Life in a Totalitarian StateStalin

• Totalitarian Statea one party dictatorship that regulated every aspect of the lives of the people.

• To ensure obedience, Stalin used secret police, censorship, and terror

• Critics were sent to brutal labor camps (many died)

• PropagandaInformation, esp. of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view.

Comrade Lenin cleanses the earth of scum

Stalin in the Kremlin cares about each one of us

Take a look: the entire Soviet nation is singing and dancing

An Equal Society?????• Communists promised equality but instead

created a society where a few elite groups became the new ruling class

• The New Elite the head of society were the members of the Communist Party (only a small amount of Soviet citizens could join), industrial managers, military leaders, scientiststhey got the best of everything

Social Benefits *Free medical care

*Day care for children

*Inexpensive housing

*Women became equal under the law and were allowed into many jobs

*Public transportation and recreation

*Free Education for all (men and women)– Schools served an important goal educated workers

were needed to build a modern industrial state. They also taught Communist values (atheism, collective farming, and love of Stalin)

Drawbacks

• Standard of living remained low

• Housing was scarce so people crowded into small apartments in cities

• Bread was plentiful, but meat, fish, fruit, etc. were scarce

LOTS OF:VERY LITTLE OF:

Censorship

• Gov’t controlled what books were published, what music was played, and which works of art were displayed

• Writers, artists, and composers faced persecution some were exiled or tortured

The Great Purge• Stalin was an insecure obsessive man who

worried constantly that others would try to steal his power.

• Stalin used his secret police to arrest thousands for plotting against him.

• “Show trials” – people were forced to confess to all kinds of crimes

• 4 million people were “purged”, of those at least 800,000 were executed.

• Features of a Totalitarian State:– Single party dictatorship– State control of economy– Police spies and state terrorism– Strict censorship and gov’t control of media– Use of schools and media to indoctrinate and

mobilize citizens– Unquestioning obedience to single ruler

Summary

• Strict censorship, massive propaganda, and terror were used by Stalin to ensure personal power and to push the Soviet Union toward modernization.

• By Stalin’s death in 1953, the Soviet Union was a world leader in heavy industry, steel, and oil production

• Along with the U.S. it was one of the world’s two military superpowers

Hitler and the Rise of Nazi Germany

The Rise of Adolf Hitler• Born in Austria in 1889• He attempted to seize power in 1923 and failed.

He was put in jail. While in prison he wrote Mein Kampf (My Struggle) which outlined the goals and ideology of the Nazi party.

• Goals and Ideology of the Nazis

– Extreme nationalism– Racism– Anti-Semitism – Hitler believed Germans

belonged to a superior “master race” called Aryans (light skinned Europeans). Greatest enemies were the Jews. Hitler believed Jews were not a different religion but a different race

The word "swastika" comes from the Sanskrit svastika - "su" meaning "good," "asti" meaning "to be," and "ka" as a suffix.

How Hitler came to be in power

• Great Depression was very hard on the German people (as unemployment rose, Nazi membership grew to ~ 1 million)

• Promised to end reparations, create jobs, and rearm Germany

• Elected chancellor by other members of the government (came to power legally)

• Wanted to create a German master race.

Use of Propaganda

Purging German Culture• No modern art or music because it was corrupted by

Jewish influence• Textbooks were rewritten to reflect Nazi racial views• Burned books, including All Quiet on the Western Front

(it was an insult to the German military) and many others.

• Sought to stop Christianity by closing churches and silencing clergy

*Used the Gestapo (secret police) to enforce his will

Hitler begins his campaign against the Jews

• 1935 – Nuremburg Laws placed severe restrictions on Jews – Prohibited from marrying non-Jews– Prohibited from attending or teaching at German

schools or universities– Prohibited from holding government jobs– Prohibited from practicing medicine or law– Prohibited from publishing books

Nazis beat and robbed Jews and gathered mobs to join in.

Many Jews, including Albert Einstein, fled to other countries

• Quote from Martin Niemoller, a German Protestant minister

– “The Nazis came first for the Communists. But I wasn’t a Communist, so I didn’t speak up. Then they came for the Jews, but I wasn’t a Jew so I didn’t speak up. Then they came for the trade unionists. But I wasn’t a trade unionist so I didn’t speak up. Then they came for the Catholics, but I was a Protestant so I didn’t speak up.

Then they came for me. By that time, there was no one left to speak up.”

What is propaganda?

Great Britain

John Bull, the English Uncle Sam, in a poster very similar to Flagg’s

“I Need You” poster with Uncle Sam.

Great Britain

United States

Propaganda???

Choose 1 of the following

• Make a propaganda poster for this time period or our time period. You should have a visual and brief description of your goals of the propaganda (p.880-881)– What are you trying to accomplish? What in your

picture promotes that goal(s)?

• Write a 5-7 sentence letter to Hitler or Stalin telling him how you like or dislike the new totalitarian way of life. (p.874-879)– What is your job? Is life easy for you? How is your life

different now?