Published on Alternet (http://www.alternet.org)
The
Power of Ordinary People Facing Totalitarianism
By Kathleen B. Jones [1] / The
Conversation [2]
March 21, 2017
6
In the
weeks since the election of President Donald J. Trump, sales of George Orwell’s “1984” [3] have
skyrocketed. But so have those [4] of a lesser-known
title, “The Origins of Totalitarianism [5],” by a
German Jewish political theorist named Hannah Arendt.
“The
Origins of Totalitarianism” discusses the rise of the totalitarian movements [6] of
Nazism and Stalinism to power in the 20th century. Arendt explained that such
movements depended on the unconditional loyalty of the masses of “slumbering majorities [7],” who felt
dissatisfied and abandoned by a system they perceived to be “fraudulent” [8] and corrupt. These
masses sprang to the support of a leader who made them feel they had a place in
the world by belonging to a movement.
I am a
scholar of political theory and have written books [9] and scholarly essays on
Arendt’s work. Published more than 50 years ago, Arendt’s insights into the
development of totalitarianism seem especially relevant to discussions of similar threats to American democracy today [10].
Who
was Hannah Arendt?
Arendt
was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1906 into a secular Jewish household. She
began studying the classics and Christian theology, before turning to
philosophy. Subsequent developments made her turn her attention to her Jewish
identity and political responses to it.
‘The
Origins of Totalitarianism.’ Kathleen Jones, CC
BY [11]
It
began in the mid-1920s, when the nascent Nazi Party started spreading its
anti-Semitic ideology at mass rallies. Following the arson attack on the Reichstag (the German Parliament), [10] on
Feb. 27, 1933, the Nazis blamed the Communists for plotting against the German
government. A day later, the German president declared a state of emergency.
The regime, in short order, deprived citizens of basic rights and subjected
them to preventive detention. After Nazi parliamentary victories a week later,
the Nazis consolidated power, passing legislation allowing Hitler to rule by
decree.
Within
months, Germany’s free press was destroyed.
Arendt
felt she could no longer be a bystander. In a 1964
interview for German television [12], she said,
“Belonging
to Judaism had become my own problem and my own problem was political.” Leaving
Germany a few months later, Arendt settled in France. Being Jewish, deprived of
her German citizenship, she became stateless – an experience that shaped her thinking [13].
She
remained safe in France for a few years. But when France declared war on
Germany in September 1939, the French government began ordering refugees to
internment camps. In May 1940, a month before Germany defeated France and
occupied the country, Arendt was arrested as an “enemy alien” and sent to a concentration camp in Gurs [14], near the
Spanish border, from which she escaped. Assisted by American journalist Varian Fry’s [15] International Rescue
Committee [16], Arendt and her husband, Heinrich Blücher,
immigrated to the United States in 1941.
Soon
after arriving in America, Arendt published a series of essays on Jewish
politics in the German-Jewish newspaper “Aufbau,” now collected in The Jewish Writings [17]. While writing
these essays she learned of the Nazi destruction of European Jewry. In a mood
she described as “reckless optimism and reckless despair,” [18] Arendt
turned her attention back to the analysis of anti-Semitism, the subject of a
long essay (“Antisemitism” [19]) she’d written in France
in the late 1930s. The basic arguments from that essay found their way into her
magnum opus, “The Origins of Totalitarianism [20].”
Why
‘Origins’ matters now
Many of the factors [21] that Arendt
associated with the rise of totalitarianism have been cited to explain Trump’s
ascendancy to power.
In
“Origins,” for example, some key conditions that Arendt connected with the
emergence of totalitarianism were increasing xenophobia, racism and
anti-Semitism, and hostility toward elites and mainstream political parties.
Along with these, she cited an intensified alienation of the “masses” from
government coupled with the willingness of alarming numbers of people to
abandon facts or to “escape from reality into fiction [22].”
Additionally, she noted an exponential increase in the number of refugees and
stateless peoples, whose rights nation-states were unable to guarantee.
Some
scholars, such as political theorist Jeffrey Isaacs [23], have noted “Origins”
might serve as a warning [24] about where
America is heading.
Although
that might be true, I argue there is an equally important lesson to be drawn –
about the importance of thinking and acting in the present.
Why
people’s voices and actions matter
Arendt
rejected a “cause and effect” view of history. She argued that what happened in
Germany was not inevitable; it could have been avoided. Perhaps most
controversially, Arendt claimed the creation of the death camps was not the
predictable outcome of “eternal anti-Semitism” but an unprecedented “event
that should never have been allowed to happen [25].”
The
Holocaust resulted neither from a confluence of circumstances beyond human
control nor from history’s inexorable march. It happened because ordinary
people failed to stop it.
Arendt
wrote against the idea [26] that the rise of
Nazism was the predictable outcome of the economic downturn following Germany’s
defeat in World War I. She understood totalitarianism to be the “crystallization” [27] of elements of
anti-Semitism, racism and conquest present in European thought as early as the
18th century. She argued that the disintegration of the nation-state system
following World War I had exacerbated these conditions.
In
other words, Arendt argued these “elements” were brought into an explosive
relationship through the actions of leaders of the Nazi movement combined with
the active support of followers and the inactions of many others.
The
redrawing of European states’ political boundaries after World War I meant a
great number of people became stateless refugees. Post-war peace treaties, known as minority treaties [28],
created “laws of exception” or separate sets of rights for those who were not
“nationals” of the new states in which they now resided. These treaties, Arendt
argued, eroded principles of a common humanity, transforming the state or
government “from an instrument of the law into an instrument of the
nation [29].”
Yet,
Arendt warned, it would be a mistake to conclude that every outburst of
anti-Semitism or racism or imperialism indicated the emergence of a
“totalitarian” regime. Those conditions alone were not sufficient to lead to
totalitarianism. But inaction in the face of them added a dangerous element
into the mix.
Not
submitting quietly
I
argue that “Origins” engages readers in thinking about the past with an eye
toward an uncharted future.
Arendt
worried that totalitarian solutions could outlive the demise of past
totalitarian regimes. She urged her readers to recognize that leaders’
manipulation of fears of refugees combined with social isolation, loneliness,
rapid technological change and economic anxieties could provide ripe conditions
for the acceptance of “us-against-them [30]” ideologies. These
could result in ethically compromised consequences.
Protesters march in front of the White House to protest Trump
administration’s ban on immigration and travel from seven Muslim majority
countries. Stephen Melkisethian [31], CC BY-NC-ND [32]
In my
view, “Origins” offers both a warning and an implicit call to resistance. In
today’s context, Arendt would invite her readers to question what is
being presented as reality [33]. When President
Trump and his advisers claim dangerous immigrants [34] are “pouring”
into the country, or stealing Americans’ jobs, are they silencing dissent or
distracting us from the truth?
“Origins”
wasn’t intended to be a formulaic blueprint for how totalitarian rulers emerge
or what actions they take. It was a plea for attentive, thoughtful civil
disobedience to emerging authoritarian rule.
What
makes “Origins” so salient today is Arendt’s recognition that comprehending
totalitarianism’s possible recurrence means neither denying the burden events
have placed on us, nor submitting quietly to the order of the day.
This
article was originally published on The Conversation [35]. Read the original article [36].
Kathleen
B. Jones is Professor Emerita of Women's Studies, emphasis on politics, San
Diego State University.
[38]
Links:
[1] http://www.alternet.org/authors/kathleen-b-jones
[2] http://www.theconversation.com
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/books/1984-george-orwell-donald-trump.html
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/01/totalitarianism-in-age-donald-trump-lessons-from-hannah-arendt-protests
[5] https://archive.org/details/HannahArendtTheOriginsOfTotalitarianismHarcourtBraceJovanovich1973
[6] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
[7] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=slumbering%20majorities&f=false
[8] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=snippet&q=stupid%20and%20fraudulent&f=false
[9] http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/diving-for-pearls-a-thinking-journey-with-hannah-arendt
[10] http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/02/26/reichstag-fire-manipulating-terror-to-end-democracy/
[11] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsoImQfVsO4
[13] https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742521513/The-Reluctant-Modernism-of-Hannah-Arendt-New-Edition
[14] https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005298
[15] http://www.varianfry.dk/
[16] https://www.rescue.org/
[17] http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/4708/the-jewish-writings-by-hannah-arendt/9780805211948/
[18] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&q=%22reckless+optimism+and+reckless+despair%2C%22#v=snippet&q=%22reckless%20optimism%20and%20reckless%20despair%2C%22&f=false
[19] https://books.google.com/books?id=RIE2KKIXhLQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Jewish+Writings&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2xf77oNTSAhUD6iYKHUWdDDYQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Jewish%20Writings&f=false
[20] https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/arendthtml/essayb1.html
[21] https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/515610/is-trump-a-populist-authoritarian/
[22] https://books.google.com/books?id=8f2y0F2wzLoC&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=escape+from+reaity+into+fiction+Origins+of+Totalitarianism&source=bl&ots=p-Fz2lcp4E&sig=9KJyW056PRZsZxjvCIpyc2SPMTE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivhPLZpdTSAhVL72MKHQxhBXQQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=escape%20from%20reaity%20into%20fiction%20Origins%20of%20Totalitarianism&f=false
[23] http://polisci.indiana.edu/faculty/profiles/isaac.shtml
[24] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/17/how-hannah-arendts-classic-work/?utm_term=.26325735abe5
[25] https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/arendthtml/essayb2.html
[26] https://books.google.com/books?id=JuOrvfNA-8QC&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=a+very+complex+historical+situation+in++Origins+of+Totalitarianism&source=bl&ots=6bQreJziXg&sig=UwmZ_QXYk-PmBiH52FjmWHa8GEs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSuP6srNTSAhUO22MKHfKEBPYQ6AEIOjAG#v=onepage&q=a%20very%20complex%20historical%20situation%20in%20%20Origins%20of%20Totalitarianism&f=false
[27] https://books.google.com/books?id=8f2y0F2wzLoC&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=escape+from+reaity+into+fiction+Origins+of+Totalitarianism&source=bl&ots=p-Fz2lcp4E&sig=9KJyW056PRZsZxjvCIpyc2SPMTE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivhPLZpdTSAhVL72MKHQxhBXQQ6AEIJzAC#v=snippet&q=crystallized%20in%20the%20novel%20totalitarian%20phenomenon&f=false
[28] http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1926022400
[29] https://books.google.com/books?id=VWCGiJQ-60wC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=from+an+instrument+of+the+law+into+an+instrument+of+the+nation+in+Origins+ofTotalitarianism&source=bl&ots=-JLOYs96E6&sig=v--dRDbccl4_mEF9DOFlISBVSxM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4q5yZr9TSAhVKymMKHVtuDtYQ6AEIMzAE#v=onepage&q=from%20an%20instrument%20of%20the%20law%20into%20an%20instrument%20of%20the%20nation%20in%20Origins%20ofTotalitarianism&f=false
[30] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&q=The+great+danger+arising#v=snippet&q=The%20great%20danger%20arising&f=false
[31] https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenmelkisethian/32558152266/in/photolist-RB43mS-R67SiG-RECiGg-RECj5v-Qo5d4u-Qo5dPC-RECihD-RB43VC-RB43Hy-RGxJot-Qog6io-RBeY39-RsRQRU-RvyXCz-QpTdhf-RB487o-RvyXnK-Qq2TyA-RvHvpe-RriezS-QpTeBQ-RvHv82-Qog7Ts-RsRN6y-RtYbwM-Rriev3-RBeYdj-RsRNCA-RridUU-Qog8k9-Qog6KL-RGxK4X-RsRQCC-QpTdzj-QsCAEn-RGxJDt-Mj9V9J-Mj9Udq-Mj9TcY-RvsZPS-Qs5HCf-SJjnWc-SJjpeH-Qog62S-RujstD-RujtXk-Rujukz-SJjo9M-SEGSTS-RujtqZ
[32] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
[33] http://www.newsweek.com/robert-reich-how-trump-lies-about-his-many-lies-562520
[34] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/after-saying-dangerous-people-may-be-pouring-into-our-country-trump-has-repeatedly-put-off-inking-new-travel-ban/2017/03/01/6f3ca47e-fe86-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.a93fdd9b1b05
[35] http://theconversation.com
[36] https://theconversation.com/the-power-of-ordinary-people-facing-totalitarianism-73589
[37] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on The Power of Ordinary People Facing Totalitarianism
[38] http://www.alternet.org/
[39] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
[2] http://www.theconversation.com
[3] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/25/books/1984-george-orwell-donald-trump.html
[4] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/feb/01/totalitarianism-in-age-donald-trump-lessons-from-hannah-arendt-protests
[5] https://archive.org/details/HannahArendtTheOriginsOfTotalitarianismHarcourtBraceJovanovich1973
[6] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
[7] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=slumbering%20majorities&f=false
[8] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=snippet&q=stupid%20and%20fraudulent&f=false
[9] http://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/diving-for-pearls-a-thinking-journey-with-hannah-arendt
[10] http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/02/26/reichstag-fire-manipulating-terror-to-end-democracy/
[11] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
[12] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsoImQfVsO4
[13] https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780742521513/The-Reluctant-Modernism-of-Hannah-Arendt-New-Edition
[14] https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005298
[15] http://www.varianfry.dk/
[16] https://www.rescue.org/
[17] http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/4708/the-jewish-writings-by-hannah-arendt/9780805211948/
[18] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&q=%22reckless+optimism+and+reckless+despair%2C%22#v=snippet&q=%22reckless%20optimism%20and%20reckless%20despair%2C%22&f=false
[19] https://books.google.com/books?id=RIE2KKIXhLQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+Jewish+Writings&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2xf77oNTSAhUD6iYKHUWdDDYQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=The%20Jewish%20Writings&f=false
[20] https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/arendthtml/essayb1.html
[21] https://www.theatlantic.com/video/index/515610/is-trump-a-populist-authoritarian/
[22] https://books.google.com/books?id=8f2y0F2wzLoC&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=escape+from+reaity+into+fiction+Origins+of+Totalitarianism&source=bl&ots=p-Fz2lcp4E&sig=9KJyW056PRZsZxjvCIpyc2SPMTE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivhPLZpdTSAhVL72MKHQxhBXQQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=escape%20from%20reaity%20into%20fiction%20Origins%20of%20Totalitarianism&f=false
[23] http://polisci.indiana.edu/faculty/profiles/isaac.shtml
[24] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/12/17/how-hannah-arendts-classic-work/?utm_term=.26325735abe5
[25] https://memory.loc.gov/ammem/arendthtml/essayb2.html
[26] https://books.google.com/books?id=JuOrvfNA-8QC&pg=PT18&lpg=PT18&dq=a+very+complex+historical+situation+in++Origins+of+Totalitarianism&source=bl&ots=6bQreJziXg&sig=UwmZ_QXYk-PmBiH52FjmWHa8GEs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjSuP6srNTSAhUO22MKHfKEBPYQ6AEIOjAG#v=onepage&q=a%20very%20complex%20historical%20situation%20in%20%20Origins%20of%20Totalitarianism&f=false
[27] https://books.google.com/books?id=8f2y0F2wzLoC&pg=PA352&lpg=PA352&dq=escape+from+reaity+into+fiction+Origins+of+Totalitarianism&source=bl&ots=p-Fz2lcp4E&sig=9KJyW056PRZsZxjvCIpyc2SPMTE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwivhPLZpdTSAhVL72MKHQxhBXQQ6AEIJzAC#v=snippet&q=crystallized%20in%20the%20novel%20totalitarian%20phenomenon&f=false
[28] http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/document.php?id=cqresrre1926022400
[29] https://books.google.com/books?id=VWCGiJQ-60wC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=from+an+instrument+of+the+law+into+an+instrument+of+the+nation+in+Origins+ofTotalitarianism&source=bl&ots=-JLOYs96E6&sig=v--dRDbccl4_mEF9DOFlISBVSxM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4q5yZr9TSAhVKymMKHVtuDtYQ6AEIMzAE#v=onepage&q=from%20an%20instrument%20of%20the%20law%20into%20an%20instrument%20of%20the%20nation%20in%20Origins%20ofTotalitarianism&f=false
[30] https://books.google.com/books?id=zLrKGGxBKjAC&q=The+great+danger+arising#v=snippet&q=The%20great%20danger%20arising&f=false
[31] https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephenmelkisethian/32558152266/in/photolist-RB43mS-R67SiG-RECiGg-RECj5v-Qo5d4u-Qo5dPC-RECihD-RB43VC-RB43Hy-RGxJot-Qog6io-RBeY39-RsRQRU-RvyXCz-QpTdhf-RB487o-RvyXnK-Qq2TyA-RvHvpe-RriezS-QpTeBQ-RvHv82-Qog7Ts-RsRN6y-RtYbwM-Rriev3-RBeYdj-RsRNCA-RridUU-Qog8k9-Qog6KL-RGxK4X-RsRQCC-QpTdzj-QsCAEn-RGxJDt-Mj9V9J-Mj9Udq-Mj9TcY-RvsZPS-Qs5HCf-SJjnWc-SJjpeH-Qog62S-RujstD-RujtXk-Rujukz-SJjo9M-SEGSTS-RujtqZ
[32] http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
[33] http://www.newsweek.com/robert-reich-how-trump-lies-about-his-many-lies-562520
[34] https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/after-saying-dangerous-people-may-be-pouring-into-our-country-trump-has-repeatedly-put-off-inking-new-travel-ban/2017/03/01/6f3ca47e-fe86-11e6-8f41-ea6ed597e4ca_story.html?utm_term=.a93fdd9b1b05
[35] http://theconversation.com
[36] https://theconversation.com/the-power-of-ordinary-people-facing-totalitarianism-73589
[37] mailto:corrections@alternet.org?Subject=Typo on The Power of Ordinary People Facing Totalitarianism
[38] http://www.alternet.org/
[39] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B
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