Chapter 18 : Between Two Fires In the period after World War I, many artists and writers rejected the past and experimented with new styles and subjects. New forms of technology—such as the automobile and the radio—transformed people's lives and made the world seem smaller. The 1920s were boom years for the American economy, but farmers and workers were actually worse off than before. A great economic depression followed the stock market crash of 1929 and had worldwide effects. Germany and Italy fell into political and economic chaos which led to fascist dictatorships that stressed nationalism and military strength. In Russia Lenin and the Bolsheviks were in control. Lenin allowed limited capitalism, but his successor, Joseph Stalin, brought all Soviet industry and agriculture under state control. Stalin used famine, imprisonment, exile, and murder to maintain his power.