TOTALITARIANISM: EUROPE IN RUINS by https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz Benito Mussolini - Adolf Hitler - Francisco Franco en-us 2020-08-29 00:27:18 UTC 2025-12-05 01:40:03 UTC hello@padlet.com TOTALITARIANISM: Definition 1 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706323729 "Totalitarianism strives not to despotic dominion over the people, but to establish such a system in which people are unnecessary."
Hannah Arendt
I believe that what the author means, by this definition, is that in a totalitarian government, individual freedom is not allowed; it is expected a complete subordination to the authority. Moreover, in such system opposition parties are also forbidden. The lives of all the citizens are under the control of the state, through the use of repression and coercion. Traditional organizations and social institutions are also supressed, making people follow only one single aim, the one established by the government. Thus, nothing outside the system can exist in terms of culture, religion and politics. All the activities of the individuals are controlled and they are subordinated to national ends. All the decisions are made by the rulers and people have no role in the decision making. (Viviana Fagini)]]> 2020-08-29 00:43:49 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706323729 TOTALITARIANISM: Definition 2 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706325712 “Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.”
Mussolini
This concept of totalitarianism was first used in the context of Italian fascism and adopted by Benito Mussolini in one of his speeches. To me it represents a straight definition of the term.
A totalitarian government permits no individual freedom and seeks to subordinate all aspects’ of the individual’s private lives and personalities, entirely to the authority of the government (or to the supreme leader). Totalitarianism demands that citizens become wholly subjects. (Leticia Corbo)


]]> 2020-08-29 00:47:19 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706325712 I T A L Y leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706328143  Political aspect 
  • It was split most of Italian constitutional and conventional safeguards against government autocracy. 
  • Elections were abolished. 
  • Free speech and free association disappeared.
  • The Fascist government dissolved opposition parties and unions. 

Fascist "March on Rome": "Fascism wants power, and will have it" - Mussolini, October 27, 1922.
]]> 2020-08-29 00:51:46 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706328143 G E R M A N Y leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706328478 Political aspect
  • All existing political parties were banned. The Nazi was declared the only political party in Germany in July 1933. 
  • As a chancellor, Hitler passed the Enabling Act (March 1933) that allowed him to sanction new laws without interference, for a period of four years.  
  • 1933: the first concentration camp in Dachau is opened to house political prisoners. 
  • 1934: after the death of Hindenburg, Hitler took the titles of Fürer, chancellor, and commander in chief of the army, as well as leader of the Nazi Party.
  • The hierarchy  was structured as a pyramid where there were organizations to control young, women and workers at the bottom, in the middle there were party members and officials, and at the top there were Hitler and his closest associates.  

A "law to remedy the distress of people and the Reich" enabled Hitler one step closer to establishing a dictatorship. Without the need of Parliamet approval, Hitler was able to enact laws.
]]> 2020-08-29 00:52:23 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706328478 S P A I N leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706328642 Political aspect
  • Franco presided a military dictatorship with the support of a regular civil structure derived from the antileftist middle class.
  • He fused the Falange (Spanish fascist party) on 1937, but making it clear that it was the government using the party, not the other way around. 
  • Franco’s regime became an institutionalized authoritarian system, differing in this respect from the fascist party-states of the German and Italian models.
  • This authoritarian regime came to power in the aftermath of the Civil War. Until his death in November 1975, Franco ruled Spain as "Caudillo by the grace of God," as his coins proclaimed. 
  • He was also chief of state and head of government, the ultimate source of legitimate authority. 
  • He retained the power to appoint and to dismiss ministers and other decision makers.
]]> 2020-08-29 00:52:39 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706328642 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706332565 Economic aspect
  • Mussolini believed in private  ownership and government control of the economy.
  • Private properties were allowed as long as the owners’  interests were in concordance with the ones of the state.
  • The government stated what they can or cannot do. 
  •  Alberto De’ Stefani was appointed as Minister of Finance. He simplified the tax code, cut taxes, curbed spending, liberalized trade restrictions and abolished rent controls. 
  • In 1925 De’ Stefani was dismissed and different cartels (the  National Fascist Confederation of Industry, the National Fascist Confederation of Agriculture, the National Fascist Confederation of Commerce and the National Fascist Confederation of Banking) for businesses, banks, labour unions, farmers and professional people were established.
  •  After the 1929 crisis the previous deflationary process got worse, even when the government increased spending on building roads and on welfare in order to provide employment.
]]> 2020-08-29 00:59:34 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706332565 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706333938 Social aspect
  • Preservation of social hierarchy is of interest of all classes.
  • Class collaboration: people had to accept their role and respect their duties, no matter  what social class they belonged to. 
  • Machism and a cult of personality that attributed Mussolini quasi-divine capacities were promoted. 
  • School and university teachers had to swear an oath to defend the fascist regime.
  • Newspaper editors were chosen by Mussolini and they had to have a certificate of approval from the fascist party.

    Mussolini's cult of personality. 
]]> 2020-08-29 01:02:07 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706333938 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706348834 Economic aspect
  • Public works, which included building hospitals, schools, and public buildings (the Olympic Stadium), 
  • 7,000 kms of autobahns (providing  work for 80,000 men).
  • Rearmament was responsible for the majority of economic growth between 1933 and 1938. 
  • 3.5 billion marks was spent on producing tanks, aircraft and ships.
  • Use of oil, iron and steel all tripled, creating a variety of different jobs.
  • Unemployment Relief Act (June 1933) aimed to reduce unemployment and indoctrinate the workforce. Every man between 18-25 had to:
    - complete six months training at the RAD
    -  wear military uniform
    - live in camps
    - receive pocket money only - no wages                                                         -  do military/physical exercise every day such as planting forests and digging ditches on farms
  • The labour Font: replaced trade unions and stated wages according to the employers’ wishes.
  • Strength through Joy (KdF) rewarded workers (theatre, picnic, cheap or free holidays, evening classes). 
  • Beauty of Labour: improve work conditions (canteens, toilets).
  • However:                                  - There were 1.4 million men in the army at this time.                                  - Jews who were sacked had to give their jobs to non-Jews.
  • Women were encouraged to give up their jobs to men. 
  •  Monopolies controlled 70% of the production.
  •  20% of small businesses closed due to rules of opening.
  •  Farmers benefited from a 20% increase in agricultural prices and wages. 
  • Hereditary Farm Law (1933) prevented farms from being recovered from their owners.
]]> 2020-08-29 01:29:55 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706348834 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706350573 Religious aspect
  • Christianity was seen as a threat.
  • Control of the churches: Reich Church was established to unify the different branches of Protestantism under the leadership of the Nazi Bishop, Ludwig Müller.
  • 1933: Hitler agreed a Concordat with the Pope which stated there was not interfere in the running of the Catholic Church as long as they stayed out of political matters.
  • Catholic schools and youth organizations were suppressed.
  • Many Protestants who opposed to Nazi´s religious decisions were sent to concentration camps.
]]> 2020-08-29 01:32:53 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706350573 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706352117 Social aspect 
  • Women had a step-back in their rights: 
       - They were expected to stay at home , look after the family and "produce" children.
       - They lives should circle round the three Ks: Kinder (children), Küche (kitchen) and Kirche church)
  • In order to grow the Aryan population  it was introduced the Law for the Encouragement of Marriage (1933) that provided new couples with a loan of 1,000 marks, and allowed them to keep 250 marks for each child they had.
  •  Mother´s Cross Awards rewarded mothers with large number of children.  
  • Lebensborn allowed women to volunteer had a baby for an Aryan member of the SS. 
  •  Law for the Reduction of Unemployment gave women a financial incentive to stay at home. 
  • Jews, Slavs, gipsies, gay and disabled people were considered as inferior groups, and a threat to the Aryan race. So they were persecuted in some cases by the sterilisation and in others they were sent to concentration camps. 
]]> 2020-08-29 01:35:55 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706352117 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706591288 2020-08-29 13:30:42 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706591288 Bibliography leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706597259 BBC (n/d) Nazi economic, social and racial policy. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/zw6s7p3/revision/1
 
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n/d). Italy. Retrieved August 19, 2020, from: https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy
 
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (2019). Nazi Party. Retrieved August 25, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nazi-Party
 
Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n/d). Spain. Retrieved August 30, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Spain

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n/d). Franco's dictatorship. Retrieved from
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francisco-Franco/Francos-dictatorship

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n/d). Italy. Retrieved September 2, 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy/End-of-the-regime

Llewellyn, J., Southey, J. and Thompson, S. Religion in nazi Germany. Retrieved August 9, 2015 from https://alphahistory.com/nazigermany/religion-in-nazi-germany/

OERAscertain Productions (2018, March 24). What is Totalitarian Government, Totalitarian State, Totalitarianism (Model Answer) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKndDEFKrTg

OER services. (n/d). Italy under Mussolini. Retrieved September 2, 2020 from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/italy-under-mussolini/

Powell, J. (2012). The Economic Leadership Secrets of Benito Mussolini. Retrieved August 20, 2020 from https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/economic-leadership-secrets-benito-mussolini

Wikipedia (July 15, 2020). Class collaboration. Retrieved September 2, 2020 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_collaboration
]]> 2020-08-29 13:44:45 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706597259 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706833562 Education
  • From the age of ten boys and girls were encouraged to join the Hitler´s Youth and the German Maidens respectively. Boys were prepared to be future soldiers while girls were prepare for future motherhood.
  • Schools indoctrinated young people in the political and racial ideas of Nazism.
]]> 2020-08-29 21:51:30 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706833562 Final comments leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706983893 While Franco imitated Mussolini and Hitler to a large degree, and all three did have some important things in common, there were also a few significant ideological differences between them.

In a way, Franco’s government did not pursue totalitarian domination of all social, cultural or the economy as a whole despite the extreme degree of control. It also lacked the ideological impulse which is an essential characteristic of totalitarian regimes. For these and other reasons, Franco’s regime was sometimes defined as authoritarian rather than totalitarian. Historically, there has been an endless controversy between analysts referring the fascist component of Franco’s rule. During its early days, it was considered to be fascist as the Falangist party showed patterns of fascism. However, the Falange never played a major role in the new state later merging into the National Movement under Franco’s direct control. 

Franco’s objective was reversing the progressive reforms of the Second Spanish Republic referring gender equality, secularism, labour rights, etc. and in fact, that was exactly what he did, as under his regime Spain became provincial, conservative and backwards looking. With reference to cultural aspects, he did not respect tradition nor minorities, imposing a centralized Castilian identity, and banning Basque, Catalan and Galician languages. 

One important difference was their relation towards religion. Mussolini’s fascism was extremely secular, even anti-religious and above everything anti Catholic, openly hostile towards the Pope and the Vatican. On the other hand, Franco’s regime was aligned with the Roman Catholic Church, in accordance with the prevalence of such a conservative ideology. As for the Nazi attitudes toward religion, they were complex. Most of the Nazis were Christian or supported Christian values. However, they saw the influence of churches as threat to the Nazi program. 

In all three regimes, women were despised and considered as intellectually inferior beings, relegated to housework or to serve either their husbands and family, or the State. Children were indoctrinated in schools or in youth organizations. Education and the use of propaganda, were valuable tools to spread the fascist and authoritarian ideology.

Undoubtedly, all of them stand out for being systems in which a limited number of people have the totality of the political power, and this extended to every other aspect of human life. 
]]> 2020-08-30 04:15:36 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/706983893 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707305966 Pretending to give his period a sense of constitutionalism, Franco decreed 7 fundamental laws:
-          The Labor Charter (March, 1938) stressing the mutual obligations of the state and its citizens. All Spaniards had the duty to work and the state had to assure them the right to work. While the decree mentioned adequate wages, a limit of working hours and paid vacations, in fact was a way of ensuring labor’s compliance with the regime considering strikes as treason. 
-          The Constituent Law of the Cortes (1942). Cortes (or the Spanish Parliament) functioned as an advisory body. However, it was far from being a democratic legislature as most of his members were part of the administration. Its “power” was reduced to approving laws presented by the executive. On the other hand, the law allowed Franco to legislate by decree without consulting the Cortes. The members of the Council of Ministers, were appointed and dismissed by Franco who also presided the Council, exercising executive authority.
-          The Charter of Rights (1945). Fixed rights and duties of Spaniards. 
-          The Law of Referenda (1945). Issues of national concern were supposed to be submitted for the consideration of Spanish citizens by popular referenda. Once again, it represented an attempt to make the regime appear less arbitrary because Franco had the solo right to decide when a referendum would be called. 
-          The Law of Succession (1947) was the first law to be submitted to popular referendum. Spain was declared a “Catholic, social and representative monarchy”, and Franco regent for life, had the authority to name the next king and/or to revoke his choice. 90% of the total amount of voters approved the measures, solidifying and making legitimate Franco’s position.
-          The Law on the Principles of the National Movement (1958). The law reaffirmed Spain as a traditional Catholic monarchy. All government officials had to pledge loyalty to the principles contained in this law. The National Movement, a coalition of right-wing groups, was the only recognized political organization. It was formed by monarchists, Falangists, Catholics, members of the armed forces, business groups, in between others and they only had one thing in common: their loyalty to Franco.
 -          The Organic Law of the State (1966). Established a separation between the functions of the president of government and the head of state. Again, it pretended to show some kind of democratic spirit when in fact retained the clear structure of an authoritarian system.

]]> 2020-08-30 14:58:45 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707305966 leticraven https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707309475 Social aspect
  • The regime abolished regional governamental bodies and became a centralized state.
  •  Measures against the use of the Basque and the Catalan languages were enacted.
  • Liberal leflists and the working class part of society supported the Popular Front, as expected the conservative upper classes encouraged Franco’s government.
  • Franco also eliminated universal suffrage and limited freedom of expression and association.
  • Role of women in society suffered a significant setback and her destiny was to be a mother and a wife. She was considered intellectualy inferior to men so she didn't have a social active place.

The enclosed video is a must watch!!!
]]> 2020-08-30 15:05:47 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707309475 fagini1004 https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707596675 Economic aspect
  • First decade of government: due to the destruction of the Civil War the economic recovery was difficult - especially of railways, rolling stock and communication in general. 
  • But, there was also loss of skill labour , bad droughts, shortage of foreign exchange, restriction of imports of capital goods (imposed by WWII)
  • Autarky: aimed at economic self-sufficiency through the control of prices and industrial development, by the state.
  • National incomes fell to levels of 1900
  • Rise of Black Market and misery in rural areas due to the famine in the 1940s.
  • Migration to the shantytowns of the cities
  • 1959- Stabilization Plan: Spain abandoned the protectionism in favour of market economy and the opening of international trade and foreign investment. Restore financial stability by controlling inflation. 
  • 1963- Development Plan: based on the French Plan, it encouraged the private sector. 
  • Growth rates more than 7% between 1962-66
  • Increase in tourism
  • Foreign investment 
  • Rural exodus
  • Spain became a modern industrialized country.
]]> 2020-08-30 23:07:27 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707596675 fagini1004 https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707598177 Religious aspect
  • While the previous Popular Front government was clearly anticlerical, Franco’s regime established policies restoring the Catholic Church as the official religion of Spain.
  • The Church received government subsidies and regained its position in the education system according to the Catholic dogma. 
]]> 2020-08-30 23:09:13 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/707598177 fagini1004 https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/714689238 Religious aspect
  • The Vatican supported Mussolini in the early years.
  • Lateran Treaty: Vatican City became an independent state, church weddings were recognised as valid in civil law, and religious education in secondary.

Mussolini signed the Lateran Agreements with Pope Pius XI in 1929, which recognised the Vatican as a territory solely governed by the Pope, thus regulating the position of the church in Italy.
]]> 2020-09-02 13:11:43 UTC https://padlet.com/leticraven/lcvk6cphnw48ociz/wish/714689238