Created in 1919, shortly after World War I, the League of Nations was principally designed to put an end to war. But it went into hibernation when World War II broke out, and was formally wound up in 1946. Not having achieved its primary objective, it was deemed a failure. However, the many accomplishments it did realize certainly allows for arguments against this idea. During its two-decade existence, the League of Nations resolved and defused many conflicts and crises, as well as established a rapport among its members. It was also active in many other political, social, and technical fields, including minorities, refugees, human rights, labor, health, telecommunications, and supervision of former colonial territories, which had become mandates. Above all, the League of Nations proved to be training ground for the United Nations and the countless other organizations, both governmental and non-governmental, which now surround us. Just what the League of Nations was able to do during its brief but hectic career is summed up in this book. The dictionary section contains several hundred cross-referenced entries on its founders and supporters, its rather small staff and secretariat, the various subordinate or related organizations, and their overwhelming tasks. The historical background is described in the introduction and plotted year by year in the chronology while the bibliography points to further reading.

Germany 1918-33 was one of the most tumultuous periods in history. Following the revolution in Russia, the German workers and soldiers attempted to seize power in November 1918. Unfortunately, the revolution was betrayed by the Social Democratic leaders. Further revolutionary convulsions rocked Germany from 1919 to 1923. By this time, a mass Communist Party had been formed, but following advice from Zinoviev and Stalin, a classical revolutionary opportunity in 1923 was missed. This was a blow, not only in Germany, but internationally. The German defeats served to strengthen the grip of the Stalinist bureaucracy in Russia. This resulted in zig-zags of policy between opportunism and ultra-leftism, which paved the way for the ‘Third Period’ with the Social Democrats regarded as the main enemy. With the rise of fascism, Leon Trotsky described Germany in 1931 as “the key to the international situation”. “On the direction in which the solution of the German crisis develops will depend not only the fate of Germany herself (and that is already a great deal), but also the fate of Europe, the destiny of the entire world, for many years to come,” he explained. Trotsky called for a United Front against fascism, but this was rejected by the Stalinists. This paved the way for the victory of the Nazis, leading to the Holocaust and the Second World War with its 55 million dead. In this book, Rob Sewell argues that all this was not inevitable, and analyses those events, drawing out the lessons for today.

In November 1918 a revolution overthrew the old imperial system in Germany and inaugurated a republic. The revolution was formally completed in August 1919 when the social democrat Friedrich Ebert was sworn in as president. By this time, however, many of the revolution’s original aims and intentions had been swallowed up by new political concerns and lived experiences. For contemporaries the meaning of ‘9 November’ changed, becoming increasingly contested between rival parties, military experts and scholars. This book examines how the debate on the revolution has evolved from August 1919 to the present day. It takes the reader through the ideological battles of the 1920s and 30s into the equally politicised historical writing of the cold war period. It ends with a consideration of the marginalisation of the revolution in academic research since the 1980s, and its revival from 2010.

"Critique of the Gotha Programme" by Karl Marx. Published by DigiCat. DigiCat publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each DigiCat edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

This Squid Ink Classic includes the full text of the work plus MLA style citations for scholarly secondary sources, peer-reviewed journal articles and critical essays for when your teacher requires extra resources in MLA format for your research paper.

Reproduces (translated into English) contemporary documents or writings with an introduction to each section.