No major pre-1914 scholar foresaw the rise of totalitarianism

Evidence

Friedrich was among the first scholars of totalitarianism to address this experience of improbability, writing in 1954 that “virtually no one before 1914 anticipated the course of development which has overtaken Western civilization since then… none of the outstanding scholars in history, law, and the social sciences discerned what was ahead… which culminated in totalitarianism. To this failure to foresee corresponds a difficulty in comprehending.” Not even the most farsighted of the early-century interpreters of industrial society, thinkers such as Durkheim and Weber, had anticipated this murderous turn. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1135

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to reader’s earlier excerpts on totalitarian theory in this same book and to Zamyatin’s ‘We’ in the library as a fictional prefiguration of totalitarian modernity. — connects to: Historical observers failed to foresee totalitarianism’s rise before 1914 — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1257; Imperialism from 1884-1914 served as a preparatory stage for totalitarianism — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 338; The collapse of class parties after WWI opened the way for totalitarian movements — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 653

Broader Connections

• Historical observers failed to foresee totalitarianism’s rise before 1914 #corroborates (0.95) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 1257
• Imperialism from 1884-1914 served as a preparatory stage for totalitarianism #expands (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 338
• The collapse of class parties after WWI opened the way for totalitarian movements #expands (0.75) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 653