The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt

The bourgeoisie turned to politics out of economic necessity for if it did not want to give up the capitalist system whose inherent law is constant economic growth, it had to impose this law upon its home governments and to proclaim expansion to be an ultimate political goal of foreign policy.” “Imperialism was born when the ruling class in capitalist production came up against national limitations to its economic expansion. Imperialism arose, in Arendt’s analysis as economic expansion came up against national limits. This was epitomized in the Dreyfus Affair, in which a French Army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, of Jewish descent, was wrongly accused of treason and convicted, arousing latent fears about Jews in France, indeed fears about the motives of Jews in other European countries. Many focus on the third, “Totalitarianism” and neglect the first two, on “Antisemitism” and Imperialism.” The first part describe the rise of race thinking, particularly in the context of the nation-state, and how the Jews, as stateless persons were particularly vulnerable to racist attacks. But I hope I can give you a sense of what it is about and why I think the book is worth the effort. I certainly will not do the book justice in a blog-length review.

It is long, the prose is demanding, and the ideas are critically important to our times. After over a month of reading, I can check this book off the list, but I can’t dismiss it from my thoughts. The Origins of Totalitarianism is on my “ Ten Books I Want to Read Before I Die” list. Summary: A work tracing the rise of totalitarian governments in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany to their origins in racism and class warfare, reactions to imperialism, and the mechanics that distinguish totalitarian states from other kinds of states. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 1968. The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt.

The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt