Fourth Exercise: Violence and Militancy in the Twentieth Century
History 104 / for Wednesday, April 10, 2013

For this assignment, there are three questions below. Choose any two of the three options below and write at least 700 words total to complete your assignment. As always, please see the General Guidelines for more details!

As always, be careful not to take quotes out of context; take the time to understand the overall points these authors are trying to make in their written work.

1. Read Vladimir Lenin ("Our Programme"), Clara Zetkin, Peter Kropotkin, and Emmeline Pankhurst (pp. 426-35, 442-46). How do these authors aim to achieve social change? If they are prepared to advocate violence, who or what should be this violence be directed against?

2. Read the selections by Ernst Jünger, Vera Brittain, and Benito Mussolini (pp.475-83, 510-12). How does war change people, in their estimation, and what do they foresee as the characteristics of the new Europe emerging in the wake of World War I?

3. In their writings, Theodor Herzl, Alexandra Kollontai, and Adolf Hitler described or envisioned major social transformations (pp. 455-59, 501-4, 513-17). What resistance did they foresee, what costs did they anticipate, and what benefits did they seek from their programs of action?