Eastern Despotism. A Comparative Study of Total Power

K.A. Wittfogel, an outstanding scholar of sinology, examines the power systems characteristic of Eastern despotisms and other states that employed Asian modes of production in his book. Analyzing the methods of agriculture in China, the Middle East, Russia, and the empires of the Maya and Incas, the author points out the special significance of irrigation, which is impossible without the involvement of a large number of people for the construction of hydraulic structures – canals, dams, reservoirs, etc. Wittfogel refers to these societal systems as "hydraulic empires," and by comparing them to the socialist states of his time, he concludes that communist totalitarianism is the most despotic and detrimental method of governance for the development of society.