Totalitarian Autocracy

Government is an essential part of civilization in modern and historic times. This crucial element of society has been observed in different forms. There are three main systems of governments: autocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. Which system a government belongs to is determined by who hold the sovereignty, meaning who has the supreme power and authority (“Sovereignty”). This leads to there being major differences between autocracies, oligarchies, and democracies.

According to Fredrich’s “six point syndrome”, a totalitarian state must consist of an official ideology, a single mass party, terroristic police control, monopoly control of the media and arms and central control of the economy. During the Nazi Reich between 1933-1939, under Hitler as Fuhrer (supreme leader), the Nazi regime was able to successfully achieve aspects of totalitarianism by exerting tight control of the media and police; leading to control of certain aspects of German social, political, legal, economical and cultural life. However, there are significant features of the Nazi regime that simply fail to fit Friedrich's six, all encompassing concepts of totalitarianism.

The Meaning of the Term Totalitarianism Totalitarianism was a one-party political system that was based on dictatorship. It first started in Europe in the 1920s and 30s. It was an absolutism that emphasized the importance of the state at the expense of individual liberties. It displays the following features: One-party dictatorship and one-man rule were emphasized in a totalitarian state. Only one party ruled in a totalitarian state, for example, the Fascist Part in Italy, the Nazi Party in Germany and the Communist Party in the Soviet Union.

In the 20th century totalitarian governments had come to power in Italy, Germany, and the Soviet Union. These governments had forced their political authority and centralized control over all aspects of life (Document 3 and 6). The government had imposed public gatherings to invade people’s lives and indoctrination of totalitarian ideas had influenced youth organizations and literature to help the government gain authority over one’s country (Document 2). One method used by totalitarian dictatorship is having mass rallies and speeches. The totalitarian government that used these method leaders was Benito Mussolini of Italy and Adolf Hitler of Germany.

Throughout history totalitarian leaders would violate people’s safety, their peace of mind and their freedom to rise to power. For example, Germany lost the war in 1919 which cause the need for reparations and a new leader, that is when Hitler became the leader of Germany and in that time Germany was going through a lot of hard times which caused the people to look forward to the future. Another example of totalitarian leaders in that time was Stalin who used people’s fear to gain trust from his people and cause paranoia in people of that time. Both of these totalitarian leaders violated democratic ideas by violating the safety and freedom of their people to manipulate them and their minds. And then they would oppress the minority group, for example, those who were Jewish were treated badly and killed.

In a totalitarian dictatorship there is an official ideology, covering all aspects of a man’s existence to which everyone living in that society must adhere. A totalitarian dictatorship is also a single mass party led typically by one man the “dictator” and has a system of terroristic police control in order for the dictator to remain in power [doc 1]. Totalitarian governments also had total control over the military, economy and means of communication such as newspapers and propaganda.

A Totalitarian state is defined as a government that subordinates the individual to the state and strictly controls all aspects of life by coercive measures. A Totalitarian state aims to establish complete:

A totalitarian government thrives on selfishness and strive for goals that are always for the benefit of one person or a small group of people that are in power. The most common example of this in world history is Nazi Germany during World War II. This flaw in political history make up a time that most people try to forget. The control that Hitler had over Nazi Germany brought about countless social, economical, and political issues to Europe. His society was founded on a racist hatred towards the

Despite the primitive backwardness of this collectivist society, the power of its suppressive methods must be recognized. The dictators have succeeded in subjugating the populace in ways that go beyond the stifling policies of such murderous tyrants as Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Pol Pot. These real-life collectivist rulers forced millions of human beings to surrender their individuality in practice. The dictatorial regimes of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Communist China, and Communist Cambodia forced their citizens, in action, to serve the state. Individuals had no right to their own lives, and their actions were brutally controlled; they were slaves of Nazism or Communism.

This implies a relationship in which the state through its instruments dominates society. Hence in the totalitarian state all political, economic, social, cultural and intellectual activities should be directed towards fulfilling the aims of the state” (“Totalitarianism”, 1999). In a totalitarian state, individuals have no rights and they must obey the government without question. If individuals questioned or disagreed with the government, they were silenced by death or prison.

Dictatorship throughout the ages has mainly led to oppression and conflict between people and government. Some of the notoriously bad dictators took office around the 1920’s and 1930’s. There were three main dictators in that time period and they all ran different countries in very different ways. Josef Stalin was known as the dictator of the Soviet Union, he was all about communism and did not care if there was opposition to his ideas. On the other hand, Benito Mussolini was in charge of Italy and all about fascism. Possibly the worst known dictator of all times was Hitler, in charge of, Germany, he was all about Nazism. Each had a different outlook on ruling, but they all did things similarly to lead to nations hatred against them. Basically, their ultimate goal was to do what was best for their countries, however, there want for power tended to get in the way. They all wanted to accomplish many things, they used many different ideas and ways to run their nations. They were all blamed for their nations demise in one way or another. This essay will discuss the similarities and differences between Stalin, Hitler, and Mussolini.

Totalitarianism is defined as a political system of government in which those in power have complete control and do not allow people to oppose them. Those in power are a single party dictatorship in which one party controls state, and all other parties are forbidden. Other important features that distinguish or help define totalitarianism include restricted or eliminated constitutional rights, state terrorism, and totalitarian rulers are known as ideological dictators. The government of Oceania, in the novel 1984, is an example of totalitarian society. Germany, under Adolf Hitler’s National Socialism is another example of totalitarianism. Orwell’s Oceania has both similarities and differences to the totalitarian states of the twentieth

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.

Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state recognizes no limits to its authority and strives to regulate every aspect of public and private life wherever

In short, totalitarian means a political system that has complete control over all aspects of people's lives. The very same tome that I previously quoted from contains this definition of dictator: "Dictator