Totalitarian regimes demand total participation (hence the “total” part). In Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany you either participated in the Komsomol, voted for th

Totalitarian regimes demand total participation (hence the “total” part). In Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany you either participated in the Komsomol, voted for the right candidate, studied marxism/whatever the nazi equivalent was, publicly expressed loyalist opinions etc, or you were considered a malicious actor. Authoritarian regimes demand compliance. In modern Russia no one really cares what you think unless you’re some sort of an activist or a state employee. Meaning, regular people are generally left to be, can de-facto and de-jure think and say whatever they wish, and they only get messed with if they are in the way of power or in position of power. Totalitarian regimes resemble cults, authoritarian regimes resemble corporations (and many corporations are, in fact, authoritarian). A regime can be authoritarian, but not totalitarian (think Principate Rome) and in some case can be totalitarian, but not authoritarian (think a democracy ran by fanatical Puritans)