Explain the differences between the dictatorships of Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini. What political ...

ANSWER:
While each did establish a dictatorship that repressed and terrorized the population, each had an entirely different goal in mind and, in the case of the Soviet Union versus Germany and Italy, an entirely different political outlook. Stalin rose to power through the ranks of the Bolshevik Party by becoming party secretary and controlling admission into the party. After Lenin's death, he managed to oust Trotsky by arguing against collectivized agriculture. Once in power, he changed his direction to implement the first of several Five-Year Plans intended to industrialize the Soviet Union at an extremely rapid pace, in large part because he knew that the Second World War was only a matter of time and the USSR was not prepared to fight Europe without some extreme measures to build up heavy industry. Stalin phrased this as part of an overall plan to achieve socialism in one country and prove the viability of communism. Communism by definition was adamantly opposed to fascism and totalitarianism, which mandated state control of the economy and industries. As a communist, Stalin was able to effectively remain in a different realm than the dictators of Germany and Italy, and in fact became part of the Allies during World War II. Mussolini was the first to use fascism in Europe as a policy of dictatorship. He found a ready audience because of the economic instability after the war, a disgruntled and unemployed population, and the effects of the Depression on an underindustrialized country. His idea was to control not only the parliament but also the industries and the press and to eliminate any criticism against him or his methods. He promised to fight off the evils of communism, which was seen as a plot to steal private property, and restore Italy's national pride, as well as to modernize its economy, army, and society and bring back full employment. Hitler also used the ideology of a centralized state and addressed a country that was in economic collapse. In addition, he gave the German people someone to blame (Jews and communists) and attempted to reinstill national pride through his idea of the racial superiority of the German people. He quickly espoused a plan to rebuild the German Empire by liberating all German-speaking peoples and enslaving the undesirable.