160 likes | 176 Views
TOTALITARIANISM. Totalitarianism Defined . Government controls every aspect of life No privacy or independent organizations Political system dominates: Religion Family life Economy Education All powerful leader. Totalitarian Leaders. Hitler. Mussolini. Stalin.
E N D
Totalitarianism Defined • Government controls every aspect of life • No privacy or independent organizations • Political system dominates: • Religion • Family life • Economy • Education • All powerful leader
Totalitarian Leaders Hitler Mussolini Stalin
Logic of Totalitarianism In order to create a perfect society out of imperfect human beings, the political system requires a high level of coercive control over every facet of life.
Totalitarianism’s Featureshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu-g1Oe26Sw&feature=related There are seven (7): • Cult of the leader • Radical ideology • Organization • Mass mobilization and indoctrination • Use of secret police • Central control • Use of terror and violence
Cult of the Leader • Supreme, autonomous • Hero worship • Wise • Paternalistic • Charismatic
Radical Ideology • Control is official, total, comprehensive • Exploits popular fears and prejudices • Legitimates a revolutionary break from the past • Provides scapegoat for past wrongs • Explains present sacrifices • Promises a future of peace and plenty
Organization • Single, political party serves leader in promoting ideology • Party is subservient to leader • No dissent permitted!
Mass mobilization and indoctrination • Fanatic followers make any sacrifice • Regime mobilizes against any internal or external enemy • Opponents, scapegoats, counter-revolutionaries • Use aggressive warfare to keep people mobilized
Secret Police • Secret police and informers are used to monitor and control citizenry
Central Control • Control all organizations • Schools • the Arts • Clubs • News media • Labor unions • Churches • Universities • Economy
Terror and Violence • To smooth the way to a take-over • Creates atmosphere of crisis and instability • Dramatizes inability of old government to provide security • To maintain control afterward • Keeps population too terrorized to dissent
Benito Mussolini – Italyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIxAsangFZc&feature=PlayList&p=5D4F6CCBE0FA804A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=16 Benito Mussolini convinced war veterans that they needed to fight the politicians who were destroying Italy • Fascism – strong, centralized government headed by a powerful dictator; rooted in nationalism • Did not attempt to control farms & factories like Communism; many Italians feared Communism • March on Rome (1922) – Italian king allowed him to form new government • Il duce (the chief) – crushed all opposition and controlled every aspect of life
Josef Stalin – Soviet Unionhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkCXtMHCUTc&feature=PlayList&p=3C8D236CF8BFAC04&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=12 • Joseph Stalin stopped at nothing to create a model Communist state • Make it a truly socialist economy – stamping out all private enterprise especially private farming, ordered collectivization, and destruction of kulaks • Five-year plans (3) – transform into industrial power, by 1939 it was third largest • Police state – critics were arrested & shipped off to forced labor camp in Siberia • Tens of thousands public officials, bureaucrats, military officers were “enemies of the state” and executed • 8-13 million people die; millions more from famine caused by restructuring of Soviet society • Maintain complete control over citizens; no rights
Adolf Hitler – Nazi Germanyhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80lLU5-yji8 Adolf Hitler appealed to jobless soldiers who joined Nazi (Natl. Socialist German Workers’ Party) who had no ties to Communism and hated it • Nazism – based on nationalism; goal of uniting all German speaking people; Aryans superior to Jews, Slavs and non-whites; national expansion (beliefs laid out in Mein Kampf ) • Fuhrer (the leader) – desperate people turned to him during Great Depression • Dismantled Weimar Republic to establish Third Reich (1. Charlemagne; 2. Bismarck) which would be the “thousand-year Reich”