Aestheticizing Politics and Politicising Aesthetics: Principles of Aesthetics in the Context of Totalitarianism

This article examines the complex interplay between art, society, and power, focusing on the aesthetic strategies employed by totalitarian regimes, particularly Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Stalin’s Soviet Union. Both regimes harnessed aesthetics to propagate their ideologies and suppress dissent. While Nazi Germany aestheticized politics to promote their ideology of racial purity, the Soviet Union politicised aesthetics to glorify the proletariat and the Soviet state through Socialist Realism. The regimes’ manipulation of aesthetics reveals how art can become instrumental in enforcing authoritarian control and shaping public perception through manipulating emotions. The paper further examines common aesthetic principles utilised by totalitarian regimes, aiming to raise awareness about practices of aestheticizing politics and politicising aesthetics, making the topic relevant in contemporary turbulent times. The article thus underscores the contemporary relevance of these strategies in the digital age, where art continues to influence political discourse and public behaviour. It calls for a critical engagement with the ethical dimensions of art in politics and advocates for supporting artistic freedom to ensure art serves as a tool for empowerment of the silenced, resistance against totalitarianism, and positive social change. Through historical and contemporary lenses, this study highlights the dual potential of art to both oppress and liberate, emphasising the need for vigilance in maintaining its ethical use in society.