O totalitarianism it is a political regime in which the government is authoritarian, nationalist, anti-democratic and militaristic.
The State has enormous powers that encompass all sectors of citizens' lives, including education, leisure and the exercise of citizenship.
The term "totalitarianism" emerged in the 1920s to describe Benito Mussolini's fascist government in Italy.
Summary on totalitarianism
Totalitarianism, as a political regime, was born in the 20th century, together with the crisis of international capitalism and liberal democracies that emerged in the interwar period.
Likewise, it was reinforced with the deep world economic crisis of 1929. After all, the increase in inflation, unemployment and misery led to the rise of totalitarian ideas that conquered the citizens of some countries.
The common idea of fascist totalitarian leaders was to find ways to re-establish social and capitalist order, thus preventing the advance of socialism. In turn, leftist totalitarian regimes used the same methods to contain capitalism.
So, totalitarianism is a political practice where the State is strong, centralizing, and identifies with the ideas of a single political party.
totalitarian countries
The most significant examples were: Stalinism in the Soviet Union; Nazism in Germany; fascism in Italy; and Maoism in China. We see that totalitarianism is therefore independent of whether the government is on the left or on the right.
Some regimes were not considered totalitarian but authoritarian as was the case with Salazarism in Portugal; and Francoism in Spain.
Currently, the only country classified as totalitarian is North Korea.
Main characteristics of totalitarianism
Totalitarian regimes, fascist or socialist, had certain similarities. Let's look at some of them:
leader worship
Totalitarian regimes place too great an emphasis on the figure of the leader, to the point of making his image omnipresent.
The leader is always portrayed as the person who has innate leadership and has all the qualities to lead the people to better living conditions. The biography is told grandly and conveniently edited. This means that your opponents are overlooked or slandered.
The life of the totalitarian leader is disseminated through all the media and shown as an example to be followed. Generally, the family of the leader does not appear in the official advertisement, to emphasize the character of sacrifice that the hero commits in giving up everything for his country.
single party
One of the main characteristics of totalitarianism is the establishment of a single party in the country. This means that all other political parties will be considered illegal.
Thus, through an official ideology and rigid hierarchy, politics ceases to be something that can be discussed by the whole society, to only be done by a small group.
Citizens are called to participate in political life through mass demonstrations such as patriotic parties, stadium gatherings and parades. To achieve this adhesion, people are captured and submitted by government propaganda.
education
The totalitarian regime takes special care of education. In addition to dictating the content that should be taught in schools, it regulates children and youth in clubs and organizations.
There, children often received military training, instruction in state ideology, and pledged allegiance to the leader.
Ideological control
To control the population, repressive bodies such as the political police are created.
Any individual who reads, discusses or propagates an idea different from that taught by the State would be liable to condemnation.
We see, then, that totalitarianism breeds violence, since people who do not align themselves with the state's ideology are severely punished. Some examples are political prisons, re-education camps, loss of political rights and employment.
Militarism
In order to keep the flame of "revolution" or the creation of a "new man" burning, totalitarianism promotes militarism.
Thus, encouraging militarism is a way of keeping citizens on their toes. These range from educational practices with shooting lessons and physical training, to choosing an enemy that should be hated by everyone.
Militarism generates the will and the excuse to conquer territories or keep those already owned. Therefore, given these aspects, it is not surprising that all European totalitarian regimes sought to expand their borders.
Propaganda and Censorship
State political propaganda proliferates with the aim of exalting the leader's personality, drawing citizens to the new ideology and controlling them.
The media are censored and only what was authorized by the state could be broadcast. In this way, the population is no longer in contact with new ideas.
Furthermore, totalitarianism exalts the people it addresses as the best in the world and always chooses an "enemy" to counteract. This will be largely exploited by official propaganda.
state interventionism
In the economic field, state interventionism (anti-liberal) is another important characteristic of totalitarianism, since the control and general planning of the economy is the responsibility of the State.
Countries like Portugal, Italy and Spain organized their economies in a corporate way; while in Germany, large companies had more freedom to conduct their business.
In the USSR, the economy was entirely in charge of the State, as all property belonged to it.
We have more texts on the subject for you:
- Autocracy
- Fascism
- Nazism
- Stalinism
- Totalitarianism and Authoritarianism
- Totalitarianism
- integralism
