Reeducation as an Important Factor in Maintaining Control Over People

This dissertation will examine how the process of reeducating the youth not only aided in Hitler and Stalin’s rise to power but also towards maintained it. Reeducation according to several different sources means to educate again for a purpose, for Stalin and Hitler that purpose was exterminating any opposition and preserving their seats of power. The main concern now is whether or not President Trump plans to follow in their footsteps with his appointment of Betsy DeVos as the new secretary of education. Accusing President Trump of planning a second Holocaust or a second Great Purge might seem drastic, but after isolating the early actions of implementing a new educational system by both Hitler and Stalin, it doesn’t seem so inconceivable after all. Reeducation is a powerful method of retaining power because it takes years to implement and it would take just as long to change the ideology if it had been corrupted. Reeducation is not necessarily a bad thing, in some cases it can be very beneficial in breaking down barriers and changing outdated theories. It is when reeducation is tainted by power hungry political leaders intent on using it as a safeguard that it becomes dangerous. There is substantial evidence in the form of Hitler’s Nazi Youth, and Stalin’s reeducation through labor camps that support this claim. The horrific crimes against humanity that these two men accomplished all because of reeducation has made the world weary, and now we must ask, what are President Trump and Betsy DeVos planning?

“In God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me” (Psalm 56:11, Tree of Life Version)? There are two concepts to this statement, the first being trust in a God, even if that trust meant forfeiting life. The second concept is trust in fellow man to treat others as they themselves would want to be treated. What can man do to me? There are several incidents throughout history that will forever bear witness to how cruel man can be to fellow man. The most notoriously evil men in history like Hitler and Stalin have gained and maintained power through the act of reeducating. Furthermore, they could implement and accomplish their own personal agendas without any resistance from the people as a result of this reeducation- this can be applied to what is occurring with President Trump’s appointment of Betsy DeVos as the secretary of education. It is important to acknowledge that reeducation is not a bad thing, in some cases such as breaking down stereotypes, and the development of better ways to do things it can be very beneficial. It is when reeducation is corrupted by power-hungry leaders as a way of gaining and maintaining power that it becomes dangerous. Reeducation according to several different sources means to educate again for new purposes. Hitler and Stalin’s purpose was to exterminate the opposition and safeguard their seats of power, the question is whether President Trump plans to follow in their footsteps with his appointment of Betsy DeVos as the new secretary of education. The common isolated factor between Hitler and Stalin’s early regimes is their use of reeducation as a way of reinforcing themselves as leaders- the evidence is in the form of Hitler’s Nazi Youth, and Stalin’s reeducation through labor camps. It is still too early to judge the intentions of President Trump and Betsy DeVos but there is one fact that needs to be recognized and it is that there was more opposition to the appointment of Betsy DeVos then any other secretary of education ever. Vice-president Mike Pence had to cast the tie-breaking vote, yet President Trump still went ahead with this decision. The question is why?

Education is crucial in the forward advancement of the nation, but it can also have disastrous outcomes if it is abused. A perfect example of the abuse and corruption of education for personal benefit is the Nazi regime. With the collapse of the Weimar Republic, Germany was left in political and economic shambles- giving Hitler his long-awaited opportunity to seize power. Adolf Hitler provided the people with a purpose and a scapegoat for the ruin of the country in the form of first separating themselves from minorities, (any non-Aryan) and then exterminating the minorities all together. This indebted the people to Hitler and ultimately allowed him to do whatever he wanted. From the 1920s onward, the Nazi party targeted the German youth as the receivers of their reeducation programs because they knew that these children would eventually grow up to either support or oppose their cause. Eccles (1999), indicates that it is during the development of children between the ages of six and fourteen that they undergo serious biological, psychological, and social changes. The indoctrination of the youth by Hitler resulted in the formation of what is known as the Hitler Youth, and it was at the extremely vulnerable and impressionable age of ten that the Nazi party started to reeducate them. The first step towards reeducating the children began by subjecting the youth to four years of what was called the Young Folk. After four years of the Young Folk organization, depending on gender, the child would then enter either the Hitler Youth or the League of German Girls. During these first eight years of education the children were taught: race consciousness, obedience, self-sacrifice, willingness to die for the Fuhrer and the Fatherland, and above all- devotion to Adolf Hitler (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, para. 4). Besides being taught these values, German educators also introduced new textbooks that reinforced a love for Hitler, obedience to state authority, militarism, racism, and antisemitism. And as if all of this was not enough, Adolf Hitler’s portrait was a standard fixture in the classrooms to serve as constant motivation to become proud National Socialists. If at the end of this education the now young adult was not a complete National Socialists, then they would enter 6-7 months of Labor Service. The original purpose of the Hitler Youth and League of German Girls was to create the illusion of a unified German community. However, after 1933 youth leaders sought to integrate boys into the Nazi national community with the sole purpose of preparing them for service as soldiers. By shaping the minds of the youth, Hitler could shape the future; by ensuring that the upcoming generation shared the same mindset as the current, this also assured that the person in power would remain in power.

Similarly, Stalin also recognized how powerful education could be, and how damning the lack of one was. Stalin wanted the bourgeoisie to remain the bourgeoisie and for that to continue he needed the proletariat to remain the proletariat. This “collective farm” of peasants provided the labor for the collectivization of agriculture. The reeducation that was to occur through this labor was supposed to rid the peasantry of their “individualistic, petit-bourgeoisie instincts” (Snyder and Brandon, 2014, p. 28). Stalin feared the peasantry, his method of reeducating wasn’t so much to benefit himself but to safeguard his position. By keeping the peasantry uneducated he was guaranteeing the bourgeoisie a labor force, because it is only through education that people can climb the social class ladder. While the peasantry made up the majority of people subjected to reeducation through labor, a significant amount of political and military leaders were also sentenced to this brutal and distinctly noneducational exploitation of labor as a result of Stalin’s excessive paranoia of disloyalty among the bureaucracy. This was achieved through the Moscow trials, a fantastic conglomeration of “show trials,” so-called because the defendants were forced to confess to crimes they did not commit to ensure that they and their families would not be harmed. This make-up of peasantry and exiled leaders was a resource to be redeployed in the interests of Soviet Industrial development and soldiers. It was this forced collectivization and methodology of industrialization that led to great deprivation among the Soviet people, thus resulting in the death of millions. The bureaucracy had usurped political power from the working class by ‘reeducating’ them through a markedly noneducational system (Rogovin, 1998). Again, we see reeducation being used as a means to an end for a higher social class. Stalin seized a position of power that allowed him to directly influence the intellectual life of the country he ruled. His corruption of the ‘education’ system still has the Soviet Union in ruins today.

To understand the importance of President Trump’s appointment of Betsy DeVos as the new secretary of education one needs to know what the secretary of education has control over. Some of the main functions of the secretary of education includes but it not limited to: administering federal assistance to schools and enforcing federal education laws, providing funding to schools with large numbers of low-income students, administering federal student aid, and through its Office of Civil Rights the education department also handles matters related to discrimination in schools and colleges based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics. Besides the fact that DeVos has no substantial experience in higher education and is now responsible for the administering of financial aid to students wishing to achieve a higher education, it is also well known that DeVos does not support the public-school system which she now controls the majority of funding for. DeVos stated when asked about her position on private and public institutions, “I will push for more access to charter, home and religious schools” Merica (2017). While parents would still have the choice of what school they want their child to attend DeVos can strongly encourage them to send their child to private institutions. This is after she depletes public schools of their funding. If the parents cannot afford to send their child to these private institutions, then they would have no choice but to send their child to the public schools whose resources have all but been exhausted. This is all with the backing of President Trump who stated that “under her leadership we will reform the US education system and break the bureaucracy that is holding our children back so that we can deliver world-class education and school choice to all families” (Diamond and Acosta, 2016). But then, President Trump has no reason to oppose her, he appointed her, and it is between the two of them that the nation’s education policies are to be implemented and enacted by Congress. President Trump has promised to “make America great again,” but it is important to note that Hitler also promised Germany the same thing, it is also notable that they both targeted education as the first step towards reclaiming this ‘greatness’.

There were no laws in place that could prevent Hitler and Stalin from doing the things that they did. At the time their countries were war-ravaged and the government had disintegrated. The people were desperate for a savior and that is what these men appeared to be. Luckily, the United States has laws in place that prevents one person or one branch from implementing a plan and running with it full-force. The main law that prevents this harvesting of power is the Separation of Powers, or checks and balances. There are three branches in the United States government as established by the Constitution. The Legislative branch makes the law and checks the Executive branch. The Executive branch executes the law and checks the Legislative branch. Finally, the Judicial branch interprets the law and checks the Legislative branch (Mount, 2010). All of the branches check on each other to make sure that no one branch becomes more powerful than the others, thus maintaining a balance. Because of the Separation of Powers, if one branch feels that another branch is becoming too powerful then that branch has the right to challenge the other. The founding fathers devised this way of ruling to prevent the majority from ruling with an iron fist. By forcing the various branches to be accountable to the others, no one branch can usurp enough power to become dominant.

The intention of the Separation of Powers is a simple concept: to prevent one branch from becoming dominant and to hold the branches accountable to the others. This system exists because the founding fathers wanted to steer clear of the tyranny they had experienced under British rule. They came up with three distinct branches that includes a series of “checks and balances” mechanisms that keeps the branches from abusing their power. The way the system was set up was so that the branches also affected each other. For example, the Executive Branch has the power to veto a law but the Legislative Branch can also override presidential vetoes if they feel that the decision was biased. Another example would be the Legislative Branch’s power to declare war but the Executive Branch is the chief of the military- you can’t go to war without the chief of military (Mount, 2010). The only unintended consequences of the Separation of Powers is the complication of the policy-making process, which is a weak complaint about it being more time-consuming. At its worst, the system of checks and balances can result in a stalemate amongst the three branches. I believe the system of checks and balances effectively regulates the process of reeducating if both the Democratic and Republican parties remain equally represented. I think for the people to be fairly represented there should be likewise opposition. It is only through opposition that all sides can be fully explored and the best decision made.

After analyzing the beginning of Hitler and Stalin’s regime it is safe to say that reeducation is an important factor in maintaining control of the people. It’s not just a process that influences the way people think, it also wipes out any class consciousness, social status, any sense of individuality a person might possess. The best way to think about the reeducation process, whether it be through labor, indoctrination, schooling etc., is stripping a person of everything that makes them, them. Take away their values, over the time span of years, ingrain within them the values of the 3rd Reich and the values of the 3rd Reich is all they will know and remember. Reeducation through labor is a loose term, to reeducate gives the impression of learning when really to reeducate through labor means breaking the body and the will to the will of the enforcer. Because Stalin ruled by instilling fear throughout the people, this was an acceptable way of reeducating. Knowledge is power, Hitler recognized it, Stalin recognized it, President Trump recognizes it also, it is why they all targeted it first. To reeducate for their purpose is to ensure the accomplishment of their purpose. It is yet to be seen what purpose President Trump has, one can only hope it is for the good of the country. The corruption of education has risen small men up from the ashes and given them the power to commit some of the most ferocious crimes against humanity the world has ever seen. It is up to the people to recognize the signs and to prevent a second Holocaust, a second Great Purge, or worse the first of something entirely new and horrific from happening. What can man do to me? Man can do a lot of unspeakably terrible things if given the right circumstances, and reeducation can help them do it.