The Age of Dictators

Talking about dictators. I remember this clever quip I read somewhere long ago (I paraphrase from memory): Some one (in the 1940s) was asked when the world will be at peace, and he said that would happen when "Stalin's widow tells Mussolini at his deathbed that Hitler had died on the way back from Franco's funeral."

It is indeed remarkable how many dictators existed together at that same tumultous era. If we were to scan the rest of the world that would also be the time of the Generalissimo Chiang and Mao in China, and the military regime in Japan. Not to mention all the countries under colonialism which are at best benign dictatorships by foreign powers.

It was a credit to the institutional stability and democratic traditions of Britain and the United States that they resisted all temptations to follow suit. In the late 1930s, the Great Depression was taking its toll. Every conventional wisdom were open to question and overthrow because the "system" as it was no longer seem to serve the interests of the people. Bolshevik and nationalist forces were undergoing a tug of war that pressurized the political systems all around the world, including Britain where many voices called for extraordinary measures for an extraordinary time. FDR in his early days had to stand up to pressure to assume dictatorial powers to turn around the economy. Such was the forces of the time.

What is the price of mid-20th century dictatorships? By rough calculation, World War 2 led to the deaths of 60 million people world wide. Stalin and his purges and famines probably added 10million more. Mao and his madness between the 50s and 70s would account for 20 million more. Against a total world wide population of 1.5 to 2 billion at the time, we are talking about more than 5% fatality - globally - from a handful of men and millions more being denied their humanity.