Hitler,
Mussolini and Stalin all claimed absolute power over the state. To control the populace and
silence enemies they employed similar methods: complete control of the media, including
censorship of any dissenting voices and the growth of a huge propaganda machine, a very violent
police state used to quell the first sign of citizen dissent, and the cultivation of a cult of
personality that elevated the dictator in question to godlike stature as all knowing, wise, and
a good father to be instantly obeyed.
Since we don't currently live in a
totalitarian police state, it can be hard to envision what it was like, but in all three states,
neighbors were encouraged to spy on neighbors and report any sign of disloyalty. A heavily
expanded police force could and did tap phones and spy on citizens. All newspapers and radio
broadcasts were approved by the state. The writer Umberto Eco writes of his utter surprise,
when, after Mussolini's fall, his mother sends Eco, a child, to buy newspapers...
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