The Soviet Union Was A Totalitarian State

Totalitarianism is a system of government in which the state acts to extends its absolute authority and power into all aspects of its citizen’s lives and have that population be completely under the control of a totally pervasive ruling ideology of a single leader. The essence of totalitarianism can be found in its very name; it is a form of rule in which the government attempts to maintain 'total' control over society, and further seeks to meld that state’s beliefs within that societies core roots, an example of this occurrence can be liquidised through Stalin and his methods in Russia during the 1920’s and 30’s. Carl Friedrich’s, a late political scientist and historian of the 20th century formed the basis of a totalitarian

In a totalitarian government, one has no individual freedom. The government has control over everything such as school, jobs, travel, medical needs, sports, literature, internet access etc. [doc 6]. In the Memoirs of Aleksandra Chumakova [doc 4], Chumakova says “I told him that my life at Vorotynsk had

Throughout history there have been many totalitarian regimes where there is only one individual that controls all aspects of a society; the government, the economy, the military, and the day to day activities of citizens. The reason for the beginning of the Cold War was a clash of ideologies, democratic versus communist governments; where the communist government was totalitarian. Moreover, events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis and the Berlin Airlift during the Cold War are prime examples of an ideological conflict, where two opposing sides were unwilling to stand down. Additionally, World War II also began because of an ideological conflict where Hitler was the totalitarian ruler of the German people. If embraced, the ideologies presented in the source will be detrimental to the world as it is known today.

A shocking number of 40 million people were executed during Joseph Stalin’s reign of Soviet Russia between the years 1924 to 1953. Stalin, the leader of the Soviet Union, plays an important role in George Orwell’s novel 1984. Orwell’s novel depicts a totalitarian government that controls the lives of the people in Oceania by supplying false propaganda and monitoring their everyday life. As a matter of fact, Orwell writes his novel based on the events that occurred in Soviet Russia during the reign of Joseph Stalin. The author includes similar aspects to that of Soviet Russia in his novel to warn his audience the dangers of a totalitarian state. George Orwell’s dystopian society illustrates the negative effects that a totalitarian government

The description of Big Brother himself bears a physical resemblance to Stalin and his cult of personality. Orwell's Big Brother is an all-seeing, all-knowing figure with ultimate authority. Soviet Russia was Orwellian in the sense that individual thought was eliminated and all emotion was directed towards the nation and the figure of Stalin himself. It is difficult to find accurate accounts of specific relationships that occurred in Soviet Russia. However, Orwell’s 1984 bears such close resemblance to Soviet Russia that it gives an accurate example of the ultimate failure of love between two individuals in a totalitarian regime. In 1984, the goal of the Party was to eliminate love and loyalty because these two qualities create bonds between two people. It is these bonds that are the biggest threat to the Party because they result in Ownlife. The Party

The Soviet Union was none the less held together by "…powerful central institutions, pressure for ideological conformity, and the threat of force." (Baylis & Smith, 2001.) Therefore, these new reforms could not overpower the previous ‘seventy years' of soviet rule.

Indeed, the telegraph demonstrated many of the characteristics one might expect from a Soviet document degenerating the United States. Not only did Novikov accuse the United States of desiring “world domination,” for example, but he also criticized America’s reliance on unfair “monopoly capital[ism],” which in his view permitted U.S. expansion into Eurasia. A deeper analysis, however, reveals hidden suggestions into how the Soviets saw themselves in the world. In fact, some parts of Novikov’s response almost appear to portray the USSR as an underdog overcoming an imperialistic power – a portrayal strikingly similar to the Marxist idea of the downtrodden proletariat overcoming the disproportionately overpowered bourgeois. Just as Cold War America may have understood its place in the world thanks to Manifest Destiny, the founding ideals of Marx and Lenin may have also defined how Cold War Russia viewed

The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in the 1930s as Totalitarian States A totalitarian state usually refers to a country in which the central government has total control over almost all aspects of people's life. Main features include an infallible leader, one-party rule, elitism, strict party discipline, purges against enemies and political dissidents, planned economy, strong armaments, indoctrination, encouragement of nationalism, an official doctrine that everybody has to believe, and absolute obedience of individuals to the State, etc. In the 1930s, to a large extent, the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin and Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler could be deemed totalitarian states.

1984 is a story of what totalitarian governments could possibly become if they were to continue to exist in “modern society”. While the story may have been written as a work of fiction, we now have the capability to do what the party did in 1984, but now we could do it to a larger scale. When 1984 was written in 1949, totalitarian government were new and no one knew anything about them, Orwell wrote the book based entirely on what he had seen in his trips to placed with totalitarian rule. Orwell had to make up a lot of stuff in order to both make the book interesting and to terrify people of totalitarian governments like Russia and eventually Cuba, but he managed to come up with some fairly accurate ideas which were used. The erasure of political figures is one that Orwell managed to get spot on.

The middle of the twentieth century was marked by the appearance of two ruthless regimes that, at a cursory glance, appear relatively similar. Both the Stalinist USSR and Nazi Germany can be considered totalitarian in that they maintained a centralized government that wielded absolute political and social authority, and both regimes were led by dictators shrouded in a cult of personality. However, beneath the parallels found on the surface, there exists a wide range of fundamental differences, most notably of which is the basic organization and formation of each administration. Both the Nazi and Communist regimes were influenced by the domestic conditions in which they rose to power, as

In order to conclude the extent to which the Great Terror strengthened or weakened the USSR the question is essentially whether totalitarianism strengthened or weakened the Soviet Union? Perhaps under the circumstances of the 1930s in the approach to war a dictatorship may have benefited the country in some way through strong leadership, the unifying effect of reintroducing Russian nationalism and increased party obedience.

Love is the foundation and the weakness of a totalitarian regime. For a stable totalitarian society, love between two individuals is eliminated because only a relationship between the person and the party and a love for its leader can exist. The totalitarian society depicted throughout the Orwell’s novel 1984 has created a concept of an Orwellian society. Stalin’s Soviet state can be considered Orwellian because it draws close parallels to the imaginary world of Oceania in 1984. During the twentieth century, Soviet Russia lived under Stalin’s brutal and oppressive governments, which was necessary for Stalin to retain power. In both cases, brutality and oppression led to an absence of relationships and love. This love was directed towards

The origin of the soviet propaganda can be traced from the state’s very conception, as the new government worked tirelessly to convince its populace of its legitimacy. Soviet propaganda uniquely differs from other countries’ propaganda, in that the USSR’s extensive censorship and large-scale manipulation of information created the perfect circumstances for near complete control of the citizenry. Only with the arrival of Glasnost in the 1980’s did many in the Soviet state begin to doubt the legitimacy of their government’s media. In particular, the propaganda concerning the dangers of capitalism and American barbarism became known falsehoods, as outside information began to leak widespread in various Soviet countries. However, throughout the decades of Soviet control, not all of its citizens lost their faith in the 1980’s; instead some continually doubting the purported truth of the USSR from its establishment, a continual doubt that assisted in the eventual collapse of the Soviet state. Despite the vigorous attempts of Soviet propaganda to demonize the capitalist natures of America, as well as otherwise defaming the United States, many people within the Soviet state remained unconvinced by this viewpoint.

Each nation in the world has their own kind of government in order to keep order and peace within its boundaries; however, they had a long history of battles and issues that they had to overcome in order to get where they are in the present. There are many system of government which a country can practice on their; such as parliamentary republic, democratic, or totalitarian. In the case of a totalitarian government, the leader or the party leader is the head to the government, which this makes them use different techniques in order for the people of the country to follow their orders. For example, in the fictional novel 1984 the government has a totalitarian government with the head of the government being Big Brother; in this fictional government the usage of propaganda is their way to control their people and make them believe that the nation is doing their best for their people.

From 1929 to 1953, dictator Josef Stalin ruthlessly ruled over the Soviet Union. Even after his death, the Soviet Union remained a major world power with noticeable influence on world economics and government until its collapse on December 26 of 1991. After reading 1984 written by George Orwell in 1949, many similarities could be drawn between the fictional totalitarian government of Oceania and the real Soviet Union. Although both countries and governments arose similarly and shared many key values such as heavy totalitarianism, they proved themselves to differ in enforcement of rights and beliefs through propaganda and deceit of the masses.