Introducing the reaction of the fascists, introducing the resistance of the people, we shall now turn to another force, the "status quo maintenance". We have already touched on it a lot before, and this "status quo maintenance" faction obviously does not maintain the status quo, allows the fascists to sabotage without stopping it, and finally embarks on a path of "appeasement" of fascism, although this once unjust "status quo" begins to show a just and just side. Soviet writers believed that the "status quo maintenance" approach had far-reaching strategic considerations. In doing so, the "status quo maintenance" faction intends to change the direction of fascist aggression and to direct it in the direction they desire, Soviet socialism, so that the contradictions facing imperialism can be resolved in favour of capitalism.
The "status quo maintenance" faction does have this in mind. The ruling order of German imperialism cannot remain chaotic, otherwise it is very likely to fall into the hands of communism, which is disastrous for the "status quo maintenance" faction, so it is necessary to stabilize the ruling order of German imperialism, let it continue to play its due role, and at the same time become a bridgehead for the West against the East. German imperialism also took full advantage of this in the process of its re-emergence, gaining the understanding of the "status quo maintenance" faction.
However, the rise of fascism changed the situation. "No one has far-sighted worries, but will have near-term worries." The "threat" of the East is a distant "far-sighted" one, while the threat of fascism becomes a near-term worry day by day. So what kind of response has the "status quo maintenance" faction taken to this? We know that in the face of Germany's aggressive posture in the first world war, the "status quo maintenance" faction did not hesitate to tit-for-tat and never compromise, so that the First World War became a "encounter" in which two forces attacked each other. At this time, however, they did not want to do so, at least the British imperialists did not want to do so, and the French imperialists were not strong enough, had more than enough but were insufficient, and had to follow the British imperialism. U.S. imperialism sees no need for it to do so, and that hiding in the lair of isolationism and waiting to see what happens is the best option.
Let's introduce the three "representative figures" of the "status quo maintenance faction" in detail.
Anglo-French-American imperialism, look at what is deep in the souls of the leaders of the imperialist international system (who were the leaders at least in the twenties), and see what guiding ideology they are carrying out their duty to "maintain the status quo" - acquiescence to connivance with the fascists to undermine the status quo. Let's start with Britain, the old imperialist.
The British Empire, which once dominated the world for nearly two hundred years, is undoubtedly a benchmark "figure" in the history of capitalist development, its bourgeois revolution opened the capitalist era of social development, its industrial revolution opened the era of industrialization of human development, it defeated one European power after another, plundered colonies everywhere, and established a colonial empire that "the sun never sets". However, with the rising stars of the imperialist system, the situation of the coexistence of the masses and the emergence of the British Empire in this system continues to decline, it begins to fall from its peak state, and its competition begins to appear inadequate. And the imperialist system, like any exploiting class system, will eventually have limited development based on competition and exploitation, and once the struggle reaches its limit and its position is consolidated, it will lose the motivation to struggle and start a business, and it will only think of exploitation and enjoy its success, and it will not be easy to ensure the status of its vested interests.
It seems that imperialism has only two states of contention and the preservation of the results of the struggle, and when the era of "arduous pioneering" such as the struggle for expansion has passed, imperialism has entered a state of honor and honor in which the fruits of the struggle have been preserved. If the "bitter and bitter" faction is still in an era of "hard work", then the British Empire has begun to transform into the latter state. It is fading, its splendor is unsustainable, and it is becoming increasingly evident that it is the prospect of "parasitic or decaying capitalism", and it begins its irreversible decline. In the First World War, a war that dealt a major blow to imperialism, the British Empire defeated its greatest rival, the German Empire, retained its position, and further expanded its colonial power, but it will only win a crushing victory, and after the First World War it will continue its decline and continue its evolution of "parasitic or decaying capitalism".
In the 1920s, the British Empire was still the world's largest colonial empire, a veritable vested interest in the imperialist system, still had huge colonies to exploit and exploit, still had a huge scale of international trade and strong international financial strength, still had the world's most powerful navy, controlled the sea, the lifeblood of the world's transportation, so there is no doubt that its comprehensive strength is still in the forefront of imperialism. However, just as the Jia Mansion, where "the master and servant are all prosperous and honorable, and there is not a single one in the planning and planning", although it is still "lush and moist", the momentum of "Zheng Rong Xuanjun" has not diminished, but "the inner bag has also been exhausted".
In the twenties, Britain's economy, like the imperialist world economy as a whole, experienced crises, recessions, and depressions, but the difference was that it did not experience prosperity. Even in the second half of the twenties, when the imperialist world was at its most prosperous, the British economy showed no signs of prosperity and remained hovering in depression and stagnation. As a result, the relative strength of the British Empire continued to decline, and the huge empire became weaker and weaker. However, the rulers of the British Empire may not have needed such prosperity, or may not have dared to expect such prosperity, and their response to depression and stagnation was to restore the passive and laissez-faire set of things that were before the First World War: deflation, the gold standard, free trade, and London's international financial status. These weapons, once the weapons of the British Empire to dominate the world, have now become its helpless choice. As for raising its strong will, mobilizing the enthusiasm of the people, abandoning the "prosperity and honor", actively "planning and planning", changing the status quo, and creating glory again, it is not within the options of the rulers of the British Empire.
In terms of domestic rule, after World War I, affected by the October Revolution and the aftermath of the war, there were also some upheavals in the British Empire, and the voices of the people demanding a change in the status quo, demanding revolutionary progress, opposing interference in Soviet Russia continued to emerge, and in 1926 a strike of coal miners against the increased exploitation of the capitalists broke out. Of course, despite these upheavals, despite the long-term stagnation of the economy, and despite the presence of millions of unemployed troops over the years, the British Empire was able to maintain the domestic situation in a state of relative stability, in contrast to the continuing turmoil of the imperialist world outside it.
As a vested interest in the imperialist system, as an established empire that has developed for hundreds of years, has deep roots of wealth and has huge colonies, the British Empire has every strength to make some concessions to the masses of the people, improve the people's lives, eliminate the people's resistance, and maintain the stability of domestic rule. Compared with the turbulent "bitter and bitter" faction, the British Empire is undoubtedly rich, civilized, peaceful and peaceful. Of course, its rich civilization is undoubtedly based on the unworldly and uncivilized "bitter and bitter" faction, and on the basis of the imperialist ruling order in which the minority nationalities oppress and exploit the majority of the nations. Therefore, in order to preserve a prosperous civilization and to preserve its vested interests, it cannot but vigorously maintain this unjust imperialist ruling order, cannot but acquiesce and connive at reaction, and cannot fail to suppress and contain justice.
Its rich civilization is selfish and detrimental to justice. And the rich civilization under economic stagnation is nothing more than a reflection of the state of prosperity and honor of imperialism, a clear feature of "parasitic or decadent capitalism", a reflection of the sluggishness, lack of enterprising and lack of contention of the empire, and a reflection of the desire to put the people in a state of chaos and eliminate its progressive change with the privileged position of those with vested interests.
Of course, it was not easy for the British Empire to maintain its rich civilization, and some troubles always plagued it. First of all, the rise of the people's revolutionary forces, which began with the October Revolution, is a fundamental threat to the British Empire, and the British Empire, which enjoys great honor and hatred for such a force that wants to change the world and completely overthrow the reactionary rule of imperialism, is undoubtedly hated to the bone, and although it is somewhat unable to deal with this force, the British Empire always regards it as a problem for its confidants. The British Empire of the twenties was always an active anti-Soviet faction, participating in the intervention of the Russian Revolution, and after its defeat it occasionally set off anti-Soviet waves, but the Soviet socialist system remained unchanged and flourished in these reactionary waves, and the British Empire had no choice but to temporarily cooperate with it, albeit reluctantly.
After World War I, under the influence of the October Revolution, the struggle of the colonial peoples pursuing national independence and liberation set off an unprecedented anti-imperialist upsurge, and the British Empire with its huge colonies undoubtedly bore the brunt of it. Turkey's war of national independence, the Iranian people's struggle against the enslaving Anglo-Iranian Agreement, the Waraf Movement and the anti-British uprising in Egypt, the Iraqi people's anti-British uprising, the unification and independence struggle of the Arabian Peninsula, the anti-British struggle of the people of India and Burma, from Egypt to the Middle East, to Iran, to the South Asian continent, the struggle against the British colonial rule has risen one after another, the demand for national independence has become stronger, the program has become clearer, the struggle has become more resolute and organized, and the impact on the ruling order of the British Empire has become more and more fierce. In the face of the increasingly strong resistance of the oppressed people, the British Empire is also deeply powerless, of course, it will not easily make concessions to the people, to history, it constantly changes its tactics, gives some concessions, uses both soft and hard to deal with this revolutionary tide, maintains its crumbling rule, and tries in every possible way to preserve the colonies, which have penetrated deeply into its organism.
Well, having given a general introduction to the image of the British Empire, it is necessary to return to our subject, namely, the threat to the British Empire from the rise of the Fascists and their predecessors, the Bitter Enemy, to the British Empire, and to see why the British Empire is not prepared to eliminate this threat in the manner of the fierce confrontation of the First World War. In fact, after we have shown the image, thought and soul of the British Empire in the twenties, the reason why it did not do so is already on the horizon: for the former hegemon, the British Empire, since it vigorously suppresses the people's revolutionary forces and vigorously defends the reactionary status quo, since it makes the people confused and content with the status quo, and since it does not think of making progress and makes itself weak, it is powerless to confront the powerful reactionary evil forces. For the honored and privileged imperialists, since "preserving the existing" is their primary strategic aim, since it needs no progress, no need to compete, it loses the need to confront the strong.
The "glorious and great era of the British Empire" to which Churchill aspired is gone, and the British Empire no longer needs such an era. I remember that in 1936 Churchill gave a speech that was a comprehensive review of that era. Churchill pointed out that for centuries the British Empire had always been "opposed to the emergence of the most powerful, aggressive and domineering state on the continent." It "always takes the more difficult path, joins the less powerful side, unites with them, defeats and defeats the military hegemon on the continent, whoever he is, no matter which country he rules". However, the British Empire at this time clearly did not want to take this "more difficult road", although this road began to shift from the reaction of the past to the justice of the present, but chose a path with less resistance. It no longer unites with the weak, but "cooperates" with the strong.
In the imperialist world, there is no such thing as paying without a return, public and private are contradictory, and in order to preserve private interests, we cannot but harm the public, and for the sake of individual interests, we cannot fail to slaughter collective interests. For a person who enjoys honor and honor, the status quo is everything, the immediate interests are all, it is satisfied, it does not need to return, it is useless to pay, justice is worth zero in its eyes, and the collective interest can be sold at will. The "more difficult road" that once allowed it to dominate the world and now let it sacrifice its life for righteousness will never be taken, and it will never do investment that is more than worth the loss. Calming people, staying out of things, not offending the strong, and living in peace with them is the way to deal with the world of those who enjoy honor and honor. Even if this strong person is potential and has not yet been transformed into reality, it is necessary to hurt and pay a price. The strength of the strong is irresistible, and it is better to conform than to contain it. Of course, once the strong become strong, they will endanger the safety of those who enjoy honor. However, the honorable one decides not to resist, to continue to "cooperate" with the strong, to sacrifice justice to lead the plunder of the strong to others, to satisfy their desire to plunder, so that it does not endanger their own interests, and at the same time it is possible to use the chariot of the strong to obtain more benefits.
In the twenties, although the British Empire in Europe also developed a pro-German and anti-Soviet, and still competed for it from time to time, this was no longer its mainstream, and it began to shift from the balance-of-power strategy of "laborious and troublesome" to the "cooperation" strategy of "peace of mind and trouble", and it began to accept the strength of the strong with peace of mind. In the thirties, when the "bitter and bitter" faction was transformed into fascism, it acted in accordance with its nature with great smoothness and extreme nature.
Now again we turn the clock to the great economic crisis of 1929-1933. In this great crisis, the British Empire was also not spared. The crisis has hit the British economy hard, but the British economy, which has not experienced prosperity, has suffered less from overproduction and under-credit than those that have experienced prosperity. And the British Empire still has a lot of room for maneuver, it relies on huge colonies, relies on the imperial preferential system, plus endures the pain of cutting off the gold standard and free trade, and finally survived the difficulties, the economy returned to the old way, everything returned to mediocrity.
Of course, the crisis left several scars on the British Empire. First of all, the British Empire after the crisis, like the twilight people who had just recovered from a serious illness, became weaker and weaker, and the crisis basically failed to arouse the desperate desires of the rulers of the Empire, who took greater care of the empire's honor. Secondly, the crisis brought some social unrest to England, the revolutionary tendencies of the working class and the working masses intensified, and strikes and demonstrations came and went, impacting the british bourgeois ruling order.
Finally, the fascist movement in Britain also began to rise, and various fascist organizations appeared, the largest of which was the "British Fascist League" established by Morris in 1932. Many of the programs and organizational structures of the organization are modeled after German-Italian fascists, agents of German-Italian fascists in Britain. In the future we will see such agents in many countries, who are the "fifth column" of German-Italian fascists, especially German fascists, in these countries, whose activities are becoming more and more rampant with the intensification of German-Italian fascist aggression and are commensurate with the intensification of the reactionary nature of the imperialist world as a whole. Of course, the political and economic environment in England determined that the fascist organizations could not form any climate, and could only stay in the political reserve of the monopoly bourgeoisie.
Let us now focus on how the British Empire acted in accordance with the way of the honorable people when the "bitter and bitter" faction became fascists.
First of all, the rulers of the British Empire and the circles of public opinion did not show particular concern about the rise to power of German fascism. Various explanations have been given to this, such as the British government being "too busy" with domestic affairs to take care of other things, hitler's government showing no "war tendencies", bourgeois democracy "slow to respond", "the people" being captured by pacifist sentiments, Prime Minister Baldwin being a "party manager" who cares more about domestic elections than foreign affairs, and so on. If we draw our attention back to the 1870s, we will see that when Prussia became Germany, it immediately aroused the alarm of the British Empire, and when Bismarck tried several times to launch a "preventive war" against France, the British Empire immediately reacted strongly, even though Bismarck's warlike nature was a small witch compared to Hitler's. When Wilhelm II came to power and Bismarck stepped down, the British Empire was even more vigilant, and its intuition told it exactly that the rising German Empire was its enemy in future wars.
At this moment, for the British Empire, the crux of the matter lies not in what system, who governs, not in the mood of the "people", but in the guiding ideology and strategic policy determined by the fundamental interests of the ruling class. The guiding ideology has changed, the strategic principle has changed, and the position on the problem has also changed. So when we look at the Nazi regime from the standpoint of the honorable, it is "less terrible", or even a "moderate" regime that can be "cooperated".
Secondly, speaking of "cooperation" with fascism, there is indeed a group of people in the political, military and business circles of the British Empire who have a feeling of approval for the fascist regime and hope that the British Empire will come closer to it and jointly undertake the task of stabilizing the imperialist world ruling order. Both members of imperialism have the need to maintain a reactionary order, which is the class basis on which the British Empire and fascism can walk together. And the democratic British Empire does not dare to do it, but the dictatorial fascists dare to do it, and with such an extremely reactionary force escorting imperialism, the British Empire is of course overjoyed, and it is "really necessary" to strengthen cooperation with it.
However, the nature of the honorable ones determined that this idea was only partially endorsed by the rulers of the Empire: the British Empire could indeed use the fascist chariot for more benefits, but could not be kidnapped by the chariot. The glorious British Empire had no need to go into the same trenches as fascism, but only to live with it. What the British Empire needed was its current situation and immediate interests, and there was no need for "ruthless and terrible competitions" or to place itself in opposition to fascism.
Of course, there are also people who oppose cooperation with fascism, such as Churchill. Since the German fascists came to power, he has constantly warned the British ruling clique to be vigilant against the threat of war by German fascists, to strengthen combat readiness, and to improve Britain's defensive capabilities. However, the decade-long state of opposition is enough to show that Churchill and Morris received the same treatment and could only stay in the political reserve of the bourgeoisie, because his shrill warnings stirred up the dreams of the honorable.
Thirdly, as to how the British Empire in the first half of the thirties handled its relations with fascism, we will not repeat it, which undoubtedly vividly explains the way of life of the honorable. It must not offend the powerful reactionary and evil, it resolutely avoids confrontation with it, it refuses to pay any price for world peace and justice, and it does not hesitate to choose the former between stealing its life and sacrificing its life for righteousness: in the Asia-Pacific region it has firmly embarked on this path; in Europe, it has put some effort into curbing fascism, but when this is difficult to achieve, it has soon embarked on the same path. With the "good environment" created by the way of dealing with the world by those who enjoy honor and honor, the reactionary and evil strong man has successfully broken through the shackles of the imperialist status quo and decided to let go of the work, while those who enjoy honor and honor have also decided to continue their way of dealing with the world, continue to harm public wealth and private interests, and continue to live in peace in the world.
Finally, it is the conclusion that Fascist Germany and the British Empire, as typical representatives of two diametrically opposed states of the imperialist world, the former being energetic and powerful by the desire for war and plunder, showing an unstoppable trend of "thriving"; the latter, having already satisfied this desire, is in a state of sluggishness and lack of passion, thinking only of the present peace and glory and showing no concern for future development. The two diametrically opposed states have a common basis: imperialist reaction.
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