The American Debate over the Essence of Totalitarianism
The American Debate over the Essence of Totalitarianism

Summary/Abstract: Totalitarianism as a political term has been used in various contexts. A survey of the American literature reveals that some authors have spoken of totalitarian regimes, totalitarian parties, or simply totalitarian ideas. Communist regimes, Nazi Germany, fascist Italy, Plato’s republic, the United States in the 1840's, among others, have been cited as examples of totalitarian policies in spite of the obvious difference between them. Relative to communist regimes, the totalitarian framework was based on three premises - that the similitude between various regimes characterized in this way are greater than the differences between them: that totalitarianism is qualitatively different from previous authoritarian rulings: that totalitarianism and democracy are logically antithetical. The classical definition, proposed by C. J. Friedrich, seemed to point right to the essence of totalitarian regimes. However, as the communist regimes showed a gradual internal pluralization, and variations within the communist camp intensified, commentators felt that the concept became less useful. Various alternative theories gained the upper hand since the 1970’s. However, today, new information previously unavailable can shed a new light on the debate over the essence of communism.

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