A 'Brave' New World : On Principles of a Totalitarian State

How can we define a totalitarian state? Was Stalinist Russia or Nazi Germany one? What is the difference between a totalitarian state and a dictatorship?

What kind of a society is the one depicted in Brave New World? Is the World State a totalitarian state? Is it a dictatorship? Is it a technocracy?

Some thoughts on the matter of the concepts introduced:

1. Totalitarian societies are hierarchies dominated by one political party and usually by a single leader.

2. The party penetrates the entire country through regional, provincial, local and "primary" (party-cell) organization. Youth, professional, cultural, and sports groups supplement the party's political control.

3. A paramilitary secret police ensures compliance. (The Gestapo, Angka, etc.) Information and ideas are effectively organized through the control of television, radio, the press, and education at all levels.

4. Totalitarian regimes differ from older concepts of dictatorship or tyranny. Totalitarian regimes seek to establish complete political, social and cultural control, whereas dictatorships seek limited, typically political, control.

5. Two types of totalitarianism can sometimes be distinguished: "right-wing" extremism (such as fascism and nacism), and "left-wing" extremism (such as communism). Traditionally, each is supported by different social classes. Right-wing totalitarian movements have generally drawn their popular support primarily from middle classes seeking to maintain the economic and social status quo. Left-wing totalitarianism has often developed from working class movements seeking, in theory, to eliminate, not preserve, class distinctions. Right-wing totalitarianism has typically supported and enforced the private ownership of industrial wealth. A distinguishing feature of Communism, by contrast, is the collective ownership of such capital.

6. Totalitarian regimes mobilize and make use of mass political participation, and often are led by charismatic cult figures. (Mao Tse-tung (China), Josef Stalin (Soviet Union), Pol Pot (Kampuchea) who led left-wing regimes, and Adolf Hitler (Germany) and Benito Mussolini (Italy), who led right-wing regimes. )

7. Right-wing totalitarian regimes (particularly the Nazis) have arisen in relatively advanced societies, relying on the support of traditional economic elites to attain power. In contrast, left-wing totalitarian regimes have arisen in relatively undeveloped countries through the unleashing of revolutionary violence and terror. Such violence and terror are also the primary tools of right-wing totalitarian regimes to maintain compliance with authority.