The big idea: Authoritarian regimes did not just want to rule people. They wanted to remake them into loyal citizens who believed in the leader with all their hearts.
Think about what a normal government does. It runs schools and builds roads, but it leaves your beliefs, your religion and your weekends up to you.
A totalitarian regime is different. It tries to control what every child believes, who they worship, what art they see, and even how they relax.
The dream was a society where your private life and your public loyalty became one and the same.
Why this matters for your essay: Whether this control actually worked is one of the best Paper 2 debates. Regimes always aimed for total loyalty, but the reality was messier, and your job is to weigh those two things against each other.
Spot it: the five C's of control: Every social policy fits one of these five areas: Children (schools and youth groups), Church (religion), Culture (art and censorship), Comfort (leisure and holidays), and Conformity of women.
If a policy does not obviously fit one, ask which it is closest to.
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Each policy had an aim and a result, and the two often did not match. As you read, keep asking one question: did this actually create the loyal 'new person' the regime wanted, or just people who obeyed on the outside?
The examples below come from different parts of the world on purpose. Paper 2 asks you to compare two states from different regions, so having a spread ready makes essay-planning much easier.
Catch them young
Regimes rewrote school textbooks and ran huge youth movements to indoctrinate the next generation. In Nazi Germany, the Hitler Youth for boys and the League of German Girls for girls drilled loyalty, racial ideas and fitness. In Stalin's USSR, the Young Pioneers trained young children and the Komsomol trained teenagers in communist values. Later, in Mao's China, young people were mobilised into the Red Guards from 1966.
Control the church
Faith was dangerous to a regime because it gave people something to be loyal to besides the leader. So regimes either tamed the churches or crushed them. Nazi Germany signed the 1933 Reich Concordat, a deal with the Catholic Church, then quietly broke its promises and harassed priests. Stalin's USSR went further with state atheism: it closed churches, persecuted clergy, and set up a 'League of the Militant Godless' to mock religion.
Control the arts
Art now had to serve the state. In 1937 the Nazis staged a 'Degenerate Art' exhibition, putting modern paintings on display to ridicule them. The USSR enforced socialist realism, so paintings and books had to show cheerful workers and a heroic Stalin.
Control their free time
Even leisure was organised. The Nazi Strength Through Joy programme gave ordinary workers cheap holidays, cruises and day trips. It bought loyalty by making life feel better, while also filling up the free time people might otherwise have spent on their own.
The AIMS (what they wanted)
- Total loyalty to the leader, built up through a cult of personality
- Indoctrinate the young so the regime would last for generations
- Remove rival loyalties like the church, independent art and even the family
- Create a remade 'new person', such as the ideal Nazi German or the New Soviet Man
The RESULTS (what really happened)
- Many young people were genuinely keen, but plenty were bored and some rebelled
- People obeyed on the outside, yet inner belief was much harder to force
- Churches survived and sometimes fought back, as with Catholic and Protestant protest in Germany
- Censorship narrowed what people could see, but it could not erase private thoughts
| Lever | Nazi Germany (Europe) | Stalin's USSR (Europe) | Mao's China (Asia) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Youth | Hitler Youth; League of German Girls | Young Pioneers; Komsomol | Red Guards; Young Pioneers |
| Religion | 1933 Concordat, then conflict | State atheism; churches closed | Attacks on religion and tradition |
| Arts | 'Degenerate Art' banned (1937) | Socialist realism enforced | Propaganda art; Mao imagery |
| Leisure | Strength Through Joy holidays | State-run clubs and sport | Mass campaigns and rallies |
A different region: Castro's Cuba (the Americas): After taking power in 1959, Fidel Castro's Cuba launched the famous 1961 Literacy Campaign, sending young volunteers called 'brigadistas' across the island to teach people to read. Along with reading, they taught loyalty to the revolution.
Castro's government also clashed with the Catholic Church and took over its religious schools. It is the same pattern of using education and religion to build a loyal society, but in a non-European setting, which makes it a perfect comparative partner.
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How this is tested (Paper 2): Paper 2 is a comparative essay with no sources. You must use two authoritarian states from two different regions, such as Hitler's Germany (Europe) with Mao's China (Asia), or Stalin (Europe) with Castro (Americas). The top marks reward comparison and judgement organised by theme, not two separate stories told one after the other.
Examine the impact of social and cultural policies in two authoritarian states, each chosen from a different region.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Common mistakes: Do not write two separate mini-essays, all of Germany then all of China, because examiners want running comparison by theme.
Do not pick two states from the same region, since Hitler and Stalin are both Europe and that fails the requirement. And do not just describe policies; always weigh aims against results.