Masa czy wspólnota? Uwagi na tle społeczeństwa totalitarnego
Mass or Community? Remarks against the Background of Totalitarian Society

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the issue of community in totalitarian societies. At the very beginning, the author presents the thesis that totalitarianism is incapable of building an authentic community. To this end, he presents the factors conducive to the birth of totalitarianisms, which he sees as the emergence of mass societies resulting from the processes of rapid industrialization and the development of capitalist relations. As a result of these, traditional communities disintegrated, which in turn gave rise to the individual’s sense of loneliness and his tendency to give up his freedom and seek support in external entities that offer a sense of “being together.” Next, the author presents characteristics of different types of ties (communal, associational and communitarian), assessing whether any of them were formed in societies shaped by totalitarian governments. The analyses conducted show that the social ties constructed by totalitarian regimes lack authenticity in the first place, as they are part of a top-down imposed project that is only meant to create the appearance of community. It is also important that totalitarianism ignores the needs of the individual, being exclusively oriented towards the realization of its own goals. Moreover, a feature of all totalitarianisms is the destruction of established communities (family, religious or professional), since they are an obstacle to the total subordination of the individual to the state. The participation of individuals in artificially constructed communities was only seemingly voluntary, since it was based on manipulation and the false promise of creating areal community. As a result, it becomes obvious that despite the collective facade, societies in totalitarian states lacked ties of a communal nature.

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