Postwar Social Transformation

European Culture (1950-1980) McKay

Changing Class Structures• Western Europe• Characteristics of “Middle Class” changed• Pre War Old Middle Class• Bourgeoisie, self employed who owned business,

lawyer, doctor, inherited property• New Middle Class• White collar, managers of corporations

• Eastern Europe• Class leveling was goal of socialist state• Nationalization of industry and property used to reduce

class differences• Communist party members received better jobs and

more pay• But income differences were smaller in Eastern Block

• Farming as occupation drastically declined as many moved to the city

Nowa Huta• Planned model socialist steel town near Krakow, Poland of

over 100 thousand people• Lenin Steel Works employed thousands of the towns

residence• Said to produce more steel than any other foundry in

Europe• Theoretically brought working and living space together

and had everything working family could need• Green space, department and grocery stores, recreation,

schools, streetcar system, schools• But lacked a Catholic church until 1966• Residence required to attend mass rallies where long

speeches given about superiority of socialism and honor of simple labor• Pollution from stacks damaged historic architecture of

Krakow

Patterns of Postwar Migration• 1850-1930s millions of Europeans left continent• 1950s-1960s the trend reversed• Major influx of migrant “guest” workers from Spain, Portugal, and Italy• 3.5 million E. German crossed into Federal Republic of Germany before 1961• West Germany

• Had lost 5 million during WWII• Acute labor shortage led to “Guest Worker” program• Italy, Greece, Spain Portugal, Yugo, Turkey, and N. Africa

• Germany 2.8 million guest workers• France- 2.3 million (11% of workforce)• Great Britain saw immigrants from their former colonies

• Workers• Mostly single young men, unskilled, low wages• Lived if segregated barracks, 6-8 workers in a room

• Portuguese Worker Armando Rodrigues• 1 millionth guest worker• Received motorcycle as prize

• But most immigrants faced discrimination & hostility

The one-millionth guest worker, the Portuguese Armando Rodriquez, is welcomed in Cologne in 1964.

An Italian guest worker (right) with his German colleague working on a VW bug at the Volkswagen plant in Wolfsburg in 1962.

New Roles for Women• Post war years saw baby boom and larger families in W.

Europe• But long term decline in birthrates resumed in 1960s• By 1970s half W. European women had last child by age 26• Major change• Motherhood no longer consumed women’s life• Economic boom of 50 to early 70s created demand for labor• Shift from male dominated heavy industry and factory jobs to

white collar jobs where women already worked

• Eastern Block• Made up almost 50% of workforce

• Yet earned less than men• Double Day

• Expected to work and care for children

Youth Culture and the Generation Gap• Baby Boomer generation created unique subculture rooted in fashion, hairstyles, music• Strongly influenced by “bad boys” images American movies stars such as James Dean and Marlon Brando &

musicians like Elvis Presley • Also fueled by invention of LP (Long Play) record player and emergence & commercialization of music industry• Rebelled against the “establishment” culture of their parents• Youth Groups

• Teddy Boys of Great Britain• Halbstarken (Half Strongs) of W. Germany• Blouson Noirs (Black Jackets) of France

• Consumerism• Youth culture fueled by post war prosperity• Corporations marketed products toward new consumers they labeled “teenagers”• Advertising geared toward youths grew 400% in France b/t 1959-1962

• Education revolution • University education been limited to small elite before WWII (4%) • Post war college attendance grew to more than 12%• Yet classes were overcrowded• Some saw university education as an establishment institution meant to create docile technocrats (Little

Boxes)

The Affluent Society• Post war recovery in W. Europe brought consumer revolution

• Labor saving devises (vacuum cleaners, blenders) transformed women’s housework

• US style self service supermarkets altered the way people shopped• No “middle man” as consumer handled merchandise and placed it in a shopping cart

• Small shop owners often called for strikes and boycotts

• Some felt European way of life threatened• For centuries Euros had to shop in separate stores (butcher, baker) who handled the merchandise

• Leisure Time• Tourism industry grew• Month long vacations required in most W. European nations + widespread automobile ownership• TV affordable even to working class

• Critics decried conformity and the danger to national traditions of new consumer society

• Church membership declined as Europe became more secular

• Second Vatican Council (1962-1965)• Catholic leaders democratized many church beliefs to broaden its appeal

• Masses now said in vernacular

• Yet divorce rates grew rose rapidly

Growing Counterculture Movement• Baby boomers grew up with material abundance and political liberalism• Disturbed by horrors of WWII totalitarian government, struggles of decolonization, emptiness of consumer society• Inspired by Civil Rights movement in US, free speech movement in US colleges and free of material deprivation

they sought to correct social ills of Europe• New Left

• Counterculture movement which embraced romantic notions of Marxism• Argued that Marxism had been perverted in Stalin’s Soviet Union• US capitalism and disregard for social equality was little better• Attacked conformist consumer society

• “the personal is the political”• 1960s slogan of the merging of political issues and ones lifestyle

• Sexual Revolution• Counterculture embraced ideal of premarital sex• fueled in part by “the pill” in early 1960s

• Lifestyle revolt also included drug use as was to break free from conventional morals• Rock music of Beatles and Rolling Stones reflect counterculture values• Carnaby Street

• Epicenter of counterculture in “swinging” London

Student Revolts and 1968• Tet Offensive and growing US involvement in Vietnam led to worldwide opposition

• Counterculture view US as imperialistic and fighting immoral war• Mass demonstrations against war, imperialism, and end to nuclear arms race

• Students in Warsaw, Poland marched against censorship

• May 68• Student uprising in Paris when students and striking workers brought French economy to

standstill• Began with students protest against rigid and elitist standards of French university system• Pitched street battle took place May 10th with 460 arrests and over 360 wounded, 200 cars

burned• Slogans spray-painted on walls express spirit of New Left

• “power to the imagination”• “Be realistic, demand the impossible”• Illustrated the dehumanization of modern society yet the vagueness of their demands

• May 18 some 10 million workers out on strike• 5th Republic on verge of collapse• But idealistic dreams of students did not mesh with bread and butter issues of workers• De Gaulle promised workplace reforms, include pay raises, strikers retuned to work• New elections the conservative party won 75% of seats

1960s in the East Bloc• After Berlin Wall built, E. Europe began to experiment with economic and

cultural liberalism

• Inefficiency of central planning evident as East lagged behind

• New Economic Mechanism• Hungary’s policy of broking up state monopolies and allowing some private

retail stores and private agriculture was most successful

• Also granted some cultural freedoms• Bitterfeld Movement

• Conference of writers and workers of Berlin encouraged by regime to take more critical view of life in East Bloc without directly opposing communism itself

• Divided Heaven was novel by Christa Wolf which addresses problems of life in small town factory but where main character still dreams of social utopia

• Samizdat • “self published” books and newspapers that directly criticized communism• Distributed underground to avoid state censorship • Built foundation of protest movements in 1970s and 80s

Trabi: East German car known for its poor engineering yet the growing availability of consumer goods in 1960s-70s

Challenges and Victories for Women• Feminist Movement emerged by 1970 in Europe• Causes

• Patterns of motherhood and work created favorable conditions

• Feminist intellectuals made women rethink their station• Civil Rights movement offered paragon to follow

• Simone de Beauvoir• The Second Sex (1949)

• French feminist who analyzed position of women and argued that women have always been trapped by patriarchal society

• European feminists pushed for abortion rights, right to divorce, protection from domestic violence

• By late 80s divorce and abortion were common, even in Italy (Catholic church greatly opposed to both)

The Rise of the Environmental Movement• Rooted in Counterculture• Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962)

• American biologist book title portrays world when birds no longer sang in the Spring because they died due to rampant use of pesticides

• Industrialization’s cost to environment was evident by 1970• Rhine river heavily polluted• Forest of southwestern Germany dying from acid rain (smokestack

emissions)• Coast of Brittany (France) polluted by oil spill • Chernobyl nuclear accident (1986) released radioactive particles that

will last for centuries• Caused major birth defects and cancers to many who were

directly exposed• Green Party

• Political party founded in W. Germany• Purpose is to fight for environmental causes• Candidates won some seats in W. Germany gov in 1983

The Decline of Developed Socialism• “real existing socialism”

• Term used by communist bloc leaders to describe socialist accomplishments• Collectivization of agriculture• Industry and business nationalized• Class differences minimized• Extensive welfare system of healthcare, education, subsidies

• Yet beneath outward conformity, many felt apathy, dissatisfaction, repression• Living standards well below western Europe• Central planning unable to deal with shortages, poor quality, lack of

choice• Extensive black market developed

• Zalatwic (pronounced zawatveech)• Having connections to get something• Form of corruption as it was illegal yet viewed positively

because it was a form of resistance to the system• Eastern bloc hard hit by energy crisis of 1970 and did not recover

• Did not adopt any policies of neoliberalism• Lacked high tech industrial development• Unable to compete in global market• People resented travel restrictions