totalitarianism

The communist leader Joseph Stalin, who forged the Soviet Union into a major 20th century power. His ruthless political purges removed all internal opposition and by the mid-1930s his leadership was undisputed.

Government control of all activities within a country, openly political or otherwise, as in fascist or communist dictatorships. Examples of totalitarian regimes are Italy under Benito Mussolini 1922–45; Germany under Adolf Hitler 1933–45; the USSR under Joseph Stalin from the 1930s until his death in 1953; and more recently Romania under Nicolae Ceauşescu 1974–89.