Definition of "totalitarianism"

And if it is true that in the final stages of totalitarianism an absolute evil appears (absolute because it can no longer be deduced from humanly comprehensible motives), it is also true that without it we might never have known the truly radical nature of Evil.

1951, Hannah Arendt, “Preface to the First Edition”, in The Origins of Totalitarianism (A Harvest/HBJ Book), new edition, San Diego, Calif., New York, N.Y.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1973, pages viii–ix

The film Repentance caused a sensation across the Soviet Union not only because it publicly condemned the evil of totalitarianism but also because it encouraged tens of thousands of Soviet people to reflect upon the source and root cause of the evil. […]

2020 October 31, Yiqing, “Why Is the Chinese Communist Party So Afraid of Intellectuals?”, in Minghui‎

Mr. Yudin argues that Russia is moving out of authoritarianism — where political passivity and civic disengagement are key features — into totalitarianism, which relies on mass mobilization, terror and homogeneity of beliefs.

2022 April 9, Sabrina Tavernise, “Putin’s War in Ukraine Shatters an Illusion in Russia”, in The New York Times‎