Talk:Totalitarianism

Benito Mussolini
I think that some of the wording around Mussolini should be changed. While Mussolini most certainly expressed totalitarian views, he is regarded by some to have failed to carry out those views in practice, notably in his allowance of several aspects of civil society, such as the Catholic Church. While I don't entirely object to his being called a totalitarian–given his ardently totalitarian views, noting that he wasn't totally totalitarian in practice may be a good idea (I'm going to add some of this stuff tomorrow, but I need to sleep now). In light of this, I also wish to discuss his inclusion in the introductory photo. Thoughts are appreciated. Good night (or whatever time of day it is for you).  ¡Ay vi nd ! (talk)
 * On second thought, there may not be sufficient mention of Mussolini to justify elaborating, though I would still like to discuss his inclusion in the photo.  ¡Ay vi nd !  (talk)
 * He didn't simply “express totalitarian views,” he explicitly proclaimed himself to be a totalitarian, after having popularized and arguably coined the term specifically to describe fascism. As you say, the degree to which he lived up to his statements and the internal consistency of those statements can be disputed, theoretically in much the same way one can debate the practical accuracy of Lenin's description of himself as a democrat, but one can not disagree that Mussolini was a — perhaps the preeminent — self-declared totalitarian. 2600:1700:DA90:2AB0:FD76:104:98B4:28D7 (talk) 11:01, 25 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I share skepticism that Mussolini was totalitarian in the vein of the likes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc. Besides the Catholic Church, king Victor Emmanuel III of Italy still reigned until 1946 as a figurehead. Mussolini was ousted in 1943 (by a vote of 19-8), led by Dino Grandi.
 * Also Mussolini is widely considered to be one of the first fascist dictators, the fact other political and religious institutions existed during his reign and had significant influence inclines me to be skeptical that Mussolini's regime was truly totalitarian. Mussolini's regime is comparable to other authoritarian, right-wing regimes in interwar Europe, like Horthy's Hungary and the Metaxas regime in Greece. JohnAdams1800 (talk) 03:20, 7 March 2024 (UTC)

A very flawed paragraph
This article, in the lede, writes:

Various scholars and historians have considered Vladimir Lenin,  co-founder of the Russian SFSR and later Soviet Union,  to be one of the first to attempt to establish a totalitarian state. Some scholars have had a differing view and attributed the establishment of the one-party system in the Soviet Union to the wartime conditions imposed on the Bolshevik government and others have highlighted the initial attempts to form a coalition government with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. According to historian Marcel Liebman, Lenin’s wartime measures such as banning opposition parties was prompted by the fact that several political parties either took up arms against the new Soviet government, or participated in sabotage, collaborated with the deposed Tsarists, or made assassination attempts against Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders.

Now, there are many things wrong with this (I have myself removed much of what is said here.)

Zilch-nada (talk) 01:55, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
 * Excessive citations on what is only tangential to the topic in the lede; the lede is not a place to spend a few sentences on Lenin, then one on Mussolini, and so forth, with most of the material about Lenin on the dissent - "Some scholars have had a differing view."
 * How do scholars have a differing view? The statement in question is "Lenin... to be one of the first to attempt to establish a totalitarian state." How do Liebman at. al in any way actually dispute the substance of that in the cited sources. They don't. They indeed say that the pressure of "wartime conditions" and so forth encouraged the one-party system, but none of them say that this wasn't Lenin's intent, nor attempt (Lenin did in fact establish such a system). "To be one of the first to attempt to establish" is not disputed here.
 * Unbalanced set of scholars. The scholars of "differing views" are a) a Marxist historian, b) a Trotskyist sociologist. How on Earth is this balanced? Especially when considering that a statement is made - somewhat short, about scholars generally considering a view, following by a load of sentences of "scholars" in dissent. Surely if the "various scholars and historians" as described initially were of primary importance, they would be most mentioned, not some fringe communist theorists.


 * I agree with these removals and the rationale presented by Zilch-nada here. The content was off-topic and UNDUE. Generalrelative (talk) 02:09, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
 * @Zilch-nada disagree with the removal. None of the cited sources are fringe just because of their political perspectives. They are professional historians including Carr who brings attention to the initial coalition with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. The content could be rephrased rather than outright removed as these scholars are attributing the establishment of an authoritarian system to the historical context rather than the conscious intent of Lenin. I've added a few more sources and condensed the paragraph but all the sources are reliable. WikiUser4020 (talk) 05:23, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * I very strongly disagree. The point is to outline the origins of the application of the term, "totalitarianism", and then describe the disputes later in the article: not in the same paragraph. Zilch-nada (talk) 09:23, 2 December 2023 (UTC)

Karl marx
How is Marxism linked to totalitarianism, Marx’s ideas of communism were based around disestablishing the unfair power system in society, arguably the opposite of authoritarianism and totalitarianism. 2600:1012:B1C3:769D:B8C4:F909:8239:13B (talk) 05:36, 30 November 2023 (UTC)

RfC on Lead paragraph: section on Lenin (proposed amendment)
IMO - The current paragraph on Vladmir Lenin has a number of problems in regards to neutrality.

Firstly - It presents the totalitarian model/view of the Soviet Union as a universally accepted fact among historians and scholars. This model is one school of thought which is often juxtaposed against the revisionist view of the Soviet Union.

Secondarily - It makes no reference to the historical context or whether Lenin consciously sought to develop a totalitarian state which later progressed into Stalinism or whether this was the byproduct of the specific event i.e. Civil War and foreign intervention.

I have sought to make a number of amendments for the purpose of neutrality and added the sources below.

This is the sentence I am proposing for inclusion into the main paragraph and would like to receive the votes of others for consensus.

"However, this view of an inherent totalitarianism in Lenin's views has remained a contested issue in modern historiography. Some scholars have attributed the establishment of the one-party system in the Soviet Union to the wartime conditions imposed on the Bolshevik government  and others have highlighted the initial attempts to form a coalition government with the Left Socialist Revolutionaries. "

I have included Marxist and non-Marxist historians/scholars for balance. WikiUser4020 (talk) 12:35, 2 December 2023 (UTC)


 * Oppose as such a long section on dispute is not suitable for the opening paragraphs. Such opening paragraphs document the history of totalitarianism, with the disputes coming later (such disputes are obviously addressed throughout the article.) Zilch-nada (talk) 19:41, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Oppose per WP:WEIGHT and WP:DUE. The RfC question calls for expanding the lede to spend much more time on Lenin than others. If anything more time should be spent on other significant historical totalitarian figures who currently aren't in the lede. Hitler for exemple. There's a picture there of him but no prose. TarnishedPathtalk 23:52, 5 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Procedural close Statement is neither neutral nor brief and there's no indication that RFCBEFORE was followed here. voorts (talk/contributions) 04:49, 8 December 2023 (UTC)

March 2024: Content removal and modification
A number of edits by anon IP just occurred, with general edit summaries like "c/e encyclopedic style, correct terms, npov." This edit in particular saw a large amount of content removed with the edit summary "c/e encyclopedic style, correct terms, npov. Source, deleted off-topic text."

I will be restoring an older version of the page and have left a note on the editor's talk page. BCorr &#124; Брайен 01:18, 12 March 2024 (UTC)