Black Book of Communism:
“One must not only destroy the active forces of the enemy, but also demonstrate that anyone who raises a hand in protest against class war will die by the sword. These are the laws that the bourgeoisie itself drew up in the civil wars to oppress the proletariat … In a civil war, there should be no courts for the enemy. It is a fight to the death. If you don’t kill, you will die. So kill, if you don’t want to be killed!” (p. 74).
Brave New World:
“We also predestine and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future…”he was going to say “future world controllers,” but correcting himself, said “future Directors of Hatcheries,” instead”(13).
The fundamental nature of totalitarianism suppresses autonomy. This can be executed through a myriad of methods, such as fear, physiological manipulation, propaganda, and more. Comparing Martin Latsis’ explanation of the Red Terror in The Black Book of Communism with the Director’s description of predestination and conditioning in Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World highlights how, while the methods of control differ: one utilizing fear and death, and the other predestination, both function using the same logic of totalitarian control because they inhibit any human autonomy.
In Izvestiya on August 23, 1918, Latsis writes, “One must not only destroy the active forces of the enemy, but also demonstrate that anyone who raises a hand in protest against class war will die by the sword… In a civil war, there should be no courts for the enemy. It is a fight to the death. If you don’t kill, you will die. So kill, if you don’t want to be killed!” (p. 74). Here Latsis presents a chilling ultimatum, “kill or be killed.” Terror isn’t just used as a threat but as a permanent rule intended not only to eliminate enemies but also to intimidate any voice of dissent. In almost encouraging the act of killing and violence, any and all legal process, moralities, and human conscience is eroded. Framing this violence as a necessity essentially distorts murder into law. Latsis’ words highlight how totalitarian regimes justify extreme violence and fear as a form of weapon against the enemy, further emphasizing how the survival of the regime is dependent on such violence.
In Brave New World, the Director of Hatcheries explains, “We also predestinate and condition. We decant our babies as socialized human beings, as Alphas or Epsilons, as future sewage workers or future…”he was going to say “future world controllers,” but correcting himself, said “future Directors of Hatcheries,” instead (13). This system, while more subversive, is arguably equally dehumanizing. Here, the regime does not hesitate to mark opposition. Rather, it ensures from the very start of life that individuality is nonexistent. Through the state-imposed methods of conditioning, humans are molded into their predetermined positions without question. The director’s casual fix from “future world controllers” to “future directors of Hatcheries” highlights the efficiency of the system. The ability to aspire beyond one’s place in society is not an option; thus, everyone remains appropriately in their place. Here, freedom is not eliminated by violence or any other method, because it never existed in the first place. It was taken by manipulative, psychological, and engineering strategies to ensure that the individual is subordinated entirely to the needs of the state.
In comparison, these two passages reveal how, despite the differing methods, the same result of control is achieved. The Red Terror, utilizing pure fear and violence, ensures absolute compliance from individuals because any other behavior would incur death. Alternatively, Brave New World is rooted in predestination and conditions in which individuals comply because they are conditioned to do so and don’t fundamentally understand or know disobedience. Both situations show absolute control over human autonomy, either by taking it away or stopping it before it ever even develops. Both systems instrumentalize human life, inhibiting individuality or autonomy.
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