In this passage, a witness recalls a district Communist Party conference in the USSR during Stalin’s rule.
At the conclusion of the conference, a tribute to Comrade Stalin was called for. Of course, everyone stood up . . . . The small hall echoed with "stormy applause, rising to an ovation." For three minutes, four minutes, five . . . . It was becoming insufferably silly even to those who really adored Stalin. However, who would dare to be the first to stop? . . . . After all, NKVD men [the secret police] were in the hall applauding and watching to see who quit first! . . . .
Then, after eleven minutes, the director of the paper factory . . . sat down in his seat. And, oh, a miracle took place! . . . . everyone else stopped dead and sat down. . . .
That same night the factory director was arrested. They easily pasted ten years [in a labor camp] on him on the pretext of something quite different. But after he signed [his confession] . . . his interrogator reminded him:
"Don't ever be the first to stop applauding!"
–The Gulag Archipelago,
Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn
How does this passage show totalitarianism in the Soviet Union? Check all that apply.
A-Some people refused to applaud.
B-The Communist Party was one of many political parties in the USSR.
C-People were afraid to be the first to stop clapping.
D-The Soviet government used fear and terror to control its citizens.
E-The government allowed people to have freedom of speech and assembly.