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REVOLUTION IN 20TH CENT.
Term Paper ID:26129
Essay Subject:
Overview of major revolutions (Russia, China, Third World liberation movements), globalism, politics & economics (industrialization, capitalism, communism), WWI & WWII.... More...
11 Pages / 2475 Words
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Paper Abstract:
Overview of major revolutions (Russia, China, Third World liberation movements), globalism, politics & economics (industrialization, capitalism, communism), WWI & WWII.
Paper Introduction:
The Emergence of the Contemporary World
Introduction
The divisions visible in the contemporary world are not surprising. Social divisions have existed for centuries, whether based on class, gender, ethnicity, religion, or other factors. The global, interactive, and homogenous aspects of the contemporary world would have been less predictable, even fifty years ago. There was a great deal more isolation, separation, and difference during the World War II period and its immediate aftermath. Yet, there were indications of movement toward the present situation.
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Clearly, this contributed to the later revolution in the Soviet Unionand China. (1972). It is not that capitalism has caused either one of these, butthat both serve capitalism well. Chang's (1996) book describes one of these movements, while alsoproviding cross-cultural perspective on it. This is not the only instance, however. Since these were not available, they had tobe imported through slavery. For example, in Latin America, Simon Bolivar based much of hismovement on the revolution that had overthrown the British and led to thecreation of the United States. Eventually, hebecame the leader of the Communist Party, struggling against the Japanese,the West, and his own people to form the People's Republic of China. Marx tried tounderstand history in terms of the means of production, and assumed thatchanging the relationship of capital and labor meant changing politicalrelationships. Later, in the Soviet Union, the effort to industrialize contributedto the development of the Gulag, with its masses of imported slave laborerscreating infrastructure, such as railroads.War How then do the wars of this century play their part in this greatupheaval of capitalist growth and revolutionary/reactionary fervor? They sought to redistribute the wealth and create a system inwhich freedom and liberty were not opposed by an unjust economic system.That economic system is described well by Robert Roberts, with hisdiscussion of Edwardian England (1971). The rise and fall of the plantation complex.NY: Cambridge University Press. Capitalism seemed to depend upon a captivelabor force, with resources and people that owners and capitalists couldexploit, and sometimes enslave. Often they have simply replaced onekind of oppression with another kind. Yet, there is a basic influence that undergirds allrevolutionary movements during the past two centuries. It can be asserted that capitalism is at the center, both in thecreation of the global culture and the maintenance and extension of globaldivisions. Yet another example of revolution turned equally oppressive is thatwhich occurred in China (and certainly its Russian counterpart). Karnow, S. The rise of capitalism and industrialization was actually incontradiction to the revolutionary impulse, in many ways. While the czarsexiled people to Siberia for political liberalism and radicalism, theCommunists exiled people wholesale for supposed reactionary tendencies.These men and women were used as cheap, slave labor to help industrializethe country and more frequently died than were rehabilitated back tofreedom. In all corners of the globe, the growth of industrial, capitalistsociety had similar results. The revolution which wasto free the people of the old straitjackets - like those described inChang's book - simply replaced those with new ones. For him, the best arrangements were hierarchicalones, in which people knew their own proper place. The story that Changtells, however, is one in which people reject the proper place that hasbeen assigned to them, seeking their own individual identity. Although he was somewhat cautious aboutthe ability of all people to accept liberation and make use of it, he stillused much of the language of the earlier revolution. He emphasized theunjust nature of the rule of the Spanish and the need for the people totake back their rights and exercise them freely. What resulted from wholesaleindustrialization was the growth of imperialism, and the development ofever deeper divisions between capitalists and laborers. On the other hand, there are important relationships. This is theessence of the revolutionary movements of the last few centuries. These are the conditions that Marx and Engels reacted againstand sought to overturn through a second set of revolutionary efforts. Although it isnot entirely clear how these are related, there are relationships. The liberation movements were defeated,or at least bent to the ends of capitalism. (1998). Many people have talkedabout Hitler, Stalin, and Mao, among others, as being fundamentallymentally ill. She herself used that language in describing hersituation, noting that the whole drive to send people to the Gulag wascreated by some "lunatic logic" and that officials were bewildered by the"fantastic course of events" (pp. (193 ). In all, the focus has been on liberating thecountry from either external or internal oppressors, but also on liberatingthe individual from expected, traditional, and prescribed roles. Good-bye to all that. Bolivar and the independence of SpanishAmerica. What has resulted, however, is a form of madness in whichthe unreality of valuing money and material goods above all else unites theworld in the pursuit of consumer happiness, while at the same time dividingit among those who win the consumer race and those who sit in thesweatshops and create the goods. (1968). At the present time, it doesseem as though money rules as the primary value. Thecauses of the wars that have occurred during this century seem almosttangential to these other great movements. (1998). It is a Westernone, based on the concept of liberty, equality, and fraternity, even whenmodified by Marxist concepts. He described the madness of the perspective of the LittleMother and the Bereaved Mother, who expressed themselves as gladly havingsacrificed their sons to the cause, even though the cause itself wasshrouded in mystery and the strategies so suicidal. The freedoms that English peoplehad fought for through the centuries had resulted in some politicaladvances, but very little advance, if any, in terms of economic or physicalequality. What about the genesis of World War II? That influence was not always positive. InAfrica, they have extended from Shaka Zulu through the most recentuprisings. In the case of the Soviet Union, the result of the Bolshevikrevolution was ultimately a worsening of the situation of the people and adeepening of the Gulag experience begun by the czars. It is a culture in which theProtestant work ethic predominates in both domestic and internationalpolicies. 24-25).Putting it Together These are some of the influences that characterize 2 th centuryhistory. Forexample, the Gulag was at least partially designed to help the Soviet Unioncatch up in terms of its industrial progress. Even the radical New Age simply reasserts these ideas in new form,with the proclamation that people create their own reality and choose theirdestinies. This is another form of liberationmovement. This struggle is inextricable with the influence of the West andWestern ideas. The question is how these influences work together to create acontemporary world that has a largely global culture with wide divisionsbetween classes and rich and poor nations. Certainly the situation ofGermany is directly related to the rise of world capitalism, and theupheaval of the Depression throughout the world. Clearly, those in the Westare of the elect, while those in the developing world are among the non-elect. In Latin America, there has been Simon Bolivar, Sandino, andmany others. Certainly the world that Ginzburg (1967) described is a world ofchaos and mad disorder. Ginzburg, E.S. When he actually gainedpower, however, his tendency was more toward dictatorship than liberaldemocracy (Trend, 1968). Journey into the whirlwind. NY: Doubleday. Perhaps the unity that we aretalking about is a unity based in human nature, which has simply becomemore visible because of television and closer contact between peoples. In Russia, there were the Bolsheviks. Genocidalmassacres in Rwanda, Cambodia, and elsewhere have been seen as instances ofmass insanity, in which people have run amuck, destroying their ownpopulations because of ethnic hatreds, old resentments, and ideologies ofdeath. It is not easy to see thateither industrialization or liberation movements led directly to World WarI or World War II. NY: HarcourtBrace. Indeed, some ofthe reaction in China resulted from struggle against the West, not adoptionof Western principles. In no way were the conditions of the working class representative ofany brotherhood of man. He talked aboutrumors, confusion, and erroneous writings that were accepted as reality bymany people. The system succeeded because of conditionsof inequality, not conditions of equality. (1967). It also holds to the premise that there are thosewho have been chosen, and those who have not. The inflation that afflicted Germany was part ofcapitalism's chaotic twenties and thirties. There have been many of them, and on all of the continents. The Cultural Revolution wasat least partially in reaction to the incursions of capitalism and itsvalues. The intention in the following pages is to explore some of thetendencies and trends that have led to a more global culture, whilemaintaining divisions between rich and poor, powerful and powerless.Liberation Movements The last half of the nineteenth century, and this century, have beencharacterized by revolutionary ideals and liberation movements of allsorts. In addition, the end of World War II saw the beginning of manystruggles throughout the world as former colonies sought to extricatethemselves from their imperial masters. Graves emphasized both the unreality of the war and theinability of the people at home to recognize the truth. It discusses the movement forthe liberation of women from their traditional roles and limits. What this means is also the success of Western, Protestant culture,which Max Weber (193 ) early insisted was the foundation of the rise ofcapitalism and the industrial revolution. The liberty,equality, and fraternity that were valued by the revolutionaries was notcongruent with the economics of the time. However, there are other forces operating in warfare, whichhave not yet been mentioned.Insanity In trying to discover a term that is appropriate to describe some ofthose other forces, the one that came to mind as the most apt was"insanity". The earlier revolutions were at least partly designed to freepeople to become capitalists, controlling their own wealth and property(Curtin, 1998). The global culture that hasarisen is largely a secular one, without much connection to mystery or thesacred. He describedhow the industrial revolution created a series of ghettos for the poor orthe laboring underclass of the day. Ginzburg's (1967) book described the process by which people wereidentified as enemies and condemned to the prison camps for lengthy periodsof time. In addition, the territorytaken from Germany and given to France was important economically, leadingto considerable resentment on the part of Germany. At the same time, the industrial revolution wasproceeding, and capitalism was growing into full flower. This, he noted, is what a freecapitalist society was capable of creating for the majority of its people. Stalin and Hitler are both described as paranoid, andincreasingly unable to maintain their grasp on reality. Weber, M. In Great Britain, the workers were alreadythere, and they simply had to be put to work and kept shackled to theirjobs. In the United States and Latin America, the situation was clear.Industrialization and the development of a market economy required largenumbers of exploited workers. In Europe, the FrenchRevolution. Certainly Curtin (1998)described this well for Latin America, and the Untied States. There was a great deal more isolation,separation, and difference during the World War II period and its immediateaftermath. The Protestant ethic and the spirit ofcapitalism. This is another tendency of the revolutionarymovements of the past few centuries. The classic slum. NY: Penguin. Mao and China: From revolution to revolution.NY: Viking. It may not be the onlyvalue, but it is the most visible organizing principle. (1971). The Emergence of the Contemporary WorldIntroduction The divisions visible in the contemporary world are not surprising.Social divisions have existed for centuries, whether based on class,gender, ethnicity, religion, or other factors. He attended a Western-stylehigh school and learned Marxist-Leninist ideas in college. The global, interactive,and homogenous aspects of the contemporary world would have been lesspredictable, even fifty years ago. The result of this Calvinism is a mind set which accepts divisionsbetween rich and poor, because it starts from the assumption that the poorwill always be with us. Roberts, R. Graves, R. References Curtin, P.D. London: Routled. Trend, J.B. Inits excesses, which perhaps reached a peak with the Great ProletarianCultural Revolution of the mid-196 s, this became even more oppressive ofindividual freedom and identity (Karnow, 1972). The latter struggle had moved from China into the UnitedStates. China traces its ownphilosophical and political traditions back to Confucius, who was hardly arevolutionary thinker. Democracy, revolution, Marxism - noneof these are intrinsically Chinese concepts. It is not a ritual-oriented culture, nor a sensual one, despitethe emphasis on consumption and pleasure. Even in those countries which supposedly rejected capitalism,money has been seen as the central organizing principle. For example, World War I has some important relationships to thedesire of small ethnic groups to be free of larger empires, obtaining self-determination for their people. NY: Harper. Therevolution he led had its origins in both Western and Marxist influences,and Mao himself was affected by both of those. The nascent globaleconomy meant that economic corrections and problems in one countryaffected other countries. Her bookbegan with the story of a Chinese woman in China, dealing with theexpectations of her culture and moved to an exploration of the continuingstruggle of that woman's grandniece to free herself from other kinds ofexpectations. This took many forms, including madness at both the front andat home. In India, the ongoing liberation movement infused with deepmeaning by Mahatma Gandhi. She noted that it was more a brand of insanity than anythingelse, in which sane people had no recourse.Industrialism and the Growth of Capitalism These revolutionary movements and repressions did not exist inisolation, however. Instead, it seemed as though the rich becamericher through capitalism on the backs of the poor, in the same way thatthey had done with the system of serfdom. Yet, there were indications of movement toward the presentsituation. Alsoinvolved in this plantation complex was Africa, which provided a greatpercentage of the laborers. Germany felt that itsown economy had been undercut and its industrialization retarded by loss ofthe territory. This century is characterized by many types of madness, someof which are associated with the events and people mentioned earlier. The liberation movements have been redirected away from the ideas ofpolitical equality toward the ideas of economic freedom and propertyrights. There is the madness that Graves (1998) described in relationship toWorld War I. Roberts (1971) does not contend that all people were equal before therise of capitalism, but he does show how industrial capitalism created andinstitutionalized a strict economically-based class system. While some of them have quickly been distorted and lost all promiseof actually freeing people from subservience and oppression, some movementshave been ongoing efforts to release groups of people from their bondage. Marxism, too, is of the West.
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