Totalitarian Propaganda

• Only the mob and the elite are attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself; the masses must be won by propaganda.

• Under constitutional government and freedom of opinion, totalitarian movements can use terror only to a limited extent and must compete with other parties to win support.

• In totalitarian countries with absolute control, propaganda is replaced by indoctrination.

• Violence is used less to frighten people (done mainly in initial stages) and more to enforce ideological doctrines and practical lies.

• Totalitarian regimes do not just deny facts (e.g., unemployment), but alter policies to align with propaganda (e.g., abolishing unemployment benefits).

• This aligns with the socialist doctrine: “He who does not work shall not eat.”

• Stalin rewrote history by destroying old books, documents, authors, and readers, marking the end of a superpurge of Soviet intellectuals.

• Nazis used antisemitic propaganda initially in occupied Eastern territories without terror to gain control.

• Mass killings (e.g., of Polish intelligentsia) were based on ideological beliefs, not opposition.

• Kidnapping of children aimed to preserve “Germanic blood”, not to intimidate.

• Totalitarian propaganda appeals to an external sphere: nontotalitarian populations domestically or abroad.

• Even after power seizure, propaganda targets population segments not fully indoctrinated.

• Hitler’s wartime speeches to generals were propaganda filled with monstrous lies to maintain support.

• The external sphere includes sympathizers not ready for full acceptance and even some party members needing ongoing propaganda.

• Hitler often was sincere and brutal in stating true aims, but public was unprepared to acknowledge this consistency.

• Totalitarian regimes aim to restrict propaganda mostly to foreign policy or movement branches abroad.

• Conflicts between indoctrination at home and propaganda abroad are explained as “temporary tactical maneuvers” (e.g., Soviet Russia during WWII).

• Distinction between ideological doctrine (for insiders) and propaganda (for outsiders) exists even before gaining power.

• Relationship between propaganda and indoctrination depends on movement size and outside pressure.

• Smaller movements expend more energy on propaganda; greater outside pressure increases propaganda efforts by totalitarian regimes.

• Propaganda necessities are dictated by the outside world; totalitarian movements themselves indoctrinate rather than truly propagate.

• Indoctrination, often combined with terror, increases with the strength of the movement and its isolation from outside interference.

• Propaganda is part of psychological warfare, but terror goes beyond that and continues even after psychological aims are met.

• Terror’s real horror lies in reigning over a completely subdued population.

• In places like concentration camps, terror is perfected and propaganda disappears, even banned in Nazi Germany.

• Terror is the essence of totalitarian government, independent of subjective factors, like laws in constitutional states.

• Terror played a greater role in Nazism than in Communism.