Key Idea
Totalitarian states rely on indoctrination-instruction in the governments beliefs-in order to control their people. Usually totalitarians rely on THREE strategies to indoctrinate their subjects: propaganda, youth groups, and the elimination of dissenters or possible "threats".
Totalitarian states rely on indoctrination-instruction in the governments beliefs-in order to control their people. Usually totalitarians rely on THREE strategies to indoctrinate their subjects: propaganda, youth groups, and the elimination of dissenters or possible "threats".
The Great Purge
The Young CommunistsStalin took total control of the education system in the Soviet Union. In Soviet Russia, the purpose of education was to glorify the leader and his policies and to convince all subjects to unconditionally support the leader.
This process usually begins with the youth. In the U.S.S.R., Stalin created the Young Communists. Like most students, the Young Communists spent their days learning about math and science, but were also indoctrinated to love their leader. |
The Great PurgeIn 1937, Stalin launched the Great Purge- the systematic elimination of people who threatened his rule.
It started within the Communist Party itself. Any communist who Stalin thought was a threat or even not supportive enough was eliminated. Stalin's secret police (the NKVD) would murder that person as well as his or her entire family. Whenever someone was purged, Stalin wanted all historical records of them destroyed. As seen in the images above and below, Stalin's secret police would also work to "erase" those who were purged by by altering photographs (or photoshop). When the Great Purge ended in 1938, thousands had been murdered or sent to labor camps like the Gulag (see video below) and Stalin stood as the uncontested ruler of the Soviet Union. |