Totalitarianism in the Soviet Union essays

Totalitarianism in the Soviet Union essays The events surrounding the rise of Stalin in the Soviet Union and the rise of dictators like Mussolini and Hitler in Europe proved to be a defining mark of the 1930's and early 1940's. As such, these dynamic figures ushered in a new era in which the West was brought face to face with words such as totalitarianism, fascism, National Socialism, and the realities of a disintegrated Europe, that increasingly relied on ideological remedies to systemic problems. In this way, many scholars have concluded that the regimes of Stalin and Hitler were not themselves totalitarian as much as they were merely representations of what some have termed "organized chaos". However, such a view, although it has some merit, flies in the very face of prior and existing definitions of the term as well as the key signs that these regimes demonstrated prior to the Second World War. As such, this brief essay will attempt to chronicle some of the ways in which both of these regimes epitomized totalitarianis m in every aspect of the word. For purposes of clarity, this essay will utilize one of the prominent Soviet historians Robert Conquest's definitions of totalitarianism. Conquest says the following, "Totalitarianism (or totalitarian rule) is a political system where the state holds total authority over the society and seeks to control all aspects of public and private life wherever necessary (Conquest 74). As such, the all-encompassing nature of the state and the level to which the state is controlling nearly every aspect of the life of the society is the predominant factor. Naturally, when one considers the level of totalitarianism that existed within both the Soviet and National Socialist systems, it will be necessary to consider the following freedoms: economic, political, social, press, and art. As this analysis will make manifestly clear, both regimes sought outright control of nearly every aspect of these freedoms that have been enumerated upon....