Total and Totalitarian Ideologies
Ideology in the common definition is known as a tool for a comprehensive explanation of the world or in a word "worldview". In social studies, political ideology is a specific set of moral ideals, principles, teachings, symbols of a social movement, institution or large class that explain how the political work of society(Gentile).
Various political ideologies have emerged throughout human history on the basis of which governments have been formed. In history, one can find authoritarian systems based on ideology, of which "totalitarianism" and "fascism" are two pure forms (Soghair). “Totalitarian ideology” is a general conception of life and history that considers the social nature of man and deliberates the individual as a function of the collective. A totalitarian ideology usually defines itself as a comprehensive ideology of a radical party that sees itself as the unique leader of a society, nation, or racial institution that seeks to monopolize absolute power to establish order (Gentile).
The ideological logic of totalitarianism is the denial of democracy and strongly rejects the division of power in society and the transfer of power between different parties. A single power-seeking, state-oriented, totalitarian ideology that mobilizes the militaristic masses (Longley). Such ideologies turn to absolute repression if they come to power. In other words, totalitarianism is an ideology or movement that advocates the expansion of government domination in all aspects of society.
A totalitarian state is an authoritarian regime based on a totalitarian ideology in which a particular person, group or class has full political power. In this type of political system, the government controls almost all aspects of public life and the private behavior of citizens, and the people have no authority to determine their political, economic and social destiny (Gentile). Totalitarian states usually have several distinctive features, including a general ideology, a one-party system committed to that particular ideology (usually led by one person), a large secret police, a military monopoly, a mass media monopoly, and an economic monopoly. In addition, under this type of government, activities that are not in line with the government's rules, such as forming trade unions, the establishment of religious institutions not approved by the government, or forming opposition political parties, are not tolerated (Soghair).
Italian dictator Benito Mussolini described the totalitarian government in one sentence, "Everyone inside the country, no one abroad, no one against the government" (Britannica). With the outbreak of World War II, totalitarianism became identical with the government of an absolute and oppressive party. The most important examples of totalitarian governments in the world are the Soviet Union under Stalin, Hitler in Germany, Mao in China, Park Chung Hee in South Korea, Khomeini in Iran, Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Castro in Cuba, Mobutu in Congo, and Chavez in Venezuela (Longley). In short, totalitarian regimes often establish and maintain political power by using a comprehensive official ideology and the creation of sanctification of a person at the head of the state “sect”, by widespread propaganda in their favor through state-dominated media (Britannica). Subsequently, they create panic among the people by preventing open discussions, criticism of the government, and the use of censorship tools. Prominent philosophers, from Plato and Aristotle in ancient Greece to Machiavelli in early modernity, have discussed the terms “totalitarianism” and “totalitarian ideology”(Soghair). As a result, totalitarianism and its features have been among the most moving issues in the writings of political thinkers and philosophers of all time.
Fascism
"Fascism” is defined as an extreme right-wing political theory and forms of an extreme nationalist authoritarian system run by a dictatorship, a purely nationalist, racist, and imperialist party. The political ideology of fascism prevailed in many parts of central, southern, and Eastern Europe between 1919 -1945, and also had supporters in Western Europe, the United States, South Africa, Japan, Latin America, and the Middle East (Eatwell). Historians, political scientists, and other scholars have long debated the exact nature of fascism. Each view of fascism is different, and many definitions are either too broad or too limited. However, what almost all experts agree on is that Fascism is a system that lies between capitalism and communism and emerged at a stage of intense class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Where the bourgeoisie is no longer able to maintain its dominance through parliament, it inevitably resorts to tyranny and terror, the bloody suppression of the workers' movement and every other democratic movement, as well as exaggerated demagoguery (Fascism). According to Eatwell, one aspect of the ideology of fascist movements was the tendency to foster the belief that non-Europeans were genetically inferior to Europeans. This desire for racial purity led most fascist leaders to carry out forced genetic modification programs aimed at creating a pure "national race" as exemplified by the genocide of six million Jews in gas chambers by the Nazi Germany.
Historically, the first fascism arose in Italy in 1919, and three years later, it came to power. A clear example of fascism is in the history of the German Fascist Party, which was founded in 1920 and took the name of the National Socialist Party of German Workers. The party took power in 1933 with the help of large German and foreign monopolies and established the Hitler dictatorship (Longley). Afterward, trade unions and other democratic organizations were suppressed. With great scientific measures, the fascists prepared a new war to divide the world and occupy the lands of other countries. Thus, this policy paved the way for World War II (Soghair). Although there is disagreement among historians and political scientists about the nature of fascism however a number of general features that were common to fascist movements can be identified, including opposition to socialist ideas, a one-party system, the sanctity of the leader to the extent possible, opposition to liberalism and democracy, propagating the spirit of warfare and so on (Fascism).
According to Saghir, in no country has the fascist movement been as widespread as in Germany, but the common denominator is that fascist regimes in the world could not have survived without the widespread support of the masses. In other words, the key to understanding fascist tendencies in countries such as Germany and Japan lies at the heart of broad social forces and traditions. What perpetuates fascist regimes are authoritarian traditions and a desire for submission by the masses. The fascists, on the other hand, sought to gain popular support and consolidate their power by mobilizing people in large gatherings, parades, and other assemblies. They used such gatherings to create patriotic zeal and to advance their goals (Longley). As Eatwell argued, the post-war economic crisis, Mussolini's speech skills, widespread distrust of the traditional political system and excessive fear of a socialist outlook all helped the Fascist Party reach 300,000 registered members by 1921. Therefore, fascism, before being a political philosophy or ideology, is a way of governing the state based on the principle of state power and sovereignty and extreme nationalism. The goal of fascism is to disguise the dictatorship and its politics, often in the guise of theories and propaganda based on national, racial, ideological, or religious prejudice (Fascism).
On the Origins of Totalitarianism (Arendt H.)
Hannah Arendt (1906 – 1975) was born into a German-Jewish family. She was one of the most important political philosophers whose ideas and thoughts had a profound effect on the twentieth century. After Hitler's victory in 1933, she like many German scholars and intellectuals fled her homeland and went to France. Arendt is the first theorist to introduce totalitarianism as a new type of government and she is a researcher on the concept of imperialism (Court). Hannah Arendt believed that, “tyranny is a political form that resembles nonsense and has conditions that make human life difficult, but totalitarianism is a sandstorm that buries all life and suffocates the world” (Arendt). She began to research, and analyse on the origins of totalitarianism after the end of World War II. She completed her manuscript four years after the fall of Hitler and before Stalin's death. The book “The Origins of Totalitarianism” was published in 1951, at a time when the phenomenon of totalitarianism had played a major and catastrophic role in human history (Söllner).
The book begins with a study of the roots of totalitarianism and the rise of anti-Semitism in Central and Western Europe in the 1800s, and continues with a study of European colonial imperialism from 1884 until the outbreak of World War I. Arendt talks about the two main forms of totalitarian rule “Nazi Germany” and “Stalinist Russia” (Court). She discusses the class evolution of the masses, the role of propaganda in using terror and the nature of isolation and loneliness as preconditions for the total domination of totalitarian governments. Although Arendt does not see genocide as a condition for totalitarian rule, she argues that "totalitarian methods of domination" are uniquely appropriate to programs of mass extermination of human beings (Arendt).
In her book, Arendt considers the totalitarian regimes of Nazism and Stalinism as a modern phenomenon whose roots must be traced to the historical and cultural developments that have led to the emergence of modern society. She considers imperialism, racism, anti-Semitism, and gas chambers to be the most important features of totalitarian governments of the twentieth century. According to Söllner, one of the most important points Arendt makes in describing totalitarian regimes is that the violence of totalitarianism can only be understood by reference to their legal and ideological nature. In the context of a totalitarian ideology, every action, however inhuman and abhorrent, is subject to generally accepted principles.Thus, the massacre of Jews in Germany was considered merely a matter of racial superiority, and in this way, totalitarian madness became possible in totalitarian ideologies and common sense was lost.
In Arendt's view, the totalitarian movement demands total, unlimited, and unchangeable loyalty from every one of its followers. That is why the totalitarian regimes of Hitler and Stalin contained mass support and self-sacrificing followers. She believed that creating fear and propaganda was necessary for the ideology of totalitarian systems. Such a government uses the power of propaganda to show a false reality to the masses and at the same time destroys human individual will, by creating fear (Arent). In such a system, human beings turn away from reality and turn to the cult of personality, and this is where racial and ethnic myths become believable to the masses. Just like the Aryan race on which Hitler based his ideology and recognized his crimes.
In her book, Arendt argues that the existence of totalitarian governments requires the existence of a perpetual enemy. Therefore, Jews, Poles, kulaks, and Tatars were considered the objective enemies of Nazism and Stalinism, respectively, enemies who were personally innocent but were among the groups historically considered to be the enemies of totalitarian movements. In Hannah Arendt's thoughts, totalitarian governments have, above all, a formal and exclusive ideology. For instance in the German Nazi nucleus, there was an ideology of nationalism and racial superiority and in Italy, the ideological basis of fascism and nationalism of the nation was the revival of Italian civilization and past glories (Arent). As Söllner expresses, the common denominator of totalitarian states is the existence of a one-party system in these states; Totalitarian governments do not allow the existence of any other active or opposition party in the country. The ruling party controls and monopolizes all centers of power, namely the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. Generally, although philosophers, historians, and political sociologists have questioned the concepts of totalitarianism and totalitarian ideology, it can be argued that about Hannah Arendt's dissertations and the nature of totalitarian systems, established in Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union, there is a comprehensive consensus among political and philosophical experts.
In conclusion, the debate over the concept of totalitarian ideology and the regimes that arise from it is a topic that has historically been and continues to be the focus of most political science theorists. What most political philosophers agree on is that the core of totalitarianism is the spread of terror. Although the Nazi and Stalinist regimes have disappeared, Hannah Arendt's remarks about the foundations of totalitarian ideology and its features give rise to an idea that continues to be used to identify the governments of totalitarianism today. Hannah Arendt's book “The Origins of Totalitarianism” and her innovative ideas, has great theoretical and practical value and helped pundits criticize and deny totalitarian ideologies. In my opinion, totalitarian ideas lead to impermissible and inhumane behavior that ignores the basic principles of human rights. As a result, today in an age of awareness, totalitarian governments are illegitimate and unacceptable.
Works Cited
Arent, Hannah. "The Origins of Totalitarianism". The World Publishing Company, Cleveland and New York.1951. pp.527.
Britannica, Encyclopaedia. “Totalitarianism, government”. Britannica. Dec16, 2019.
Court, Anthony. “Hannah Arendt’s Theory of Totalitarianism – Part One”. The Magazine Rosenberg Quarterly. May 21, 2013.
Eatwell, Roger. "The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies: Fascism. CH, 26." Oxford
University Press. Aug 20, 2013.
"‘Fascism’: The Word’s Meaning and History". Word History, Merriam-Webster's Unabridged Dictionary. 2020. https://www.merriam-webster.com/words-at-play/fascism-meaning-and-history
Gentile, Emilio. "The Oxford Handbook of Political Ideologies: Total and Totalitarian
Ideologies. CH, 4." Oxford University Press. Aug 20, 2013.
Longley, Robert. “Totalitarianism, Authoritarianism, and Fascism: What Is the Difference?” Thought Co. June 05, 2020.
Soghair, Ammar. “What is the difference between totalitarianism and fascism?” history geek. May 16, 2016.
Söllner, Alfons. "Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism in its Original Context". European Journal of Political Theory. April 1, 2004. https://journals.sagepub.com/
Comments