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Modernity refers to the means by which eighteenth-century Enlightenment political thinking came to inform European civilization in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Philosophically, it embraces a shift to humanism and secular reason, as originally exemplified by such theorists as John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant, and Adam Smith. Politically, this philosophical shift became expressed in the ideas of popular sovereignty and freedom that formed the core of liberal democracies across western Europe and the United States. The underlying myth of the Enlightenment consciousness is that rational thought, science, and technology are a progressive force that results in an increasingly improved world emancipated from irrational strictures, including religious ones.
Contents
- Totalitarianism
- Communism in the Soviet Union
- Fascism in Western Europe
- Totalitarianism as Anti-modernity
- Vladimir Lenin: What Is to Be Done? Date: 1902
- Rudolf Steiner: Theosophy Date: 1904
- John Reed: “Soviets in Action” Date: 1918
- Clara Zetkin: “Organising Working Women” Date: 1922
- Adolf Hitler: Mein Kampf Date: 1926
- José Ortega y Gasset: The Revolt of the Masses Date: 1930
- Sigmund Freud: Civilization and Its Discontents Date: 1930
- Benito Mussolini: “The Doctrine of Fascism” Date: 1932
- Joseph Stalin: “Results of the First Five-year Plan” Date: 1933
- Rudolf Hess: Oath to Adolf Hitler Date: 1934
- Leon Trotsky: “I Stake My Life!” Date: 1937
- Munich Pact Date: 1938
- Reinhard Heydrich: Memorandum concerning Kristallnacht Date: 1938
- Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Date: 1939
- Neville Chamberlain: Speech on Germany’s Invasion of Poland Date: 1939
- Liu Shaoqi: How to Be a Good Communist Date: 1939
- Vyacheslav Molotov: Address on Germany’s Invasion of Russia Date: 1941
- Cardinal Clemens von Galen: “Against Nazi Euthanasia” Date: 1941
- John W. Pehle and John J. McCloy: Debate about the Bombing of Auschwitz Date: 1944
- Declaration Regarding the Defeat of Germany Date: 1945
- Robert H. Jackson: Opening Statement before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany Date: 1945
- Mao Zedong: “On the People’s Democratic Dictatorship” Date: 1949
- Mao Zedong: “On the Co-Operative Transformation of Agriculture” Date: 1955