Totalitarian Temptation

The totalitarian regimes of the twentieth century threatened people's freedom and dehumanized the people's rights, while promising a better future so that totalitarianism would appeal to the people. History sometimes repeats itself. Totalitarian control could happen again, all it takes is an era of economic failure, or a piece of future technology.

In a totalitarian regime, people who did not follow the government put their freedom and rights on the line. The regime threatened them and told them to do what they said, or there would be consequences. The regime would send one, and sometimes one's family away to horrible labor and concentration camps like Auschwitz. These unsuspecting people were forced to work and slave away all day with barely any food and water, and only get a few hours of sleep at night. One certain group was outcast even worse. The Jewish's freedoms were taken away just because they practiced a certain religion!

On the other side of the walls that forcefully imprisoned a large number of Jews and families that had gone against the government a different enticement was used. The Chinese government was putting up posters that promoted a better future. On these posters there were pictures of Mao Zedong standing in front of a sun, with agriculture around him. Below him there were crowds of smiling people. The poster seemed to say join us and you will be happy and live a plentiful, prosperous life. Russia and Germany had a poster of Hitler and Joseph Stalin. This certain poster seemed to promote a courageous, confident leader for a strong, powerful country. The poster was showing that these leaders would be great officers in war. It presented productivity and more factories; more factories meant more jobs for the people, which was a good thing during that time. Like the first poster it seemed to say trust me. They were trying to show totalitarianism as something positive.

An example of a totalitarian regime dehumanizing people's right is shown in Vassily Grossman's novel Forever Flowing. It tells the tale of a Soviet political prisoner who is released after being forced to do labor for thirty years. The prisoner tells about the horrors of being imprisoned. He talks about how the government took away people's right to life by killing Jewish Children in a gas chamber, and how the government liquidated the kulaks and gave their land away to other people. That is a complete disregard of a person's rights.

One might like to know that this could happen again. Like in the past, an era of economic failure could give a powerful person like Hitler a chance to rise up to power. All the people have to do is believe a leader "has the answers" and the leader can take control. Another factor that should be taken into consideration is all of the new technology that is being made. Who knows, there could be some sort of drug that could make you stop aging, so you