The dictatorship of the proletariat is defined by Marxist theory as the use of state power by the working class against its enemies during the passage from capitalism to communism , entailing control of the state apparatus and the means of production.
After this intermediate socialist phase, Marx theorized that communism's final stage would be a classless society in which the bourgeoisie has been eliminated and the masses the proletariat have full control. Vladimir Lenin , leader of the Bolsheviks during the First Russian Revolution and first ruler of the Soviet Union , created the concept of the "vanguard of the proletariat. Lenin's expansion upon Marx's original theory of communism came to be known as Marxism-Leninism , an ideology that held significant worldwide influence following the successful Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
Under Joseph Stalin the phrase, in practice, also essentially came to be understood as a dictatorship in the name of the proletariat. For most of history dictatorship has been the most common form of rule. In early European history power was held by a variety of absolute monarchs who ruled their kingdoms with virtually unlimited powers. As the years went on, political liberalism began to spread, and so too did the rise of nation states , constitutions , and democracy.
Monarchs lost most of their powers to elected assemblies and in some cases were abolished altogether, and replaced by republics. In several countries such reforms spiraled out of control, and amid the power vacuum created, certain leaders would arise out of the confusion and seize control.
Following the French Revolution , for example, power was rapidly consolidated by future dictator Napoleon Bonaparte. Still, it can be argued that Napoleon's rule was not any more autocratic than that of most neighbouring monarchies. In the postwar period, the wave of de-colonization in Africa yielded many forms of non-democratic government, especially military dictatorships , in large measure due to the historical development of the colonial-state in several stages.
Consolidation of the colonial-state rarely entailed strong institutionalization, regularization, and rationalization of colonial administration. For the most part, colonial administration relied on narrow support-bases, which essentially consisted of networks of indigenous collaborators, in order reduce the cost of bureaucratic and military administration.
In that vein favoritism dominated, as colonial powers played local populations against each other, and fostered elite classes of political collaborators.
Upon independence, the newly independent states - poorly equipped to govern due to weak institutions, the lack of popular representation, conflict over the allocation of resources and power, and problems of stateness - were often left with power vacuums, and dictatorship of many variants were likely to fill the void.
The Cold War greatly increased the number of dictatorships, with many dictators able to seize or consolidate power by catering to the interests of either superpower. Upon the end of the Cold War, a series of non-democratic governments including the Soviet Union itself quickly collapsed, or met demands for democratization without having collapsed, and were replaced by transitional governments, which have been, in many cases, steps toward democratization.
However, many regime openings have resulted in the emergence of new non-democratic regimes. Today, dictatorship has reached an all time global low. Dictators are normally backed by powerful groups, such as landowners, private company owners, bank owners and in some cases institutions like the Roman Catholic Church to put in place law and order by force.
This force is generally directed at the poorer parts of society, such as unemployed workers, ethnic minorities , working class areas and shanty towns.
Examples of this are the dictatorships in Latin America. Dictators normally need to do a number of things to put in place their dictatorships: they need to get rid of their opponents which may be political or religious - some are imprisoned, exiled sent outside their country or killed. Dictators will then need to prohibit or not allow political parties that oppose their rule. They will confiscate the political parties' property or offices and such things.
Dictators may suppress or persecute some religious groups or institutions. Dictators will also need to undo or close down democratic institutions such as parliament and in some cases the congress. Some social organizations, such as civil rights groups, human rights organisations, legal aid centres, students' unions, teachers ' federations, trade or workers unions are also undone and those who persist with such activities may be killed.
Dictators will normally rewrite an existing constitution or put in place a completely new one. This makes their power constitutional which then cannot be disputed. Dictators then maintain their rule with state terrorism , which normally involves a secret police , death squads, random or night curfew , indefinite arrest without trial and a network of torture centres and concentration camps. Some dictatorships create a fictional or non existent internal inside their country enemy which they claim to be at war with to justify give reason for their use of much military violence against a whole unarmed population.
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