“Gleichschaltung” was the term the Nazis used to describe the process through which they sought to impose their vision of politics and society on the German people and make them conform to their ideology. It is an insidious word which suggests that the state is a machine of which human beings are functional parts that can be turned on and off in unison. Fritz Lang’s Metropolis may have provided the inspiration for it.
The process it describes is of long-standing. It was at work in the Christianization of Europe, in the Protestant Reformation, in the twentieth century in Soviet Russia and in Nazi Germany, and then in Communist China. It has definitely now reached Hong Kong. (See preceding blog)
In the case of Nazi Germany, the attempt at Gleichschaltung was ultimately not successful. The regime ran out of time to carry it through. The Christianization of the world has shown us, on the other hand, how a heathen society can be turned into one of rabid believers. Sometimes the process of Gleichschaltung is exceedingly violent, as it certainly was in Nazi Germany, or it is repressive in the way it has been in Xinjiang, or it uses legal and bureaucratic maneuvers to bring about the desired effect, as seems to be the case in Hong Kong. Resistance to Gleichschaltung is also sometimes violent, at other times devious, but it can also easily melt away.
The rulers in Beijing must think that they have the means and the time to make Gleichschaltung a success across their empire. But they still have obstacles to overcome such as the older traditions of China, a diverse set of belief systems, local histories as well as lethargy, corruption, and hypocrisy.