Totalitarian elites obey vague orders meant to convey intent, not explicit commands

Evidence

As techniques of government, the totalitarian devices appear simple and ingeniously effective. They assure not only an absolute power monopoly, but unparalleled certainty that all commands will always be carried out; the multiplicity of the transmission belts, the confusion of the hierarchy, secure the dictator’s complete independence of all his inferiors and make possible the swift and surprising changes in policy for which totalitarianism has become famous. The body politic of the country is shock-proof because of its shapelessness. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 922 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The elite’s trained unreality is what lets a totalitarian movement realize its fiction; Totalitarian leaders rise through intrigue and personnel control, not violence or bureaucracy — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 866; Confused hierarchies make totalitarian rule shock-proof and command-certain — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 922 (+2 more)

Related

• Confused hierarchies make totalitarian rule shock-proof and command-certain (similarity 0.91)
• Appointment from above matters more than unlimited authority for totalitarian stability (similarity 0.86)
• Deliberate administrative chaos absorbs opposition and enables rule without visible change (similarity 0.86)
• Totalitarian rule is not monolithic but deliberately overlapping, held by a Führer-principle (similarity 0.85)
• Totalitarian leaders rise through intrigue and personnel control, not violence or bureaucracy (similarity 0.82)
• Totalitarian elites are trained to be unable to distinguish fact from falsehood. (similarity 0.81)
• Totalitarian leaders differ from despots in being genuinely unconstrained (similarity 0.80)
• Totalitarianism replaces all independent talent with loyal mediocrity to ensure predictability (similarity 0.79)
• Totalitarian elites treat ideology as content-free organizational function (similarity 0.79)
• Totalitarian bureaucracy extends control into the private soul that older bureaucracies left intact (similarity 0.78)
• Totalitarian leaders can project their own crimes onto any subordinate (similarity 0.78)
• Hierarchical structures resist totalitarian power and therefore do not constitute it. (similarity 0.78)
• The elite’s trained unreality is what lets a totalitarian movement realize its fiction (similarity 0.78)
• Totalitarian loyalty rests on organizational infallibility, not the Leader’s (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Confused hierarchies make totalitarian rule shock-proof and command-certain #complicates (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 922
• Totalitarian leaders liquidate erroneous subordinates instead of blaming them #expands (0.75)