1. Rise of International Totalitarianism
Soviet union, Germany, Italy, Japan

2. An Answer to the depression?
By the end of the 1930s, people were hoping for a way out of the Depression
Strong leaders who made promises to supply jobs and restore the country began offering quick answers
Fascism appeared in Germany and Italy
Communism was the government of the Soviet Union
Japan became increasingly totalitarian
As long as things in a country work smoothly, does the kind of government matter?

3. Totalitarianism
A totalitarian government restricts individual rights and makes everyone subordinate to the government
They keep power through fear and oppression
Totalitarian regimes believe that democracies are weak
Citizens are often victims of propaganda that tells them to set aside their personal ambitions for the good of the country
Why do you think the propaganda is aimed towards telling the citizens to put their own needs aside for the good of the country?

4. Communism Communism in the Soviet Union was totalitarian
Communism is not intended to be totalitarian “on paper”, but its leaders are often corrupt and abuse the system and the people
structured upon the common ownership of the means of production and the absence of social classes, money, and the state

5. Stalin & USSR Held absolute authority; suppressed resistance
Brought country to world power status but imposed upon it one of the most ruthless regimes in history
Collectivization: exported seized goods to finance a massive industrialization = Rapid industrialization
The Great Purges: KGB = secret police killed thousands of army officers and prominent Bolsheviks who opposed Stalin
Feared the growing power of Nazi Germany

6. Canada & Communism 1921: Communist Party of Canada is founded
From the onset these communist party members were harassed and arrested by the police
Most Canadians were in support of supressing the communists
People claimed recent immigrants and labour unions promoted communism and ideas to overthrow the government
Why were Canadians so scared of communism? Why were immigrants blamed for communist ideas? Are these kinds of sentiments about immigrants still present today in Canada?

7. Fascism A type of totalitarianism
Fascism tells citizens their nation and race are superior = nationalism
“Cult of Personality” – propaganda
Dictatorship
Direct-action militarism

8. Benito Mussolini Country: Italy
Type of Government: Fascism (dictatorship)
Goals and Ideas:
Centralized all power in himself as leader (total control of social, economic, and political life)
Ambition to restore the glory of Rome
Invasion of Ethiopia
Alliance with Hitler’s Germany
Il Duce

9. Hideki Tojo Country: Japan Type of Government: Militarism
Goals and Ideas:
Though Japan had an emperor, the military had taken control of the government
Emperor Hirohito could not stand up to the powerful generals, but he was worshipped by the people, who often fought in his name
Industrialization of Japan, lending to a drive for raw materials – how do you get raw materials? IMPERIALISM
Invasion of Korea, Manchuria, and the rest of China (the League of Nations did nothing)
Hideki Tojo, Military Leader of Japan
Hirohito, Emperor of Japan

10. Hitler and the Nazi Party – Germany Post WWI
Germany had been a monarchy during WWI, and after the Allies imposed a democratic government
Germans had little experience with democracy and hated that it was forced on them – people did not vote, and the party leaders were ineffective
Resentful about the war guilt clause in the Treaty of Versailles
Were being forced to pay reparations, but their currency value had dropped to almost zero
Do you think the 1920s were “roaring” for Germany? Why or why not?

11. Hitler and the Nazi Party – Germany Post WWI
With the economic disparity of the 1920s, Germany did not feel the “boom” that other global areas did – poverty was widespread and people are frustrated
The Depression begins in 1929 making matters even worse
Adolf Hitler seemed like an appealing leader who could fix these economic and political problems
He led the National Socialist German Workers’ Party – The Nazis
Was it “prime time” for a leader like Hitler to appear in Germany?

12. Hitler and the Nazi Party – Germany Post WWI
Hitler was a powerful speaker, and appealed to the unemployed and disillusioned
He said that Aryans – blonde haired, blue eyed – people were the superior race
Groups like the Roma and Jews were inferior and that gay men, communists and the disabled were “undesirables”
1933 – Hitler is appointed Chancellor of Germany
Why might Hitler and the Nazis have a policy against certain groups of people?

13. Hitler and the Nazi Party
Once in power Hitler gets rid of all opposition, suspends the constitution and makes a secret police called the Gestapo to scare people out of challenging him
Rebuilds Germany’s military against the Treaty of Versailles
Starts annexing German-speaking countries claiming to “bring them home to the fatherland”
The League of Nations and world powers did nothing, as they worried about starting another war – this was called appeasement

14. Response to Nazi Germany
The League of Nations, Canada included, wanted to avoid conflict, so they appeased Hitler
There was an increase in anti-Semitism in Canada on top of an already restricted immigrant policy during the Great Depression
Jews looking to escape persecution in Germany had to meet the same restrictions as immigrants from anywhere else – no refugee policy
Between , Canada allows less than 5000 Jewish immigrants compared to in the U.S., in Britain and tens of thousands in Shanghai China

15. Mackenzie-King – 1938 (in his diary)
“We must nevertheless seek to keep this part of the continent free from unrest and from too great an intermixture of foreign strains of blood, as much the same thing lies at the basis of the oriental problem…I fear that we would have riots if we agreed to a policy that admitted numbers of Jews. Also we would add to the difficulties between the Provinces and the Dominion”
Do you think King has valid arguments, or is the “Jewish problem” in Canada a racist issue?