Is our democracy sliding towards fascism? Can we save ourselves?
What can we learn from one year –1923-- in the chaotic unravelling of the Weimar Republic? The price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Democracy must also be a verb.
Writer and historian Charles Emmerson, writing a review of two books in the online edition of the Financial Times -- Germany’s chaotic year: 1923 and the lessons for today- (accessed September 20, 2023) describes 1923 in the Weimar Republic as not a year with a single crisis or even a crescendo leading to an ultimate crisis, but as a poly-crisis year. The books Emmerson reviews -- 1923: The Forgotten Crisis in the Year of Hitler’s Coup by Mark Jones (John Murray) and Germany 1923: Hyperinflation, Hitler’s Putsch, and Democracy in Crisis by Volker Ullrich (WW Norton) – describe a nation beset by multiple threats, not the least of which was astronomical inflation.
Cash lost so much of its value that huge amounts of almost worthless paper money had to be carted about in laundry baskets to go shopping. Hyperinflation began in Germany in 1922, but it reached its peak in 1923. Prices were rising so rapidly that people were struggling to afford basic necessities. Hyperinflation also led to a loss of confidence in the German currency and a decline in economic activity. Emmerson notes that some bourgeois mothers were reduced to pimping their daughters in order to afford to feed their families.
In addition to hyperinflation, 1923 was a year of multiple crises in Germany, including the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr, regional separatism, and numerous attempts to overthrow the Weimar Republic. The French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr was a response to Germany's failure to meet its war reparations payments. The occupation led to widespread violence and sabotage, and it also had a devastating impact on the German economy.
Regional separatism was another challenge facing the Weimar Republic in 1923. There were independence movements in the Rhineland and Bavaria, and there was also a socialist-communist coalition in Saxony that was effectively deposed by the central government.
The most famous event of 1923 was Hitler's Beer Hall Putsch in November. Hitler and his Nazi followers attempted to seize power in Munich, but the putsch was ultimately unsuccessful. Hitler was arrested and sentenced to prison, but he was released after only serving eight months.
The trauma of 1923 left a deep impression on the German psyche. The erosion of democratic norms and the rise of extremism created conditions that allowed Hitler to come to power in 1933.
Emmerson concludes his review with this warning for today stemming from events a century ago:
“What readers will find is a warning from the past with lessons still apposite today: crisis breeds crisis; democracy is hard work; scapegoating needs to be addressed early; norms, once broken, are hard to repair; the socio-economic effects of inflation can be deadly. And, when a large portion of the population questions the fundamental legitimacy of a regime, that regime is inevitably at the mercy of events. Hitler failed in 1923 but succeeded in 1933. The erosion of democratic norms can be fatal, even if its effects are delayed. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.“
Yet these are very different times. While Canada’s inflation rate has been growing, it is still low in comparison to other OECD countries and utterly minuscule compared to Germany in 1923. While foreign governments may attempt to influence the outcome of our elections, and our sovereignty in the Arctic is being challenged, no one is invading us. There are separatist grumblings in Alberta, but advocates remain a small minority of the general population in that province.
But the level of discourse in our democratic fora –our provincial legislatures and our national parliament—has morphed from rational debate to partisan sloganeering. Our news media are being squeezed to relinquish much of their participation in our political dialogue due to the erosion of their advertising base and the growing dominance of social media. As Nobel-Prize winner Maria Ressa observed, when we lose access to facts, we lose access to truth, and when we lose our grasp of truth, we cannot trust each other. 2023 is not 1923. Canada is not the Weimar Republic. But those shadows cast by events of one hundred years ago are still with us. We can ignore them. Or we can find out what they can teach us about ourselves and our country.
Thanks to writer Peter Morgan for his research for this post.