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| [[File:Palazzo Braschi Fascist Poster, 1934.png|right|thumb|Façade of the Palazzo Braschi (Rome, 1934) with fascist dictator [[Benito Mussolini|Benito Mussolini's]] face. As the leader of [[Fascist Italy]], Mussolini and his ideologues used the term ''totalitarian'' to characterize his government.]] | | #REDIRECT [[Authoritarianism#Totalitarianism]] |
| '''Totalitarianism''' is a form of government in which the [[state]] has total, unrestricted control over the affairs of citizens. Totalitarianism is intimately related with [[fascism]], which represents the total merging of state and [[capital]] for the repression of the [[proletariat]] via the absolute restriction of all nominal [[Bourgeois democracy|bourgeois democratic]] civil and political freedoms.
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| <blockquote>"For the Fascist, everything is the State, and nothing human or spiritual exists, much less has value, outside the State. In this sense Fascism is totalitarian." — Benito Mussolini</blockquote>
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| ==Usage in bourgeois academia==
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| Bourgeois academics commonly use the term "totaltarianism" to attack [[Socialist state|socialist states]] such as the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics]] and [[People's Republic of China]] under [[Joseph Stalin]] and [[Mao Zedong]] respectively.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totalitarianism "Totalitarianism"]. ''Wikipedia''. Retrieved August 5, 2025.</ref><ref>[https://www.britannica.com/topic/totalitarianism "Totalitarianism"]. ''Encyclopedia Britannica''. Retrieved August 5, 2025.<blockquote>"Other modern examples of totalitarian states include the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler, the People’s Republic of China under Mao Zedong, and North Korea under the Kim dynasty."</blockquote></ref> In this way, they seek to conflate [[socialism]] with fascism. However, this label is erroneous; socialist [[democracy]] offered much greater and more meaningful freedoms in comparison to their capitalist counter-parts. This is in addition to the fact that totalitarianism is a capitalist concept.<ref>Saula Wenger (January 2023) [https://wisconsincommunist.blogspot.com/2023/08/is-socialism-totalitarian.html "Is Socialism Totalitarian?"]. ''Wisconsin Communist''. Retrieved August 5, 2025.</ref>
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| <blockquote>The foreign reactionaries who accuse us of practicing 'dictatorship' or 'totalitarianism' are the very persons who practice it. They practice the dictatorship or totalitarianism of one class, the bourgeoisie, over the proletariat and the rest of the people. They are the very persons Sun Yat-sen spoke of as the bourgeoisie of modern states who oppress the common people. And it is from these reactionary scoundrels that Chiang Kai-shek learned his counter-revolutionary dictatorship. —Mao Zedong, [[Library:On the People's Democratic Dictatorship|''On the People's Democratic Dictatorship'']]</blockquote>
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| ==See also==
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| * [[Authoritarianism]]
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| ==References==
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| {{Reflist}}
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| [[Category:Forms of government]][[Category:Refuting myths]]
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