23 Totalitarianism
23 Totalitarianism
23 Totalitarianism
1
HistorySage.com
Totalitarianism: c. 1920-1940
Definition: government controls all aspects of the lives of the Use space below for
people. notes
I. Totalitarianism
A. Totalitarianism vs. conservative authoritarianism: a
contrast
1. Conservative authoritarianism: traditional form of
anti-democratic government in Europe (absolutism)
a. e.g., Louis XIV, Peter the Great, Frederick the
Great, Catherine the Great, Metternich
b. Regimes sought to prevent major changes from
undermining the existing social order
Most people went about their lives and were
more concerned with local affairs that directly
affected them rather than national affairs
c. Popular participation in government was forbidden
or severely limited
This is a stark contrast to 20th century
totalitarianism where people were expected to
participate in the system and actively support
the regime
o Stalin’s 5-Year Plans in Russia
o Hitler Youth in Germany
d. Limited in power and in objectives (usually sought
the status quo)
Lacked modern technology and
communications and could not control many
aspects of their subjects’ lives.
Usually limited demands to taxes, army
recruits, and passive acceptance of the regime
e. Conservative authoritarianism revived after WWI,
especially in less-developed eastern Europe and in
Spain and Portugal
Only Czechoslovakia remained democratic.
f. Great Depression in the 1930s ended various
levels of democracy in Austria, Bulgaria, Romania,
Greece, Estonia, and Latvia
2. War Communism
a. Purpose was to win the Russian Civil War (1918-
1920)
b. First mass communist society in world history
c. Socialization (nationalization) of all means of
production & central planning of the economy
d. In reality, the Bolsheviks destroyed the economy:
mass starvation from crop failures, decrease in
industrial output
e. Secret police (Cheka) liquidated about 250,000
opponents
d. Results:
Significantly opposed by farmers as it placed
them in a bound situation (like the mirs).
Kulaks, wealthiest peasants, offered greatest
resistance to collectivization
Stalin ordered party workers to "liquidate
them as a class."
10 million peasants died due to collectivization
(7 million in forced starvation in Ukraine)
Agricultural output no greater than in 1913
By 1933, 60% of peasant families were on
collective farms; 93% by 1938
4. Structure of gov't
a. Central Committee was the apex of Soviet
power (about 70 people in 1930s)
b. Politburo: About a dozen members; dominated
discussions of policy and personnel
c. General Secretary: highest position of power;
created by Stalin
7. Women
a. The Russian Revolution immediately proclaimed
complete equality of rights for women
b. In 1920s divorce and abortion made easily
available
c. Women were urged by the state to work outside
the home and liberate themselves sexually.
Many women worked as professionals and in
universities.
Women still expected to do household chores
in off hours as Soviet men considered home
and children women’s responsibility.
Men continued to monopolize the best jobs.
Rapid change and economic hardship led to
many broken families.
F. Fascist legacy
1. Italian democracy destroyed
2. Terrorism became a state policy.
3. Poor industrial growth due to militarism and
colonialism.
4. Disastrous wars resulted (from attempt to recapture
imperialistic glories of Ancient Rome).
Terms to Know
totalitarianism “Black Shirts”
conservative authoritarianism March on Rome
communism corporate state
fascism Lateran Pact
Vladimir Lenin Vatican
Marxist-Leninist philosophy Weimar Republic
Comintern Nazism
war communism Aryan race
Cheka National Socialist German Workers Party
Kronstadt Rebellion (NAZI)
New Economic Policy (NEP) S.A. (“Brown Shirts”)
USSR Beer Hall Putsch
Joseph Stalin Mein Kampf, 1923
“socialism in one country” “lebensraum”
Leon Trotsky Führer
Five-Year Plans Great Depression
Collectivization Third Reich
kulaks Reichstag fire
Central Committee Joseph Goebbels
Politburo Leni Riefenstal, Triumph of the Will
General Secretary “Night of Long Knives”
“Great Terror” S.S.
show trials Heinrich Himmler
“Old Bolsheviks” Gestapo
purges Hitler Youth
gulag Nuremberg Laws
Benito Mussolini, Il Duce Kristallnacht
Fascist party Holocaust, “Final Solution”
Essay Questions
2. To what extent did Lenin and Stalin adhere to the ideas of Karl Marx in
governing the USSR between 1918 and 1940?
4. Compare and contrast totalitarianism in the 1920s and 1930s with absolutism in
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
5. To what extent did the rise of fascism in Italy and Germany constitute a social
revolution in each of those two countries?
6. Analyze the extent to which women’s roles changed in the USSR, Italy and
Germany in the years 1917 to 1940.
Bibliography:
Principle Sources:
McKay, John P., Hill, Bennett D., & Buckler, John, A History of Western Society, AP Edition, 8th
Ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2006
Merriman, John, A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present, 2nd ed.,
New York: W. W. Norton, 2004
Palmer, R. R., Colton, Joel, A History of the Modern World, 8th ed., New York: McGraw-Hill,
1995
Other Sources:
Chambers, Mortimer, et al, The Western Experience, 8th ed., Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2003
Hunt, Lynn, et al, The Making of the West: People’s and Cultures, 3rd ed., Boston: Bedford/St.
Martins, 2009
Kagan, Donald, et al, The Western Heritage, 7th ed., Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice
Hall, 2001
Kishlansky, Mark, et al, Civilization in the West, 5th ed., New York: Longman, 2003
Mercado, Steven and Young, Jessica, AP European History Teacher’s Guide, New York:
College Board, 2007
Spielvogel, Jackson, Western Civilization, 5th ed., Belmont, California: Wadsworth/Thompson
Learning, 2003