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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Totalitarianism: Nazism and Communism., Oct 9 2002
Hannah Arendt's _The Origins of Totalitarianism_ is a book that takes a hard look at two rival totalitarian movements in the twentieth century, Soviet Communism and Nazism, and traces their historical roots. The book is divided into three volumes focusing on Antisemitism, Imperialism, and Totalitarianism. The first of these volumes is concerned with the historical origins of Antisemitism. Arendt examines some of the ways historians have dealt with the historical roots of Antisemitism. For example, some historians have argued based on a "scapegoat theory" that the Jews were used as an innocent scapegoat for the world's ills. Arendt concludes that such approaches are flawed because they fail to take into account the full historical situation of the Jews. Arendt explores the rise of Antisemitism in the birth of the nation-state, the emancipation of the Jews, the rise of the Jewish financiers, the roles of Jews within society, and the infamous Dreyfus affair. Of particular interest here is the role of conpiracy theories concerning such individuals as Benjamin Disraeli or the infamous forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. The idea that the Jews constitute a race or are members of secret societies or clubs played an important role in the historical development of Antisemitism. The second of the volumes in this book is concerned with the rise of Imperialism. Here, a discussion of racism and racial thinking is examined involving such racial theorists as Count Arthur de Gobineau and various forms of Social Darwinism. The role of the Boers in South Africa is looked at and a thorough examination of the lives of such individuals as Cecil Rhodes, who called for the creation of a secret society of aristocratic Nordic elite, is made. The great Pan Movements, Pan-Slavism, Pan-Germanism, and the Pan-Arabism of T. E. Lawrence are dealt with and their subsequent roles in the creation of the totalitarian states is explored. The final volume of this book is concerned with Totalitarianism proper. Here, the role of propaganda and the secret police, as well as terror and the concentration camps are dealt with in their place in Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. Arendt explores each of these issues and shows why they are so particularly disturbing. Arendt contends that totalitarianism sought to annihilate the nature of man completely. Repression and terror abound within the totalitarian state and freedom is virtually nonexistent. Written during the Cold War period and just after the Second World War, this book takes an important look into the minds of such totalitarian leaders as Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. Their movements of Nazism and Soviet Communism continue to haunt the modern world even though they have been largely extinguished. The book is important today not only for historical reasons, but also because it gives a unique view of the world within a totalitarian society and the unique political danger that such totalitarian movements and institutions causes for the modern world.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
marginal notes"es, Mar 23 2006
"Antisemitism"
Jews were among the few willing to fiance the new 'nation-states'. AS the financial needs increased, more and more jews were invlolved and they were granted more and more priveleges, until, in the 19th century, the notion of "equal rights" was introduced.
"Equality of condition, though it is certainly a basic requirement for justice, is nevertheless, among the greatest and most uncertain ventures of modern mankind. The more equal conditions are, the less explanation there is for the differences that actually exists between people; and thus, all the more unequal do individuals and groups become."
Between pariah and parvenu.
The Dreyfus affair - Alfred Dreyfus, Walsin Eszterhazy, Picquart, Clemenceau, Zola
The Panama scandal, in which there are (only) 2 Jews known as intermediaries between corrupt politicians and the Panama Company. Jacques Reinach & Cornelius Herz. 500.000 middle French lost their fortunes.
The illegal acquittal trough the Court of Appeals was a compromise.
"Imperialism"
Differences between French and British expansion
Hobbes' theory of power, based on the primordial human instinct to kill, leads to Tyranny in the end. ("I think the toleration of a professed hatred of Tyranny, is a toleration of hatred to Commonwealth in general...". Membership in any community is a temporary and limited affair (Hobbes' Man owes no loyalty to his country if it has been defeated and is excused for every treachery if it happens to be taken prisoner) which essentially does not change the solitary and private character of the individual.
1853, Count Arthur de Gobineau - " Essai sur l'Inegalite des Races Humaines" concerned with the problem of Decadence 30 years before Nietzsche. Nietzsche was writing though at the climax of this movement, Gobineau was the last heir of the Boulanvilliers and the French exiled nobility (the theory of german origin of the French nobles). Gobineau was looking for a definition and creation of an "elite" class to replace the aristocracy - the Aryans. Ernest Renan wasprobably the first to oppose the Semites to the Aryans although he held civilization to be the great superior force which destroys local originalities as well as original race differences.It is highly probable that the thinking in terms of race would have disappeared in due time together with other irresponsible opinions on the nineteenth century, if the "scramble for Africa" and the new era of imperialism had not exposed western humanity to new and shocking experiences. Imperialism would have necessitated the invention of racism as the only possible "explanation" and excuse for its deeds.
South Africa & the Jews
Pan-Germanism, Pan-Slavism, bureaucracy
"Totalitarianism"
The nazis practically copying the ideas of "The protocols of Elders of Zion" to dominate the world. Fictitious world, fictitious conspiracies. Organization -> front, sympathizers, members ... leader. SA->SS were more political than military.
The radicalization began immediately at the outbreak of war .One might surmise that one of Hitler's reasons for provoking this war was to accelerate the development in a manner that would have been unthinkable in peace time. In the first year of war, Germany was able to cover her entire preparatory war expenses of the years '33 to '39.
Totalitarianism differs essentially from other forms of political oppression known to us such as despotism, tyranny and dictatorship. Wherever it rose to power, it developed entirely new political institutions and destroyed all social, legal and political traditions of the country. No matter what the specifically national traditions or the particular spiritual source of its ideology, totalitarian government always classes into masses, supplanted the party system not by one-party dictatorships, but by a mass movement, shifted the center of power from the army to the police, and established a foreign policy openly directed toward world domination.
What the definition of governments always needed was what Montesquieu called "a principle of action" (...). Such guiding principles and criteria of action, are according to Montesquieu, honor in a monarchy, virtue in a republic and fear in a tyranny.
Isolation - loneliness of individuals, premises for totalitarian, tyrannical governments.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Origins of the first 21st Century war, Sep 30 2001
I started reading Origins of Totalitarianism as a high-school drop-out dish-washer in a Pizza Hut from roughly when the old USSR invaded Afghanistan to the now-catastrophic Reagan election.As they clear away the rubble in New York I'm looking for my old copy, to see what Arendt said about the pan-Arab movements (not to mention the pan-slav and pan-germanic movements) in the first part. And to recall what she said about the consequences introduced by covert 'secret agency.' Ironically she illustrates her point with the example of T.E. Lawrence (of Arabia). As I hear about Osama bin Laden's vision of a restored Caliphate I struggle to recall her insights into the problems of statehood. And all this as prelude to the stark horrors of totalitarian government and the nature of the gulag and concentration camp. After all this time so much remains clear. I wonder how much I missed. So now, a long-ago college graduate contemplating grad school, I find I must read Arendt again. If I can't find it in my old book collection I'll have to seek a copy here.
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