Chapter 28 The Age of Anxiety

1. Chapter 28The Age of Anxiety Uncertainty in Modern Thought Modern Art and Music Movies and Radio The Search for Peace and Political Stability The Great Depression, 1929-1939

2. Most people believed in progress, reason, individual rights – rational human mind & science – 1880s-1920s 1880s thru 1920s some serious thinkers and artists. optimist thinking of times WWI influenced intellectuals who believed mankind = violent, irrational animals French poet & critic Paul Valery expressed this uncertainty in work – saw Europe looking at future w/ dark foreboding Uncertainty in Modern Thought

3. Modern Philosophy • Freidrich Nietzsche= rejected Christianity – argued West overemphasized rationality & stifled passion/animal instinct that drive creativity; Most famous line = God is dead, murdered by Christians who no longer believe in him • Henri Bergson= believed immediate experience/intuition as important as rational/scientific thinking for understanding reality • Georges Sorel= rejected democracy & said socialism would come to power through a huge general strike of all working people – this would shatter capitalism

4. Logical empiricism rejected most traditional philosophy – from existence of God to meaning of happiness. Ludwig Wittgenstein argued in his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus in 1922 that philosophy = logical clarification of thoughts; so it is study of language (which expresses thoughts) Great issues of ages; God, freedom, morality = waste of time since it cannot be tested by science/math. Statements only reflect personal preferences & opinions. “Of what one cannot speak, of that one must keep silent.” Logical Empiricism

5. Existentialism = analysis of existence; meaning of life is through free will, choice & personal responsibility Most existentialists were atheists; Influenced by shattering of beliefs in God, reason, & progress (WWI) Jean Paul Sartre –Being and Nothingness (1943), Existentialism is a Humanism (1945) believed individuals must give meaning to life through actions Albert Camus refused the label of existentialist but is linked w/ this mode of thought. Wrote essay –The Rebel, & a novel, The Stranger. Camus believed in Socialism, against marriage, won Nobel peace prize for his writings against capital punishment Existentialism

6. Post WWI thinkers/theologians tried to revitalize fundamentals of Christianity Believed humans = sinful, imperfect & need God’s forgiveness Leading Christian existentialists = Soren Kierkegaard (19th cent) who rejected formalistic religion & committed to remote/majestic God Karl Barth – sought to re-create religious intensity of Reformation. Religious truth is made through God’s grace The Revival of Christianity

7. Progressive minds accepted Darwinian concept of evolution and believed science based on hard facts & controlled experiments New physics believed atoms = fast moving particles (electrons & protons) Marie Curie– radium emits sub-atomic particles & does not have constant atomic weight Max Planck– showed in 1900 that subatomic energy is emitted in uneven spurts (quanta) & not steady stream Albert Einsteinundermined Newtonian physics further w/ idea that time & space = relative to viewpoint of observer & only speed of light is constant; theory of special relativity The New Physics

8. Freudian Psychology • Sigmund Freud – human behavior = irrational. • Key to understanding mind is primitive irrational unconscious called the id – which is driven by pleasure seeking desires • The idis constantly at battle with other parts of mind. The rationalizing conscious part is ego. • The egomediates what a person can do, while the superego, is driven by what a person should do (deeply ingrained moral values)

9. Twentieth-Century Literature • Intellectual climate of pessimism, relativism, & alienation also expressed in literature • Novelists used stream of consciousness technique to explore psyche (Virginia Wolf, James Joyce) • Writers such as Marcel Proust, James Joyce, & William Faulkner wrote about complexity & irrationality of human mind

10. Art and Entertainment • Cubism concentrated on a complex geometry of zigzagging lines and sharply angled, overlapping planes Guernica (1937)

11. Non-representative Art • Dadaism: "Dada" was a nonsensical word that mirrored a post-WWI world that no longer made sense. • Attacked all accepted standards of art and behavior, delighting in outrageous conduct Marcel Duchamp

12. Surrealism • influenced by Freud's emphasis on dreams Dali’s The Persistence of Memory

13. Movies • Moving pictures were first shown as a popular novelty in peepshows and penny arcades in the 1890s, especially in Paris. • Motion pictures became the main entertainment of the masses until after WWII. • Motion pictures, like radio, became powerful tools of indoctrination, esp. in countries with dictatorial regimes.

14. DEMOCRACIES IN THE 1920S

15. I. Weimar Republic • The Social Democratic Party (S.P.D.) took control of the government on November 9, 1918 • Fear of communist revolutions throughout the country prompted Party Leader Philip Scheidemann to proclaim an republic, but without official consent from any other parties.

16. Threats from the Left • Germany’s lack of experience with democratic traditions made the Weimar’s hold on power tenuous • The Weimar Republic had to rely on conservative military groups to save it from communist outbreaks throughout the country • The gov’t was given support by the military provided that the gov’t maintain discipline in the army and root out Bolshevism • In effect, the Weimar gov’t became a prisoner of the German army • Freikorps vs. Spartacists

17. Treaty of Versailles, 1919 • To Germans of all political parties, the Versailles Treaty represented a harsh, dictated peace, to be revised or repudiated as soon as possible. • France was eager to punish Germany (but even more eager to ensure its future security against German aggression) • England believed a healthy German economy was essential to a healthy British economy (John Maynard KeynesEconomic Consequences of the Peace, 1919) • Conservatives, including influential military elements, saw the signing of the treaty as a “stab in the back” or the “diktat”—the “dictated peace”

18. New Constitution created in August 1919 • Reichsrat: upper chamber represented the Federal states. • Reichstag: lower house elected by universal suffrage; supplied the Chancellor and Cabinet. • President elected for a 7-year term. • Female suffrage granted • Kapp Putsch, 1920 • Ruhr Crisis, 1923 • Beer Hall Putsch, 1923 • Dawes Plan, 1924

19. rejoined the world community of nations • Locarno Pact, 1925: Germany and other European nations agreed to settle all disagreements peacefully. • Germany allowed to join League of Nations in 1926 • Kellogg-Briand Pact, 1928: Renounced war as "illegal" except for self-defense; signed by 62 nations but had no real enforcement mechanism

20. II. France: economic problems • Challenges were similar to those in Germany • Death, devastation, and debt of WWI created economic chaos and political unrest • Throughout the 1920s, the government’s multi-party system was dominated by parties on the right (conservatives) - Supported status quo and had backing of business, army, and Church

21. III. Great Britain • Wartime trend toward greater social equality continued, helping maintain social harmony. • Representation of the Peoples Act (1928): women over 21 gained the right to vote. • Yet, the concentration of wealth in Britain was more geared towards the top than any other European country • Top 1% owned 2/3 of the national wealth

22. Growth of social welfare • Labour party rose as a champion of the working classes and of greater social equality • Conservatives regained power by framing the Labour party as pro-communist when it officially recognized the Soviet Union • Stanley Baldwin (1867-1947) ruled Britain between 1924 and 1929. Was a conservative • Showed the same compromising spirit on social issues: female suffrage, expanded pensions to widows, orphans and the elderly.

23. The Irish Question • After Easter Rebellion (1916) the extremist Sinn Fein faction gained prominence in Ireland. • Prompted a civil war between the Irish Republican Army (IRA) and the Black and Tan, England’s special occupation forces there. • October 1921, London created the Irish Free State, from which Ulster withdrew, as part of the British Commonwealth (Northern Ireland) • In 1922, Britain granted southern, Catholic Ireland full autonomy after failing to suppress a bitter guerrilla war.

24. The Great Depression (1929-1933) • Long-term problems within the U.S. economy • Overproduction of agriculture in Europe • Stock Market Crash • Hawley-Smoot Tariff • bankers began recalling loans made to Germany and other European countries • Impact on Europe • Shattered the fragile optimism of political leaders in the late 1920s • Decline of production occurred in every country (except Russia with its command economy). • Mass unemployment resulted: Germany hit hardest (43%); Britain 18%, U.S. 25%

25. Attempted remedies • New Deal- “Keynesian approach” • Scandinavia's response to depression was most successful under its socialist gov't • British recovery • abandoned gold-standard, reorganized industry, increased tariffs, reformed finances, cut gov’t spending, balanced budget (although unemployed workers received barely enough welfare to live on) • Economy recovered considerably after 1932.

26. With France… • Impact of the depression didn’t occur immediately as France wasn't as highly industrialized as Britain, Germany & the US • The depression increased class tensions and gave birth to a radical right that supported gov’t reorganization along fascist lines. • Popular Front: Threat of fascism prompted coalition of republicans, socialists, communists and radicals • Popular Front led by Leon Blúm • “French New Deal” failed • France remained politically divided as Germany continued its rearmament in late 1930s