Totalitarianism

Totalitarianism is a form of government where the ruler is an absolute dictator, and every aspect of an individual’s life is sought to be controlled. It is the most extreme version of an authoritarian administration.

Perhaps one of the most “successful” totalitarian regimes was implemented by Hitler. He chose to manipulate Germany’s struggle at the time(loss of money due to reparations for WW1, humiliation for losing the war, etc) By providing the “way out” of the depression, he managed to wriggle his way into the Government. The Germans were desperate for a change and lapped everything up.

Hanna Arendt (A German American political theorist) published her first major work in 1951. It was clearly a response to the struggles within her own life-the rise of Nazi Germany, the rise of Soviet Stalinism, and the annihilation of millions of peasants, writers, and intellectual thinkers. According to her , modern totalitarianism, unlike older tyrannies no longer used terror as a means to an end, but focussed on destroying individuality completely. “Everything we know of totalitarianism demonstrates a horrible originality – its very actions constitute a break with all our traditions.” - Arendt.

“Everything in the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state,” The Doctrine of Fascism “– Benito Mussolini

"Fascism is for liberty. And the only liberty which can be a real thing, the liberty of the State and the individual within the State. Therefore, for the fascist, everything is in the State, and nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the State. Outside the State there can be neither individuals or groups. Everything in the State, nothing outside the State, nothing against the State" -Mussolini

Arendt saw imperialism as a predecessor of totalitarianism – because it contained so many traits which the new regimes could use. One of these traits was the development of racism, where superiority is based simply on genes. Once established, ways of thinking and behaving that denied rights to large sections of people were available for totalitarian regimes to implement..

Our individuality makes us difficult to control and gather up into a collective movement. To destroy this individuality two methods are used: state terror and ideology. OT

The purpose of the terror is not just to murder vast numbers of people – but also to destroy their individuality and ability to act against the government – not just to act, but even the thought of acting. The concentration camps used in WW2 are a brilliant example.

Ideology compliments the policy of terror by:

- Eliminating the capacity for individual thought and experience among the executioners themselves.

-Being a way of avoiding responsibility. It frees you from using your common sense. By simply following orders you can be free of responsibility for your actions. Classic case of “he made me do it”.

According to Hannah Arendt, the first move for the Nazis was to deny Jews their citizenship. The Jews were seen as a great rival race that must be overtaken. Civilisation is fragile and therefore we need to have structure, laws, and rights in order for civilisation to thrive. Being part of society enables us to be civilised – gives us access to a shared reality.

Control language, and you’ll control minds. And this is exactly what totalitarians did.

In the USSR – experiments were done using “linguistic reform”. The idea was Utopian, Much like politically correct language; certain words were banned for racial differences in order to abolish racism.
Backfired. Resulted mainly in the distortion of language into “Communist speak”- a way of preventing thought.