> the word "totalitarianism." > The word was used a lot, with most of its usage being loose meaning "an > authoritarian government I don't like." This looseness became Official > Policy with Jeanne Kirkpatrick's view that "We" (the US government under > Reagan) oppose totalitarianism (authoritarian governments We don't like) > but support authoritarianism (authoritarian governments We like) because > they are necessary evils in the battle against ... you guessed it, > totalitarianism. > It was also simply a rhetorical > expression of what had been standard Cold War policy all along > The "totalitarianism theory" is different, even though Kirkpatrick probably > linked her usage and that theory in her mind. It refers to a specific > theory of the nature and dynamics of USSR-type societies, as developed by > people like Hannah Arendt and other leftish intellectuals who were often > ex-Communists or ex-Trotskyists. > Jim Devine [EMAIL PROTECTED] & recall that Mussolini proclaimed a desire to construct a 'totalitarian' state...and appeal of concept/term for US Cold Warriors was drawing attention to similarities between fascism and communism which they could do only by eliding significant differences between two (such as capitalist economy surviving throughout Nazi period with big business collaboration and communism's advocacy of equality, international solidarity and co-operation)... Friedrich & Brzezinski even tried to operationalize the concept in their early 1960s book (_Totalitarian Dictatorships and Autocracy_) with a 'six point syndrome' - features they claimed were common to fascist Italy, Nazi Germany, & Soviet Union... Michael Hoover
