Nazi Germany under Adolf Hitler and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin are probably two

of the
most well known single party states in 20th century history. Both parties were the phoenixes rising
from the ashes of the aftermath of World War 1. Single party states believe in one central
government based on only one party controlled by one person. The country is then stripped from
democratic governments into nationalistic or socialistic governments. There are many similarities
and differences between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in terms of the ways the two leaders
operate the nation, their ideologies and their use of propaganda.

One thing that both leaders have in common is their sense of nationalism for a country which is not
their homeland. Hitler was an Austrian bohemian artist turned charismatic authoritarian leader.
Perhaps it was his artistic skills to portray his words to touch the hearts of the Germans. Hitler was
very “hands-on” at the beginning to push the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP)
into the seats of the cabinet. With examples from the Munich Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 when Hitler,
along with SA men invaded the Beer Hall which von Kahr was addressing his government officials.
Hitler’s purpose of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch was to ask members inside to support the NSDAP
party but he failed. Although Hitler’s fail at the beer hall was an epic one, he never gave up which led
to the full power of the Nazi Party in the Third Reich. Unlike Hitler who had fought through World
War I with extreme patriotism to enter NSDAP, Stalin was already a part of the Communist Party
under Lenin. When Lenin passed away in 1924, there was no clear successor which is how Stalin
stood up and took the chair. Stalin had great political strategies; with a certain amount of power in
his hands before becoming the ultimate leader of the Soviet Union, he shifted his people
strategically to different important positions in the cabinet making him more popular amongst the
people of the Soviet Union.

The ideologies of both nations could not have been more different; Stalin believes in equality in
every aspect of the nation and therefore calls himself “Comrade”. There was no sense of capitalism
and bourgeoisie and all land and money were then all gathered and redistributed equally to all the
peasants. Stalin believed in developing the economy of the Soviet Union by not relying on other
nations and was very fond of collectivism as well. In contrast to Hitler’s superior views of himself and
the Aryan race. Whilst Stalin believes in everyone being equal and people calling him “comrade
Stalin”, Hitler rose as the Führer of the new Germany, the Third Reich. Hitler’s intentions were to
look after the all the German people both in Germany and overseas, to bring all Germans to the
same place, and lead the strongest and purest race of mankind. Hitler believed in creating a popular
folk community (Volkgemeinschaft), going back to basics and creating more land for the great Aryan
race with his theory of Lebensraumpolitik. Unlike Stalin’s method of collectivism, Hitler believes that
after the nightmare that was the Weimar Republic, everyone gets to start on a clean slate with
Hitler. Everyone gets an equal amount of opportunity therefore there would still be capitalism in the
country because people will be using their money differently and there will be different classes of
people but they would all believe and follow Hitler.

In terms of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels propaganda chief of Nazi Germany created the image of
Hitler as a man who heroically sacrificed himself to rebuild and restore Germany to its former glory.
The extremely convincing and powerful propaganda speeches by Hitler resembled achievements the
German nation will achieve when they followed Hitler as their Führer. Even to people who disagree
with the regime believed in Hitler and his ability to abolish other big-shot politicians just as how
Hitler did to Röhm in 1934.Hitler also believed in the concept that children are the future of the
nation and had developed ‘Hitler Youth’ an academic programme that teaches young civilians
Hitler’s ideology and the Nazi cult. Similar to The Nazis’ Hitler Youth programme, the Soviet Union
also has “Soviet Pioneers”, a programme which teaches children to leave the cult of the bourgeoisies
and focus on collectivism, under Marxist-Leninist beliefs. Propaganda posters are probably the most
popular type of propaganda used in the Soviet Union with cartoons for easier understanding and it
also emphasizes the “bad guys” to the “good guys”. The difference between the Soviet Union’s
propaganda and the Nazis’ propaganda is that, the Soviet Union also spend billions of dollars on
propaganda abroad to promote the Soviet Union as a worker’s paradise; a place where people are
the same.

In conclusion, both the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany are very different although they both have
similar leaders who both believed that a single party state would be the best way to operate a
nation. Both countries also targeted the youth of the nation to be an efficient media to use as
propaganda, to let the little minds of the children to soak up their ideologies and ways. However it
could be seen that their ideologies are completely different although they are both fascist parties
Hitler believed in capitalism whilst Stalin strongly believes in collectivism and that the two nations
although operating as a single party state, could never be the same.