Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union could not have been more different, though they relied on many of the same mechanisms to maintain their totalitarian control of power. Nazi Germany was a fascist dictator ship, with all decisions coming from the top down. The Soviet Union was a one-party socialist state, and although its eras in history are marked by the president, power rested mostly in the hands of the party. Aside from the differences in political structures between Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, each state had very different goals in mind upon its construction. Nazi Germany existed under the direct orders of Adolf Hitler, and every aspect of the state was based on his ideas and work. On the other hand the Soviet Union, while guided in
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Both states used propaganda to control the masses, and both states relied on the ideas of loyalty to something bigger than ones own self. With the Nazis, the trust was earned by exhibiting total loyalty to Hitler; the Soviets entrusted the people to be loyal. (Ironically, it was this inherent expectation to be loyal to the cause, and paranoia that was instilled by Stalin, that created a severely distrustful environment even long past Stalin’s death, as described by Mlynár in his account of the state of the communist party in Soviet Ukraine in the 50’s.) Both states used the promise of bettering the lives of the common people, and both states used fear and rewards as ways of controlling the people. But none of these ways to take and keep power are only used by totalitarian governments. All of these methods are standard ways any government takes and keeps power over a people. So what makes Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union different from other governments, if being totalitarian is not considered? The difference is their extreme relationships with nationalism. Nazi Germany embraced nationalism to an extreme extent, and the Soviets rejected nationalism in everyway. The reason the Soviets and the Nazis are compared are that from an American view, a supposedly ‘central’ view, they are not only at the edges of political theory, they are on the extremes of nationalist
Both states used propaganda to control the masses, and both states relied on the ideas of loyalty to something bigger than ones own self. With the Nazis, the trust was earned by exhibiting total loyalty to Hitler; the Soviets entrusted the people to be loyal. (Ironically, it was this inherent expectation to be loyal to the cause, and paranoia that was instilled by Stalin, that created a severely distrustful environment even long past Stalin’s death, as described by Mlynár in his account of the state of the communist party in Soviet Ukraine in the 50’s.) Both states used the promise of bettering the lives of the common people, and both states used fear and rewards as ways of controlling the people. But none of these ways to take and keep power are only used by totalitarian governments. All of these methods are standard ways any government takes and keeps power over a people. So what makes Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union different from other governments, if being totalitarian is not considered? The difference is their extreme relationships with nationalism. Nazi Germany embraced nationalism to an extreme extent, and the Soviets rejected nationalism in everyway. The reason the Soviets and the Nazis are compared are that from an American view, a supposedly ‘central’ view, they are not only at the edges of political theory, they are on the extremes of nationalist