The Rise of Totalitarian Governments

Once a totalitarian leader or party becomes the states recognized authority by means of gaining the people’s support, it must consolidate its power, and ensure its future. One of the first tasks of the leader is to get rid of all opposition. This is first done by eliminating all external enemies like teachers and other political parties. This can be seen in both Nazi Germany, and Stalinist Russia. Then, the leader must make internal purges. An example of such a purge can be found in the “Night of Long Knives”, during which Hitler ordered the assassination of at least eighty-five S.A. officers, which he saw as direct threats to his power. After opposition has been eliminated, the leader then begins to spread propaganda promoting the state and its ideologies. The leader begins to simultaneous indoctrinate the youth by replacing teachers with those loyal to the state and by creating youth organizations also teaching the state’s ideology. A good example is the Hitler Youth, which gave kids a sense of belonging and security, and creating in them a loyalty to the state.

It is also helpful for the leader to discriminate against a certain ethnic group and place all the blame on them. An obvious example is how Hitler turned the Jews into second-class citizens, and then blamed them when problems arose. All these methods help totalitarian leaders a lot, but none so much as the use of intimidation. The use of secret police, spies, and camps can easily scare any would be revolutionary into a loyal supporter of the government. Both Hitler and Stalin used fear tactics to consolidate power and quell possible uprisings. Finally, no totalitarian government would be completely without a cult of personality developed around the leader. In this method, the leader is portrayed as god-like, and made out to be the savior of the nation. The leader often gains a new and glorifying title, and is referred to as “Father”. All of these methods are used to consolidate and ensure the totalitarian leaders power and success.

An unstable economy and a weak government allow extremist parties to rise and then take totalitarian control. Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler are all examples of leaders who used their skills to gain the people’s support, and then exploited the state’s economic and political instability to take control. They then used tactics such as propaganda, intimidation, and indoctrination of the youth to consolidate and sustain their power. The combination and proper execution of these tactics creates a state in which the leader has control over all aspects of people’s lives.