Fascism Compared To Communism Essay, Research Paper

Analyze the similarities and the differences between single party rule

in Hitler’s Germany and Stalin’s Russia between 1933 and 1945. Answers

should consider: methods of dealing with opposition, control of media

and education, control of the economy, and war time planning.

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Why is it that Germany’s fascism lasted a relatively short

time compared to Russia’s communism? The regimes established under

Hitler and Stalin were incredibly similar with respect to the rise and

control of the state. Both systems were based on entirely different

ideology and goals. Hitler’s Mein Kampf established the superiority of

the German race and the need to expand as wanted by God. Hitler wanted

the world. The government in Russia established by Lenin was based on

a book called Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx, a call to the

proletariate to unite and rebel against their selfish employers. It is

my belief that Lenin had entirely good reasons for doing as he did,

and felt he was helping the world as apposed to Adolf Hitler.

Immediately after Lenin’s death, a man very much the same in nature as

Hitler, Stalin, came to control the Bolsheviks and throw Russia in a

civil war in a quest for power. You now have two men of equal

aspirations soon to be in control of two very similar governments.

In any rise of power, there needs to be a period of careful

planning requiring much thought. These two men had very little history

with which to work with which to model their revolutions. Times had

been changing rapidly, technological improvements in the fields of

manufacturing, transportation, and communication made this period of

time very different from any other. Hitler spent his time imprison

writing his book, Mein Kampf, filling it full of warped ideas of

conquest and superiority of one race over another. I think it is

strange that such works would go unnoticed with nobody left to watch a

man with such dangerous ideas. Lenin planned his revolution while in

exile in Switzerland. Then he made a deal with the German government

whereby he was hid on a train and passed through enemy Germany to

Russia. The conclusions with respect to methods of acquiring power and

controlling it when they did get it were very much the same.

Both rulers had full run of their respective governments.

Stalin was already dictator of Russia with his power and loyalty of

the people guaranteed by the secret police, the Cheka. This entity

provided Stalin with an easy means of destroying the opposition and

weeding out the undesirable to be sent to prison camps in Siberia, a

virtual death sentence. For Hitler to ascend to that level of power he

rammed the Enabling Act through the German Congress which gave him the

power to enact laws. Under Article 1 of his new power, Hitler decreed

the only existing party shall be the NSDAP. With Article 2 he declared

all association of, collaboration with, and support of other parties

would result in imprisonment in camps similar to Russia’s labor camps.

With Hitler’s Gestapo, secret police, he enforced those rules and used

existing policies to get rid of other unfit Germans. Political

prisoners, homosexuals, Jews and other people sent to the

concentration camps were given different colored symbols for easy

identification. At this point, no one dared speak against their

country even in the privacy of one’s home lest their children let

something slip at school.

If you control people’s thoughts, you control them. Propaganda

was an important tool used by both Germany and Russia. Hitler

appointed a man by the name of Joseph Goebbles to head the Ministry of

Public Enlightenment in Germany. This man used newspapers, magazines,

and radio to spread Nazism. Even if a man bathed in thoughts of

discontent at home, he was bombarded with propaganda in public, and at

the workplace. Banners hung from building, posters on almost every

sign or lamppost. Anyone with a suspicious look on their face was

first detained, and the sent to a prison camp. It was no longer just

desirable to be a Nazi considering the benefits like government

contracts or being able to ezd first in line, but necessary for

employment. Russia employed much the same tactics with much more

emphasis on fear.

Education was virtually unheard of in the early years of

Russia, but by 1933 children were guaranteed primary education. Huge

problems resulted form the ignorance and illiteracy, workers usually

did not intentionally break machines but did not know how to use them.

In official reports the reason for failure was terrorism by the

Kulaks, rich peasants persecuted in the same way Germany’s Jews.

German education was geared toward physical aspects and the fathering

of children. Membership to the German Youth for boys was compulsory by

1936. Emphasis was placed on physical fitness and team sports in these

youth groups. Outezding youths went to Adolf Hitler schools for

secondary education, and Order Castles for future party leaders.

Control of the economy and war time planning was a must for

both nations. A story likened to the fact that with Communism you must

give your cows to the government and they give you milk back. With

fascism, you got to keep your cows and gave the milk to the

government. Both systems were command economies and state controlled.

Contingency plans were coneztly drawn up and updated to fit new

circumezces. Both nations were preparing for war. Germany was going

to rule the world, Russia only wanted to defend herself from

Capitalism.

The resulting governments evolving from the two different

systems of thought were very similar. But as one can see, the

aspirations were radically different. Hitler was a threat to everyone

and needed to be dealt with. Russia kept to themselves and bothered no

one. A Cold War ensued with Russia complete with the irrational fear

of Communism, McCarthyism, and a peace time build up of weapons

followed. Germany was crushed in battle and Russia’s Iron Curtain is

being pulled down as I write.