Is Totalitarianism an Essentially Enlightenment Phenomenon?

The objective of this essay is to discuss totalitarianism, specifically to identify ways in which totalitarianism is 'European' and 'Modern'. The Soviet Union, expressly the period between 1924 and 1953 when Joseph Stalin was Secretary General of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), will be used as an example to highlight that it was an economic and political model born from the modern European experience.
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