A dictatorship is defined as a form of government in which one man possesses absolute power which he employs arbitrarily without effective constitutional limitations. Since the beginning of history as we know it, the world has seen a significantly large amount of leaders, managing to achieve, and also lose, this type of power. Given the nature of their power, dictators are able to drastically change numerous political, economic and social aspects of their countries. Even though some of the alterations and reforms imposed by the dictators improve their nations, in the end, the damaged caused by most of these changes is usually much greater than the benefits they provide.
There are some reforms and actions that we can observe throughout a number of dictatorships. It is peculiar that dictators do not seem to be very creative when deciding which positive reforms to implement in their countries. Usually, reforms that benefit the wellbeing of the country are common among most of the regimes. These include, first of all, the establishment of public education. As it is very frequent in these types of totalitarian governments, education is employed to edify the young citizens of the society into the doctrine and ideals of the regime. Additionally, the promotion of equality among the people seems to be another common denominator between most dictatorships. This factor is not only positive for the people, but also for the regime since women are encouraged to work and this substantially contributes to the economy. Modernization and industrialization of the country and the economy are also projects which most dictators tend to explore. In general, there is not very much that can be said about the positive reforms carried out under most dictatorial regimes, since they seem to be parallel among different rulers.
On the other hand, when venturing into the negative aspects of a dictatorship, we can see an innumerable amount of crimes, conspiracies and mistakes that constantly trace back to the image of the dictator. These totalitarian rulers seem to be extremely creative at developing schemes to oppress, torture, create famines, perform mass murders and irritate enemy countries. A thorough analysis of the most important dictatorial regimes of our time would reveal the fact that these regimes distinguish themselves principally for their negative qualities and the disastrous events which they generate. We will see through an analysis of the regimes of Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Saddam Hussein, how it is usually the negative aspects of a regime, not the positive, which characterizes and makes these systems transcend nations and history.
First in our list, and definitely very influential to the other two dictators, is Joseph Stalin. Stalin had more power, over more time and over more people than any other dictator of our time. He transformed Russia into the military power that dominated an empire which included most of Eastern Europe. However, the human cost of this achievement was enormous. His policy and oppression caused the death of millions of people in his regime due to famine, war or his famous “purges”. It is ironic that even though the Soviet Union was clouded by famine, poverty and violence, Stalin was still greatly admired by the Russian people.
Stalin’s reforms, although good in concept, very seldom can be considered to be completely positive. Among his most beneficial changes was the establishment of public education for children and basic technical education for factory workers. In the long term this would prove to be extremely valuable, since eventually these people would become skilled and educated workers. Another valuable change that took place during Stalin’s regime was the eventual perception of equality among men and women. This ideology, which the great leader successfully promoted to his followers, significantly increased the working force of the country. Additionally, the government’s constant effort to control every aspect of the economy forced it to become the only employer in the country. As a result, there was almost no unemployment, but wages were miserable. Furthermore, Russia defeated Hitler and the Germans during World War II in what some people consider to be one of Stalin’s greatest accomplishments. This victory made Stalin extremely popular in his country and around the world. Nevertheless, it cost Russia approximately ten million men.
One of Stalin’s worst experiments was his attempt to collectivize agriculture during his First Five Year Plan. This First Five Year Plan, which intended to generate money to finance the rapid growth and industrialization of the country, called for the collectivization of farms and the creation of large state farms. Through this collectivization, Stalin not only dictated what would be produced, but also forced the peasants to sell their produce to the state. As it is to be expected, this decision angered millions of peasants who opposed the tyrant’s decision, leading to a bloody conflict that significantly tarnished the agricultural production of the Soviet Union during the 1930’s. In addition to triggering an immediate bloodshed, the conflict with the peasants also had disastrous long term effects on the lives of millions of Russians during this time. In the end, the overall cost of human lives of the First Five Year Plan reached approximately ten million. Of this ten million, approximately five million died of malnutrition during the famine produced by the collectivization efforts.
To complement his bad judgment in agricultural reform, Stalin controlled the Soviet Union predominantly through terror and violence. As others before him, he created a secret police, the NKVD, which operated with heartless, official brutality. The NKVD was not only in charge of the great purges of the 1930’s which ended the lives of millions of Russians, but also of managing prisons, labor camps, registry and even the fire department. This secret police took care of eliminating intellectuals and members of the opposition, eradicating free-thinking and social life and, most importantly, stirring enormous mistrust and uncertainty among the Soviet people. Anyone who resisted or opposed the orders of the party was arrested, trialed and either executed, exiled or sent to a labor camp. In fact, most of the heavy labor and construction conducted under Stalin’s administration was performed by prisoners and slaves.
By far Stalin’s most cruel and mindless deed, and one for which he will always be remembered, was the Great Purges of the 1930’s. These purges took the lives of thousands of Russian people, including members of the Bolshevik party and prominent members of the army. The terror began after the assassination of Sergei Kirov, a conspiracy that Stalin himself planned to eradicate his opponents, rivals or personal enemies within the party. Even though this persecution was supposed to be aimed only at members of the party, it extended to the rest of the society costing the lives of thousands of able workers, engineers, teachers and scientists. The terror reached a point when NKVD agencies were even assigned quotas of random people they had to arrest in every community. It is paradoxical that all these murders and arrests of thousands of innocent professional people took place at a time when the Russian nation was desperately looking for labor and was struggling to build schools and educate its people.
Joseph Stalin will be recalled in years to come as one of history’s most impulsive and blood thirsty tyrants. Even though he transformed Russia into an industrialized, military sufficient world power, the cost of this transformation came at too high a price for the Soviet people. Furthermore, it is impressive how even after his death, Stalin’s ideals and accomplishments continued to influence not only the Russian people, but the international community as well. For instance, the next dictator that will be discussed, Mao Zedong, was a great admirer of Stalin and implemented similar ideals in his country.
As chairman and ruler of the Chinese People’s Republic, Mao Zedong changed China’s political hierarchy, economics, international relations and, most importantly, social life. Overall, he transformed the way the Chinese government would operate, creating in this way a change in the way people worked, behaved, spoke and even thought. Additionally, in an attempt to industrialize the country, similar to Stalin, Mao changed China’s economic policy, as well as their relationship with countries like the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Although there were several positive changes in the country during his regime, most of Mao’s policies were extremely disruptive for the economy and for the wellbeing of the Chinese people.
Chairman Mao made a substantially large amount of contributions to the Chinese republic during his rule. For instance, in the years when Mao took power the illiteracy rate in China was about 80%, while life expectancy was a meager 35 years. Following his death, these numbers were calculated to be around 7% and 70 years, respectively. The amazing improvements in these statistics are a signal that Mao Zedong may have actually worked at improving the quality of life in his country. Moreover, Chairman Mao, as Stalin, worked hard at promoting equality, thus, improving women’s and minorities’ rights. Additionally, he encouraged scientific research and made an effort to combat drug abuse and prostitution in China. Although all these are great contributions to the Chinese society, the misery that Mao brought to his people eclipses all his good deeds and legacy.
Mao’s harmful policies were highlighted by two events, the failure of the Great Leap Forward in 1959 and his encouragement of the Cultural Revolution in 1966. However, problems with his policy began a few months before The Great Leap Forward was formulated. Mao began his land reform by calling out to peasants to seize the land from the landlords and distribute it equally among the workers of the farms. Peasants reacted violently to this call from their leader and attacked their landlords, resulting in the deaths of millions of landowners and their families in the hands of the people they had employed for years. Nevertheless, the conflict caused by the initial land reform was only a preview of the unfortunate events that would take place months later.
The Great Leap Forward was Mao’s attempt to industrialize the country using similar means as those Stalin employed in the Soviet Union. He believed that by creating communes and using mass labor to create steel and work the land, China would achieve industrialization in a short period of time. However, Mao and his colleagues created a mess with the statistics for agriculture, an error that would lead the country into mass starvation since too many people were allocated to steel production and too few were send to work the land. Thus, the Great Leap Forward resulted to be an economic disaster that would lead China into the largest famine in history, causing the death of approximately 30 million people through starvation.
Once the Great Leap Forward was discontinued and Mao moved into the background of the political scene, China gained economic and political stability through the implementation of past economic policies. However, these policies were formulated and applied by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, a factor that made Mao extremely jealous. As a result, Mao displayed his hypocrisy and political immaturity by calling the Chinese people, particularly the Red Guards, to revolt against the government. Mao’s provocation of the Red Guards led to the Cultural Revolution, an event that brought years of chaos, violence and death to China. Thus, once again we see how when the Chinese people were acquiring stability Mao’s greed compels him to put aside the country’s wellbeing just to preserve his absolute power.
In general, Mao Zedong brought much more death and instability to the Chinese people than he brought them wellbeing and safety. Most people talk about how repressive and violent were Hitler’s and Stalin’s regimes, but Mao’s government could compete any day with the total death tolls of those two governments together. It is a pity to see how the Chinese people had to suffer for years because their leader constantly turned against those close to him and failed to bring economic and political prosperity to China. For this reason, Mao Zedong’s regime will be remembered as one of the most inefficient, vicious and deadly governments of all time.
The third dictator that will be discussed is certainly more of a household name than the other two. Saddam Hussein was the president and prime minister of Iraq from 1979 up to the U.S. led invasion of this country in 2003. Similar to Stalin and Mao, Hussein made a number of contributions to a hopelessly divided country; however, the human cost of these contributions was extremely high. Saddam Hussein’s greatest accomplishment as a dictator was definitely gaining control over a country that had been going through constant power struggles since before he was born. Iraq’s complex ethnic division between Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds made it almost impossible for this country to be united under a single government. Nevertheless, Saddam, using terror, oppression and violence successfully exerted total control over the Iraqi people for more than twenty years.
Saddam’s most efficient and beneficial policy for the economy of his country could be considered to be the nationalization of the oil industry. The nationalization of this industry resulted in huge revenues for the government which allowed Saddam to finance all his other operations. This policy also gave Saddam enormous popularity among the Iraqi people and the members of the Baath party. Furthermore, unlike Stalin or Mao, Hussein did not make an attempt to take complete control over the economy. This gave relatively great freedom and security to the economical sector, another factor that contributed to his popularity. Additionally, Saddam brought foreigners into Iraq to help him develop agriculture, mines, engineering, construction and other key components of the economy and the country. Thus, in general, Saddam’s economic policy helped transform Iraq from a poor, divided country into a significant economic factor in the Middle East.
Other significant developments carried out by Saddam Hussein during his regime include the promotion of equality and human rights for women, the establishment of a public education system and the creation of a vital cultural life in the fields of theater, arts and music. During his reign, huge literacy campaigns took place with the aim of educating children and women. Eventually, women would play a major role in the areas of medicine and education. Moreover, at the beginning of the Baath’s rise to power, Saddam gave away TV’s, radios, refrigerators and other electronic equipment to the Iraqi people with the purpose of gaining popularity.
Although all these deeds make Saddam look as the Messiah, a number of negative activities were taking place in Iraq at this time. As soon as the Baaths and Al-Bakr took power, Saddam, in charge of Internal Security, established a revolutionary court and began a series of purges which terminated the lives of thousands of people. These purges finished off the Three Officers and at the same time wiped out Jews, communists and any other possible rivals. Additionally, after his rise to power in 1979 he began another series of purges as a measure to obtain future loyalty. These purges were directed at the Baath party officials and ended up condemning and executing approximately 66 people.
Saddam’s greatest flaw as a dictator was his constant aggressiveness towards his neighboring countries, in particular Iran and Kuwait. Even though at the beginning of Al-Bakr’s term in power Saddam reached a peace treaty with Iran, once he became the president, hostilities initiated once again. The war with Iran lasted eight years, costing Iraq thousands of lives and an enormous amounts of money. In addition, he did not accomplish anything with that war. The war ended in 1988 without any changes in the borders. Nevertheless, the end of one war did not mean the end of the road for Hussein. Two years later he invaded Kuwait with the idea of taking power over their oil reserves. This invasion led to strong international condemnation and threat of intervention from multinational forces. As we know, the US intervened in this conflict pushing Iraq back to their territory. Once again, a greedy decision from Saddam cost the Iraqi people thousands of lives and did not provide them with any improvement in their social or economic lives. It is important to note that even though Saddam was seen at this point as a threat to international security, he was left in power for the simple reason that he was believed to be the only man that could control the Iraqi people.
Once the conflict in the Persian Gulf ended, Kurdish and Shiite insurrections took place in the North and South of the country, respectively. Both of these rebellions were brutally crushed through notable mass murders, which are considered to be Saddam’s most cold blooded use of force during his regime. Several years later, Hussein's resistance to U.N. supervised weapons inspections imposed as part of the conditions for ending the Gulf War led to U.S. and British bombing raids against Iraq beginning in 1998. Continuous resistance to weapons inspections also led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, which ended Saddam’s regime and has caused enormous amounts of chaos and suffering in that country.
Determining the overall good or bad of the Saddam Hussein’s regime is certainly difficult. The truth is that only a person with the ideals and ruthlessness of Saddam Hussein could rule a country like Iraq which has such distinct religious and ethnic divisions. Additionally, Hussein made significant contributions to the economy and welfare of the Iraqi people, although the means utilized to reach those results were not always the most positive ones. On the other hand, this leader’s constant efforts to engage himself in wars were costly to his people, not only in terms of money, but also in terms of human lives. Furthermore, it was his stubbornness and noncompliance which led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, an invasion that has not yet ended and which its long term results are still to be seen. Thus, even though the country was somewhat prosperous for more than twenty years, the awkward behavior of their leader is the main reason for their current despair and distress.
Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong and Saddam Hussein are certainly very distinct and contrasting figures. Nevertheless, the ways they exerted power over their respective countries and the positive reforms which they implemented could be found to be similar in a number of ways. For example, they all promoted equality, established public education, attempted to improve the economy, and also to modernize or industrialize their countries. Additionally, they all used force and violence to achieve their objectives, taking down anyone they saw as an obstacle to their goals. As a result, even though in the long term some changes, such as industrialization and education, would improve their countries, the amount of lives sacrificed to attain these improvements can only be compared to the number of lives lost in any major war. Thus, even if they accomplished improvements in their countries, given the amount of terror, suffering and death that these dictators instigate on their people, it is only possible to conclude that this system is extremely disruptive for the interests, safety and the overall wellbeing of the people it governs.