Totalitarian Dictators

Totalitarianism- Definition System in which a government seeks total control of its citizen’s lives Favors security and state power over individual freedoms and thought

Totalitarianism- Characteristics Glorification of the State State Control One-Party Rule Charismatic, Authoritarian Rulers Control of Media Police Terror

Stalin’s Soviet Union

USSR under Lenin Oppositions parties outlawed Secret Police (Cheka) instill fear New Economic Policy Lenin’s capitalist compromises to fix economy Farmers allowed to sell surplus crops Free small industry Invites foreign investment

Joseph Stalin Becomes secretary of the Central Committee Takes over after Lenin’s death 1924 Forces Leon Trotsky into exile

5 Year Plans 1928, 1933 Stalin’s plans to build Soviet industry Impose central planning Catch up to western industry Set high quotas, limited consumer goods Makes substantial improvements

Collectivization Government seizure of farm land Peasants forced onto large gov. farms Many resist 5-10 million dead Food production increases

State Control NKVD- Stalin’s secret police Gulags- Government labor camps Pravda- State run newspaper Indoctrination used to build up reverence for Stalin Suppress religion

Great Purge 1934-1938 Stalin’s persecution of old Bolsheviks who threatened his power 8-13 million killed

Mussolini’s Italy

Fascism Political movement following WWI that stressed: Extreme Nationalism Authoritarian Leadership State Supremacy One Party Rule Lack of Individual Rights

Benito Mussolini Militant, Nationalist, Anti-Communist, news editor Starts the Fascist party 1921 The “Black Shirts,” gangs of fascist thugs terrorize socialists Takes power during postwar struggles After Socialists win parliamentary seats leading to class tension in Italy, appealing to desire for order and protection

Rise to Power Takes power during postwar struggles After Socialists win parliamentary seats leading to class tension in Italy, appealing to desire for order and protection Fascist march on Rome 10/1922 King Victor Emmanuel III asks Mussolini to form government, rule as Prime Minister

Fascist Italy Change election law to give Fascists full control Then pass laws giving Mussolini power, dissolving opposition parties Mussolini takes title of “Il Duce,” “the leader” Ends free press, labor unions Corporatism- creates group of business leaders who manage economy Encourages women to stay home, have children, abolishes divorce Never a real totalitarian state

Lateran Accords 1929 Deal with Catholic Church Gives Pope autonomy in Vatican City & cash Pope recognizes Italy and Mussolini

Hitler’s Germany

Nazism “National Socialism” Extreme Nationalism, Racism Authoritarian Leadership Modified socialism Call for repudiation of Versailles Treaty, Unification of Ger. & Aus., Exclusion of Jews, end of Weimar Republic

Adolf Hitler Austrian artist, WWI vet (Ger.) Becomes “Der Fuhrer” (the leader) of Nazi Party after WWI

Rise to Power Nazis form the SA (The Brown Shirts), Nazi thugs to harass opponents Appeal to lower middle class during economic troubles, blame Versailles and Weimar Failed Beer Hall Putsch (1923) Short prison sentence, writes Mein Kampf

Rise to Power Weimar is paralyzed by weak coalition governments and Great Depression Hitler named Chancellor by President Hindenburg Hope to manipulate Hitler and his voter appeal Fire set at Reichstag building, Nazis blame communists, jail many Calls on Right wing parties to join the Nazis Win in Reichstag elections

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Rise to Power The Enabling Act- gives dictatorial powers to Hitler “Night of Long Knives”- Hitler eliminates Brown Shirts (SA) who may not be loyal Uses new secret police force, The Gestapo and personal bodyguards, The SS Conducts plebiscite to show public approval

Nazi Germany Military swears allegiance to Hitler personally Schools, youth groups used for indoctrination Dissenting books burned, degenerate art destroyed Huge propaganda campaigns, staged rallies Rearms German military Creates jobs and industries, defies Versailles treaty Britain and France do nothing Massive public works projects Ex: The Autobahn

Anti-Semitism Nazis blame Jews for loss in WWI and economic troubles Lead boycotts of Jewish owned stores “Nuremburg Laws” (1935) strip Jews of citizenship Kristallnacht (1938): night of organized violence against Jews

Hitler’s Foreign Policy Demands return of Saar Coal mines, Polish Corridor, the Rhineland Desires conquest of “Lebensbraum,” living space for the Aryan “master race”