On the Global 1930s

This is a good counterweight to the image of the 1930s generally taught in European and American history classes. In Matera and Kent’s depiction, the internationalism of the decade is the most important. Internationalism here has several different meanings, including international cooperation in the maintenance of empire, as well as anti-imperial activism that stretched across global borders. The authors do a good job of showing us the social, cultural, and labor elements alongside the politics and economics on a global scale.

The one major weakness I found, oddly enough, is their chapters on Communism and Fascism. Although they do talk about the Comintern and, to some extent, the spread of Communism in India and Africa, I would think that Communism was something limited exclusively to the Soviet Union and China. Little attention is given to anti-fascism and communist movements elsewhere—both of which are critical to the history of the 1930s. Much of the same issue is at play in their discussion of fascism, which they spend a great deal of time on in discussions of Italy, Germany, and Japan, but little elsewhere. They do have a segment on the Spanish Civil War and—weirdly—fascism in Palestine. It’s undeniably true that there was some sympathy towards the fascist powers in Palestine and other parts of the Arab world, but this needs to be qualified. Few positive attitudes existed for the sake of fascism alone, but rather for its perceived ability to contest the imperial powers, much like Communism in the same period. This is not meant to discount fascist sympathies (or collaboration in the 1940s), but to bring attention to the fact that the reality on the ground outside of Europe was complicated.

That being said, this is an excellent starting point for the history of the 1930s. Those already familiar with the period will find it old-hat, but those who don’t know it as well should definitely start here.