by user O'Brien What is totalitarianism? It is the view that the state should have total control over the lives and activities of its citizens. What is it not? It is NOT: 1. Racist. Some totalitarian states are or were racist, but racism is not essential to the totalitarian worldview (which is good, because racist states have perpetrated some of humanity's worst crimes, including the Holocaust, the Turkish genocide of Armenians, and so forth). 2. Communist. Again, some totalitarian states are communist, but communism is not essential. __NOEDITSECTION__