bourgeois democracy and the establishment of totalitarian dictatorships of various kinds (fascism) or other, more traditional forms of authoritarian dictatorial regimes.
On the whole, it can be said that in the 1920s there were two trends in the political development of states: liberal-reformist (based on the further development of parliamentary democracy, the implementation of reforms and the involvement of leaders of socialist or social democratic parties in the highest authorities); totalitarian, associated with the establishment of fascist and other dictatorial regimes.
Economic stabilization of the 20s. ended on Black Friday, October 24, 1929, with the collapse of the New York Stock Exchange, which was the result of a severe crisis of overproduction, called the Great Depression, which engulfed not only the United States, but also Western Europe. The reason for such a rapid spread of the crisis is that after the end of the First World War, the United States actually turned into a world creditor, and the economies of other capitalist countries were more or less "tied" to the American economy, the collapse of which hit them as well. Since the crisis engulfed the entire capitalist world, not a single country could get out of it at the expense of exports. The crisis also affected international relations - it was during these years that the collapse of the Versailles-Washington system of the world began.
The immediate causes of the crisis were: 1) exchange speculation, which led to the fact that the sales price of shares began to significantly exceed their real value; 2) the "banking boom" of the 1920s, when almost every town had its own bank, most often organized on the principle of a "financial pyramid". The collapse of the New York Stock Exchange led to a sharp drop in the market value of securities. At the same time, the crisis was growing in the banking sector, as many sought to withdraw their savings - this led to both the massive collapse of the "pyramids" and small honest banks.
The "Great Depression" led to a curtailment of production and a reduction in acreage. The crisis has engulfed all sectors of the economy of all the capitalist countries of the world. The situation was aggravated by the sharp deterioration in the material situation of the proletariat and the middle class, which led to an explosion of the class struggle, which manifested itself in a mass strike movement and in a turn towards the creation of Popular Fronts.
The way out of the crisis was state-monopoly capitalism, the development of which proceeded in two main directions - bourgeois-reformist and fascist.
bourgeois reformism. The policy of bourgeois reformism manifested itself most clearly in the United States, where it culminated in President F. Roosevelt's New Deal, in which measures of state regulation of the economy were combined with social reforms. The concept of state intervention in the economy was developed in detail on the eve of the First World War, which only confirmed its correctness. However, after the war, the United States abandoned it. In countries where the policy of bourgeois reformism was carried out, it, having strengthened the influence of the state on various spheres of life, became a real alternative to totalitarianism, mitigating and then eliminating the social consequences of the world economic crisis. States with a high level of development of the national economy, a stable social structure and long-established political institutions have chosen this path.
Roosevelt's program was generally expressed in four laws: on the restoration of national industry, on the regulation of agriculture, on labor relations and on social security. The Industry Law established the right of the state to intervene in the affairs of private industrialists. The purpose of this intervention was to stop overproduction by reducing the output of goods. The law obligated entrepreneurs to recognize trade unions at their enterprises and conclude collective agreements with them that would protect the rights of workers and provided for the organization of large public works at the expense of the state, which was supposed to reduce unemployment. The Law on Agriculture helped to avoid overstocking the market by raising prices for food and raw materials, reducing the area under crops and reducing the number of livestock. The Labor Relations Act also required capitalists to recognize trade unions and penalized harassment of union organizers and other forms of anti-union struggle. For the first time in American history, the Social Security Act introduced a state system of pensions and benefits.
Roosevelt began the reforms with the "recovery" of the state's financial system. All banks were closed. After verification, permission to resume work and receive government loans was received only by those of them who proved that they paid interest on deposits from the income received from the investment of depositors' funds in production and shares. The abolition of the gold standard and the devaluation of the dollar increased the financial resources of the state and became the basis for further reforms.
Another way out of the crisis was fascism. The process of its emergence was different in different countries. But 1922-1923 can still be called decisive, when its similar features appeared in different countries and its manifestations attracted everyone's attention. But before talking about fascism, we should dwell on the concept of "totalitarianism", of which it is a special case. The characteristic features of a totalitarian regime are: the presence in the country of a single mass party headed by a charismatic leader; restriction of the rights and freedoms of citizens in all areas, while the laws are on the side of the state, not the individual; the existence of an official ideology, mandatory for the recognition of all citizens; state monopoly on the media and weapons; a system of terrorist police control (when a person can be subjected to “preventive detention”, that is, to be taken into custody not by a court sentence, but on suspicion of committing a crime, or even on suspicion of the possibility or intention of an illegal act); centralized system of control and management of the economy by the state.
In the 1930s, fascism was at different stages of development in different countries of Europe. In general, 4 groups of states can be distinguished: 1) countries in which the fascist movement did not have much influence on the bourgeois-democratic system of statehood. Basically, these are countries with well-established democratic traditions (England, France, USA, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Brazil, etc.); 2) countries where the fascist movement won over a certain part of the population and penetrated local and central authorities (Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland); 3) states where fascist parties and organizations participated on an equal footing in the governments of military and military-monarchist dictatorships (Austria, Albania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Romania and Yugoslavia); 4) countries where fascism has reached the stage of a state-formed system of domination. There were four of them: Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Until the mid-1930s, Italy's fascist system served as a model. With the establishment of the Nazi dictatorship in Germany, the role of the standard of world fascism passed to her.
With all the differences in programs, ideology, political structures, fascism is a single historical phenomenon.
The most serious consequences were the coming of the Nazis to power in Germany in January 1933. There were several reasons for the victory of the National Socialists. First, during the global economic crisis, the German Reichstag (parliament) quickly lost the confidence of voters, unable to offer them a way out of the situation. Under these conditions, the influence of radical parties - the National Socialists and the Communists - grew. The German left movement (communists and social democrats) was in a state of fierce opposition to each other and was unable at the right moment to unite their efforts and rally against fascism. This happened because the German communists were under the strongest influence of the Stalinist CPSU (b) and shared its thesis that “socialists are now more dangerous for us than fascists” (since they stand for the peaceful evolution of capitalism, “washing out” the labor movement). The repeated appeals of the Social Democrats for unity in the face of the fascist danger remained unanswered. Secondly, one of the most attractive points of Hitler's program for the Germans was the demand to abandon the Treaty of Versailles, which was humiliating for Germany. Thirdly, paradoxically, the post of chancellor was offered to Hitler precisely out of fear of the emergence of a dictatorship - but a dictatorship of the left. Hitler, in comparison with the communists, who threatened world revolution, looked quite safe.
After the Nazis came to power, there was a rapid consolidation of supporters of the totalitarian regime and the liquidation of the political system of the Weimar Republic: 1) all (except the NSDAP) parties and trade unions were dissolved or banned; 2) land self-government was abolished and administrative centralization began; 3) the party organs of the NSDAP began to perform state functions and eventually merged with the state apparatus. At the same time, the party relied not only on a powerful and extensive punitive apparatus and total ideological control, but also on numerous public organizations.
The global trend of increasing state influence in the economy also manifested itself in Germany. Since 1934, the management of the economy has been radically changed: 1) all business unions have been transferred to the administration of the Ministry of Economics; 2) an all-imperial economic chamber was created; 3) military production, which became the main condition for economic growth and the elimination of unemployment, was singled out in a separate group. In 1936, the country adopted a "four-year plan" for the development of the economy. The main goal of the plan was to create its own raw material base and prepare the economy and the army for war, which indicated that Germany was coming out of the crisis.
The coming of the fascists to power had a strong impact on international relations. The National Socialists gained power under the slogans of a revision of the Versailles order and were determined to put these slogans into practice. Hitler believed that the main task of his foreign policy was the realization of the "national self-determination of the Germans" (in the form in which he understood it). But Germany could not afford to enter into conflict at once with all the states that did not share her plans. In the early years of the National Socialists in power, German foreign policy was built, firstly, on Germany's peaceful relations with all its neighbors on a bilateral basis, and, secondly, on the rejection of the existing world order as a whole. In line with the same policy, Germany normalized relations with the USSR. This friendly gesture towards the USSR was made against the backdrop of anti-communist repressions within Germany, to which, however, no official reaction from the Soviet government followed. The reason for such a position of the USSR was probably the fear of being in a war on two fronts - against Japan in Asia and against Germany in Europe, which forced the Soviet leadership to exercise extreme caution in their foreign policy steps.

Classification Interbellum enters the Newest time, being its first stage. Traditionally, it covers the period from November 1918 (the end of World War I) to September 1939 (the beginning of World War II), although in some cases the boundaries of the interwar period may vary somewhat depending on the dates of the end / start of large-scale armed conflicts in specific countries. For example, in a number of Russian works, the interwar period refers to the period from 1918 to 1941 (from the end of the First World War to the start of the Great Patriotic War), or from 1922 to 1941 (from the end of the Civil War to the start of the Great Patriotic War).

Brief description of the period

The initial stage of the interwar period takes place against the background of the socio-cultural and economic recovery of the world community after the upheavals of the First World War. In the countries that won the war, during this period there is rapid economic and cultural growth (the so-called Roaring Twenties). At the same time, the states that were defeated in the war or destroyed by internal conflicts are at best in a state of deep stagnation (a typical example is the economic crisis and hyperinflation in Germany in 1921-1923), at worst they are fighting for existence (the Civil War in Russia). Gradually, however, the situation is stabilizing in them too - in the RSFSR, the NEP period begins, the German Weimar Republic is experiencing the Golden Twenties, etc. In addition, as a result of the First World War and the socio-political conflicts associated with it, a large number of independent states arise in Europe that were previously part of the collapsed empires. Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia emerge in central Europe; in addition, Ireland is seeking relative independence from Great Britain. Poland, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania appear on the map of Eastern Europe. For some time, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine and the states of the Caucasus existed as independent Soviet republics, which since 1922 were seized by the Bolshevik authorities and forcibly brought into the USSR.

This stage of the interwar period is characterized by cultural flourishing - in the 1920s, the artists Pablo Picasso, Diego Rivera, Chaim Soutine and others, the writer and artist Jean Cocteau, the writers Ernest Hemingway, Erich Maria Remarque, Francis Scott Fitzgerald, David Herbert Lawrence, Mikhail Bulgakov, Ivan Bunin and others are actively working. In Western architectural and decorative arts, the art deco style was born, while in the USSR, the 1920s was the era of constructivism.

In the wake of the dark impressions of the First World War - the largest military conflict in world history at that time, the League of Nations was created - an international organization that aimed to maintain peace and prevent military conflicts, as well as stimulate economic growth between member countries of the League. However, its activities from the very beginning did not develop the expected effectiveness - in particular, the United States never joined it and the USSR did not join for a long time (until 1934), and the governments of a number of member countries, such as Germany, Italy and Japan, by the 1930s already openly demonstrated their militancy. The situation was exacerbated by a number of local crises, such as

The economic development of Japan in 1919 - 1939. During the years of the First World War, Japan greatly enriched itself and ensured the further growth of its industry. However, the post-war economic crisis of 1920 - 1921. hit Japan especially hard because of its exclusive dependence on the external market. The crisis simultaneously highlighted the weaknesses of the Japanese economy:

• 1) uneven development of individual industries;
• 2) backwardness of agriculture;
• 3) the emergence of numerous speculative enterprises. During the years of the crisis, Japanese exports fell by 40%, imports - by 30%, and the level of industrial production fell by 20%.

In addition, on September 1, 1923, a powerful earthquake occurred in Japan. The Tokyo-Yokohama area suffered the most. 140 thousand people died, material losses were estimated at 5 billion yen. The Japanese government provided assistance to the victims and, first of all, to large entrepreneurs. They were deferred all types of payments and paid compensation for the damage caused. Such assistance became a significant basis for the implementation of the industrial rise of Japan.

During 1924 - 1926. there is a rapid growth in the construction, metallurgical, shipbuilding and other industries, as well as trade. As a result, the value of gross output of factory production increased from 6.6 billion to 7.1 billion yen. The greatest successes were achieved in the metallurgical, machine-building and chemical industries. However, the leading role was still played by the cotton industry, which accounted for over 40% of all industrial production. Moreover, Japanese products successfully competed on the world market with goods from other countries.

During the period of industrial upsurge (1924-1926), the formation of Japanese engineering as an independent industry was completed. Every year the number of engines that were used in plants and factories increased. So, from 1918 to 1929, their power increased by more than 4 times and amounted to 4.5 million hp. At the same time there was a process of concentration of production. In 1929, enterprises employing over 50 people produced 61% of all industrial output.

Japanese big business increasingly consolidated its hegemony in the most important sectors of the economy. Thus, the concerns Mitsubishi and Sumitomo increased their capacities in heavy industry, Mitsubishi and Yasuda - in the branches of credit and foreign trade. The processes of concentration of production and capital in the war and post-war period completed the formation of monopolistic associations in the form of family concerns - zaibatsu, uniting dozens of various enterprises under the control of the parent family company, which covered the main sectors of the economy. Unlike the financial and industrial monopolies of the West, zaibatsu were formed not as a result of competition, but through special commercial and industrial privileges that were given by the state to special family clans. The close ties of monopolistic associations with tribal families made the zaibatsu closed-type concerns, the shares of which were not widely traded.

A characteristic feature of the zaibatsu was their versatility. So, the Mitsubishi concern in the 20s. controlled about 120 companies with a total capital of 8,900 million yen, including railway, electrical companies, as well as enterprises in the metallurgical, mining, shipbuilding and cotton industries. The Zaibatsu maintained a close relationship with the ruling circles.

The state continued to play the role of the largest entrepreneur in the 20s. The technical level of state-owned enterprises was significantly higher than that of private ones. The state provided about 2/3 of all investments in the country's economy. Most of them were provided by the zaibatsu.

However, Japan's economic situation was tense. Characteristic was the huge liability of foreign trade, which testified to the weak competitiveness of goods. Often, Japanese entrepreneurs resorted to exporting their goods at low prices in order to maintain their position in Asian markets.

The industrial boom in Japan was short-lived and fragile. Already at the end of 1926 - the beginning of 1927, a reduction in the volume of industrial output began. In 1927, most factories were underloaded by 1/4. During 1925 - 1927. the number of workers decreased by 10%. The industrial crisis in March-April 1927 was supplemented by a financial one. It covered the credit and banking system and manifested itself in the bankruptcy of a number of trading houses and banks. At the same time, the power of the largest banks strengthened. So, five of them (Mitsui, Mitsubishi, Yasuda, Sumito and Daiichi) in 1928 had 35% of all bank deposits in the country, and together with other nine banks - 55% of deposits. "It should also be taken into account that Japan's dependence on foreign markets and sources of raw materials has become increasingly stronger.

Japan's agriculture was in fact in a state of crisis during 1919-1928. This was the main reason for the low standard of living of the working people. In addition, Japanese employers sought to make their profits by intensifying the labor of workers. All this led to internal political instability in the country. As a result, in March 1927, the government of General Tanaka came to power, who developed his own plan called the "Tanaka Memorandum", which provided for a strategic course for establishing the virtual world domination of Japanese imperialism through violent aggression. The beginning of this plan was to be Japan's attack on China. However, the manifestation of the first symptoms of the approaching world economic crisis and the intensification of the internal political struggle in July 1929 led to the resignation of the Tanaka government.

Thus, 1919 - 1928. became for Japan a period of searching for ways to further develop the economy, where measures of forceful pressure on entrepreneurs were closely intertwined with encouragement and assistance to them. The greatest results were achieved in the branches of heavy industry, a characteristic feature of which was the orientation towards the production of armaments.

At the end of 1929, an unprecedented economic crisis broke out in the capitalist countries, which began in October with a stock market shock in the USA. Due to the close economic ties between these countries, the crisis hit Japan very hard. It highlighted the economic weakness and comparative backwardness of Japanese capitalism. Gross value of products of the factory industry for 1929 - 1931. decreased from 7.4 billion to 5 billion yen, or 32%. Significantly decreased production volumes in the coal, metallurgical, cotton industries and shipbuilding.

An even more severe blow was dealt to agriculture, the value of which decreased by almost 60% during this period. It should be borne in mind that agriculture played a much greater role in Japan than in other capitalist countries. The agricultural sector of the economy was among the first to feel the brunt of the decline. A particularly threatening situation developed in sericulture, where about 50% of peasant farms were employed, and the export of raw silk reached 30% of Japanese exports abroad. As a result of the crisis in the United States - the main importer of Japanese raw silk - its exports decreased, and prices fell catastrophically. The decline in prices for silk, rice, etc. led to a reduction in agricultural production by 40%.

During the years of the crisis, Japanese exports as a whole have decreased. In 1931, it fell by 2 times compared to 1929. It should be taken into account that about 20% of the country's gross national product was exported. The narrowing of both the external and internal markets led to a huge accumulation of unrealized commodity values.

It should be emphasized that in most industries that served the domestic market with traditional Japanese goods - national clothes, shoes, umbrellas, ceramics, etc. - the industrial revolution was not yet completed.

In such difficult conditions, Japanese government circles tried to find a way out of the crisis, shifting its main burden onto the shoulders of the working masses. There were widespread job cuts. The number of unemployed for 1929 - 1933 increased to 3 million people, wages decreased. The rationalization of production, its concentration and centralization accelerated, which was accompanied by the massive ruin of the petty and middle bourgeoisie. The already harsh exploitation of the colonies increased.

In this situation, the military-nationalist layers both in the government and in the opposition, being active supporters of Japan's aggressive foreign policy and militarization of the Japanese economy, voiced open calls for an even greater intensification of these processes. A course was developed for the development of a military-inflationary environment. In accordance with it, an embargo on the export of gold and the abandonment of the gold standard of the yen were introduced. The accelerated issuance of paper banknotes, not backed by either gold or a commodity equivalent, the flooding of the market with government debt created an opportunity for the government to use additional appropriations for military needs. Military production brought Japanese entrepreneurs the highest profits. So, for 1932 - 1936. leading concerns received military orders worth 5.5 billion yen, and the net profit of Japanese joint-stock companies from 1931 to 1936 increased 2.3 times. If in the 1935/36 budget year the share of military orders was 45% of all budget expenditures, then in 1937/38 they reached 73.5% of the Japanese budget expenditures.

Thus, the difficult economic situation in both Germany and Japan in the post-war period was due to a decline in industrial production, a drop in exports, which led to a reduction in the number of workers and an increase in unemployment.

militarization japan germany dawes

instability in the post-war period. General protests against high tariffs, high lending rates and the rising cost of living caused a major social crisis in the immediate aftermath of the war. Western farmers' organizations demanded the public ownership of natural resources and public utilities, as well as highly regulated personal and corporate income taxes, drastic tariff cuts, and electoral reform.

In Protestant circles, there was a growing movement for reform that had begun even before the war. Many priests, such as Salem Bland and James Woodsworth, openly supported the demands of farmers and workers. While entrepreneurs, many politicians and most newspapers demanded repressive measures, a wave of strikes initiated by the unions swept across the country; these strikes began as early as 1918 and peaked in the form of a general strike in Winnipeg in May–June 1919. Virtually all workers in the city went on strike for six weeks, supporting the demands of workers in the construction and metalworking industries for recognition of the right of trade unions to collective bargaining and higher wages. The federal government took the side of the entrepreneurs; it sent militias and mounted police to Winnipeg, who arrested the leaders of the strikers and broke up mass protest marches.

Defeat on the economic front convinced many Canadian workers and farmers of the need to move into organized politics. Four socialist leaders of the Winnipeg strike, English by birth, while still in prison, were elected to the legislature of the province of Manitoba in 1920. In 1921, Woodsworth, who was charged with sedition (although he was never brought to trial), became the first member of the Federal Parliament from the Socialist Party.

Election of Mackenzie King. After Laurier's death, William Lyon Mackenzie King (grandson of the leader of the 1837 uprising) became the leader of the Liberal Party. King had an inexpressive appearance, was not a brilliant speaker and remained a bachelor all his life; he felt a deep need to restore the good name of his grandfather, who had led an anti-colonial uprising in Upper Canada. His strength as a politician was that, unlike the liberals who took part in the coalition government, he did not stop supporting Laurier during the political crisis associated with the introduction of universal conscription, and therefore retained his popularity in Quebec. This was especially important for the liberals, since the leader of the conservatives in the federal elections of 1921, Arthur Meighen, was one of the ardent champions of the introduction of universal service. Meighen, who succeeded Borden, who had resigned due to illness, as prime minister, campaigned with the old program of the coalition government, in particular, the need for high protectionist tariffs.

King campaigned very discreetly, reaching out to farmers and workers and promising them guarantees against unemployment, old-age pensions, and some other reforms; at the same time, he tried not to aggravate relations with the business community. In the western provinces and in Ontario, the Progressive Party was formed to represent the interests of farmers; the party platform was based on demands for tariff cuts and "reciprocity" in trade with the United States. Stranded, the Conservatives won 50 seats in Parliament, while the Liberals won 117, winning every constituency in Quebec. The Progressives came second in terms of the number of seats in the House of Commons, winning 65 seats. Thus, in 1921, the beginning of a multi-party government of Canada was laid.

King was unable to convince the Progressives to enter into a coalition with him, however, by making small concessions on the issue of duties on imported agricultural machinery, he ensured that they did not vote against his government in the House of Commons. The support of Quebec was ensured by appointing Ernest Lapointe as Minister of Justice and giving him almost unlimited powers in all matters affecting the interests of French Canada. Some progressives, however, have sharply criticized King for his handling of labor conflicts in Nova Scotia, where coal and steel companies cut workers' wages by more than 30%. King, although he repeatedly stated that the federal government had no constitutional right to interfere in this purely internal matter of the province, nevertheless allowed the use of force against the strikers and the arrest of their leaders on charges of sedition. He shrugged off protests from right-wingers in the Maritime Provinces (including members of his own party) who said the federal government's policies were undermining the region's economy.

Links with other members of the British Commonwealth. King's government received Progressive support primarily for the success it had made in Canadian foreign policy. In 1922, when the threat of war with Turkey hung over England, British Prime Minister David Lloyd George turned to the dominions for support. Like Laurier, King did not want to take on the obligations associated with too close interaction with the mother country, and therefore refused to take part in military actions against Turkey. This episode, which went down in history as the Chanak Incident, marked the assertion of Canada's independent foreign policy. The imperial conference of 1923 supported King in that the dominions should have the right to pursue an independent foreign policy, and the so-called imperial conference of 1926 adopted the so-called. The Balfour Declaration defined the dominions as "autonomous units within the British Empire, equal in status, in no respect subordinate to one another in their internal and external affairs, though united by common allegiance to the crown and freely associated as members of the British Commonwealth of Nations". This principle was formally enshrined in the Statute of Westminster of 1931, which declared Canada and other dominions fully equal and independent in foreign and domestic policy. However, even after that, the Canadian constitution could only be changed by the Parliament of England, and the judicial committee of the British Privy Council remained the highest court of appeal in Canada.

problems of the welfare of the country. The recovery of the Canadian economy in 1920 was hampered by scandals in business circles and stagnation in some provinces. In the Maritime Provinces, the post-war decline in production continued until 1929. However, for most Canadians, this decade was generally prosperous. The start of mass production of cars forced the provincial administration to repair existing highways and build new ones. Rising spending of this kind caused friction between the provinces and the federal government, which controlled most of the revenue in the budget. Writers and artists (in particular, the famous "Group of Seven") confidently developed Canadian themes, despite the influence of American culture. An increasing number of Canadians became urban dwellers - by 1931 they accounted for 54% of the total population of the country. In the steppe provinces, farmers united and created their own organizations for the storage and marketing of grain - wheat pools, which turned into powerful marketing agencies.

At the same time, the completion of the railroad from Winnipeg to Churchill on the shores of Hudson Bay reduced the cost of transporting exported grain.

Anglophone Canada saw the rise of Protestant fundamentalism, accompanied by demands for strict Sunday observance and a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages. However, the governments in the provinces were unable to prevent the massive smuggling of liquor; as a result, by the mid-1920s, most provinces had repealed Prohibition, instead imposing government controls on the sale of alcoholic beverages. As the United States continued prohibition, a complex system of smuggling developed, with not only liquor being transported across the border, but other goods as well.

King's second electoral victory. In the 1925 elections, the Conservatives won a majority of seats in Parliament, which made King's government even more dependent on the support of the Progressives. Shortly thereafter, evidence of corruption among customs officials who allowed prohibited goods to pass in return for bribes surfaced. When this scandal erupted in June 1926, King, realizing that he could no longer count on the support of the Progressives against the Tories in the House of Commons, turned to the Governor General, Sir Julian Byng, with a proposal to dissolve Parliament and call a general election. Byng turned him down and offered to form a new government to Arthur Meighen. However, a week later, the conservatives, having lost the support of the progressives, were defeated. Meighen had to ask for a dissolution of Parliament, and this time Byng granted the request. During the preparations for the elections held in September 1926, the Liberals, ignoring the customs scandal, declared that the Governor General had violated Canada's autonomy by refusing to satisfy King's first demand for the dissolution of Parliament. They accused him of interfering in Canada's internal affairs and supporting Canadian conservatives at the expense of liberals. The Liberals won the election.

This time, King had a majority of only three votes in Parliament. In practice, this meant that the balance of power was in the hands of two working-class MPs, A.A. Heeps and J.S. Woodsworth. They became supportive of the government after King agreed to introduce an old-age pension system. This successful use of parliamentary methods in the struggle for reform convinced the leaders of the workers' and farmers' movement of the need to create a new socialist party on a national scale. Such a party was the Federation of the Cooperative Commonwealth (FCS), founded in 1932 and uniting representatives of the radical wing of the Progressives, trade unionists, and socialists.

Years of depression. The main factor that contributed to the creation of the FCC and other organizations like it was the deep depression that followed the crash of the stock market on the New York Stock Exchange in the fall of 1929. Canada, heavily dependent on the export of grain, fish and timber, was seriously affected by a sharp decline in international trade, which affected almost all branches of the economy in the western steppe and Maritime provinces. In the cities, the workers, under fear of losing their means of subsistence, were forced to accept the most meager wages. By 1933 unemployment reached 23%.

Despite the difficult situation, Mackenzie King refused to resort to large-scale measures to help the unemployed, insisting on the need for a balanced budget and "respect for the rights of the provinces." King and his party, which did not have a program to overcome the crisis and overcome the depression, suffered a crushing defeat in the elections in the fall of 1930. Under the leadership of their new leader, Richard Bedford Bennett, the Conservatives won a majority of 31 seats in Parliament. Immediately after the election, Bennett pushed a $20 million bill through Parliament for public works and assistance to provinces and municipalities. At the same time, he significantly increased tariffs. Although his policies helped some firms and companies that received soft loans to organize work, in general they seriously slowed down the economic recovery from the depression. In 1932, an agreement was concluded to reduce customs tariffs for countries that are members of the British Commonwealth, but this did not have a noticeable effect on Canada's foreign trade.

As the depression deepened, so did social and political instability. In Alberta, the Social Credit Party, led by radio preacher William Aberhart, won the election in 1935; this party promised farmers and pastoralists that it would fix fair prices and credit in proportion to the amount of goods produced or services rendered. The FCC called for the establishment of socialism in Canada. In the same years, other reformist public organizations and movements came to power: in Ontario, the liberals, led by Mitchell Hepburn, opposed King, and in Quebec, the National Union party led by Maurice Duplessis. Although it quickly became clear that these parties were essentially conservative and business interests, their success showed that the conservative federal government was not doing enough to bring the country out of the depression. Although Bennett created several large public corporations, such as the Bank of Canada and the CBC, this did not have a noticeable effect on the economic recovery.

In 1935, under mounting political pressure, Bennett formulated his program of reforms, which came to be known as the New Deal. He quickly pushed legislation through parliament to make it easier for farmers to obtain credit, created a department for the marketing of natural resources; Parliament passed laws on social and unemployment insurance, on minimum wages and on working hours. These measures met with support from the few members of the FCC, but liberals disputed their constitutionality; they suggested that Bennett was deliberately pushing through Parliament laws that he well knew would be judicially struck down as being outside the federal government's authority. And although reformist legislation was passed, Bennett's New Deal caused a split among the conservatives themselves. As a result, the Conservatives were defeated in the 1935 elections, and the Liberals again came to power under the leadership of Mackenzie King.

The new Liberal government submitted the laws passed by the Bennett government to the Supreme Court, which found most of them unconstitutional because they violated the prerogatives of the provincial administration. Then King created a special commission that was supposed to analyze the relationship between the federal government and the provinces. The report of this commission, published in 1940, contained recommendations to strengthen the role of the federal government in the country's economy, as well as to make it responsible for social security on a national scale. In 1940, King secured the passage of an amendment to the British North America Act, in accordance with which the federal government received the right to create a national unemployment insurance system.