Tox:

I rather recommend you the very best book on this subject (incredibly, not out-dated nor surpassed after so many years): The origins of Totalitarianism by philosopher Hannah Arendt, one of the brightest minds of the century without a doubt.

As the only two true Totalitarian régimes that have ever existed, the similarities between the two cannot be matched by any other dictatorships. What made these régimes different from the ones of Mussolini, Franco, Mao, Galtieri, Pinochet, Amin, Hussein, Khrushchov? First, that the sphere of influence of the State was total and for that, the régime needed a permanent state of convulsion: it could not stabilise because that meant a decrease of total controll. Totalitarianism also cannot exist in countries with a small population: it recquires a population large enough to get rid of a large number of people (the enemies of the totalitarian ideal, made up by the régime and turned in by the terrified population, seeking to keep its own status quo for at least another day) without anyone noticing. That is why Nazi Germany was not a truly totalitarian dictatorship until 1939, when it finally came to controll a huge population. Also, totalitarianism ended in the Soviet Unio with the death of Stalin, as did it in Germany with Hitler's suicide.

That's just some of the things contained in Arendt's book. It is one of the greatest and deepest annalysis there are of either Nazi Germany and Stalin's Soviet Union. It's a MUST read, the Bible for the researchers of totalitarianism.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun