what is the difference between communism and Totalitarianism?

Answer 1

Who rules and who benefits....


Communism is founded on the theory that everything exists for the good of the people. The Community runs things, but sometimes a single person gains enough power to try and run things their own way, but that's not the way Karl Marx saw it.

Totalitarianism is a state run totally by the man (I think I'm safe here that there haven't been any women in this role yet) in charge. Everything is geared to maintain him in power and increase his wealth, even if it is under the guise of helping the populace.




g-day!

Answer 2

You have some good answers so far. The confusion comes from the fact that the first national government to be communist was in Russia after 1918. Russia's new regime became totalitarian under Lenin and then especially under Stalin.
Another good question is why Americans feared communism so much in the "Red Scare" of the McCarthy era during the 1950s. I think that most Americans identified with the totalitarian aspects of the Soviet Union rather than the 'equality of the workers' ideas. Americans traditionally have not liked being told what they may and may not do and what they may or may not have.
Of course the privileged wealthy people in America would fear any system that shares the wealth, but the average man
and women also feared the ogre of communism in the fifties.
History is full of examples t of the "Haves" fighting to maintain what they have over the "Have Nots". The "Have Nots" are
the majority of the people, but the "Haves" have always held
a disproportionate share of the power.

Answer 3

Totalitarianism is basically absolute control by the government; strict regulations on business and other activities performed by the people.

Communism is an idea that often uses "From each according to his ability, To each according to his need" as their poster slogan. It is actually run by a totalitarian government, and often property is considered to be owned by the people as a whole or the state.

Theyre quite similar but think of it this way: All communist countries have a totalitarian governement, but not all totalitarian governments are communist.

Answer 4

Communism is a theory of economics, along with socialism and capitalism, often confused with other issues in political history. To many, wrongly, communism is political. In theory a people could freely choose communism by democratic means.

Totalitarianism is a political system, often used to impose an economic system that otherwise would be resisted. There were examples in the past and now of totalitarian religious concepts.

Both fascism and the Russian version (Stalinism) were totalitarian. There have been others, Maoism, Italian Fascism and others. They all were used to impose economic concepts.

Answer 5

They talk about different things. Communism is mostly about how wealth should be distributed (the government owns all means of production, controls prices and wages, etc.) Totalitarianism is mostly about abuse of political power and oppression of dissidence; the incumbent government aggressively seeks obedience and punishes disobedience. So, while most Communist states were totalitarian to a varying degree (after you gained control of the economy, shutting up those who disagree with you is easy), there were and are plenty of non-Communist totalitarian states (Italy, Germany and Japan before 1945, post-1979 Iran, and the Abacha government in Nigeria come to mind).

Answer 6

communism- the people are equal to each other in every way

totalitarianism- the government has total control over the people