The Origins of Totalitarianism — A Human Rights Day Book Review

International Human Rights Day is the perfect time to review a classic book. Find out why The Origins of Totalitarianism is rated one of the top non-fiction books of the 20th century.

Let’s mark this year’s International Human Rights Day by revisiting one of the twentieth century’s top non-fiction books. It’s about the rise of Nazism and Stalinism during the era of the two World Wars.

We’re talking about political theorist Hannah Arendt’s first major work called The Origins of Totalitarianism. She first published it in 1951 and released major new versions of it in 1958 and 1968. She divided the book into three parts- Anti-Semitism, Imperialism and Totalitarianism. Human Rights Defenders recognize Arendt’s book as a classic because of its provocative observations.

Erendt argues that totalitarianism arose from three social movements. These are antisemitism, colonial imperialism and militant nationalism. Although her book is a product of the Cold War era, it seemed eerily relevant as I re-read it in these final weeks of 2020.

Anti-Semitism

In Part One, Anti-Semitism, Arendt traces the origins of anti-Jewish discrimination. She points to the paradox of the Jewish community, being alternately admired and resented throughout European history.

Arendt focuses a large portion of Part One on the infamous Dreyfus Affair. Alfred Dreyfus was an officer of the French General Staff. He also happened to be Jewish.

The French government accused him of spying for Germany. The court found him guilty in a secret trial and gave him a life sentence on Devil’s Island. His supporters insisted that he was framed and that the documents used against him were forged.

Dreyfus Affair Ultimately Never Settled

The authorities released him after a series of appeals, but the affair was ultimately never settled. Arendt argues that the Dreyfus affair would have faded into obscurity except for two factors.

As she puts it, “The Dreyfus Affair in its political implications could survive because two of its elements grew in importance during the twentieth century. The first is hatred of the Jews; the second, suspicion of the republic itself, of Parliament and the state machine.”

This combination of an ethnic scapegoat and distrust of public institutions reminded me of today’s political climate. Immigrants and refugees, whether from Latin America or Syria, have become the scapegoats. At the same time, populist movements denounce the “fake news” and call for a leader who will “drain the swamp.”

Imperialism

Part Two of the book is called Imperialism. This section is very influential because it’s the first time an author connected racism and colonialism.

This is an accepted foundation of today’s critical race theory. Still, this part of the book has also always been controversial. Not everyone supports Arendt’s argument that imperialism is rooted in racism.

She describes the late nineteenth century and the period leading up to WWI as a time of relentless growth and global expansion for the European powers. She explains the dynamic by which the central philosophy of that period was a worldview based on gaining and holding onto power.

History of the Idea of Race

She then discusses the history of the idea of race. As Arendt puts it, “Racism has been the powerful ideology of imperialistic policies since the turn of our century.” She supports this theory by pointing to the work of Arthur de Gobineau.

She summarizes Gobineau’s views like this. “The fall of civilizations is due to a degeneration of race, and the decay of race is due to a mixture of blood.” Today, we all know that this is nonsense.

Even so, in 2019, U.S. congressman Steve King said this about contraception. “”Preventing babies being born is not medicine. That’s not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birthrate get down below the replacement rate, we’re a dying civilization.”

Powerful Combination of Racism and Bureaucracy

Having gone over the origin of what she calls “race thinking,” Arendt discusses how the powerful combination of racism and bureaucracy was central to imperialist thought. She shows how this was especially true in South Africa and on the rest of the African continent.

The Age of Imperialism ends with the beginning of the First World War. Arendt shows us that this absurd and catastrophic conflict nearly wiped out the ideas of the nation-state and the “rights of man.”

She argues that the loss of these two things set the stage for totalitarianism. As she explains, “The paradox involved in the loss of human rights is that such loss coincides with the instant when a person becomes a human being in general-without a profession, without a citizenship without an opinion without a deed with which to identify and specify himself-and different in general, representing nothing but his own absolutely unique individuality deprived of expression within and action upon a common world, loses all significance.”

Libertarian Views Lead to Totalitarianism

We’ve been hearing many populists and libertarians talking about being a rugged individual who owes nothing to the community. Although these people are openly hostile to totalitarianism, they don’t seem to realize that their views lead them closer to it.

Part Three is called Totalitarianism. It explains the process by which Hitler and Stalin gained power in the period after WWI.

Arendt explains that both forms of totalitarianism arose out of populist mass movements of cynical, alienated and apathetic people. She describes them like this, “They recruited their members from this mass of apparently indifferent people whom all other parties had given up as too apathetic or too stupid for their attention.”

“Too Apathetic or Too Stupid for Their Attention”

When I read that sentence, I’m reminded of Hilary Clinton’s phrase “a basket of deplorables.” Arendt writes that the masses at that time believed that, “The most respected, articulate and representative members of the community were fools and that all the powers that be were not so much evil as they were equally stupid and fraudulent.”

Today’s populist movement denies science, dismisses expertise, calls reputable news organizations “fake news” and denounces the “educated elites.” The historical parallels are striking and unnerving.

The author then explains that masses can’t be won over with a sense of belonging alone. To get them to embrace the totalitarian cause, the leaders of the movement need propaganda.

Propaganda For Organization, Not Persuasion

Arendt explains, “The true goal of totalitarian propaganda is not persuasion but organization-’ the accumulation of power without possession of the means of violence.’”

When we consider news outlets like Fox, OAN, NewsMax and Breitbart, there’s no other word for their products than propaganda. Their functions seem to be not only to convince but to harness them.

Arendt concludes by warning that, having created totalitarianism, we’ll always have the risk that it will rise again. As we’ve seen throughout this review, we can sense the warning signs in some of today’s current events.

Every End in History Contains a New Beginning

Even so, she ends the book on a positive note. She writes, “There remains also the truth that every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning…the beginning is guaranteed by each new birth; it is indeed every man.”

I enjoyed the book very much, and it deserves its reputation. Arendt is a clear and engaging writer, even if her prose can be a bit formal and academic. I haven’t done anything in this review to make her language more inclusive. Some readers may find her archaic use of male gender terms inappropriate.

The structure of the book is clear, and her argument flows naturally through its three parts. I came away with a clear understanding of Erendt’s explanation of totalitarianism’s roots and an appreciation for her reputation.

Treats Fascism and Communism as Roughly Equivalent

One thing that I was uncomfortable with was that Arendt treats fascism and communism as roughly equivalent. She thinks of them as two closely related strains of totalitarianism with only trivial differences.

Back in 1978, Mr. Barclay taught us about the political spectrum. Fascism went on the right, and communism went on the left. He told us that they were political opposites. Yet, Erendt makes no such distinction. To be fair, she also doesn’t refer to the traditional political spectrum.

As mentioned earlier, some of Arendt’s peers have challenged her connection between racism and imperialism. They feel that she exaggerates the influence of Gobineau and that she should have stressed bureaucratic racism instead.

Four Whole Earths Out of Five

Overall, I would highly recommend this book to anybody who feels inspired to delve into the roots of totalitarianism on this International Human Rights Day. I’ve decided to rate this book four “Whole Earths” out of five.

We always have more to learn if we dare to know.
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Originally published at http://daretoknow.ca on December 13, 2020.