Hannah Arendt Use Of Propaganda Essay

In the first stages of totalitarianism, when political opposition still exist and totalitarianism possesses full control, it replaces propaganda with indoctrination and uses violence to frighten the population. This is to realize it’s ideological doctrines and it’s lies. Totalitarian movement make use of propaganda since it exists within a non-totalitarian world. The propaganda of totalitarian movement has an effect on other countries. This creates a pressure from outside the totalitarian movement which might inhibit reactions from a part of the population that has not been fully indoctrinated. Therefore, even after seizure of power the totalitarian movement has to address itself to a segment of the population that has not been full indoctrinated.
Hannah Arendt mentions in her essay that: “Whenever totalitarian indoctrination at home comes into conflict with the propaganda line for consumption abroad, the propaganda is explained at home as a temporary tactical maneuver” (Arendt 1) From this passage one can tell that the totalitarian movement learned propaganda from abroad and would often steal some lines to do its own propaganda and would tell its population that it is a strategy.
Totalitarian regime uses terror on psychological levels to achieve its goals. Hanna Arendt mentions in her essay that: ”Where the rule of terror is brought to perfection, as in concentration camps, propaganda disappears entirely” (Arendt 2) Moreover, Hannah Arendt also describes propaganda as “the most important instrument of totalitarianism for dealing with the non-totalitarian world” On the other hand she says that: “terror is the very essence of its form of government” From these passages, one can tell that terror and propaganda are two useful tools for the totalitarian movement to deal with the non-totalitarian
world.

Totalitarian organization translate propaganda lies based on central fiction into functioning reality in order to create a society that follows the rules of a fictional world. Hannah Arendt says this is what differs totalitarianism with other “parties and movements of Fascist or socialist, nationalist or communist orientation, all of which back up their propaganda with terrorism as soon as they have reached a s certain stage of extremism” Totalitarian organizations are structured with front organizations will help to differentiate party members and sympathizers. These organizations are like a protection that separates the movement from the outside normal world. They also create a kind of transition with the members’ fictional believes and the believes of the normal world. Members of totalitarian movement benefit from the front organizations to make their fictional believes to appear as normalcy. Consequently, this helps to attenuate the impact of reality more efficiently than a normal indoctrination.

Front Organization are also used as façade of the totalitarian movement to the world. The movement uses sympathizers to make their lies more acceptable and to spread the propaganda in more respectable way since these individuals are ignorant citizens and are not single-minded. Front organization surround totalitarianism with normality and respectability in order to fool the members about the outside world as for the truth character of the movement to the outside. We see that front organization also functions as façade of the world to the inner hierarchy of the totalitarian movement. Hanna Arendt mentions that the front organization are an advantage for the totalitarian structure because: “it blunts the impact of one of the basic totalitarian tenets that the world is divided into two gigantic hostile camps, one of which is the movement, and that the movement can and must fight the whole world which prepares the way for the indiscriminate aggressiveness of totalitarian regimes in power.