totalitarians
Complete control seekers
Totalitarians are people who support or practice totalitarianism—a system of government that demands complete control over public and private life, tolerating no opposition.
The word usually carries condemnation: The totalitarians crushed all dissent.
It applies to both rulers who impose such systems and citizens who embrace them.
Rulers with total control
- autocratsRulers with unchecked power
- authoritariansRulers demanding total compliance
- despotsOppressive absolute rulers
- tyrantsOppressive absolute rulers
fascists · oppressors · strongmen · junta · oligarchs · supremacists · ideologues · commissars
Systematic observation of subjects
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- indoctrinationSystematic uncritical belief instillation
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
- persecutionSystematic mistreatment of groups
intimidation · thought police · informants · propaganda · brainwashing · conformity · obedience · subjugation
Soviet autocrat, mid-century
- HitlerNazi Germany's totalitarian leader
- MaoChinese family name
- MussoliniItalian fascist premier
- FrancoSpanish surname, famous dictator
Pol Pot · Pinochet · Idi Amin · Gaddafi · Saddam · purges · genocide · gulags
Political objectors
- rebelsArmed opposition fighters
- undergroundBelow ground or countercultural
- samizdatClandestine dissident publishing
- defectorsThose abandoning allegiance
exiles · refugees · asylum · opposition · activists · protesters · martyrs · freedom fighters
dictators
Rulers with total control
- autocratsRulers with unchecked power
- authoritariansRulers demanding total compliance
- despotsOppressive absolute rulers
tyrants · fascists · oppressors · strongmen · junta · oligarchs · supremacists · ideologues · commissars · apparatchiks
surveillance
Systematic observation of subjects
- censorshipOfficial content restriction
- indoctrinationSystematic uncritical belief instillation
- suppressionForcible prevention or concealment
persecution · intimidation · thought police · informants · propaganda · brainwashing · conformity · obedience · subjugation · domination
Stalin
Soviet autocrat, mid-century
Pol Pot · Franco · Pinochet · Idi Amin · Gaddafi · Saddam · purges · genocide · gulags · concentration camps
dissidents
Political objectors
- rebelsArmed opposition fighters
- undergroundBelow ground or countercultural
- samizdatClandestine dissident publishing
defectors · exiles · refugees · asylum · opposition · activists · protesters · martyrs · freedom fighters · escapees
- oppressorstyrants, despots, dictators, autocrats, authoritarians
totalitariansdemocrats
Believers in popular sovereignty
libertarians · liberals · pluralists · human rights advocates · freedom fighters
- totalitarian regimesStates with absolute control
- totalitarian governmentState with absolute power