The Totalitarian State in Fascist Ideology: A Gandhian Liberal Rejection

Fascism represented one of the 20th century’s most dangerous political experiments-an ideology that sought not merely to govern citizens but to absorb them entirely into the state apparatus. At the heart of this vision stood a chilling maxim that would define totalitarian rule: “Everything within the state, nothing outside the state, nothing against the state.” This formulation, articulated by Benito Mussolini in 1925, captured the essence of what fascist theorists envisioned for society. Against this all-encompassing statism, Mahatma Gandhi offered a fundamentally different vision-one rooted in individual moral development, minimal state interference, and the protection of human autonomy.

The fascist dictum: total absorption of life into the state
The destruction of autonomous space
Creating the “fascist man”: the dissolution of individual personality
The psychology of mass absorption
Erosion of the state-civil society distinction
Politicization of the masses
Gandhi’s liberal alternative: the minimal state
Swaraj: self-rule at every level
Protecting the private sphere
The fundamental opposition

The fascist dictum: total absorption of life into the state

When Mussolini proclaimed his totalitarian formula, he was not merely describing a political arrangement but announcing a revolutionary transformation of the relationship between individuals and political authority. Italian Fascism declared itself totalitarian and envisioned a radically new social order engineered entirely by the state. The philosopher Giovanni Gentile, who co-authored “The Doctrine of Fascism” with Mussolini in 1932, classified Italian Fascism as a philosophy that is “totalitarian” wherein the Fascist State synthesizes and unifies all values, interpreting and developing the whole life of a people.

This was not hyperbole. The totalitarian state aimed to control every dimension of human existence-economic activity, education, arts, sciences, and even private morality. Political scientists describe totalitarianism as an antiliberal political system that annihilates all boundaries between the state, civil society, and individual personality. Nothing was to remain untouched by political authority. The family, the church, professional associations, recreational activities-all were to be subordinated to the state’s overarching purposes.

The destruction of autonomous space

Traditional social institutions and organizations were systematically discouraged and suppressed under fascism, making people more willing to be merged into a single unified movement. By 1927, Mussolini’s regime had eliminated most vestiges of political freedom in Italy-banning political parties and elections, abolishing independent labor organizations, purging the state bureaucracy and courts, and establishing special tribunals to bypass regular judicial procedures. The elimination of a free press, strict control of media and education, and the use of secret police to stifle political dissent further eroded individual freedoms.

The goal was unprecedented government intrusion into daily life. This represented what the German-American political scientist Karl Dietrich Bracher identified as the essence of totalitarianism: total control to remake every aspect of civil society using a universal ideology-interpreted by an authoritarian leader-to create a collective national identity by merging civil society into the state.

Creating the “fascist man”: the dissolution of individual personality

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of fascist ideology was its ambition to transform human beings themselves. The totalitarian state did not merely demand obedience-it sought to create a new type of human being whose entire identity would be fused with the leader and the state. Mussolini was portrayed as the embodiment of Italian Fascism, said to incarnate the new fascist Übermensch. Fascist propaganda attributed quasi-divine capacities to him, promoting an aesthetic of machismo that elevated him above ordinary human limitations.

The regime promoted a lavish cult of personality centered on the figure of Il Duce (“The Leader”). Fascist newspapers attributed miraculous powers to Mussolini, claiming he had stopped the lava flow of Mount Etna and invoked rain in Libya. These exaggerated narratives served to make him appear indispensable to Italy’s survival and progress. A common saying during his rule was “The Duce is always right.”

The psychology of mass absorption

This personality cult was not merely political theatre. It represented a systematic effort to dissolve individual identity into collective worship of the leader. The creation of a cult of personality uses mass media, propaganda, spectacle, the arts, patriotism, and government-organized demonstrations to burnish the reputation of the leader through unquestioning flattery and praise. Citizens were expected not just to comply but to genuinely believe, to experience their leader’s will as their own deepest desire.

The individual under fascism was to find meaning exclusively through service to the state and identification with the leader. Personal ambitions, private affections, independent thought-all were suspect unless channeled toward collective purposes. The ideal fascist citizen had no inner life separate from public duty, no loyalties that competed with devotion to the nation.

Erosion of the state-civil society distinction

Liberal political theory, from Locke through Tocqueville and into the present, has insisted on maintaining boundaries between the state and civil society. Civil society is the realm of voluntary associations and activities in which people enter into reciprocal relationships with each other to develop and express shared values and take collective action. It represents a space autonomous from both government coercion and market transactions.

Fascism explicitly rejected this distinction. The conflict between the state and the individual should not exist in a totalitarian system, and when such conflict arises, the state claims the moral duty to coerce the individual into obedience. This stands in stark contrast to liberal democracy, which trusts democratic processes to help society improve through trial and error without insisting on a single correct path.

Politicization of the masses

Fascism created an unmediated relationship between leader and masses, bypassing all intermediate institutions. The personality cult became a way for Mussolini to justify his personal rule and to enable social and political integration. Ordinary Italians were encouraged to identify directly with the Duce, putting aside their local affiliations and institutional loyalties.

This politicization was total. Italian totalitarianism sought to politicise human existence into subservience to the state. Every aspect of life became a political question, every choice a matter of loyalty or disloyalty. The result was a society without genuine private space, where even family relationships were subordinated to ideological requirements.

Gandhi’s liberal alternative: the minimal state

Mahatma Gandhi’s political philosophy represented a fundamental rejection of totalitarian premises. Gandhi once said that he looked upon an increase in the power of the state with greatest fear, because although it apparently does good by minimising exploitation, it does the greatest harm to mankind by destroying individuality, which is at the root of progress.

Gandhi was deeply critical of the modern, centralized state, viewing it as inherently coercive and prone to corruption. He saw the state’s tendency towards bureaucracy and excessive power as antithetical to individual freedom and self-reliance. His vision emphasized that the state should be a servant of the people, not their master-its primary function being to protect individual rights and freedoms while ensuring justice and equality for all.

Swaraj: self-rule at every level

Gandhi’s concept of Swaraj encompassed far more than political independence from British rule. Although the word swaraj means self-rule, Gandhi gave it the content of an integral revolution encompassing all spheres of life. Swaraj meant freedom for the meanest of his countrymen, and in its fullest sense represented self-rule, self-restraint, and could be equated with moksha or salvation.

When people come into ownership of political and economic power, Gandhi believed, interference with freedom is reduced to a minimum. He commented that a nation running its affairs smoothly and effectively without much state interference is truly democratic. The contrast with fascism could not be sharper: where fascism demanded everything for the state, Gandhi sought to limit the state’s reach to the absolute minimum necessary.

Protecting the private sphere

Gandhi insisted on maintaining clear boundaries between public and private life. Gandhi believed that the stateless society is the means to the non-violent state, with minimum interference in individual autonomy and non-coercive in character. His ideal was decentralization through Gram Swaraj (village self-rule), where communities would manage their own affairs with minimal external control.

Gandhi believed that the state is antithetical to the idea of freedom and is not compatible with non-violence. His Ram Rajya represented a stateless society where individuals would govern themselves through moral self-discipline rather than external coercion. Philosophically, like the anarchists, his ideal remains a society where the state plays a minimal role, though he shunned their stress on revolutionary violence.

The fundamental opposition

The contrast between fascist totalitarianism and Gandhian liberalism reveals two fundamentally incompatible visions of human flourishing. Fascism located meaning in collective power, national glory, and submission to a supreme leader. Gandhi found meaning in individual moral development, service to others, and the pursuit of truth through non-violence.

For fascists, the individual was raw material to be shaped by state power into a new type of human being. For Gandhi, the individual was sacred-a moral agent whose development could not be compelled but only encouraged through example and persuasion. The modern state, according to Gandhi, was about to destroy individuality-that individual freedom and spontaneous urge to work. He understood that individualism is the root cause of progress, which totalitarianism threatened to extinguish.

Gandhi’s alternative was not passive withdrawal from politics but active engagement guided by moral principles. He sought to spiritualize politics rather than politicize every aspect of life. His vision preserved space for conscience, for dissent, for the individual voice that totalitarianism sought to silence forever.

What do you think? In an age of increasing state surveillance and data collection, are the boundaries between public and private life eroding in ways Gandhi would have recognized as dangerous? How can societies balance legitimate collective needs with the preservation of individual autonomy that Gandhi considered essential to human dignity?

References

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The Totalitarian State in Fascist Ideology: A Gandhian Liberal Rejection

Table of Contents

The fascist dictum: total absorption of life into the state 🔗

The destruction of autonomous space 🔗

Creating the “fascist man”: the dissolution of individual personality 🔗

The psychology of mass absorption 🔗

Erosion of the state-civil society distinction 🔗

Politicization of the masses 🔗

Gandhi’s liberal alternative: the minimal state 🔗

Swaraj: self-rule at every level 🔗

Protecting the private sphere 🔗

The fundamental opposition 🔗