The Prehistory of Totalitarianism: A long Way to Bureaucracy

Tracing the evolution of officialdom from ancient Eastern despotism to European absolutism, the author outlines the prehistory and origin of bureaucracy. It emerges on the ground of such an order of life which is connected with private ownership, mass production (manufacturing), and the increase of wealth as an end in itself. On one hand, that polarizes the constituent parts of society, and on the other hand, levels the differences inside those parts. The single estate which gets not so much homogenized as differentiated turns out to be the officialdom. And bureaucracy due to which the latter ties up the “splintered” society and transforms itself into a ramified hierarchy becomes the key link of the social organism. This makes possible the almightiness of officialdom and paves the way for totalitarianism.

Keywords: totalitarianism, bureaucracy, officialdom, absolutism, “splintered”€ society.