Synopsis When the farm's prize-winning pig, Old Major, calls a meeting of all the animals of Manor Farm,

he tells them that he has had a dream in which mankind is gone and animals are free to live in peace and harmony; his ideals can e compared to !narchist "omm#nism or even some aspects of $eninism% &e compares the h#mans to parasites, and then proceeds to teach the animals a revol#tionary song, '(easts of )ngland%' When Old Major dies a mere three days later, two pigs - *now all and +apoleon - ass#me command, and t#rn his dream into a f#ll-fledged philosophy% ,he starved animals s#ddenly revolt one night and drive the farmer, Mr% -ones, his wife, and his pet raven, Moses, from the farm% ,he farm is then renamed '!nimal Farm%' ,he *even "ommandments of the new philosophy of !nimalism are written on the wall of a arn for all to read% ,he seventh and most important is 'all animals are e.#al%' !ll animals work, #t the workhorse, (o/er, does more than his fair share and adopts a ma/im of his own 0 '1 will work harder%' *now all teaches the other animals to read and write 2tho#gh few animals esides the pigs learn to read well3, food is plentif#l d#e to a good harvest, and the entire farm is organized and r#nning smoothly% Meanwhile, +apoleon secretively takes the p#ps from the farm dogs and trains them privately% When Mr% -ones tries to re-take control of the farm, the animals defeat him at what they later call the '(attle of the "owshed%' &owever, +apoleon and *now all egin a power str#ggle for leadership of the farm% When *now all anno#nces his idea for a windmill, +apoleon .#ickly opposes it% ! meeting is held, and when *now all makes his passionate and artic#late speech in favo#r of the windmill, +apoleon retorts only riefly and then makes a strange noise to call in nine attack dogs, which #rst in and chase *now all off the farm% 1n *now all's a sence, +apoleon declares himself the leader of the farm and makes instant changes% &e anno#nces that meetings will no longer e held as efore and a committee of pigs alone will decide what happens with the farm% +apoleon changes his mind a o#t the windmill, claiming 2thro#gh *.#ealer, +apoleon's mo#thpiece3 that *now all stole the idea from him and the animals egin to work% !fter a violent storm, the animals wake to find the fr#it of their months of la o#r #tterly annihilated% ,ho#gh neigh o#ring farmers scoff at the thin walls, +apoleon and *.#ealer convince everyone that *now all destroyed it% +apoleon egins to p#rge the farm, killing many animals he acc#ses of consorting with *now all% 1n the meantime, (o/er takes a second mantra, '+apoleon is always right%' +apoleon egins to a #se his powers even more, and life on the farm ecomes harder and harder for the rest of the animals; the pigs impose more and more controls on them while reserving privileges for themselves% ,he pigs rewrite history in a way that villainizes *now all and glorifies +apoleon even f#rther% )ach step of this development is j#stified y the pig *.#ealer, who on several occasions alters the *even "ommandments on the arn in the dead of night 0 for e/ample, '+o animal shall drink alcohol' ecomes '+o animal shall drink alcohol to e/cess%' ,he song '(easts of )ngland' is anned as inappropriate, now that the dream of !nimal Farm has een realised, and is replaced y an anthem glorifying +apoleon, who egins to live more and more like a h#man% ,he animals, tho#gh cold, starving, and overworked, remain convinced that they are still etter off than when they were r#led y Mr% -ones, the previo#s 2h#man3 owner of Manor Farm% Mr% Frederick, one of the two neigh o#ring farmers, swindles +apoleon y #ying l#m er with forged anknotes, and then attacks the farm, #sing lasting powder to low #p the recently restored windmill% ,ho#gh the animals of !nimal Farm event#ally win the attle, they do so at a great cost, as many of the animals, incl#ding (o/er, are wo#nded% &owever, (o/er contin#es to work harder and harder, #ntil he finally collapses while working on the windmill% +apoleon sends for a van to take (o/er to the veterinarian, #t as (o/er is loaded #p and the van drives away, the animals read what is written on the side of the van4 '!lfred *immonds, &orse *la#ghterer and 5l#e (oiler%' *.#ealer .#ickly reports that the van with the old writing had een p#rchased y the hospital, and later that (o/er had died in the hospital, in spite of the est medical care% 1n reality, (o/er had een sent to his death so the pigs co#ld get more money to #y whiskey% Many years pass, and the pigs learn to walk #pright, carry whips, and wear clothes% ,he *even "ommandments are red#ced to a single phrase4 '!$$ !+1M!$* !6) )78!$, (8, *OM) !+1M!$* !6) MO6) )78!$ ,&!+ O,&)6*%' +apoleon holds a dinner party for the pigs and the h#mans of the area 2in the adjacent Fo/wood Farm, r#n y Mr% 9ilkington3, who congrat#late +apoleon on having the hardest-working animals in the co#ntry on the least feed% +apoleon anno#nces his alliance with the h#mans, against the la o#ring classes of oth 'worlds%'

,he animals discover this when they overhear +apoleon's conversations, and finally realize that a change has come over the r#ling pigs% :#ring a poker match, an arg#ment reaks o#t etween +apoleon and Mr% 9ilkington when they oth play an !ce of *pades, and the animals realize that they cannot tell the difference etween the pigs and the h#mans% The Corruption of Socialist Ideals in the Soviet Union Animal Farm is most famo#s in the West as a stinging criti.#e of the history and rhetoric of the 6#ssian 6evol#tion% 6etelling the story of the emergence and development of *oviet comm#nism in the form of an animal fa le,Animal Farm allegorizes the rise to power of the dictator -oseph *talin% 1n the novella, the overthrow of the h#man oppressor Mr% -ones y a democratic coalition of animals .#ickly gives way to the consolidation of power among the pigs% M#ch like the *oviet intelligentsia, the pigs esta lish themselves as the r#ling class in the new society% ,he str#ggle for preeminence etween $eon ,rotsky and *talin emerges in the rivalry etween the pigs *now all and +apoleon% 1n oth the historical and fictional cases, the idealistic #t politically less powerf#l fig#re 2,rotsky and *now all3 is e/pelled from the revol#tionary state y the malicio#s and violent #s#rper of power 2*talin and +apoleon3% ,he p#rges and show trials with which *talin eliminated his enemies and solidified his political ase find e/pression inAnimal Farm as the false confessions and e/ec#tions of animals whom +apoleon distr#sts following the collapse of the windmill% *talin;s tyrannical r#le and event#al a andonment of the fo#nding principles of the 6#ssian 6evol#tion are represented y the pigs; t#rn to violent government and the adoption of h#man traits and ehaviors, the trappings of their original oppressors% !ltho#gh Orwell elieved strongly in socialist ideals, he felt that the *oviet 8nion realized these ideals in a terri ly perverse form% &is novella creates its most powerf#l ironies in the moments in which Orwell depicts the corr#ption of !nimalist ideals y those in power% For Animal Farm serves not so m#ch to condemn tyranny or despotism as to indict the horrifying hypocrisy of tyrannies that ase themselves on, and owe their initial power to, ideologies of li eration and e.#ality% ,he grad#al disintegration and perversion of the *even "ommandments ill#strates this hypocrisy with vivid force, as do *.#ealer;s ela orate philosophical j#stifications for the pigs; latantly #nprincipled actions% ,h#s, the novella criti.#es the violence of the *talinist regime against the h#man eings it r#led, and also points to *oviet comm#nism;s violence against h#man logic, lang#age, and ideals% The Societal Tendency Toward Class Stratification Animal Farm offers commentary on the development of class tyranny and the h#man tendency to maintain and reesta lish class str#ct#res even in societies that allegedly stand for total e.#ality% ,he novella ill#strates how classes that are initially #nified in the face of a common enemy, as the animals are against the h#mans, may ecome internally divided when that enemy is eliminated% ,he e/p#lsion of Mr% -ones creates a power vac##m, and it is only so long efore the ne/t oppressor ass#mes totalitarian control% ,he nat#ral division etween intellect#al and physical la or .#ickly comes to e/press itself as a new set of class divisions, with the < rainworkers= 2as the pigs claim to e3 #sing their s#perior intelligence to manip#late society to their own enefit% Orwell never clarifies in Animal Farm whether this negative state of affairs constit#tes an inherent aspect of society or merely an o#tcome contingent on the integrity of a society;s intelligentsia% 1n either case, the novella points to the force of this tendency toward class stratification in many comm#nities and the threat that it poses to democracy and freedom% The Danger of a Nave Working Class One of the novella;s most impressive accomplishments is its portrayal not j#st of the fig#res in power #t also of the oppressed people themselves%Animal Farm is not told from the perspective of any partic#lar character, tho#gh occasionally it does slip into "lover;s conscio#sness% 6ather, the story is told from the perspective of the common animals as a whole% 5#lli le, loyal, and hardworking, these animals give Orwell a chance to sketch how sit#ations of oppression arise not only from the motives and tactics of the oppressors #t also from the na>vet? of the oppressed, who are not necessarily in a position to e etter ed#cated or informed% When presented with a dilemma, (o/er prefers not to p#zzle o#t the implications of vario#s possi le actions #t instead to repeat to himself, <+apoleon is always right%= Animal Farm demonstrates how the ina ility or #nwillingness to .#estion a#thority condemns the working class to s#ffer the f#ll e/tent of the r#ling class;s oppression %

The A use of !anguage as Instru"ental to the A use of #ower One of Orwell;s central concerns, oth in Animal Farm and in 1984, is the way in which lang#age can e manip#lated as an instr#ment of control% 1nAnimal Farm, the pigs grad#ally twist and distort a rhetoric of socialist revol#tion to j#stify their ehavior and to keep the other animals in the dark% ,he animals heartily em race Major;s visionary ideal of socialism, #t after Major dies, the pigs grad#ally twist the meaning of his words% !s a res#lt, the other animals seem #na le to oppose the pigs witho#t also opposing the ideals of the 6e ellion% (y the end of the novella, after *.#ealer;s repeated reconfig#rations of the *even "ommandments in order to decriminalize the pigs; treacheries, the main principle of the farm can e openly stated as <all animals are e.#al, #t some animals are more e.#al than others%= ,his o#trageo#s a #se of the word <e.#al= and of the ideal of e.#ality in general typifies the pigs; method, which ecomes increasingly a#dacio#s as the novel progresses% Orwell;s sophisticated e/pos#re of this a #se of lang#age remains one of the most compelling and end#ring feat#res of Animal Farm,worthy of close st#dy even after we have decoded its allegorical characters and events%

$otifs. Songs Animal Farm is filled with songs, poems, and slogans, incl#ding Major;s stirring <(easts of )ngland,= Minim#s;s ode to +apoleon, the sheep;s chants, and Minim#s;s revised anthem, <!nimal Farm, !nimal Farm%= !ll of these songs serve as propaganda, one of the major cond#its of social control% (y making the working-class animals speak the same words at the same time, the pigs evoke an atmosphere of grande#r and no ility associated with the recited te/t;s s# ject matter% ,he songs also erode the animals; sense of individ#ality and keep them foc#sed on the tasks y which they will p#rportedly achieve freedom% State %itual !s !nimal Farm shifts gears from its early revol#tionary fervor to a phase of consolidation of power in the hands of the few, national rit#als ecome an ever more common part of the farm;s social life% Military awards, large parades, and new songs all proliferate as the state attempts to reinforce the loyalty of the animals% ,he increasing fre.#ency of the rit#als espeaks the e/tent to which the working class in the novella ecomes ever more reliant on the r#ling class to define their gro#p identity and val#es% Sy" ols Ani"al &ar" !nimal Farm, known at the eginning and the end of the novel as the Manor Farm, sym olizes 6#ssia and the *oviet 8nion #nder "omm#nist 9arty r#le% (#t more generally, !nimal Farm stands for any h#man society, e it capitalist, socialist, fascist, or comm#nist% 1t possesses the internal str#ct#re of a nation, with a government 2the pigs3, a police force or army 2the dogs3, a working class 2the other animals3, and state holidays and rit#als% 1ts location amid a n#m er of hostile neigh oring farms s#pports its sym olism as a political entity with diplomatic concerns% The 'arn ,he arn at !nimal Farm, on whose o#tside walls the pigs paint the *even "ommandments and, later, their revisions, represents the collective memory of a modern nation% ,he many scenes in which the r#ling-class pigs alter the principles of !nimalism and in which the working-class animals p#zzle over #t accept these changes represent the way an instit#tion in power can revise a comm#nity;s concept of history to olster its control% 1f the working class elieves history to lie on the side of their oppressors, they are less likely to .#estion oppressive practices% Moreover, the oppressors, y revising their nation;s conception of its origins and development, gain control of the nation;s very identity, and the oppressed soon come to depend #pon the a#thorities for their comm#nal sense of self% The Wind"ill

,he great windmill sym olizes the pigs; manip#lation of the other animals for their own gain% :espite the immediacy of the need for food and warmth, the pigs e/ploit (o/er and the other common animals y making them #ndertake ack reaking la or to #ild the windmill, which will #ltimately earn the pigs more money and th#s increase their power% ,he pigs; declaration that *now all is responsi le for the windmill;s first collapse constit#tes psychological manip#lation, as it prevents the common animals from do# ting the pigs; a ilities and #nites them against a s#pposed enemy% ,he #ltimate conversion of the windmill to commercial #se is one more sign of the pigs; etrayal of their fellow animals% From an allegorical point of view, the windmill represents the enormo#s modernization projects #ndertaken in *oviet 6#ssia after the 6#ssian 6evol#tion% Totalitarianis" ,he concept of ,otalitarianism is a typology or ideal-type #sed y some political scientists to encaps#late the characteristics of a n#m er of twentieth cent#ry regimes that mo ilized entire pop#lations in s#pport of the state or an ideology% !ccording to these historical appro/imations, totalitarian regimes are more repressive of pl#ralism and political rights than a#thoritarian ones% 8nder a totalitarian regime, the state controls nearly every aspect of the individ#al's life% ,otalitarian governments do not tolerate activities y individ#als or gro#ps s#ch as la or #nions that are not directed y the state's goals% ,otalitarian regimes maintain themselves in power thro#gh secret police,propaganda disseminated thro#gh the media, the elimination of open criticism of the regime, and #se of terror tactics% 1nternal and e/ternal threats are created to foster #nity thro#gh fear% (enito M#ssolini originally applied the term to his own regime 2@ABB-@ACD3 in 1taly% $eon ,rotsky applied the term to oth fascism and *talinism as 'symmetrical phenomena' in his @ADE ook Revolution Betrayed% &annah !rendt 2@AFE-@AGH3 pop#larized the #se of the term totalitarianism 2nota ly in her @AH@ ook The Origins of Totalitarianism3 in order to ill#strate the commonalities etween +azi 5ermany and the *talinist *oviet 8nion% :#ring the "old War, the term ecame pop#larized y many anticomm#nist commentators, and fell into common #sage in the 8nited *tates% ,h#s, some have #sed the term to descri e j#st a o#t any nationalist, imperialist, fascist and "omm#nist regime as 'totalitarian%' &owever, some fascist regimes, s#ch as Franco's *pain and M#ssolini's 1taly efore World War 11; some "omm#nist regimes, s#ch as I#goslavia #nder ,ito, the 9eople's 6ep# lic of "hina #nder :eng Jiaoping, and "# a #nder Fidel "astro; and single-party regimes, s#ch as ,aiwan #nder "hiang Kai-shek and 1ndonesia #nder *#harto have a#thoritarian rather than totalitarian characteristics% *ome scholars, s#ch as -#an $inz and !lfred *tepan, have moved eyond the tripartite typology of totalitarian, a#thoritarian, and democratic regimes witho#t rejecting it entirely% 1nstead, they e/pand that typology y e/plicating 'post-totalitarianism' as a distinctive regime-type characterizing regimes s#ch as the post-*talinist *oviet 8nion% Totalitarian %egi"es 6egimes appro/imated as totalitarian have developed in the twentieth cent#ry thro#gh new techni.#es that mo ilize entire pop#lations in s#pport of the state and a political ideology% ,he main e/amples of regimes considered totalitarian are +azi 5ermany, Fascist 1taly, the *oviet 8nion #nder -oseph *talin% ,otalitarian systems, however, may not e as monolithic as they appear, since they may hide a process in which several gro#ps0the army, political leaders, ind#strialists, and others0compete for power and infl#ence% #ro le"s of Identification and Distinction (oth the *oviet 8nion and +azi 5ermany came into conflict with the 'free world', either directly and violently 2World War 113, or indirectly 2the "old War3% !llied forces led y the *oviet 8nion and the 8nited *tates 2amongst others3 li erated 5ermany on L-) :ay% !rendt, in partic#lar, draws parallels etween fascism and *talinism% *ince the fall of the +azi regime in 5ermany, many other theorists in the 8nited *tates and Western )#rope have arg#ed that similarities e/ist etween the government of +azi 5ermany and that of *talin's *oviet 8nion% 1n most cases, this has not taken the form of emphasising the perceived 'socialism' of the +ational *ocialists 2+azis3 0 mainly eca#se this 'socialism' appeared chiefly in +azi propaganda and did not make any significant appearance in mat#re +azi theory or practice 0 #t of arg#ing that oth +azism and *talinism represent forms of totalitarianism%

&owever, the concept of totalitarianism remains highly controversial% Most historians who st#dy +azi 5ermany or the *oviet 8nion accept it only with reservations% (#t some 2#s#ally neo-conservative3 scholars arg#e that +azism resem led *talinism not only in its methods of r#le, as s#ggested y !rendt and other theorists of totalitarianism, #t also in that oth systems ran 'socialist' states% ,hose who hold this view point to the occasional statements of +azi leaders that they were 'socialists', as well as the more anti-capitalist planks of the +azi party program% ,hey tend to ignore the anti-comm#nist planks of that same program% F#rthermore, the ackgro#nd of (enito M#ssolini, fo#nder of the 1talian fascist movement, as a socialist efore the First World War, has served to f#rther the claim that the roots of fascism 2of which +azism allegedly represents a special form3 lie in socialist tho#ght% ,he aforementioned neo-conservative scholars also note the collectivist, statist nat#re of some parts of the +azi enterprise, which they see as essentially socialist% Others disagree with this view, pointing o#t that collectivist and statist practices have e/isted in a wide variety of governments thro#gho#t h#man history 0 incl#ding some as old as !ncient )gypt 0 which have nothing to do with socialism% ,hey f#rther point to the fact that +azi 5ermany allowed 2and even enco#raged3 private enterprise% &istorians s#ch as 1an Kershaw, &ans Mommsen, and -oachim Fest arg#e that the origins of the +azi 9arty lie in the far-right nationalist and racist movements that e/isted in 5ermany in the post-World War 1 period as well as in older movements s#ch as the ,h#le *ociety% &itler, 5oe els and the +azi ideolog#es consistently rejected any and all of the traditions of nineteenth and early twentieth cent#ry 5erman socialism as artic#lated y Karl Mar/, Ferdinand $assalle, Karl Ka#tsky, !#g#st (e el and others% 6ather, s#ch historians agree that the intellect#als to whom the +azis looked from the eginning 2whether +ietzsche or &o#ston *tewart "ham erlain3 stood consistently to the right of centre, implying that the intellect#al origins of +azism lie in right-wing nationalist and racist tho#ght, not in the socialist tradition% F#rther, the c#lt#ral and political traditions the +azis cele rated did not elong to the socialist tradition% &itler and the +azis revered the nationalist operas of Wagner, partic#larly ,he 6ing "ycle, and fo#nd heroes in history s#ch as Frederick the 5reat or the ,e#tonic Knights% "onversely, the +azis rejected and even reviled socialist c#lt#ral and historical traditions s#ch as the cele ration of the French 6evol#tion and the @MCM 6evol#tions or the lore of workers' str#ggles in momento#s strikes and protests% ,he +azis condemned and rejected the eighteenth and nineteenth cent#ry revol#tionary movements and lamed these events for destroying traditional val#es and social relations% ,hey also saw these revol#tions as part of a -ewish conspiracy, since those revol#tions res#lted 2inter alia3 in the emancipation of the -ews% ,he hierarchical nat#re of the anti-modern corporatism espo#sed y +azism and other forms of fascism contrasts directly with the egalitarianism espo#sed y most forms of socialism% Kershaw arg#es that the +azis opposed egalitarianism, had an elitist view of society and asserted that in competition amongst citizens the s#perior individ#al wo#ld emerge on top% M#ch of this de ate #ltimately revolves aro#nd the .#estion of the meaning of the term socialism, making arg#ment on the s# ject fre.#ently as m#ch a o#t semantics as a o#t act#al s# stantive differences% Theories of Totalitarianis" ,he relationship etween totalitarianism and a#thoritarianism also remains controversial4 some see totalitarianism as an e/treme form of a#thoritarianism, while others arg#e that they differ completely% *ome political analysts, nota ly neo-conservatives s#ch as -eane Kirkpatrick, have st#died the vario#s distinctions etween totalitarianism and a#thoritarianism% ,hey arg#e that while oth types of governments can ehave e/tremely r#tally to political opponents, in an a#thoritarian government the government's efforts foc#s mostly on those classified as political opponents, and the government has neither the will nor, often, the means to control every aspect of an individ#al's life% 1n a totalitarian system, the r#ling ideology re.#ires that every aspect of an individ#al's life ecome s# ordinated to the state, incl#ding ed#cation, occ#pation, income, recreation and religion, often even incl#ding family relationships% 9ersonal s#rvival links to the regime's s#rvival, and th#s the concepts of 'the state' and 'the people' ecome merged% ,his is also called the carceral state 0 like a prison% *ome analysts have arg#ed that totalitarianism re.#ires a c#lt of personality aro#nd a charismatic 'great leader' glorified as the legitimator of the regime% Many regimes often considered totalitarian fit this model 0 for e/ample, those of &itler, *talin, Mao, M#ssolini, 9ol 9ot, *addam &#ssein, and Kim 1l-*#ng% 9artially for this reason, some

scholars do not consider the post-*talin *oviet 8nion and most of the Warsaw 9act nations as totalitarian% When those governments fell, however, many intellect#als and average citizens of the co#ntries arg#ed that they had indeed e/perienced totalitarianism% ,his has made more pop#lar the elief that totalitarianism fre.#ently feat#res a charismatic leader #t does not re.#ire one% *till, one can reasona ly arg#e that all totalitarian systems do seem to necessarily re.#ire the presence of a living h#man a sol#te leader at all times and do e/pect a certain type of g#idance for nearly every aspect of life from that leader% 6egardless of whether or not a newly installed leader of a totalitarian regime may happen to possess a certain nat#ral charisma or not, the totalitarian system seems to tend to attempt to systematically impose this charisma onto the leader% "ritics of the concept of totalitarianism often arg#e that there is no clear distinction etween totalitarian and a#thoritarian regimes, and that s#ch a distinction is only artificially created y those who wish to make certain dictatorships appear etter than others, or those who wish to j#stify their alliance with 2or s#pport of3 certain dictators rather than others% ,he original sense in which 'totalitarian' was coined, least via le for its connotations today #t pertinent to #nderstanding the conte/t of its earliest instances, was for representing the state thro#gh 5iovanni 5entile's philosophy% For him, ',otalitarian' was the condition of the state in which all activities of civil society, inadvertently or not, #ltimately lead to, and therefore perpet#ally e/ist in, something resem ling a state% Within that consideration, therefore, is an e/press and #nderlying need for advancement to come thro#gh synthesis of every .#ality of society thro#gh recognition in policy and y official mandate of everything which can take part within the sphere of h#man living, y the state% ,he state is then an attempt to e/pand and magnify the every interest of its demographic as eing reciprocal with the state to where their interests N actions elong to something higher than themselves% *ociety is then intimately interconnected with the state as its limiting factor, ased #pon how all those conditions of life gave rise to it for them to e free to have their own interests enefit it as m#ch as themselves, and can only act thro#gh the means that society has as the interest of that res#ltant state rather than any interests the people hold generally% ,h#s, this kind of ,otalitarianism originated as a term for an idea meant to represent an opposition to oth socialism and li eralism% (alidity of the Theory of Totalitarianis" ! theory of totalitarianism 2or rather, several s#ch theories3 was developed y historians and political scientists in democratic co#ntries d#ring the second half of the BFth cent#ry% ,he theory appeared solid #ntil the @AMFs, when the collapse of the *oviet 8nion overt#rned many esta lished ideas a o#t 'totalitarianism'% !ltho#gh there is little do# t that theories of totalitarianism have shaped and contin#e to shape 8%*% foreign policy and jo#rnalistic disc#ssion, the act#al predictive val#e of totalitarianism as a theory is disp#ta le% ,he collapse of the *oviet loc tested n#mero#s aspects of the theory of totalitarianism% Many decades earlier, in @AHG, theorist (ertram Wolfe claimed that *oviet society had all power flowing to the top with no challenge or change possi le from society at large% &e called it a 'solid and d#ra le political system dominating a society that has een totally fragmented or atomized,' one which will remain ' arring e/plosion from within or attering down from witho#t%' Most classic theories of totalitarianism left o#t even the possi ility of an e/plosion from within as mentioned y (ertram Wolfe% ,hese were largely discredited when the *oviet 8nion fell completely witho#t an invasion from o#tside% "ontrasting theories arg#ed that there contin#ed to e ases inside *oviet society for change, and that it is #nrealistic to think that any one man or state co#ld concentrate power in s#ch a way as to make those ases of change irrelevant% From opposite sides of the political spectr#m, 8%*% *ecretary of *tate -ohn Foster :#lles and Mao Oedong claimed that 'peacef#l evol#tion' toward capitalism was possi le in the *oviet loc% *ince 'peacef#l evol#tion' won the day, the .#estion arises as to how m#ch role ideology and the needs of the 8%*% government in the "old War infl#enced academic disc#ssion of totalitarianism% ,he distinction etween 'a#thoritarian' and 'totalitarian' regimes heated m#ch de ate, #t in the end it may not have shed m#ch light%

Witho#t the fall of the *oviet loc, there is also the .#estion of meas#rement of totalitarianism with its emphasis on state control over 'every aspect' of everyday life% ,he 8nited *tates had a higher rate of imprisonment than the *oviet 8nion did when the *oviet 8nion collapsed% 1n fact, the 8nited *tates has for more than a generation had the highest imprisonment rate in the world% *o y that meas#re, the 8nited *tates has the highest state control of every aspect of life% Iet, again perhaps reflecting on the lack of o jectivity and the #ltimate p#rpose of the theory of totalitarianism, most #sers of the theory do not mention this fact or refer to the 8nited *tates as 'totalitarian%' :espite a lack of acc#rate predictions in the past and having missed on comparative meas#rement of repression, references to the theory of totalitarianism are still commonly made today, especially in the form of #sing the word 'totalitarian' to refer to +orth Korea, 1ran and the '!/is of )vil' defined y 5eorge W% (#sh and neoconservative foreign policy analysts in the West%