Communism and National Socialism Flashcards
Michael Geyer, 2008, totalitarianism
the terms ‘totalitarian’ and ‘totalitarianism’ entered political debate in the 1920s, primarily in reference to Italian Fascism, then moved into academic debate in the late 1940s and 1950s with focus on Germany, gained popular and academic use during the Cold War in reference to the Soviet Union
Hannah Arendt, 1951, ‘The Origins of Totalitarianism’
develops the argument that Nazi Germany and Soviet Union were, despite differences in ideology, manifestations of the same fundamental political system, marked by a desire of the state to achieve complete control over the bodies, minds and hearts of the citizens
criticism - a product of the Cold War context for an American audience perpetuating get idea that the Soviet Union was just as bad as Nazi Germany, an ideological weapon of propaganda rather than an accurate analysis of the two regimes
Michael Geyer, 2008, communism vs nazism vs liberalism
‘whatever differences between them, they appeared small in comparison with the chasm that separated them from liberal-constitutional states and free society’
Ian Kershaw, 2005, violence
argues ultra-violence in the first half of the 20th century has no equivalence in the second half, in contrast to earlier centuries a whole people could now be regarded as ‘the enemy’ and therefore as the legitimate target of political violence
modernity of political violence in search of a modern utopia achieved through secular means and the ultimate replacement of God by man as the arbiter of life and death
Michael Geyer, 2008, societal transformation
argues both regimes pushed society through a process of extraordinary violent acceleration, both set out to reshape and remake their respective nations with extreme genocidal violence
Steve Smith, 2005
argues WW1 for the first time legitimised violence towards the civilian population
Ian Kershaw, 2005, effects of WW1
argues terror and violence of WW1 and Russian civil war set tone for unprecedented levels of violence in Stalin era, without this the violence of stalinism may not have come to be
without WW1 the rise of Hitler would have been unimaginable, before 1914 Germany was a relatively non-violent society after 1918 violence was one of its main features
Imperial German violence against native populations
1904-7 the German Army in South West Africa committed genocide against the entire Herero and Namaqua populations killing 100,000 Herero and 10,000 Namaqua
Turning point of WW1 for Russia
in 1914 only 10,000 Bolsheviks
WW1 leads to civil war where 10 million are killed or starve to death
Terror and persecution in Soviet Union
People’s Will assassinate Tsar Alexander II in 1881
about 18 million people passed through the Gulag system, under Stalin’s rule, of which 1.5 million died
The Great Terror 1937-38 about 1 million people were executed
500,000 Russian citizens accused of treason during the purges
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow is blown up in 1931, League of Militant Godless
Terror and persecution in Nazi Germany
96% of Nazism’s victims were people the regime did not consider ‘German’ such as the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust
eugenics and murder of cognitively and physically disables claimed 200,000 victims
Truman, 1941
“If we see that Germany is winning the war, we ought to help Russia, if we see that Russia is winning we ought to help Germany, and in that way let them kill as many as possible”
Karl Marx, 1848, ‘The Communist Manifesto’
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles”
“proletarians of all countries, unite!”
Lenin, 1901
‘thus struggle must be organised… by people who are professionally engaged in revolutionary activity”
Stalin, 1930
“life has become better comrades, life has become more joyous”
