by Lenna Gonya

Created on: April 14, 2010   Last Updated: April 17, 2010

Totalitarianism is a tight fisted method of government that maintains a grip on the people of a country that is unyielding in it’s control. There is no leeway for change or arbitration, and there is no limit as to what the government can do.

A relatively small group, social or political, backed by military and police forces, hold entire countries under their control, without representation from the people themselves.

Totalitarianism is not only unfair, it was never designed to be fair. It was designed to subjugate a great many people to the will of a few, all under the pretense of the common good.

Normally, every aspect of the individual’s life is under scrutiny and the authority of the state. Work, religion, social functions, careers, and personal beliefs are regulated, judged, and the citizen may be imprisoned, or executed for any infringements.

The concept of totalitarianism has been justified throughout the ages as an efficient attempt to organize and improve a nation based on the concepts of one party control.

Fascism, in Italy, was explained by Italian philosophers such as Giovanni Gentile, who called himself the philosopher of fascism. He was a strong opponent of individualism and a believer in collectivism, which is pretty much the entire concept of totalitarianism.

Excuses for totalitarianism are varied, depending on the country, the situation that they were in when the government was initiated, and the personal political and social prejudices of the leaders of the movement.

In Russia, the totalitarian communist party was able to get a foothold because of the prejudices of the Russian people against the elite upper classes, principally, the Royal family. Years of servitude and serfdom, starvation existence, coupled with the years of suffering and death associated with WW I pushed them over to the side of the revolutionary communists.

In Germany, economic conditions and political unrest opened the door for the totalitarian dictator and maniac visions of Adolf Hitler, and his particular hatred for anyone who did not meet the standards of his perfect Aryan race.

Totalitarianism always leads to economic, social, and personal suffering. It also takes its toll on the citizens through mass starvation, as in the case of Mao’s China, and mass murder, in the case of Germany, China and the Soviet Union.

Anytime that people are denied the right to their own government, their own opinions, and their own life decisions, and are forced to live under fear, the system will fail.

Learn more about this author, Lenna Gonya.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.