Do not confuse the goal with the means. Totalitarianism - a tool, and sometimes necessary

33


In connection with the Sochi Olympics, many long-standing illnesses of public consciousness have become considerably sharper. In particular, our liberal younger brothers in mind now and then compare it with the Berlin Olympics of 1936, which significantly contributed to the legitimization of the national socialist German workers' party in world public opinion. From this comparison, the conclusion is made: the current Russian Federation started the Olympiad only for the sake of its own legitimization. True, the decision on the Berlin Olympiad was taken in 1930, when Germany was a model of European democracy, and on Sochi in 2007, when only the most extraordinary freedom-loving people like Valeria Novinvorskaya were denounced the bloody KGB regime. But, in the opinion of the champions of individual freedom, not restrained by society, it is possible to cancel the world sport festival if it plays into the hands of those who like them. And if you still could not cancel - you should at least choose a comparison more easily.

Of course, you can compare everything with everything. In one of the works of Charles Latuid Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll, the question was posed: what do raven and desk have in common (that is, devices for writing work standing up; such desks were very popular in the XIX century, and now they are often used by those who fear hemorrhoids). Carroll himself did not give an answer to his question, but lovers of his work found a good dozen different similarities between the two objects. I suppose this artistic experience is enough not to be surprised at any comparisons.

But it must be admitted: in the 1930s, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Third German Empire, the United States of America had undoubtedly much in common. I briefly described this general a few years ago in my article “Totalitarianism is a struggle”.

Totalitarianism in its essence is something that is not necessarily hellish, just as it is not at all necessarily blissful and salutary. Totalitarianism is only a technology of concentrating the maximum technically possible share of society’s resources for the sake of achieving one goal. And what is this goal - is a completely separate question.

Germany concentrated all the forces for the capture of someone else. The Soviet Union - for the sake of creating and protecting its own. The United States of America is for the sake of getting out of the economic deadlock, where the impetuous pursuit of profit, at any price, so to speak, drove the country somewhat earlier. So the goals are completely different, but the means are the same.

Moreover, even the aesthetics are the same. If we look at the buildings built in these countries in the 1930s, we will see incredibly much in common. If we look at the campaign posters issued in the United States of America before the war and during it, and we will remove English inscriptions from them - not every amateur stories and the arts will be able to distinguish them from the German or Soviet posters.

By the way, art lovers have long noted: Motherland on the poster of Irakli Moiseyevich Toidze “Motherland Calls”, created in the early days of World War II, pretty much resembles a French fighter going to attack on a French propaganda poster of 1915. Rotation of the hand and the position of the hand - in general, under a magnifying glass not to distinguish.

The more extreme the circumstances we face, the more externally in common, even among people and societies that are radically different internally, because people always need roughly the same means to concentrate their efforts. And what is important is not that we are concentrating efforts, but for the sake of what.

As for Nazi Germany specifically, there is another reason for commonality. The ruling party, whose official name is given above, really did a good deal for the German workers. For example, the famous "Wilhelm Gustloff", sunk by a Soviet submarine C-1945.01.30 13 under the command of Alexander Ivanovich Marinesko, was originally built as a vessel for low-cost working cruises. True, at the time of the “attack of the century” there were no workers on it: from Gdynia, then called Gotenhafen, according to modern estimates given in Wikipedia, 918 cadets of junior groups of 2 training submarine division, 173 women crew member, 373 women from the auxiliary marine corps, 162 seriously wounded soldiers, 8956 refugees (mostly old men, women and children) - total 10582 people. According to the laws of war, those who load civilians on vehicles transporting military personnel and not carrying identification marks of the medical service are responsible for the fate of practically inevitable victims.

But they took care of the workers not only in the USSR and Germany. In the same 1930-ies and in the United States of America, quite a lot of laws were passed in favor of the workers: firstly, to prevent the already planned riots; secondly, what is equally important is to reduce the working time of each employee and thereby force employers to attract more workers, reducing the explosive mass of the unemployed.

So our amateurs would have to compare the Winter Olympics in Sochi with the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid in 1932, and, say, the Palace of Soviets (unfortunately not completed) with the Empire State Building (it appeared before the crisis , but already when the first tremors of forthcoming economic problems were felt).

With all the variety of goals that people and human societies set for themselves, the variety of means to achieve these goals is incomparably less. The one who looks at the means, forgetting about the goals, is naturally doomed to move to the wrong goal.
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  1. +4
    20 February 2014 11: 04
    Totalitarianism in its essence is something that is not necessarily hellish, just as it is not at all necessarily blissful and salutary. Totalitarianism is only a technology of concentrating the maximum technically possible share of society’s resources for the sake of achieving one goal. And what is this goal - is a completely separate question.

    Germany concentrated all forces for the sake of capturing someone else's. The Soviet Union - for the sake of creating and protecting its own.


    All this is good, but the author, apparently, is not aware that totalitarianism is a purely capitalist phenomenon, and does not belong to the communist system ....

    Hence the conclusion, again they are trying to draw a parallel between the USSR and Hitler's Germany, totalitarianism is a manifestation of voluntarism based purely on the personal idea of ​​a leader determined by personal benefits. Stalin was guided only by the good of the state.
    NENADA TO EQUAL TWO THESE APPROACHES !!!
    1. 0
      20 February 2014 11: 36
      "From the point of view of political science, totalitarianism is a form of relationship between society and power, in which political power takes complete (total) control of society, completely controlling all aspects of a person's life. Any form of opposition is brutally and mercilessly suppressed or suppressed by the state. Also an important feature of totalitarianism is to create the illusion of full approval by the people of the actions of this government. " Wikipedia
      The phenomenon itself has little relation to the economic structure. Perhaps, even often, this phenomenon has had some economic success in individual states, only I don’t want something to be in control of all aspects of my life, I work honestly, I never offend anyone, I don’t cause troubles to anyone and for me - well, he Nayuh, this total control.
      1. +4
        20 February 2014 12: 29
        The theory of totalitarianism developed in the 40-50-s of the last century. The first to try to seriously understand the essence of totalitarianism were the Germans, forced to emigrate from Nazi Germany. First, Franz Borkenau, who published the book “Totalitarian Enemy” in London in 1939. Later - Hannah Arendt, author of the famous work “The Origin of Totalitarianism” (1951). Karl Friedrich, who wrote together with Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Totalitarian Dictatorship and Autocracy” (1956), was, according to reference books, “an American political scientist of German descent.” Theodore Adorno, who left Germany in the 30's, although he is not usually ranked among a host of researchers of totalitarianism, made his “Authoritarian Personality” a significant contribution to understanding the psychological background of the totalitarian phenomenon. And among modern analysts we see Karl Bracher, Manfred Funke, Erich Nolte - also Germans.

        This "German accent" is hardly accidental. No matter how the essence of totalitarianism is determined, no matter what features it reveals, one thing is obvious and certain: totalitarianism is primarily anti-humanism.

        I do not attribute the Stalin regime to the inhuman, and you?

        PYSYT, by the way about total control, but how can you avoid events like those that are taking place in Ukraine now, without total control? Opponents of total control are precisely those who are trying to make a coup in this country, or those who are not stupid who do not understand this ...
      2. AK-47
        0
        20 February 2014 12: 32
        Quote: zart_arn
        ... I honestly work, I never offend anyone, I do not cause troubles to anyone, and for me - well, Naiuh, this total control.
        Minus set by mistake, sorry, compensated. hi
      3. +3
        20 February 2014 12: 55
        by this definition: in Western countries the very thing that totalitarianism is
        those. aspects of a person’s life under control (see Snowden), and the whole press is in the same hands - accordingly, everyone thinks the same, manifestations of the opposition (such as demonstrations in France) are suppressed quickly and severely

        and we have many times more freedom
        1. +1
          20 February 2014 14: 05
          Quote: Poppy
          by this definition: in Western countries the very thing that totalitarianism is

          And there was always, just just now they completed it completely. They have purely theoretical freedom of speech and freedom of thought has been eliminated to the root. If you look at their absurd legislation, which we laugh at, with their rules for using for example microwave ovens (you can’t dry cats and dogs, about fish (living, non-living), etc. unspeakably means a bunch of rules and laws to be adopted), you can see that the intervention of many rules in their lives is similar to a computer program and everything human is gradually squeezed out of them.
        2. 0
          20 February 2014 15: 23
          Quote: Poppy
          and we have many times more freedom



          That's right!
      4. +3
        20 February 2014 13: 38
        "I work honestly, I never offend anyone, I do not cause trouble for anyone, and for me - well, his nayuh, this total control." ---- I also work honestly, and I have nothing to hide, but I am not against control, so that some rogue does not appear next to me who does not like how I work or what religious rites I observe. The task of the state is to prevent extremism and to equalize everyone in rights, and to put the strong "rightists" in their place, and my task is to support such a policy of the state. And if the state itself is more to the right of the "right", then there is Ukraine, who is to blame - the authorities.
        1. 0
          20 February 2014 13: 56
          but I’m not against control, so that some kind of scumbag doesn't appear next to me, who doesn’t like the way I work or what religious rites I celebrate.

          This is called rule of law. Totalitarianism is a form of manifestation of lawlessness, when laws are replaced by concepts, strong will, etc. There is no guarantee that totalitarianism will not accidentally hook you.
        2. 0
          20 February 2014 15: 19
          Quote: varov14
          I also work honestly, and I have nothing to hide, but I am not against control, so that some scoundrel does not appear next to me who does not like how I work or what religious rites I perform. The task of the state is to prevent extremism and to equalize everyone in rights, and to put the strong "rightists" in their place, and my task is to support such a policy of the state.

          The state is power, theoretically, power belongs to the people and in fact not. If power will belong to the people, why do we need totalitarianism? After all, then control from outside is not needed; you yourself will cope with such a joke - it will depend only on you. The problem is that the people have no power and all discussions about xxxxxisms are meaningless.
    2. +2
      20 February 2014 12: 01
      Quote: ...
      In connection with the Sochi Olympics, many chronic diseases of public consciousness have considerably exacerbated.


      Especially pleased with the Canadian professionals, "geniuses" and "wizards". For what question do they come here? Let them knock down where they are warmer, and the national team should be one of their own played and not afraid to get injured and be fined for this according to the contract
    3. -1
      20 February 2014 13: 21
      "Hence the conclusion, again they are trying to draw a parallel between the USSR and Hitler Germany, totalitarianism is a phenomenon of voluntarism based purely on the personal idea of ​​a leader conditioned by personal benefits. Stalin was guided only by the benefit of the state." --- Personal benefits do not at all contradict the benefits of the state. The stronger, richer and more developed a state is, the greater can be personal benefits both in the eyes of neighbors and in the eyes of its own population. The latter can generally elevate to the rank of god. Wasserman is great.
    4. 0
      20 February 2014 23: 28
      maybe enough clothes for political clothes? capitalism. communism ... is China not totalitarian? and the result is obvious.
  2. +9
    20 February 2014 11: 15
    In terms of totalitarianism, the United States is certainly ahead of the rest ... Speaking of the United States, I always mean the US state, not the American people as a whole, which for the most part are good and hardworking. But the US state has long stolen from its people many rights and freedoms under far-fetched pretexts, even the right to privacy. The US state is now exclusively engaged in forcing the interests of transnational capital and the global oligarchy, destroying the sovereignty of other states under the slogans of democracy and human rights. I repeat, I read American magazines during the perestroika period, in the original, dear mother. Our propaganda is Soviet and was not near. We bought on household items and material culture, I honestly admit.
    1. +4
      20 February 2014 11: 50
      I completely agree that the United States is the most totalitarian and bloodthirsty state, the main and unsurpassed achievement of which is the ability to lie, creating a virtuoso ligature of false propaganda, to convince everyone of the validity of their own ambitions and the poor quality of other people's orders, moral norms and regimes - this is the true "empire of evil", which it was from its very foundation.
    2. 0
      20 February 2014 14: 25
      Quote: Altona
      Speaking of the United States, I always mean the US state, and not the American people as a whole, which for the most part are good and hardworking.

      Well, yes, well, yes - if you collect their bank employees (with branches around the world), lawyers, psychoanalysts, special services and the military, journalist and showmen, you will get the number of half the country, as well as remember the Indian safari with scalps and the national entertainment of shooting on buffaloes from trains and much more, including the approval of the majority of the escalation of the infection of the world with "democracy", calls to bomb the Czech Republic for what seems to be the "Czech" brothers, the Chechens detonated a couple of bombs they have (not so long ago) and much much more - of course there are sane people there, but they are an insignificant minority and therefore I do not feel sorry for them.
      1. +1
        20 February 2014 18: 09
        Quote: Ivan.
        Well, yes, yes, yes - if you collect their bank employees (with branches around the world), lawyers, psychoanalysts, special services and the military, magazine magazine and showmen, you get the number in half the country

        ----------------------
        Why are you so evil? I meant simple hard workers, although factories in the United States are closing en masse. Farmers, engineers, programmers ... They are not mediocre people ... And what you remember, these characters and we breed with terrible force ... The costs of the system, so to speak ... Of course, the nation is intensely zombified and distracted false goals, I don't even condemn them for "approving" democracy ... American propaganda is strong ...
        1. -1
          20 February 2014 19: 26
          Quote: Altona
          I meant simple hard workers,

          They were not lucky to become bankers, and so they are no different.
          Quote: Altona
          And what you remembered, these characters and we breed with terrible force ... The costs of the system, so to speak

          They do not breed, they are produced with the full support of "simple workers" through which people die in our country.
          I don’t have any anger at them, I just don’t want to justify those who abandoned reason and are a mechanism in the hands of evil. A bunch of bankers is nothing without performers and logistical support.
          I had a friend there, a countrywoman lived there for some years, after that I met her, I began to say that the fact that you live poorly is your fault and the United States is not at all involved in this, I replied to the request to write in Russian that I must respect the nagli language, otherwise it will deprive me of the honor of talking to me, naturally I said goodbye. But she graduated from a Russian school in Moldova, and then she was about 35 at a Bulgarian university. There are some who move from their paradise to Russia and it can be seen that they become humanized over time - this can be seen by behavior, by conversation, by eyes. As in the matrix, each non-awakened potential enemy. They will not hesitate to kill your family and do everything that their owners tell them, they are zombies. Voluntarily chipped there already a lot and the situation is constantly deteriorating, they lost the battle for their country and their consciousness, I'd rather pity their victims. In order not to be misunderstood, I do not equal everyone in a row; I am not prejudiced by people; there live different people including those who are lawless and repressed or simply not stupid, I’m talking about the majority.
  3. +2
    20 February 2014 11: 31
    Do good, totally do.
    1. 0
      20 February 2014 12: 36
      ___________
    2. stroporez
      0
      20 February 2014 12: 40
      Quote: 787nkx
      Do good, totally do.
      --the main thing Schaub was no one left ....... wassat
  4. 0
    20 February 2014 11: 36
    The meaning of the word Totalitarianism according to Ephraim: One of the forms of organization of an authoritarian state, characterized by its complete domination of all aspects of life.

    Basically, the Water Man (Wasser'man) is right.

    In all states there is a vertical of power - this is the essence of building a society on the principle of "states", with the tip of the pyramid resting on the one who is for everyone and on the cross he is ...

    Regarding what, it seems, with a variety of cultures, there is a uniformity of architectures - so we are pale-faced, of the same blood and we have the same biblical concept, and culture is secondary to the concept ...

    Why are we being pitted against each other - so it would be easier to control, to divert the thoughts of the people from the battered enemies of humanity.
    "It's so important what color his eyes are, what shape is his nose ... what color is the feather behind the ear ..."
  5. +3
    20 February 2014 11: 54
    TOTALITARIANISM
    (from late Lat. totalitas - wholeness, completeness, totalis - whole, whole, complete) - a form of social structure, characterized by complete (total) control of the state and the ruling party over all aspects of society. The word "totalitarian" began to be used in con. 1920's in relation to the communist regime in Soviet Russia; subsequently, the national socialist regime in Germany began to be called totalitarian. T. is possible only in an industrial society, which is characterized by a centralized, capable of absorbing the entire state, rapid development of science and technology, means of communication and a sharp expansion of the possibilities of propaganda.
    T. is an extreme, aggressive and brutal form that entered the political arena in the 19 century. socialism or its interweaving with nationalism, less often - with religious extremism. T. is always fundamentally socialist, and socialism is constantly gravitating towards T. Socialism is the only viable form of a collectivist society that can challenge an individualistic capitalist society (see INDIVIDUALISTIC SOCIETY AND COLLECTIVISTIC SOCIETY). Socialism - and above all T. as its condensed manifestation - and capitalism turned out to be the two poles between which history unfolded in the 20 century.

    see Philosophy Encyclopedia.

    Now the situation in Russia is such that the totalitarian form of government is not in the way. And wherever these liberos were present in reality in Russia totalitarian governance seems to me a rhetorical question ...
    1. -1
      20 February 2014 13: 53
      "Now the situation in Russia is such that a totalitarian form of government will not hurt either." --- This is currently the only form of survival for our state. A tough dictatorship for the restoration of an industrially developed, strong and successful state, and personal interests or purely patriotic things are the tenth thing here.
    2. 0
      20 February 2014 14: 55
      Quote: name
      Now the situation in Russia is such that the totalitarian form of government is not in the way. And wherever these liberos were present in reality in Russia totalitarian governance seems to me a rhetorical question ...

      In my opinion, you confuse one-man management with taking full responsibility, including for unpopular measures to solve problems with totalitarianism, the essence of which is the suppression of dissent. In the West, and in many places in the east, dissent is strongly suppressed in our country, this also happened (and is now observed mainly by indirect methods), but not because of, and contrary to socialism. Strong dependence, and as with the kings, good-evil, smart-stupid, Stalin-Khrushchev, but it is difficult to change in a legal way. Cadres decide everything: Stalin is rarely born in us, and Jesus is even less likely, and therefore we have to correspond on our own, find something to live for, for the sake of well-being it’s petty, and over time they understand it differently because everyone is different.
  6. 0
    20 February 2014 11: 56
    The names are different, but the goal is one ...
  7. +2
    20 February 2014 12: 47
    Do not confuse what they say: the sinful with the righteous, for the USSR in the 30s there was a question to be or not to be, otherwise, without elements of totalitarianism, it was impossible. Now in Russia the situation is about the same, so that "liberalistic values" are roads only for liberals! And for us the road is Russia - strong, sovereign, capable of standing up for itself in any conditions.
    1. 0
      20 February 2014 15: 08
      Quote: polkovnik manuch
      for the USSR in the 30s the question was to be or not to be, otherwise, it was impossible without elements of totalitarianism.

      This is not the point, simply in power, thanks to the turmoil, there were not only different forces but also opposing forces, which resulted in repressions of the late 30s and therefore the ideological struggle was very strong. But as usual after the Stalinists, the Khrushchevs come and decompose what has been achieved. The wines of the hunchback who finished off the paralyzed state are less than the wines of the Khrushchevs and his accomplices, which by the time of the hunchback had become the majority, there ... at the top.
  8. +2
    20 February 2014 13: 40
    Quote: zart_arn
    only now I don’t want something to be in control of all aspects of my life, I work honestly, I never offend anyone, I don’t cause troubles to anyone and for me - well, Naiuh, this total control.

    I will take the responsibility to express the opinion that you, in this case, are either a sincerely mistaken naive person or a deliberate provocateur.
    I unconditionally believe that you personally work honestly and do not offend anyone. And will you take on a PERSONAL responsibility to oppose those who DELIBERATively want to steal something or offend everyone around them in order daily? And how, besides tight control - without falling into naive complacency - are going to entrust this to someone else. For example, the state?
    If in all honesty, then the lack of control that you are calling for is the diamond dream of all crooks and bandits. Or the closure of enterprises, their non-renewal and the export of profits abroad, leading to the degradation of the Russian economy, does not come from a lack of effective, even total control, every day?
    As for personal grudges. I also think that I work honestly. And about total state control, I recall an old grandmother's statement when we asked her why she doesn't keep curtains on the windows: "I don't take someone else's, I don't do dirty tricks. Whoever has no conscience, let him look."
    It turns out that everything is simple: you do not need to do any dirty tricks yourself. And then, indeed, - there is nothing to do with someone's control.
    1. 0
      20 February 2014 15: 31
      Well, you piled nonsense! Total control is primarily an ideology with all the consequences, and you are about the elementary observance of the rule of law, for the observance of which your opponent Paul advocates no less than yours.
  9. dmb
    +2
    20 February 2014 13: 58
    "Horses, people mixed up in a heap ..." - and ..., Wasserman among the guns. What did you want to say? That the Olympics were turned into a political sabbath, so in this (including Wasserman) everyone except the athletes succeeded. They work poorly, and well-fed "political scientists" on both sides attribute their achievements or shortcomings exclusively to the leader's wisdom or lack thereof. They are echoed by "commentators-analysts". "There are pogroms in Kiev, oh it will affect the Olympics." And ... you, people are dying there, and it is obvious blasphemy to tie athletic achievements to this, but rather obvious stupidity. Well, where does the Olympics, and the sinking of "Gustlovff" Marinescu. The appearance of this article can only be explained by one - at the box office "However" they give out royalties.
  10. 0
    20 February 2014 14: 01
    The USA, in the period described, was a totalitarian state led by dictator Roosevelt.
    The army is a priori totalitarian organization and decisions here are collegial, by vote, not accepted. Kornilov, in the corresponding period, the society put forward in the dictators to save Russia, but did not have time. The result is sad.
  11. 0
    20 February 2014 16: 05
    Signs of totalitarianism are inherent in any state, which, by definition, is an instrument of public violence against the individual. The opposite of the state is anarchy, that is, what we see now in the immediate neighbors. Totalitarianism will be an instrument of any state striving for survival, and not absorption by others.
    1. +1
      20 February 2014 17: 06
      Quote: inkass_98
      Signs of totalitarianism are inherent in any state,

      You reminded me ...
      After reading the medical encyclopedia, I found signs of all diseases except pregnancy and cadaveric spots aaaaaa I'm sick ...

      Some signs can always and everywhere be found even in men and women and vice versa. A totalitarian state is essentially a state in which integrity must be maintained by force in the complete absence of external influence, and there are a lot of signs including ideology, but ideology is not a sign of purely totalitarianism.
  12. 0
    20 February 2014 20: 33
    It's funny that Jackie Chan had to apologize later for the phrase in the blog "With the Chinese you need to be stricter, they don't understand softness" ... But in our country, the constant reminder of the whip is perceived by a part of society almost as a lust - well, you need to beat us all sometimes ... Of course, I understand Wasserman, he settled down well, writes articles that are exclusively necessary for his current owners and gets good money. About how to properly march into the army, although of course he never served and did not go himself. About how it is not scary and historically correct to sacrifice a part of citizens, although, of course, he does not include himself in this part ...

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