Is Totalitarianism an essentially Enlightenment phenomenon? This essay will argue that it is an economic and political model born from the modern European experience using Soviet model as an example.

The objective of this essay is to discuss totalitarianism, specifically to identify ways in which totalitarianism is 'European' and 'Modern'. The Soviet Union, expressly the period between 1924 and 1953 when Joseph Stalin was Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), will be used as an example to highlight that it was an economic and political model born from the modern European experience. For a country or state to be considered 'modern', it …

…Premium Service http://www.britannica.com. Gregor, A.J. Contemporary Radical Ideologies - Totalitarian thought in the 20th century (1968), Chapters - Foundations in Hegel & Marx and Leninism & Leninisms, Random House, NY USA. Talmon, J.L. The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy (1952) Secker and Warburg, London, UK. Treadgold, D.W (ed) The Development of the USSR - an exchange of views (1964), Part I: The Soviet Union. University of Washington Press, Washington USA. ENDNOTES