Transcript Totalitarianism notes

Totalitarianism
A government in
which a political
party or group
maintains complete
control and bans all
others
7 Aspects of Totalitarianism
Absolute Control of the Government
 Society of Fear
 Use of Propaganda
 Lack of News /Information
 Individual subservient to the state
 Prohibit all Opposition
 Charismatic Leader
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A Brief History of Russia
Russia was being poorly
mismanaged by a Czarist
government, and most of the
Russian people were still underpaid
laborers on land owned by wealthy
landlords.
 Communists were a small extremist
group within the socialist
movement.
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Czar

Any person having great or
unlimited power over others
Communism
Economic system based on the
ownership of all property by the
community as a whole
 A classless and stateless society
with equal distribution of economic
goods
 No one is richer than anyone else
 Everything belongs to everyone

Socialism

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Private ownership of the means of
production and distribution has been
eliminated
The ownership and operation of the
means of production and distribution by
society or the community rather than by
private individuals with all members of
society or the community sharing the
work and the products.
A Brief History of Russia
Leon Trotsky, a socialist
revolutionary, was forced to flee
Russia twice because of his antiCzarist activities.
 In 1917, the Bolshevik Party, led by
Nikolai Lenin, successfully
overthrew Czar Nicholas II, and
the communist government gained
control of the government.
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A Brief History of Russia
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Trotsky, who believed terrorism was a
valuable method for suppressing counterrevolutionaries, returned to take a
prominent position in the government.
At Lenin’s death, there was a power
struggle between Trotsky and Joseph
Stalin.
Stalin gained control in 1926, and
Trotsky went to Mexico, but was later
assassinated.
A Brief History of Russia
Stalin deported to Siberia all those
who did not agree with him.
 His secret police also used arbitrary
arrests, torture, and mass
executions to maintain his
dictatorship.
 Anyone could be a victim of these
attacks for no apparent reason.

A Brief History of Russia
The idealism of the Revolution had
turned into a system no less
terrifying than rule by the czars.
 There was no freedom in the new
system, which was based on military
bureaucracy.
 Forced labor created wealth for the
few while their own conditions
changed little or grew worse.
 Terrorist police prevented uprisings.
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A Brief History of Russia
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The aim of totalitarianism is to make people
less and less conscious, les able to make
distinctions between truth and falsehood,
and unable to draw logical conclusions.
This is exactly what happens to the animalworkers in Animal Farm.
The farm itself stands for Russia, and the
characters and plot lines all symbolize
various people and events in the Russian
Revolution.
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(See Parallels sheet Pg. 8)
A Brief History of Russia
Censorship and propaganda are
essential methods of controlling the
proletariat and convincing them that
they are on the right path while in
those involved with other political
systems are fools.
 These are important tools used by
the pigs in Animal Farm as well.
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