Title: Insight: What Dictators Have in Common
Headings: What Dictators Have in Common
Insight
What Dictators Have in Common
1. Extreme Violence
2. The Cult of Personality
3. Adopting Religion for Selfish Ends
4. Grandiose Self-Image
5. Eye on World Domination

Content: he could do no wrong and never be questioned. He allowed the myth that he was God’s gift to Italy. Hitler, too, was viewed as a divine blessing, the Savior-Leader the German nation awaited. Followers lauded his mystical insight, compared him to Christ, and were overcome by a kind of religious conversion. Mao was the “Great Helmsman,” guiding his people to world power. Just reading The Little Red Book of the chairman’s thought was said to cure illness. 3. Adopting Religion for Selfish Ends
Closely connected is the co-opting of religion for political purposes. Though the Soviet federation was atheistic, Stalin knew that religion was a powerful means of uniting people. After Lenin’s death, he promoted the former leader as a messiah, embalming his body and placing it on permanent display as a kind of holy relic.