Deck 6: The Totalitarian Model: a False Utopia

Question 1

In a totalitarian society, some facets of society are controlled by the poor and middle classes.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

Mao's Great Leap Forward involved a significant reduction in social control and media censorship.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Iran is the last existing totalitarian system resembling that of the former Soviet Union.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Which of the following was (were) used to ensure secrecy within the Bolshevik Party during the revolutionary stage?

A) Propaganda
B) Salami tactics
C) Cells
D) Scapegoats
E) Terror

Question 5

Even though the Soviet Union no longer exists, the value of studying totalitarianism today is that it can take hold in places where poverty and injustice exist.

Question 6

Between 1934 and 1938, Hitler's Great Purge led many members of the German political and military elite to be
executed as enemies of the state.

Question 7

Without a larger-than-life leader, most total revolutions would have not have succeeded.

Question 8

Ideology tends to paint a picture of the world as it is and offers an explanation.

Question 9

Hitler argued that propaganda should address the masses and be understandable by even the least intelligent.

Question 10

All of these are key elements to the success of a total revolution EXCEPT

A) organization.
B) ideology.
C) financial resources.
D) violence.
E) propaganda.

Question 11

In past revolutions, what one trait did almost all utopian visions of the future share in come?

A) That men and women would be equal under the law and throughout society
B) That the new nation would become richer than all others
C) That the masses would equally share political power
D) That the military would be disbanded
E) That wealth and property would be redistributed

Question 12

Totalitarian ideologies generally focus on some form of absolute evil to which they can attribute all national or worldwide wrongs and social injustices.

Question 13

A key reason why pre-twentieth century rebellions did not produce total revolutions was that they lacked cohesive structure.

Question 14

During the consolidation stage of totalitarian development, what do revolutionary leaders attempt to do?

A) Reach a consensus with rival factions and form a broad-based coalition.
B) Begin the immediate transformation of society.
C) Eliminate real or imagined rivals for power and place loyal associates in key posts.
D) Calm the public by ending the violence that marked the revolutionary stage.
E) Reinterpret the past and attribute any failures to a clearly identifiable enemy.

Question 15

Whatever the quality of leadership, total revolutions depend in the final analysis on the willingness of converts to engage in extraordinary acts of self-sacrifice in the name of the cause.

Question 16

Which totalitarian leader's peasant­based revolution do many radicals (especially in developing countries) regard as the guiding example of revolutionary organization in a rural society?

A) Stalin's
B) Lenin's
C) Mao's
D) Castro's
E) Hitler's

Question 17

Totalitarianism is the product of just one form of ideology.

Question 18

Terror and propaganda in a totalitarian society have no relation to each other.

Question 19

The most effective forces in bringing people together are hate and prejudice.

Question 20

Russia actually had two revolutions in 1917, not just one.

Question 21

How did the Russian people resist Stalin's Five-Year Plan?

A) They refused to pay the taxes they were assessed.
B) They protested in the streets.
C) They raided the homes of Soviet officials.
D) They refused to work in state-owned factories.
E) They burned their crops and killed their cattle.

Question 22

Who were the people eliminated by Stalin because they resisted his drive to establish collective farms under state control?

A) Kulaks
B) Bolsheviks
C) Mensheviks
D) Collectivists
E) Both A and C

Question 23

Which of the following would NOT be found in the "totalitarian tool box"?

A) Assassination
B) Consolidation of property
C) Sabotage
D) Kidnappings
E) Indiscriminate bombings

Question 24

What nation is widely known as the "Hermit Kingdom"?

A) China
B) North Korea
C) Somalia
D) Iran
E) Ethiopia

Question 25

Under the form of totalitarianism exhibited by the Taliban in Afghanistan,

A) wife-beating was only a crime if the victim died.
B) public executions were the norm.
C) all children attended school until age fifteen.
D) people required special passes to travel outside of the country.
E) women were only allowed to work in menial, low-wage jobs.

Question 26

Mao's "Great Leap Forward" of the late 1950s was preceded by what episode?

A) Hundred Flowers Campaign
B) Venetian Poll
C) Green Earth Movement
D) Chinese Celebration
E) Communist Commitment

Question 27

The Great Leap Forward was

A) an attempt by Mao to encourage education and literacy among the Chinese peasants as a prelude to economic development.
B) the final battle of the Chinese civil war.
C) the communist program of land reform initiated following the revolution.
D) a mass campaign to collectivize China's surplus labor force and produce spectacular economic growth.
E) characterized by show trials in which party leaders were publicly tried.

Question 28

What is a monolithic society?

A) One with a strong central leader
B) One with a strong central government
C) One where leaders have the loyalty of the people
D) One where the state controls the economy, arts, government, military, and education
E) One where leaders focus on expanding their control to other countries

Question 29

Why did Hitler create new government positions to control media and the arts?

A) He had been an artist himself and had an interest in the development of the arts.
B) He saw media as a potential revenue stream for his government.
C) He wanted to take these businesses away from the Jews who owned them.
D) He wanted to silence all possible critics and criticisms of his government.
E) He saw the media and the arts as vehicles for education.

Question 30

To be effective, propaganda must

A) focus almost entirely on emotions.
B) emphasize intellectual concerns.
C) be reasonable in its approach.
D) be directed toward the educated members of society.
E) be packed with lies.

Question 31

What was Stalin's gulag archipelago used for?

A) A means to double the country's industrial output during the period of the first Five­Year Plan
B) A way to annihilate the kulaks
C) A device to create a new industrial utopia for Russia
D) A dumping ground for the secret police's social and political undesirables
E) A military training camp for youthful recruits

Question 32

What do experts estimate the death toll of totalitarian revolutions to be?

A) 10 million
B) 25 million
C) 50 million
D) 75 million
E) 100 million

Question 33

Totalitarian regimes share all of the following characteristics EXCEPT a(n)

A) official ideology.
B) secret police.
C) tightly controlled military.
D) decentralized approach to the economy.
E) media monopoly.

Question 34

Why did Mussolini use combat groups and punitive expeditions to shore up his government after World War I?

A) The public was forming militias to resist him and his efforts.
B) His efforts to win support for the Socialist Party failed,
C) He thought if the public were frightened, they would turn to him for support.
D) He wanted to threaten resisters.
E) He was seeking to round up resisters and have them arrested.

Question 35

Which form totalitarian system currently features a hybrid known as "state capitalism"?

A) Iraq
B) Iran
C) Soviet Union
D) North Korea
E) China