Soviet Russia and the Catholic Church under Stalin, The international scene, 1933–1934

The international scene, 1933-1934 In October 1929, almost a year after the start of collectivization in the Soviet Union, the Great Depression struck the world. It undercut security, confidence in access to resources and markets, social stability, and international cooperation and harmony, and put the global economy into a deadly downward spiral of unemployment, trade embargoes, falling prices, bankruptcies, protective tariffs, bank runs, and life-sucking poverty.