The Portent of Totalitarianism: In the Labyrinth of Class Claims

The reinforcement of civil society and its differentiation had engendered a crisis in absolutism. The bourgeoisie demanded an immediate representation in the system of power, while the monarch did not manage with the conciliation of interests properly. In the issue, the officialdom came to the fore and restricted the sovereignity of monarch by assuming the role of arbiter in relations between classes. So constitutional monarchy became the portent of totalitarianism, what had gotten its theoretical consolidation in Hegel’s doctrine of statehood. The officialdom turned out to be not merely the heart of power but also the bearer of fairly emasculated power ideology – due to parasitizing on the splinteredness of society and confrontation of its parts. In turn, the comprehensive control over society had given the main role just to bureaucracy. Though the trappings remained untouched, an inversion occurred in the officials’ hierarchy – power began to shift from the top to bureaucrats. Therefore, the metamorphoses the officialdom had undergone and the miraculous transformation of bureaucracy were not something fortuitous and accidental – a product of arbitrary train of events or of someone’s malice. They ensued from the logic of historical development and the social ground the government was based on.

Keywords: totalitarianism, officialdom, bureaucracy, civil society, sovereignity, social contradictions.