the.com/totalitarianism
the political system that won't settle for obedience, it wants your inner monologue too
means A system of government in which the state seeks total control over every aspect of public and private life, allowing no opposition and demanding not just compliance but belief.
from From Italian totalitario, a word that came into use under Mussolini's regime to describe a 'total' state — lo stato totalitario — built on the Latin totus, 'whole, entire.' Strikingly, the term was first embraced by its own architects as a badge of pride before critics turned it into an accusation. It spread into English in the 1920s and '30s as the world watched whole societies swallowed whole.
- coined by
- Italian fascists, who meant it as a compliment
- private life
- abolished; even your dreams belong to the state
- big lie
- works better the more outrageous it gets
- enemy needed
- requires a permanent threat to stay alive
- truth
- becomes whatever was true this morning
nazi germany — adolf hitler's regime controlled all aspects of life in germany 1933-1945
soviet union under stalin — joseph stalin's ussr had total state control with gulags and secret police through the 1930s-50s
north korea today — kim jong un's regime maintains absolute control over all institutions, media, and movement since 1948
maoist china — mao zedong's government controlled every aspect of society during the great leap forward 1958-1962