作者：张兴贵

在极权主义体制中，“领导的事再小也是大事，百姓的事再大也是小事”并非简单的官僚主义偏差或个人作风问题，而是这一政体逻辑的必然产物。这一现象的必然性在于–极权主义追求对社会生活的“总体”控制，必须将领袖（或领导集团）神圣化、绝对化，使其成为意识形态的化身和权力的唯一源泉；而民众则被工具化为实现“历史使命”的手段，其个体诉求必须服从于这一抽象的“整体”。

一、领袖作为“真理”与“历史必然”的化身。极权主义的核心在于一套“极权意识形态”，如法西斯主义、斯大林主义等，它声称掌握了历史的绝对规律和人类的终极真理。领袖并非普通政治人物，而是这一真理的活的体现、历史的发动机和人民的“父亲”。领袖的思想、决定甚至日常事务，都被等同于“党的意志”“国家的命运”“历史的进步”。因此，领袖的一言一行、一举一动，都被上升为“大局”——任何轻视都是对真理的背叛。相反，百姓的事再大也是“小事”，因为在这一意识形态下，个体不是目的，而是实现“集体意志”的工具。民众的饥饿、苦难、权利诉求，被视为“历史进程中的暂时阵痛”或“局部矛盾”，必须为“伟大事业”让路。这种二元对立是必然的：若承认百姓个体权利的优先性，就等于否定了意识形态的绝对性，动摇了整个权力大厦的合法性基础。个人崇拜正是这一机制的制度化表达，它通过现代宣传机器（大众媒体、文艺、仪式）将领袖神化，使其超越法律、道德和常识。

二、真理垄断。极权主义通过垄断真理生产，系统性扭曲认知框架。宣传、媒体、教育和仪式共同构建了一个“第二现实”：领袖事务被永恒放大为“关乎民族命运”“体现人民意志”的大事；民众疾苦则被最小化、外部化，归咎于“敌人”“历史遗留”，或辩证化，“暂时的、必要的”。

三、提拔规则。下级官员的晋升、生存完全依赖于对上级（最终是对最高领袖）的绝对忠诚。考核标准不是民生绩效，而是“落实领导指示”的热情与效率。在这种结构下，信息流动必然扭曲：基层真实民情被层层过滤，只有符合“领导关怀”叙事的内容才能上传。资源配置同样遵循权力逻辑——巨额人力、物力、财力优先保障“领导工程”“形象工程”，因为这些直接关系到权威的可见性与神圣性。百姓的住房、医疗、环境等问题，即使涉及数百万人生死，也被视为“可调控的次要变量”，在“稳定压倒一切”或“集中力量办大事”的旗号下被牺牲。历史经验证明，这种结构具有自我强化机制。任何试图把百姓大事置于领导小事之上的尝试，都会被解读为“政治不忠”，遭到清洗。这导致整个官僚体系的“习得性无助”，逐渐内化“领导的事比天大”的认知；官员则通过“精致服务”换取安全与晋升。这种心理结构使现象超越个人，成为体制的“文化基因”。

“领导的事再小也是大事，百姓的事再大也是小事”是极权主义权力异化的必然镜像。它根植于意识形态的绝对主义、真理垄断、人事规则等，这些要素相互锁定，形成闭合逻辑。不如此，极权便不成其为极权。

编辑：李聪玲 校对：周敏 翻译：戈冰

Totalitarian Phenomenon, Part VII: “The Leader’s Smallest Concern Is a Major Event; the People’s Greatest Hardship Is a Trifling Matter”

Author: Zhang Xinggui

In a totalitarian regime, the dictum “the leader’s smallest concern is a major event, while the people’s greatest hardship is a trifling matter” is neither a simple bureaucratic aberration nor a mere problem of personal style; rather, it is the inevitable product of the system’s underlying political logic. The inevitability of this phenomenon stems from the fact that totalitarianism pursues “total” control over social life. It must sacralize and absolutize the leader (or the leadership clique), making them the living incarnation of ideology and the sole source of power. Meanwhile, the general public is instrumentalized as a mere means to fulfill a “historical mission,” and their individual demands are forced to submit to this abstract “whole”.

I. The Leader as the Incarnation of “Truth” and “Historical Inevitability.”

The core of totalitarianism lies in a set of “totalitarian ideologies”—such as Fascism or Stalinism—that claim to possess the absolute laws of history and the ultimate truth of humanity. The leader is no ordinary political figure, but the living embodiment of this truth, the engine of history, and the “father” of the people. The leader’s thoughts, decisions, and even daily routines are equated with the “will of the Party,” the “destiny of the nation,” and the “progress of history.” Consequently, every word, action, and gesture of the leader is elevated to the status of the “overarching interest”—and any slight against them is deemed a betrayal of the truth.

Conversely, no matter how monumental the people’s concerns may be, they remain “trifling matters.” Under this ideology, the individual is not an end in itself, but an instrument for realizing the “collective will”. The suffering, hunger, and rights claims of the populace are dismissed as “temporary growing pains in the course of historical progress” or “localized contradictions” that must yield to the “grand cause”.

This binary opposition is inevitable: to recognize the priority of individual rights would be tantamount to denying the absolute authority of the ideology, thereby shaking the very foundations of legitimacy upon which the power structure rests. The cult of personality is the institutionalized expression of this mechanism. Through the modern propaganda apparatus—encompassing mass media, literature, art, and state rituals—it deifies the leader, placing them above the law, morality, and common sense.

II. Monopoly on Truth

Totalitarianism systematically distorts cognitive frameworks through its monopoly on the production of truth. Propaganda, the media, education, and public rituals jointly construct a “second reality”: the affairs of the leader are perpetually magnified as grand matters “concerning the destiny of the nation” and “reflecting the will of the people”; meanwhile, the hardships of the populace are minimized, externalized—blamed on “enemies” or “historical legacies”—or rationalized dialectically as “temporary and necessary.”

III. Promotion Rules

The promotion and political survival of subordinate officials depend entirely on absolute loyalty to their superiors, and ultimately to the supreme leader. The performance metric for evaluation is not the livelihoods of the people, but the zeal and efficiency with which “instructions from the leadership” are implemented. Under this structure, the flow of information is inevitably distorted: true local conditions at the grassroots level are filtered layer by layer, and only content that fits the narrative of “leadership care and concern” is transmitted upward.

Resource allocation likewise follows the logic of power—enormous human, material, and financial resources are prioritized to secure “leadership projects” and “image projects,” because these directly relate to the visibility and sanctity of authority. Issues affecting the populace—such as housing, healthcare, and the environment—even when involving the life and death of millions, are treated as “secondary, adjustable variables” to be sacrificed under the banners of “stability overrides everything” or “concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks.”

Historical experience proves that this structure possesses a self-reinforcing mechanism. Any attempt to place the major concerns of the people above the minor affairs of the leadership is interpreted as “political disloyalty” and met with purges. This results in a state of “learned helplessness” across the entire bureaucratic system, gradually internalizing the mindset that “the leader’s affairs are paramount.” Officials, in turn, trade “meticulous service” for personal safety and advancement. This psychological structure enables the phenomenon to transcend individual agency and become the system’s “cultural DNA.”

“The leader’s smallest concern is a major event; the people’s greatest hardship is a trifling matter” is the inevitable reflection of totalitarian power alienation. It is rooted in ideological absolutism, the monopoly on truth, and personnel rules, among other elements that interlock to form a closed logic. Without this, totalitarianism would cease to be totalitarianism.

Editor: Li Congling Proofreader: Zhou Min Translator: Ge Bing