Historical observers failed to foresee totalitarianism’s rise before 1914

Evidence

Recall Carl Friedrich’s observation on the challenge of grasping the naked facts of totalitarianism: “Virtually no one before 1914 anticipated the course of development which has overtaken Western civilization since then.… To this failure to foresee corresponds a difficulty in comprehending.” Recall too the grinning, robust “Joe” Stalin planted among Hollywood luminaries on the glossy pages of a 1939 Look magazine. Will we suffer the same lack of foresight as those who could not comprehend totalitarianism’s rise, paralyzed by the sheer power of Big Other and its infinite echoes of consequence, distracted by our needs and confused by its speed, secrecy, and success? — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1257

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes Hannah Arendt’s and other historians’ totalitarianism analyses; the 1939 Look magazine Stalin anecdote parallels the tech-titan hagiography critique. — connects to: Totalitarianism’s crimes were so improbable that specialists failed to grasp them — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1133; No major pre-1914 scholar foresaw the rise of totalitarianism — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1135; Both totalitarian and instrumentarian power defied comprehension when new — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1122
• QUESTION: Worth chasing: the 1939 Look magazine spread on Stalin as a case study in elite public-relations and media complicity.
• SEED: An essay comparing how power acquires warm public faces — Stalin in Look 1939 versus tech titans in 21st-century celebrity media.

Broader Connections

• Both totalitarian and instrumentarian power defied comprehension when new #corroborates (0.80) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1122