Totalitarian dictatorship and autocracy

Abstract

This book delves into the nature of totalitarian dictatorship, arguing that it is a novel form of government that arose in the twentieth century, distinguished from earlier forms of autocracy by its reliance on modern technology and mass legitimation. It presents a comparative analysis of totalitarian regimes, primarily the Soviet and Fascist systems, concluding that despite some differences in their origins, goals and methods, they share a core set of features: an elaborate ideology, a single mass party typically led by one man, a terroristic police, a communications monopoly, a weapons monopoly, and a centrally directed economy. The authors argue that a totalitarian dictatorship cannot exist without its pervasive apparatus of terror, including police purges, confessions, and forced labor camps, which are designed to eliminate any threat to the regime’s ideological unity and to secure the acquiescence of the population. The authors also analyze the role of the family, churches, universities, and the arts in totalitarian society, concluding that these institutions can act as islands of separateness that offer some resistance to the regime’s demands. Ultimately, the authors contend that the totalitarian dictatorship, a dynamic form of government still in the process of evolving, is a dangerous threat to both individual liberty and world peace. – AI-generated abstract