The Rise of the ModernTotalitarian State

• Totalitarianism is a politicalphilosophy that emerged inthe 20th century.Totalitarianism describesgovernments in which onepolitical party monopolizesall power and exercisescomplete authority over thepeople and their activities. Itinvolves total control of allaspects of an individuals lifeby the government, withboth civil and political rightsbeing curtailed

• Although various forms oftotalitarianism exist in partsof the world today, itsearliest examples were inthree European nationsduring the 20-year periodfollowing World War I.These nations were theSoviet Union (undercommunism) Italy (underfascism) and Germany(under Nazism). Totalitariansocieties look down onindividual human rights andcivil liberties.

• The values of democracy arenot found in such societies.Totalitarian states emphasize:(1) glorification of the wholecommunity (that is the state);(2) authoritarian rule by adictator or by selectedmembers of the one politicalparty allowed to exist; (3)control of the individualcitizen’s life; (4) belief in theidea that the individualshould benefit the state andexists solely to serve thestate’s interests.

“All within the state,nothing outside the

state, nothing againstthe state.”

Benito Mussolini

• In Western Europe,these features oftotalitarianism weremost characteristic ofGermany under thecontrol of Adolf Hitlerknown as the ThirdReich, arose after theperiod of the WeimarRepublic.

Germany Under the Weimar Republic1919-1933

• The Weimar Republic was thename of the Germangovernment that came topower after WW1. It wasdrawn up in the city ofWeimar. However, thisexperiment with democracy inGermany faced manyproblems, including economicchaos and street violence. Itwas not successful for anumber of reasons.

1. In the early 1920s theWeimar governmentprinted paper moneywith little to back it,resulting in severeinflation. Thisdevastated theGermany economyand resulted in severeunemployment andstreet violence

2. When Germany wasunable to meet itsreparation payments in1923, France senttroops to occupy theRuhr Valley. Germany’schief industrial area.

3. There was terribleunemployment inGermany in the early1920s and again in the1930s.

4. The economy wasrestored after 1923 andconditions improved. In1924, the United Statesgained British and Frenchapproval for a plan toreduce Germanreparation payments.Under the Dawes Plan,France withdrew itsforces from the Ruhr, andAmerican loans helpedGermany recover.

• German politicians like Adolf Hitler andAlfred Hugenberg attacked the DawesPlan because it did not reduce thereparations total. They also disliked theidea that foreigners would have controlover the German economy.

• Nevertheless, Germany began to recover.However, in 1929 a worldwide depressionthat threatened the stability of democraticgovernments everywhere brought muchsuffering to Germany. Unemploymentrose to 6 million in 1932, and Germanslost faith in their political leaders. Thisfurther fueled the bad feelings that hadbeen caused by the Versailles Treaty. TheGermans began to turn to energeticleaders, like Adolf Hitler, who promised tosolve the economic crisis and restoreGermany’s former glory

5. The government wasunstable because nosingle party was able toachieve a majority in theReichstag, the morepowerful of the twolegislative houses createdby the Weimarconstitution. As a result,German political leadersseemed helpless to dealwith the severe economicproblems.

• These problems led manyGermans to conclude thatdemocracy was ill suitedto their nation and thatautocracy was preferable,especially since it hadbrought Germany politicalunification, economicgrowth, and respect as aninternational power. Astrong democratictradition did not exist inGerman history.

The Role of Adolf Hitler• Hitler was born in Austria

and served in the Germanarmy during World War 1.He joined the Nazi party(National SocialistGermany Workers Party).He spoke out against theWeimar government andwas arrested for his rolein the Munich Putsch of1923, an unsuccessfulattempt to overthrow thegovernment.

• While in prison, he wrote thebook Mein Kampf (My Struggle)that contained his ideas for astronger and more powerfulGerman nation. It also revealedhis racist beliefs concerning thealleged superiority of Aryans asa “master race” and the need toeliminate all groups beconsidered inferior, such as Jews,Slavs, Gypsies, and blacks. Hitlerwas a stirring and charismaticspeaker when addressing largecrowds, thereby attracting manypeople to the Nazi party

Rise of the Nazis to PowerIn addition to the problem of

the Weimar government and thepowerful role played by Hitler, anumber of other factors led to therise of the Nazis in Germany:

1. The Nazis offered simpleexplanations for both the causesof Germany’s economicproblems and its cures. Theseproblems, as described above,affected millions of Germans.The reparations demanded bythe Versailles Treaty werecondemned as unjust andblamed for causing the economiccrisis.

2. The Nazi’s appealed to peoples feelingof patriotism. This in turn sparkedGerman nationalism.

The Nazi’s called for:• A large increase in the armed forces.

This had been limited by the Treaty ofVersailles.

• The expansion of the Germanfatherland. Once the German peopleof Western Europe were under Nazileadership (notability a merger withAustria which was not allowed underthe Treaty of Versailles) they then hadto gain control over all Europe, andthen acquire much-neededlebensraum (living space) in the east.This would include areas whereGermanic groups already livedincluding territory in Czechoslovakia,Poland, Russia, and the Ukraine. Hitlerconsidered this to be the Germanbirthright.

• The Nazi’s imposed controlover educational and culturalinstitutions to teach Naziprinciples of racism, physicalfitness, and glory of the state

• They ignored the VersaillesTreaty and refusing to acceptthe war-guilt clause.Germany had been forced toaccept the entire guilt forcausing the First World War.

• Regaining land that Germanyhad held in Europe and itsoverseas colonies prior toWorld War 1;

• The use of violence as alegitimate means to achievedomestic and internationalgoals;

• The importance of lookingback to and glorifying themythical German race (theso called Volk) as the sourceof all strength and power.

The Nazis also claimedthat Nordic Germans weredestine to rule the world andto eliminate undesirablepeoples. They blamed theWeimar government foraccepting the Treaty ofVersailles and said it had beenforced to do so by Jews,communists, and others.Finally, the Nazis claimed thatGerman forces had not beendefeated in WW1 but hadbeen stabbed in the back

3. Anti-Semitism. Prejudice towardsJews had existed in Germany forhundreds of years, resulting inexile, loss of life and property, andhatred. However, Hitler'sprejudice against the Jews wasfanatical; he used the Jews asscapegoats and blamed them forhis own personal failures and alsofor Germany’s problems. Thesefalse notions became persuasiveparts of Nazi propaganda,especially when they blendedwith Hitler’s master race theories.

Hitler claimed thatAryans (Germans) werethe master race whowere naturally entitledto control and rulepeoples of less “pure”blood, such as Slavs andJews. (The Holocaust, inwhich 6 million Jewswere systematicallymurdered after Hitlercame to power, was thetragic consequence ofthese misguidednotions.)

“If you tell a big enough lieand tell it frequently

enough, it will bebelieved.”

Adolf Hitler

4. Fear of communism and theSoviet Russia. The Nazisplayed upon these fearswith much success andportrayed themselves as theonly ones capable ofprotecting Germany fromforeign beliefs and potentialaggressors, like theCommunist Russians. In thisway, they were able to winsupport of large segmentsof the German population,such as banker andindustrialists.

5. Use of private, illegalarmed groups. Manyof Hitler's followerswere organized intoprivate armies. Onesuch group was theStorm Trooper (S.A.),or Brown Shirts, whoused scare tactics andviolence to terrorizeJews and opponentsof the Nazis.

6. Lack of meaningfulopposition. Few strongvoices inside Germanyspoke out against theNazis. Many Germanscame to gradually supportHitler, while others wereapathetic. Others fearedspeaking out against him,and many who did wereintimidated.Internationally, there waslittle awareness of orconcern about the Nazimovement.

• The formal takeover of Germanyby the Nazis took place in Jan.1933 when the President of theWeimar Republic, Paul VonHindenburg, appointed Hitler aschancellor. By this time, theNazis had become the largestpolitical party in Germany, andthey formed the single largestblock in the Reichstag, theGerman parliament. Yet they hadnever won a clear majority in anynational election (in 1932 forexample, they won slightly lessthan 40% of the seats in theReichstag).

• Within two months, Hitlerhad laid the foundation forNazis’ complete controlover Germany. In March23,1933 the Reichstagpassed the Enabling Actthat gave the governmentthe power to ignore theconstitution for four yearsto deal with the country’sproblems. This gaveHitler’s later actions a legalbasis.

• Hitler acted quickly to bring theinstitutions under Nazi control.The civil service was purged ofJews and democratic elements.Large prison camps orConcentration Camps were setup for people who opposed thenew regime. All Trade unionsand all political parties opposedto the regime were eliminated.

• After Hindenburg's death in1934, Hitler became the soleruler of Germany. That same dayHitler had the German Armyswear allegiance to him.

• Although Hitlerpromised to preservethe Weimarconstitution, he carriedout policies thatdestroyed thedemocracy that existedunder the WeimarRepublic. The result wasa totalitariandictatorship thateventually about WorldWar II and thedevastation of Germanyand most of Europe.

Italy

• Italy experiencetotalitarian rule under afascist governmentheaded by BenitoMussolini. The word“fascist” comes fromthe word “fasces,” anaxe-like weapon thatwas a symbol of theancient Roman Empire.

• Mussolini wantedItalians to feel a strongsense of nationalismand to remember theglory of the RomanEmpire. Mussolini andhis Black Shirt followerscame to power for thesame reasons that ledto the rise of the Nazisin Germany

1. Economic. The costs ofWorld War 1 Had beenstaggering. After thewar, there was highunemployment,strikes, and severeinflation.

2. Political. The weak anddivided government of KingVictor Emmanuel III wasunable to provide leadershipor to inspire confidence in itsability to solve the postwarcrisis. Also, there was nostrong democratic tradition inItaly. Moreover, the fear ofcommunism and acommunist-led revolutionwas seized upon byMussolini, who promised todefend Italy and thereby wonfollowers.

• Social. Italy was sufferingfrom low morale, andwas saddened by themany deaths in WorldWar I. Mussolinipromised the Italianpeople security, order,and economic progress inexchange for theirliberties and freedom.

Mussolini in Power

• As a result of his famous March on Rome in 1922supposedly to save Italy from a communistrevolution, Mussolini came to power. Neither theking nor the army opposed him. He soonestablished a police state, destroying civil libertiesand demanding that people recognize him as IlDuce, the leader. Mussolini reorganized theeconomy of Italy, established fascist-controlledassociations in all industries, and Italy was run asa corporate state.

The Rise of Stalin• When Lenin died in 1924,

a struggle for powerdeveloped between LeonTrotsky, Lenin’s chosenSuccessor and JosephStalin, who wasCommunist PartySecretary. By 1925 Stalinhad gained control andremoved Trotsky from allofficial positions.

• In 1929 Trotskywas deported asStalin began toremove allpossibleopposition andrivals (Trotsky wasassassinated byStalin’s agents inMexico in 1940)

• Stalin’s rule proved to beone of the most brutaland ruthlessdictatorships in modernhistory. From hisconsolidation ofcomplete power in 1929until his death in 1953,he was responsible formillions of deaths,starting with theelimination of allpossible rivals.

• Stalin created his ownsecret police, which spiedon, arrested, tortured, andexecuted party members,government officials, artist,writers, clergy workers, andpeasants he suspected ofnot supporting his policies.In time, his fear becameparanoia (fear and suspicionof everyone, often withoutcause), and even his closefriends and relatives weresuspected and some wereexecuted.

• From 1935 to 1936Stalin conducted aseries of show trials(hearings where theverdicts were decided inadvance) known aspurges, in whichhundreds of leadingCommunists werearrested, forced toconfess to crimes theyhad never committed,and executed.

• A vivid example on Stalin’s show trials was his attackson the Red Army. In 1936, Tukhachevski, Chief of Staffof the Russian army was executed for treason followinga trial which lasted only a single day. Six of the eightgenerals forming the court-martial which condemnedhim were themselves to follow suit soon after. By theend of the purge, the Russian army had lost three ofthe five remaining Marshals of the Soviet Union; alleleven deputy Ministers of Defense; seventy five of theeighty members of the Military Soviet; all thecommanders of the military districts; thirteen of thefifteen army commanders; more than half the corpscommanders and approximately thirty per cent of theofficers below brigade level. These purges would reallyhurt the Russian Army when the Germans invaded in1939

• In 1929, dissatisfied with theslow growth rate of Sovietindustry, Stalin abandonedLenin’s N.E.P. that had combinedfeatures of both capitalism andsocialism in favor of centralizedeconomic planning. Goals foragriculture and Industry (oftenunrealistically high), as well asthe means for achieving them,were laid out in a series of Five-Year Plans. These were designedto make the U.S.S.R. catch upwith other industrialized nationsby emphasizing the industrialdevelopment of Steel, iron, coal,and oil.

• The population wasexpected to sacrificeand do withoutconsumer goods untilthe Soviet Union couldreach the level ofindustrial developmentattained by capitalistnations. Opposition tothese plans was quicklyand brutally put down.In order to pay for theimportation oftechnology needed toinstitute the Five-YearPlans, farms werecollectivized.

• To end the opposition ofpeasants to collectivization,Stalin began a series ofgenocides (mass killings) from1932 to 1937, claiming thathe was eliminating the Kulaks(wealthy peasants whosupposedly exploited theirneighbors) In fact, few of the14.5 million peasants whodied by execution, perished inSiberian labor camps, orstarved in Stalin’s man-madefamine in the Ukraine (1932-1933) were kulaks.

• While outright opposition wasfinally crushed by genocide, thepeasants did not fully cooperateand collectivization programfailed to achieve its goal. WhenWorld War II interrupted theThird Five-Year Plan in 1941, onlythe heavy industry had made anyprogress. The loss of life andhuman suffering that this modestgain had cost was enormous. It isno wonder that many Sovietcitizens, especially Ukrainians,first saw he invading Germanarmies as liberators in 1941.

• In 1939 the Soviet Unionsigned an nonaggressionpact with Nazi Germany.Under this agreement theGermans and sovietswould partition Poland.Russia would take overeastern Poland and theBaltic states of Estonia,Latvia, Lithuania andwould not contest Hitler'sattempt to take overwestern Poland. Also,Russia and Germanypromised not to fight eachother