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Dictatorship in politics is a form of dominance of people/group of people/political parties/classes over others via economic, politics, laws, and especially violence. Dictatorship is an inherent part of class society.
Often used in propaganda as an opposition to democracy, to describe a type of government in a country “b” where all or the majority of control over the country, its political and economical life, or even lives of people belongs to a single person, in a contrast with democratic government of country “a”.
Although this description might be correct in some cases such simplification serves as a mere smokescreen as well as painting it permanently negative, which hides the main definition of dictatorship in politics, specifically the factor of dominance of one over others. Thus the stereotyped definition may not let people see the dictatorship behind the most democratic facade, the dictatorship of not just a single person, but one group of people over other group of people, one class over another.[1]
Historical background
With the formation of early class societies in the early bronze age, and later when the effectiveness of human labour increased to create a surplus product big enough to feed more people than actually required in the production of the necessities, people were separated into two groups: exploiters and exploited. Thus the state was created, a tool to direct the will of the dominant class, through ownership of the means of production, onto the growing masses of people. Thus was the creation of the first dictatorships centuries before the first spoken concept of democracy and modern conflicts between democracy and dictatorship in common parlance. It is a misconception that dictatorship is a relatively new concept.
The state is a special organization of force: it is an organization of violence for the suppression of some class.[2]
— Vladimir Lenin The State and Revolution. Chapter II. The Eve of Revolution
The group which directs a dictatorship is considered a ruling class. In a capitalist society, the bourgeoisie is the ruling class, and their government forms a dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.