Throughout history, those in power always used the repressive apparatus (police and justice) and the state ideological apparatuses. It is totalitarianism where the repressive apparatus and the state ideological apparatus are used to its fullest. The first experience of totalitarianism in the world happened to the Catholic Church in the second century AD when the need arises to exercise its power to control the thinking of the individuals who was getting better until reach the Inquisition in the twelfth century. Totalitarianism reappeared in the twentieth century in Italy, Germany, the Soviet Union and other countries (China, Eastern European countries, North Korea, Spain, Portugal, Cuba, etc). The totalitarianism of the twentieth century with regard to the type of government where a single individual or party controls the various levels of state and society. In the twenty-first century, in the contemporary era of economic and financial globalization, the modern totalitarianism arises, covering the entire planet. The dominant neoliberal capitalist system is defined by the omnipresence of its mercantile ideology which occupies the same time all the space and all walks of life.

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THE TOTALITARIANISM THROUGHOUT OF THE HISTORY OF
HUMANITY
Fernando Alcoforado *
Throughout history of humanity, those in power always used the repressive apparatus
(police and justice) for the maintenance of the existing political and social order. Who
holds the power of the state uses the repressive apparatus of the state for the benefit of
the ruling class in the social sphere. They exert their domination over the whole of
society not only by force but also by the use of ideology to keep the dominant economic
system. We must admit the existence of a reality that cannot be confused with the
repressive apparatus of the state: they are the state ideological apparatuses. The function
of the repressive apparatus of the state is not only to keep playing the political
conditions of the social relations of production, but also maintain the repression, the
political conditions for the exercise of the ideological state apparatuses.
The basic difference between the state repressive apparatus (SRA) and the state
ideological apparatuses (SIA) is that the SRA are used predominantly of force and
violence to achieve their goals. Already the SIA predominantly use ideology to maintain
its domination over the minds of individuals. The SIA work, therefore, in the minds of
people. According to Althusser [ALTHUSSER, Louis. Aparelhos ideológicos de estado
(State ideological apparatuses). 6th Ed. Rio de Janeiro: Graal, 1985], are members of
the SIA, among others, the system of different churches, the school system (both public
and private), the system family, the legal system, the political system, the trade union
system, the information system and the cultural system. Another difference between the
SRA and SIA is in the way of action. The SRA use repression and coercion, while the
SIA use ideology. While the SRA are totally public, much of the SIA belongs to the
private domain. This does not mean that there is a difference between public and private
SIA: both work as state ideological apparatuses.
They are the ideological state apparatuses to ensure the most effective reproduction of
the social relations of production. That is where the ideology of the ruling class works.
The state ideological apparatuses have always been present in all societies from
Antiquity to the contemporary era. In the Middle Ages, the main SIA was the Catholic
Church, which had functions not only religious, but also educational, as well as a good
part of the functions of information and culture. During the nineteenth century, with the
gradual separation of state and church, there were new SIA: the school and the media.
At school, besides reading and writing are also learned the rules of "good behavior",
that is, people learn to be submissive to the established order, causing people to be
submissive in relation to the dominant ideology. These SIA are the most influence at the
time, it is the school that gives training to all people, regardless of social class, from
kindergarten to the university and the media also affects the behavior of people,
especially through the TV. Therefore, it is through education and the media that the
reproduction of the social relations of production occurs at this time.
It is totalitarianism where the repressive apparatus and the state ideological apparatuses
are used to its fullest. It can be said that the main feature of totalitarianism is trying to
exert mind control of individuals across the state ideological apparatuses. The first
experience of totalitarianism in the world happened to the Catholic Church in the
second century AD when the need to exercise its power arises to control the thinking of
the individuals who was getting better until reach the Inquisition in the twelfth century.
This is the fundamental thesis of the book The New Inquisitions: Heretic-Hunting and

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the Intellectual Origins of Modern Totalitarism of Arthur Versluis, professor in the
Department of Religious Studies at Michigan State University whose review is available
on the website <http: //cinegnose.blogspot .com / 2012/04 / religion-and-rise-of-
totalitarismo.html>. In this book, Arthur Versluis located in Century II the origins of
modern totalitarianism and control practices of thought with the institutionalization of
the Catholic Church and the emergence of orthodoxy that would identify heresies and
heretics. For the first time in human history comes the need for control of thought
through a form of power. In addition to exercise repression, political strategies of
domination began to need to crack down on various instruments any divergent thinking
of the norm. This is the origin of modern forms of totalitarianism as Fascism, Nazism
and neo-liberal capitalism in the contemporary era.
Totalitarianism reappeared in the twentieth century in Italy, Germany, the Soviet Union
and other countries (China, Eastern European countries, North Korea, Spain, Portugal,
Cuba, etc). The totalitarianism of the twentieth century with regard to the type of
government where a single individual or party controls the various levels of state and
society. At the same time, such a scheme defines a type of relationship in which the
government has wide powers to intervene in the lives of its citizens. Politically, the
totalitarianism of the twentieth century did not accept the existence of multiple political
party guidelines. So totalitarian regimes preferred to recognize the presence of a single
party. In economics, the totalitarian state planning and controlling economic activity. In
general, state-owned companies had major economic presence and worked mainly in
infrastructure sectors and base and technology industry.
The totalitarian state of the twentieth century prevented the exercise of civil liberties.
The police control forces used violence, political persecution, summary arrest, physical
torture and psychological to dissolve any demonstration that might endanger the
hegemony of the regime. In addition to use of force, to intervene in the economy and
take all state papers, totalitarianism of the twentieth century also exercised ideological
control to get the support of all individuals. To exert ideological control, the totalitarian
state used the media to propagandize their ideas. In general, the countries that have
experienced totalitarian regimes in the twentieth century followed patriotic ideals and
bloodproud exacerbated, lived with the great state propaganda and censorship and
witnessed the militarization of society.
In the twenty-first century, in the contemporary era of economic and financial
globalization, the modern totalitarianism arises, covering the entire planet. The
dominant neoliberal capitalist system is defined by the omnipresence of its mercantile
ideology which occupies the same time all the space and all walks of life. This ideology
says nothing more than, produce, sell, consume, and accumulate! It reduced all human
relations into commodity relations and considers our planet as a mere commodity. The
duty imposed on us is the servile work. The only right that he recognizes is the right to
private property. The only god it worships is money. The omnipresence of ideology, the
worship of money, the one party disguised parliamentary pluralism, the lack of a visible
opposition and repression in all its forms against the will to transform the man and the
world. This is the true face of modern totalitarianism we call "liberal democracy"
which, however, we must call it by its real name: the totalitarian mercantile system. The
man, society and the whole of our planet serve this ideology.
The totalitarian mercantile system accomplished what no totalitarianism could do
before: unify the world in his own image. Today there is no longer possible exile. What

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has just been described in the paragraphs above makes evident the urgent need to
combat on a planetary scale the globalized modern totalitarianism that proves to be the
greatest enemy of all peoples of the world. One fact is indisputable: without the collapse
of modern totalitarianism at the national and global scale, will not overcome problems
affecting the human being in every single country.

Fernando Alcoforado, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, engineer and doctor of Territorial
Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, a university professor and
consultant in strategic planning, business planning, regional planning and planning of energy systems, is
the author of Globalização (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova
(Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, São
Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado.
Universidade de Barcelona, http://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globalização e
Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, São Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX
e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporânea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of
the Economic and Social Development-The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Muller
Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe
Planetária (P&A Gráfica e Editora, Salvador, 2010), Amazônia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e
combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, São Paulo, 2011),
Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012) and
Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudança Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV,
Curitiba, 2015).