The Origins of Totalitarianism

The body politic represents the organized group of citizens within a nation. Arendt speaks about the body politic regarding imperialism, which seeks to expand outward and conquer peoples while still maintaining the importance and prevalence of the body politic.

Bolshevism represents a revolutionary socialist totalitarian movement with ties to Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin. Arendt explores the history and functionality of bolshevism, as well as German Nazism, throughout The Origins of Totalitarianism.

In Marxist terms, the bourgeoisie is the class in society which holds the most wealth in society and the means of production. Arendt argues that the bourgeoisie’s accumulation of wealth and power led to a rise in imperialism which ultimately paved the way for totalitarianism.

Bureaucracy is a governmental system in which decisions are made by a group of officials rather than by an electorate. Arendt saw both race and bureaucracy as the devices of imperialist rule which would eventually pave the way for totalitarianism. She explores the ways in which nation-states utilize bureaucracy to rule and oppress people whom the nation-state views as inferior. 

Eternal antisemitism is a theory which posits that Jewish people were targeted by 20th-century totalitarian regimes because Jews have always been persecuted. Arendt argues that this theory is incorrect, however, and lacks historical specificity.

Imperialism is the practice of extending a country’s dominion across other territories through power, force, and intimidation. A new age of imperialism occurred in the 1930s and 1940s when the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany sought to extend the range of their power. Arendt cites imperialism as the chief reason for the focus of these nation-states on the ideology of antisemitism.

Arendt describes a mob as being made up of all classes of people. She cautions against thinking, however, that the mob is the people. Mobs center around a single leader and hate society, particularly because mobs are made up of people who feel misrepresented and excluded from society.

Nationalism is the loyalty and support for a person’s nation and its interests above all other nations. Arendt argues against associating antisemitism or totalitarianism with nationalism. She asserts that totalitarianism has a closer link with imperialism which seeks supranational power and wealth.

Arendt refers often to the nation-state, which represents a country or society whose citizens or subjects are homogenous. These citizens speak the same language and often have the same ancestral descent. Arendt cites the fall of the nation-state—the increased diversification of the population of Europe—as a source of modern antisemitism.

Arendt introduces the idea of pan-movements in Chapter 8. Pan-movements represent an idea of unity that attempt to construct continental empires. The pan-German movement, for example, swept through Europe in from the 1920s-1940s; its ideology emphasized uniting the Germanic peoples across Europe.

Arendt distinguishes between racism and race-thinking. She asserts that racism is an ideology with political and economic ends, whereas race-thinking is a set of prejudiced or biased opinions about groups of people.