1920's In Europe & North America
- North America was focused on economic prosperity.
- The ‘First Red Scare’ was a public fear of communism, and the color red being associated with the Bolshevik Red army of the Russian Revolution.
- Left-wing groups were opposed to American involvement in WWI, and were inspired by the Russian Revolution.
- There were several large labor strikes in varying states, a series of bombings by anarchists stirred public sentiment against severe political movements and immigrants. This created an atmosphere of political conservatism in the US.
- With the current events (First Red Scare, WWI) past, conservative Republican candidate Warren G. Harding was elected for president. His central ideas on the platform were isolationism, nativism, and reduction of government involvement in citizen’s lives.
- There was a brief recession after WWI, the factories switched to consumer goods and the economy grew. Consumerism increased over the decade. After the Industrial Expansion; there was a noticeable income disparity.
- Many European countries faced a severe economic downturn after the war and Treaty of Versailles, this lead to severe economic problems and favoring of the rise of the Nazi party.
- For socialism to become possible, the Bolsheviks formed a mixed economy.
- Rise of far-right and fascism movements grew to prevent communism.
Ebb & Flow of Liberal Economic
During this time governments were devoted to an extremely capitalistic system. Governments, believed in very low taxes which greatly benefitted upper class, making the richer even richer. This was a system that greatly reflected the ideals of classical liberalism.