Life in a Totalitarian State Stalin

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Life in a Totalitarian StateStalin

• Totalitarian State?a 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)

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

Take a look the entire Soviet nation is singing
and dancing
Comrade Lenin cleanses the earth of scum
Stalin in the Kremlin cares about each one of us
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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, scientists?they got
  the best of everything

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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)

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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

VERY LITTLE OF
LOTS OF
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Censorship

• Govt 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

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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.

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• Features of a Totalitarian State
• Single party dictatorship
• State control of economy
• Police spies and state terrorism
• Strict censorship and govt control of media
• Use of schools and media to indoctrinate and
  mobilize citizens
• Unquestioning obedience to single ruler

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Summary

• Strict censorship, massive propaganda, and terror
  were used by Stalin to ensure personal power and
  to push the Soviet Union toward modernization.
• By Stalins 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 worlds two
  military superpowers

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Hitler and the Rise of Nazi Germany
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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.

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• 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.
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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.

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Use of Propaganda
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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

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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

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• Quote from Martin Niemoller, a German Protestant
  minister
• The Nazis came first for the Communists. But I
  wasnt a Communist, so I didnt speak up. Then
  they came for the Jews, but I wasnt a Jew so I
  didnt speak up. Then they came for the trade
  unionists. But I wasnt a trade unionist so I
  didnt speak up. Then they came for the
  Catholics, but I was a Protestant so I didnt
  speak up.
• Then they came for me. By that time,
• there was no one left to speak up.

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What is propaganda?
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Great Britain
John Bull, the English Uncle Sam, in a poster
very similar to Flaggs I Need You poster with
Uncle Sam.
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Great Britain
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United States
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Propaganda???
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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?