Echoes of Totalitarianism: Lessons from Soviet History
With Audrey Unverferth
In today's conversation, I am joined by Audrey Unverferth, a visiting Fellow at Hungary’s MCC, whose research specializes in Soviet totalitarianism. Audrey draws parallels between Russian totalitarianism and current trends in the United States and across the Western world, highlighting how Russian history serves as a stark warning about the perils of totalitarianism and the fragility of democratic republics.
Totalitarian regimes thrive in "grey zones," where truth becomes malleable. The Soviet Union's manipulation of media and punishment of dissenters reveal the dangers of indoctrination. While today's "cancel culture" debates differ from Stalinist purges, they highlight the ongoing struggle between free expression and social pressure.
We discussed where we are on the tipping scale and how to prevent a similar takeover. We must empower parents, strengthen communities, and encourage individuals to seek truth beyond their screens. By engaging in conversations and challenging ideological conformity, we can safeguard the freedoms that underpin democratic society. In a world where misinformation can spread rapidly, let us remember: History is not just a lesson; it is a call to action.
So true. I have grown up in a totalitarian society during its final decades (I am from Bulgaria). In the last several years, I have been saying that today's cancel culture is not much different than the totalitarian brain washing and silencing of free criticism. While the imprisonment and the labor camps were undoubtedly the most horrific creations of the regime, they were only the tip of the iceberg. On a population level it was much worse what people did to their neighbors, friends , relatives etc: for every imprisoned for their ideas and criticism, there were hundreds that suffered complete social exclusion just because they dared to say or think something controversial, or just because their relatives or friends were voicing "decadent prowestern ideas" or were "sympathizing with the enemies of the People". So, the people either had to live like social pariahs or out of fear from falling into this vacuum to participate in the crime. The plague and exclusion by the "comrade court" was probably the most destructive (even if not the most horrible) manifestation of the totalitarianism. The most appalling fact is that all this was not done by the totalitarian state (although they facilitated it). It was done by the people ; by the same people that suffered under it - like a vicious circle eating through all the good in the society: morals, friendship, love ... all gone in the face of the horrors of social exclusion...
1990 was like awakening from a nightmare, like coming to your sences from a paranoid psychotic trance. We were so full of hope and decisiveness not to allow this ever again...
It is so much painful now, to see it happening again.
How perfect! This is the story of how my parents met after Pearl Harbor, and married in Jan. 1943, to fight for us. Do not, ever, think freedom is not worth fighting for:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIKuCQVaKqQ