Franklin Roosevelt and His New Deal

Herbert Hoover was president at the beginning of the Great Depression. He tried to institute reforms to help stimulate the economy but they had little to no effect. By 1933, unemployment in the United States was at a staggering 25%. Franklin Roosevelt became president on March 4, 1933 and immediately instituted the first New Deal. This was a comprehensive group of short-term recovery programs. It not only included economic aid and work assistance programs but also the end of the gold standard and of prohibition. This as then followed by the Second New Deal programs which included more long term assistance such as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), the Social Security System, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Fannie Mae, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC). However, there is still question today about the effectiveness of many of these programs as a recession occurred in 1937-38. During these years, unemployment rose again. Some blame the New Deal programs as being hostile towards businesses. Others state that the New Deal, while not ending the Great Depression, at least helped the economy by increasing regulation and preventing further decay.

In 1940, unemployment was still at 14%. However, with America's entry into World War II and subsequent mobilization, unemployment rates dropped to 2% by 1943. While some argue that the war itself did not end the Great Depression, others point to the increase in government spending and increased job opportunities as reasons why it was a large part of the national economic recovery.

The Soviet Russia

1. period of relative weakness (1917-1939)

2. some revisionist attempts were undertaken (1939-1941)

3. 1941-1945 (WW2)

4. 1945 (even 1944)–and afterwards- period of increasing the Soviet capabilities. The USSR became firstly big power, later super power.

Between 1917-1939 the USSR = “policy of neutrality and non-aggression”.

The Stalin regime tried to consolidate country under single, strict ruling, dictatorial political system. Stalin feared a foreign military intervention which might cause the fall of Soviet regime. Therefore the Soviet foreign policy intended to prevent any possibility of this. On the other hand the USSR needed investment, money (credits), foreign trade and diplomatic recognition.

1’st success was the Rapallo Treaty (April 1922)

Germany and the USSR were both irritated by the politics of the big Western powers, needed a economic recovery (foreign trade, money flows etc) and susceptible against the powerful Poland.

1921-1927 NEP in Soviet Russia.

War communism included the following policies:

1. All industry was nationalized and strict centralized management was introduced.

2. State monopoly on foreign trade was introduced.

3. Discipline for workers was strict, and strikers could be shot.

4. Obligatory labour duty was imposed onto "non-working classes".

5. requisition of agricultural surpluses from peasants in excess of absolute minimum for centralized distribution among the remaining population.

6. Food and most commodities were rationed and distributed in a centralized way.

7. Private enterprise became illegal.

8. Military-like control of railroads was introduced.

Because all of these measures were implemented in a time of civil war, they were far less coherent and coordinated in practice than they might appear on paper. Large areas of Russia were outside the Bolsheviks' control, and poor communications meant that even those regions loyal to the Bolshevik government often had to act on their own, lacking any orders or central coordination from Moscow. It has long been debated whether "war communism" represented an actual economic policy in the proper sense of the word or merely a set of desperate measures intended to win the civil war at any cost.