History reveals how Authoritarianism usually develops and what one can do if facing it?

[Bootstrap]

More history. Here are the 25 points in the platform if the Nazi party in 1928. The "positive Christianity" mentioned here was used to exclude and ultimately martyr real Christians who stood up to Hitler.

https://www.vaholocaust.org/wp-content/ ... Points.pdf

Question for the reader: what themes and fears are they playing on?

1. We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the right of
self-determination of peoples.
2. We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect to the other nations;
abrogation of the peace treaties of Versailles and St. Germain.
3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of our people, and colonization
for our surplus population.
4. Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of
German blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently no Jew can be a member of the race.
5. Whoever has no citizenship is to be able to live in Germany only as a guest, and must be
under the authority of legislation for foreigners.
6. The right to determine matters concerning administration and law belongs only to the citizen.
Therefore we demand that every public office, of any sort whatsoever, whether in the Reich, the county
or municipality, be filled only by citizens. We combat the corrupting parliamentary economy, office-
holding only according to party inclinations without consideration of character or abilities.
7. We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and
way of life for the citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the
members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich.
8. Any further immigration of non-citizens is to be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans,
who have immigrated to Germany since the 2 August 1914, be forced immediately to leave the Reich.
9. All citizens must have equal rights and obligations.
10. The first obligation of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The
activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within
the framework of the whole for the benefit of all
Consequently we demand:
11. Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomes. Breaking of rent-slavery.
12. In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice in property and blood that each war demands of
the people personal enrichment through a war must be designated as a crime against the people.
Therefore we demand the total confiscation of all war profits.
13. We demand the nationalization of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).
14. We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries.
15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.
16. We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation, immediate
communalization of the great warehouses and their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost
consideration of all small firms in contracts with the State, county or municipality.
17. We demand a land reform suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free
expropriation of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on land and prevention of all
speculation in land.
18. We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the
general interest. Common national criminals, usurers, Schieber1 and so forth are to be punished with
death, without consideration of confession or race.
19. We demand substitution of a German common law in place of the Roman Law serving a
materialistic world-order.
20. The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national
education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education and
subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions
are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State
must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We
demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor
parents without consideration of position or profession.
21. The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by
outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of
a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical
instruction of the young.
22. We demand abolition of the mercenary troops and formation of a national army.
23. We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the press. In
order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that a: All writers and employees of the
newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race b: Non-German newspapers be
required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the
German language c: Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications or
any influence on them and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the
immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to
the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which
exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above
made demands.
24. We demand freedom of religion for all religious denominations within the state so long as
they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moral senses of the Germanic race. The Party as such
advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any one
denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a
lasting recovery of our nation can only succeed from within on the framework: common utility precedes
individual utility.
25. For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the
Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in
general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich
within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by
sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without
consideration.

[Bootstrap]

Spot on. Interesting how today’s political kibitzers have forgotten about Trotsky.

And Hitler.

When I was in high school, the dual dangers of fascism and Communism were a major part of our history classes. And there was an emphasis on how similar they were, despite waving different ideological flags. Authoritarianism is authoritarianism, no matter what they say in the speeches. Because an authoritarian's speeches are about gaining power and glory, the words themselves are not to be trusted. The same power they use to protect "us" from "them" ultimately becomes the power they use to keep "us" under their control.

Animal Farm was spot on here.

[MaxPC]

multiple political parties including communist/socialist ones...

In what way is this a good thing?

To paraphrase the title of this thread:

Spot on. Interesting how today’s political kibitzers have forgotten about Trotsky.

The French Resistance also held an interesting view of both ideologies. Ripping read, the French Resistance.

[Bootstrap]

And most of us condemn them all... they all represent an observation that politics/ideology tend to represent a horseshoe with the extreme ends bending towards each other. Personally, this is why maintaining a centrist/disconnect from any one political party/ideology is desired (albeit not always attained as I am a flawed human).

So why are we afraid of Hitler and Stalin and Franco and Pinochet? What's wrong with authoritarian leaders? I don't think the problem is that they lean left or lean right. But they do really nasty things to people and to societies. That's the problem.

And true Christians have been persecuted by most of these regimes. On both the left and the right. These are the countries where you find Christian martyrs.

Here's my list of the problems this thread is about:

1. They are happy to wipe people out - sometimes for show, to demonstrate their power and strength. There may be mass executions, torture, imprisonment without fair trial, persecution of minorities, and other severe violations of basic human rights. And citizens may be required to cheer this on.

2. Dissent is not tolerated - these regimes choke out freedom of speech, assembly, or association. Opposition parties and the free press are persecuted or eliminated.

3. All power belongs to a few - or perhaps a single leader. This power includes the economy, media, education, and a lot more. It can be used to build business empires for a leader and his friends.

4. "Speaking power to truth" - truth gets drowned out. State-controlled media propagate the official party line. The authoritarian is free to lie and to mock the truth. In many of these regimes, there are blatant shows of how power can simply mow over the truth by mowing down people who speak the truth. Loyalty to the leader becomes the measure of truth.

5. Cult of Personality - all of these authoritarian regimes have leaders who build a cult of personality around themselves, portraying themselves as infallible, larger-than-life figures who will save "us" from "them", with supreme wisdom. Instead of proposing a set of policies to solve a problem, they themselves are the solution, the only one who can save us.

6. Fear and Intimidation - fear is a critical tool in the authoritarian playbook. The leader lets people know that he has the power to destroy you. You see him destroy people regularly, the news is full of these tales. And they also tell you about "them", the people you really need to be afraid of. If the leader is fascist, "they" might be Communists or Jews. If the leader is Communist, "they" might be fascists.

7. Blind dogmatic loyalty - the state has an ideology that everyone is required to support or at least not criticize. Other political or religious views are not tolerated. People who stand against this theological are treated badly. That's often where we get Christian martyrs from.

8. Corruption - because these regimes have very little transparency or checks and balances, power is concentrated in the hands of a few, who can use all the resources of the country to make themselves rich and powerful and to glorify themselves. There is nothing to stand in their way. They can do whatever they want to.

[Szdfan]

Josh is right - Trotsky and Stalin and other Russian autocrats promised to save Russia from the existential threat of fascism.

And Hitler promised to save Germany from the existential threat of Communism.

And that's the false choice that Josh keeps making here -- that people have to choose between left wing and right wing authoritarianism. Either you're an anti-Communist (and excuse or minimize right-wing abuses) or you're a Communist out to kill non-Communists.

This kind of binary or false choice ignores the complexity of the world and divides people into "us" and "them" groups, which is exactly what authoritarians do. Josh ignores anti-Communist liberals like JFK, Harry Truman, Hubert Humphrey and George Orwell. He also ignores anti-fascist conservatives like Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle and William Buckley. People from different parts of the political and ideological spectrum can reject both Communism and Fascism.

It reveals that leftists really are just communists after all and would gladly kill any of us non communists given the chance.

I assume that Josh considers me a "Leftist." I just want to go on the record here that I don't want to kill him. I think he's wrong and I think statements like this one are rooted in a deep sense of victimization and resentment towards people like me and who believe like I do, but I am sufficiently self-aware to know that I'm not interested in killing Josh or people who believe like he does.

[Szdfan]

Spot on. Interesting how today’s political kibitzers have forgotten about Trotsky.

And Hitler.

When I was in high school, the dual dangers of fascism and Communism were a major part of our history classes. And there was an emphasis on how similar they were, despite waving different ideological flags. Authoritarianism is authoritarianism, no matter what they say in the speeches. Because an authoritarian's speeches are about gaining power and glory, the words themselves are not to be trusted. The same power they use to protect "us" from "them" ultimately becomes the power they use to keep "us" under their control.

Animal Farm was spot on here.

Orwell was a liberal democratic socialist. "Animal Farm" and "1984" are both liberal critiques of left-wing totalitarianism. People don't fit most of the time in these tiny ideological boxes.

[Szdfan]

Another example - Germany's center-left party, the SPD is both socialist and anti-Communist, especially when they were one of the major parties in West Germany during the Cold War. The SPD, a major anti-fascist player in Germany during the 1920s and 30s dropped it's commitment to Marxism in 1959 and continues as a major center-left party in Germany.

[Neto]

When my people were brought into Germany along with the (retreating) N@zi army, they were largely given automatic German citizenship, being represented as "pure blooded Aryans". Each person was questioned and given physical examinations, and those who passed were sent to some area where a "New Pure German Nation" was being constructed. Families were split up. If someone was sickly or physically weak, they were sent elsewhere. If they appeared to be of "mixed race" they were sent elsewhere. Himml3r was very enthusiastic about "rescuing" these "true Germans", being very impressed by the fact that there had been almost no intermarriage with any outsiders during the more than 100 years they had lived in the Russian Empire and then the USSR, as foreigners. The fact is that we are actually NOT German at all, or only with some intermarriage in the previous time in German-speaking Prussia. I wonder how long this "favored status" would have lasted, had Germany won the war. We can all be critical of the reactions of my people to this sudden welcome and acclaim, after a generation of persecution by the Bolsheviks and Soviets.

However, the questions to ask ourselves are
Would we be taken in by such unexpected treatment?
What if we find ourselves somehow favorites of an authoritative and repressive regime?

[Szdfan]

However, the questions to ask ourselves are
Would we be taken in by such unexpected treatment?
What if we find ourselves somehow favorites of an authoritative and repressive regime?

History is complicated.

[Jazman]

Another example - Germany's center-left party, the SPD is both socialist and anti-Communist, especially when they were one of the major parties in West Germany during the Cold War. The SPD, a major anti-fascist player in Germany during the 1920s and 30s dropped it's commitment to Marxism in 1959 and continues as a major center-left party in Germany.

Somewhat related and something I did not learn/was not taught in my years of education but had to stumble upon on my own, was the fractured nature of the communist/socialist 'world congress' prior to the Bolsheviks gaining power in 1917... I did not realize until fairly recently that the small band of thugs that were the Bolsheviks actually faced a lot of resistance within their supposed happy brotherhood of the world's 'workers'... That many, if not a majority of the European socialist congress/coalition wanted to use popular voting/representative/parliamentary/rule of law means to govern and to right the injustices that serfdom/monarchy etc had brought upon the people. And many of them were killed or had to flee when the small-by-comparison Bolshevik authoritarian thugs among them, ditched established conventions, moral laws against corruption/stealing/violence and even previously agreed upon party processes / due process in order to get quick-acting/impatient Power...
As in the case of Lenin (and probably most of the other authoritarians like him), what he did later to the Russian country as a whole, he had already done earlier on a smaller scale to his fellow socialists and/or opposition to the czarist system.