Toatlitarian Gov. :: essays research papers

Totalitarian Governments use the people in a total movement to achieve a goal. When this goal is finally met, the government finds a new goal to strive for to keep the population in check. This type of government sprang up during the 1930’s in Europe and Asia. Totalitarianism came into being for many reasons: class struggle, nationalism, and a need for a better way of life. However the biggest reason that totalitarian government came into play was because of the Great Depression. Three nations in particular were able to model this take over by using the lower classes as a boost to achieve power. The Russian nation was in a state of distress. The country was being ruined by drought, fire, and the lack of industry. Russia was falling way behind the rest of the world, and with the death of Lenin they were looking for a new leader. The single party system made it easy for a totalitarian style leader to take hold of the reigns of power. Trotsky and Stalin were the two candidates for the take over Russia’s government. They both used socialism to try to move into power, but Stalin used socialism on the home front to his advantage. Where Trotsky wanted to use the rest of the world for socialism, making the people think that they needed a crutch. This idea did not go over well and Stalin won increasing support. He used this support to banish and kill Trotsky and his opposition. After Trotsky was out of the way, Stalin killed his supporters and furthered his totalitarian role. With the introduction of his â€Å"Five Year Plan†, to increase industry by two hundred and fifty percent and agriculture by one hundred and fifty percent, he solidified his position and the birth of a totalitarian government through the goal of industry. Earlier, in the nation of Italy, totalitarianism had been introduced before the grounds had been laid in Russia. There was a great hate that was rising between the upper and lower classes. The socialist movement was in full effect, and factory workers and peasant were taking over factories. And with the pope lifting the ban on Catholics, there were an increasing number of different opposing factions in government making an already unstable government worse. Mussolini, a nationalist and fascist, steps in asking for a greater sense of nationalism. He helps this idea with promises of better benefits for the working class and land reform for the peasants.