Gorlizki and Mommsen- Stalinism and National Socialism Flashcards
pHow did Germany and the USSR differ?
- internal organisation of parties
- attitude/ behaviour of hitler and stalin
- interaction between ruler and party
- Stalin’s Soviet Union had strong institutions that kept political mobilization under control, while Nazi Germany
depended on the Führer cult and the loose structures around the Führer that allowed political mobilization to spiral out of control
Why did differences between Germany and the USSR occur? (context)
- the two regimes emerged in response to different crises at times of different levels of socioeconomic development and national integration.
- the backward Russia of the Tsars, with a small working class, which led Lenin to place great emphasis on strong organization and discipline within the party. Stalin followed him with more reforms that not only increased control over the economy but also brought about a social transformation in the 1930s.
- Nazi Germany emerged as an industrialized state.
How did Germany and USSr differ in regarding to creating or continuing order?
USSR
Creating new order
- The Bolshevik party was centralized
- The Soviets created a new political order
- the Bolsheviks completely turned established order upside down and did not cooperate with it.
Germany
Established order
- loosely cohesive under the charisma of the leader
- emerged in an established political order. In their rise, the Nazis could not break the established order instead they cooperated with it
How did Germany and the USSR differ within the party and leader dynamics?
USSR
- Under Stalin, the party and the state became increasingly intertwined. The Central Committee of the Communist Party supervised local party branches and sent trusted party officials from Moscow to areas where the Communists were in the minority to supervise. In the second phase of
centralization (from 1920), Stalin increased control over the economy by removing the rights to allocate resources, set goals, and manage industry from local authorities and moving them to Moscow
Germany
- NSDAP was initially very decentralized. There was no Nazi bureaucracy in the 1920s. After the seizure of power, this did arise in Munich under Bormann, but Hitler could overrule all his decisions. Bormann had no legitimacy and he could try to
supervise the local branches of the NSDAP, but he could do little if Hitler protected the local branch in question.
How did the USSR and Germany differ towards civil servants?
USSR
- membership of the communist party was a condition for becoming a civil servant or minister.
- the party ensured unity in the structures of the state
Germany
-The government of Nazi Germany employed many conservatives who were not members of the NSDAP. In many cases, the NSDAP could not do anything to Hitler’s ministers.
-The German cabinet did not meet after 1938. Hitler blocked all attempts to set up a replacement authority. Hitler had to unite Germany, not the institutions. Hitler laid down his role as sole ruler in the constitution; Stalin did not.
How did the USSR and Germany institutions differ
USSR
- had a clear hierarchy of institutions. Informal ties were terminated by Stalin.
Germany
- Nazi Germany was held together by informal ties, with Hitler at the center of the web. Take Fritz Todt, for example, who held many positions within the Nazi government, but always derived his authority from his personal ties to Hitler, never from his office. Another example is the Gauleiter, the heads of the Gau (local NSDAP branches). The Gauleiter were only accountable to Hitler and enjoyed great autonomy in governing their Gau
How did Hitler and Stalin differ personally?
Stalin
- Stalin had a reputation as an effective bureaucrat who was involved in many committees. He had a lot of knowledge about policy and with that he could eliminate his political
opponents. Stalin’s power was therefore based on the administrative structures of the party.
- Very close to the government and bureaucracy
Hitler
- Hitler’s power was precisely due to his reputation as a public speaker and demagogue. This also influenced the way he governed: almost all major decisions were announced with a big speech or think of rhetoric about the ‘Führer’s
will’ that replaced institutional decision-making. Stalin exercised his power by endlessly interfering with the various committees of the state. Hitler was hardly involved in the daily administration and refused to read files. He was only interested in propaganda
- Hitler kept his distance from the government. He let his confidants pile up many offices to govern on his behalf (think of Göring). Hitler was extremely conflict-avoidant when it came to his government and let his confidants build up their own power. He avoided public executions or humiliations of those who had not served his government well. Problems had to be dealt with by establishing new
institutions, which caused the unity of the state to decrease again and again.
The Soviet system was not perfectly efficient, but Stalin’s strong coercion (the purges), the centrally managed economy, and the centralized institutionalized party allowed the system to withstand the shock of World War II. The Bolshevik party could exist independently of Stalin. The Nazi party and Nazi Germany were more loosely linked. The state depended on the Fuhrer cult. This was powerful in mobilizing the masses.
How did violence play a part in both Germany and ussr
Violence plays a role in the leadership of both dictators. In Stalin’s case, the purges of 1937/1938 are a well-known example. The reasons for the purges were to remove the
last remnants of resistance and to open up positions for younger members of the Bolshevik Party.
Hitler’s violence and his purges around 1938 (the dismissal of many non-NSDAP conservatives from political office led to the fact that all the brakes were released for the Nazis’ drive for expansion. The leadership of Nazi Germany also became even more detached from any laws and regulations.
mommsen
ussr and germnay cannot be compared but they were asked to for this text
central thesis
the ussr and germany were different and this can be seen in looking at the internal power dynamic leading to a different path of development
soviets succeeded where the nazis failed by making the party directly correlate to the state
what crisises did they come about in?
ussr- the falling of russian empire undevelopmed in industrilsation 1917 messiness of the the revolution
Germany- depression, more developed that ussr, econ problems financial difficulties from reperesstions, fear of communist takeover
dynamic element of the party
stalin- the centralised leader fusion of party structure functions and the state the party take over state function this doesn’t happen as much in germany
hitler- decentralise competing institutions
IR
both isolated from the LoN but came in later soviet position less secure more paranoia
economy
hitler non interventonalist- free market
stalin heavy intervention- massive bureaucracy focused on controlling economy- collectivised
