Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever necessary. [1]
From German American political theorist Hannah Arendt’s idea, we can postulates six central components of a totalitarian state[2]:
1. An official ideology directed towards a historical goal which is instilled into the entire population. Such as the fascism and anti-Semitism in Germany in the Second World War which were instilled into almost all the German Teutonic people by Nazis.
2. A single, mass party, led by a single, dominant individual. We can find that many totalitarian nations satisfy this term, such as, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Communist of China and North Korea.
3. A brutal secret police. While Germany was controlled by Hitler, many people was tremble with fear on hearing some police called Gestapo which was an official organization of a brutal secret police.
4. Monopoly control over the mass media. As we know, every party or group of power will have their own newspapers, magazines, radio channel or TV channel in order to propaganda and consolidate their influences and domination.
5. A monopoly over weapons. Like the totalitarian Mao Zedong said power grows from the barrel of the gun, all the governments placed a great importance on their military powers and almost all of them do not allow to sell weapons privately
6. Coercion and central control of the entire economy. As same as military, economy is another part that all the governments pay the great attention on and control it on a overbearing method.
Hitler and Stalin
During ww2, there are many dictators have carried out totalitarianism. There are two typical totalitarians – Hitler and Stalin.
1.Robert Conquest, Reflections on a Ravaged Century (2000) ISBN 0-393-04818-7, p. 74.
2.H. Arendt, The origins of totalitarianism, New York,
Totalitarianism is a political system where the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever necessary. [1]
From German American political theorist Hannah Arendt’s idea, we can postulates six central components of a totalitarian state[2]:
1. An official ideology directed towards a historical goal which is instilled into the entire population. Such as the fascism and anti-Semitism in Germany in the Second World War which were instilled into almost all the German Teutonic people by Nazis.
2. A single, mass party, led by a single, dominant individual. We can find that many totalitarian nations satisfy this term, such as, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Communist of China and North Korea.
3. A brutal secret police. While Germany was controlled by Hitler, many people was tremble with fear on hearing some police called Gestapo which was an official organization of a brutal secret police.
4. Monopoly control over the mass media. As we know, every party or group of power will have their own newspapers, magazines, radio channel or TV channel in order to propaganda and consolidate their influences and domination.
5. A monopoly over weapons. Like the totalitarian Mao Zedong said power grows from the barrel of the gun, all the governments placed a great importance on their military powers and almost all of them do not allow to sell weapons privately
6. Coercion and central control of the entire economy. As same as military, economy is another part that all the governments pay the great attention on and control it on a overbearing method.
Hitler and Stalin
During ww2, there are many dictators have carried out totalitarianism. There are two typical totalitarians – Hitler and Stalin.
1.Robert Conquest, Reflections on a Ravaged Century (2000) ISBN 0-393-04818-7, p. 74.
2.H. Arendt, The origins of totalitarianism, New York,