Ideology and Terror: A novel form of government

Totalitarianism differs from all other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism tyranny and dictatorship.

Totalitarian governments developed entirely new political institutions and destroyed all social, legal and political traditions of the country.

That no matter what the specifically national tradition or spiritual source of its ideology, tot governments always transformed classes into masses, supplanted the party system, not by one-party dictatorships but by a mass movement, shifted the centre of power from the army to the police and established a foreign policy openly directed towards world domination.

Present totalitarianism governments have developed from one party systems; whenever they became truly tot they began to operate in accordance to a system of values. Values so radically different from all others that none of our traditional legal, moral or common sense utilitarian categories could not help us understand, judge of predict their actions.

Suffice to say totalitarianism governments are not simply an external threat that will disappear with the fall of the present tot regime but something that corrupts from within, without precedent.

Hannah Ardent explains that totalitarian governments are not so much unprecedented but a poorly defined alternative.

That is there are both lawful and lawless governments. Lawful governments are based in legitimate power based upon a political philosophy and the lawless government whilst also based in a political philosophy has arbitrary power. Totalitarianism governments do not fit either definition. Totalitarianism governments defy all laws including that which it itself has established or simply hasn’t bothered to abolish. It is neither guided by law nor is it arbitrary for it claims to obey positive laws that can be found in the laws of nature and/or of history.

In contrast to being lawless it establishes authority to which it is obedient to a far greater degree than any lawful government. It is not arbitrary i.e. it does not simply work to wield power for one man but instead works, obedient to the laws of nature and history even if this goes in defiance of currently existing positive laws.

It is lawful insofar as it obeys its own laws (most of the time), it works towards what it sees as ‘justice’. It removes any legality that would prevent it from establishing its own idea of justice until all positive laws fit this idea of justice. Totalitarianism governments work to establish justice that can be applied to all citizens whereas lawful governments have positive law which is purposefully general so that it can be circumstantial for individual cases. 

This tot idea of justice becomes the essence of lawfulness, defying legality that would prevent it otherwise. Justice based on the laws of History or nature with no regard to whether they are actually appropriate on a case by case basis.

It is expected that with the proper execution of the law of Nature or History that mankind will be the result. It is this expectation that forms the motive to the claim for global rule by a tot gov. Tot policy states it will transform humanity into an ‘active unfailing carrier of a law to which human beings otherwise would only passively and reluctantly be subjected.’

Tot policy does not replace one set of laws with another, doesn’t create a new form of legality. In its defiance of all things including its own positive law it shows that it can do what it pleases and still not become a tyranny of lawlessness and fear. It works because it promises to create a justice on earth through making man the embodiment of law.

‘In the interpretation of totalitarianism, all laws have become laws of movement.’  That is to say that whenever previous totalitarianism governments such as the Nazis talked of the law of nature/history they are using it as the basis of authority for their ideals such as race or class struggle. And subsequently ‘the term "law" itself changed its meaning: from expressing the framework of stability within which human actions and motions can take place, it became the expression of the motion itself.’

The problem being that there is no end to this process, thus laws of killing by which totalitarian movements seize and exercise power would remain a law of the movement even if they did succeed on world domination and the subjugation of the entire human race.