Stalinism/Totalitarianism

Carl J. Friedrich and Zbigniew K. Brzezinski: Model

- totalitarianism as sui generis (unique, unprecedented)
- fascist and communist dictatorships “are basically alike, or at any rate more
nearly like each other than like any other system of government, including earlier
forms of autocracy”
- the “specific difference” is “the organisation and methods developed and
employed with the aid of modern technical devices in an effort to resuscitate such
total control in the service of an ideologically motivated movement, dedicated to
the total destruction and reconstruction of a mass society”
- suggest the word “totalism” to distinguish totalitarianism from more general, total
dictatorships (e.g. China)
- totalitarianism is a “system of rule for realising totalist intentions under modern
political and technical conditions, as a novel type of autocracy”
- fascist and communist systems “are forms of crisis government”
- “We do not presuppose that totalitarian societies are fixed and static entites, but…
continue to undergo a steady evolution…”
- the six points “should…not be considered in isolation, or be made the focal point
of comparisons…”

- “the totalitarian dictatorships all possess the following:”

1. an elaborate ideology
• “official body of doctrine covering all vital aspects of man’s existence”
• “focused and projected toward a perfect final state of mankind”
2. single mass party typically led by one man
• up to 10% of the population in the party
• “a hard core of them passionately and unquestioningly dedicated to the
ideology”
• “either superior to, or completely intertwined with, the governmental
bureaucracy”
3. a system of terror
• “physical or psychic”
• “not only against demonstrable “enemies” of the regime, but against more or less
arbitrarily selected classes of the population”
• “exploits modern science, and…psychology”
4. technologically conditioned, near-complete monopoly of control
• “of all means of effective mass communication, such as the press, radio, and motion
pictures”
5. technologically conditioned, near-complete monopoly of all weapons
6. central control and direction of the entire economy
• “through the bureaucratic coordination of formerly independent corporate entities”
- dictator who holds “absolute power” is placed at the head of the society
- Concede that there have been many challenges to this  Does the party hold
absolute power in the USSR? Is it the Politburo? Is it ‘big business’ or ‘the
generals’?
- F and B believe it was definitely Stalin
- evidence suggests that “Stalin’s will could not be questioned”
- “the predominance of such leaders does not destroy the decisive importance of the
party, which becomes manifest at a succession crisis”
- the fact that the Soviet system kept going after Stalin’s death  important, but it
does not lessen the significance of Stalin, just shows the importance of
bureaucracy in totalitarian systems
- “It is they who pull the levers while the dictator calls the signals”
- “…the totalitarian dictator is both ruler and high priest. He interprets
authoritatively the doctrines upon which the movement rests”
- “the dictator and his direct subordinates are united in ideological outlook”
- “By fashioning the movement’s ideology, the leader provides it with the mainstay
of its cohesion”
- “under totalitarianism there now is no alternative” to loyalty to the leader
- “Any constitution is merely a disguise” for the totalitarianism (link to Stalin’s
constitution)
- “The typical sequence is therefore that of ideology, movement, party,
government”
- the totalitarian govt emerges when “the leadership sees itself obliged to employ
open and legally unadorned violence for maintaining itself, particularly against
internal oppositions”
- “In the Soviet Union, this point is marked by Stalin’s liquidation of his erstwhile
colleagues in the USSR’s leadership and more particularly by his epochal struggle
with Trotsky”
- “In Soviet Russia, it is the year 1928” when total planning of the economy occurs
Stalinism/Totalitarianism
Sheila Fitzpatrick, David Christian
- totalitarianism is an adequate description but does not amount to an explanation
- generalised concept cannot be applied to Stalinism  unique
- Stalinism was, in reality, sui generis (unique)

Hannah Arendt – The Origins of Totalitarianism

- looked at dictatorships of Hitler, Stalin – thought they were more encompassing,
intrusive
- more ‘total’
- one that aspires to total control of every aspect of the lives of its citizens

Robert Tucker
Characteristics:
1. charismatic leader
2. all-pervasive ideology
3. control of the media
4. monopoly of coercive force
5. use of terror and propaganda

Christian, Fitzpatrick
- superficially this describes Stalinist Russia
- it is too simple and over-generalises, not a useful term

1. Charismatic leader – Stalin not charismatic, but an apparatchik 

bureaucrat, gen sec of the party  party machinery developed propaganda
“teacher leader friend”
2. all-pervasive – lip-service to Marxist-Leninism disguised pragmatism
3. control of the media – too difficult, impossible

Wheatcroft
- ultimate aim of Stalinism could be seen as admirable
- widely acknowledged that comm. ideology  better world
- to a degree the ends justified the means
- issue Wheatcroft raises is, was Stalinism a logical, rational response to the
political and social circumstances of Russia in the 1930s?

Barnett, 2006
- invalid to debate no. of deaths  industrialisation/collectivisation
- focuses on intent
- echoes position of Acton  many deaths arose from starvation and were
unnecessary
- Acton – part of Stalin’s desire to create a dictatorship, rather than deaths that
resulted for altruism
Hosking
- Stalinist industrialisation and collectivisation stood in the short-medium term
stand to benefit Stalin and temporarily safeguard the revolution
- In the long term however, the FYPs and collectivisation were the cause of the
collapse of communism
- Barnett – Stalin was therefore the architect of the failure of communism
- Gaddis – nature of comm. flawed  Stalinism successful because it prolonged a
doomed system