Totalitarian governments may have dismissed liberal democracy as a failed system of government whose time had passed, but that did not mean that totalitarian leaders could ignore the power of public opinion, or that they did not need to communicate with their people. If such leaders were to remake their societies, defeat their enemies, and “change history,” they would need the cooperation of the masses, and one of the most important tools for acquiring that cooperation was propaganda. In the first document included below, Adolf Hitler explained the essential elements of effective propaganda. In the second, two Soviet posters from the early days of World War II illustrate the way Soviet propagandists adjusted their messages to mesh with the values and beliefs of their intended audience.