When joining a political party, people normally join whichever party aligns with their own ideology and opinions most. This notion stays true for parties like the Nazis and Communist Party, because many joined those parties due to their genuine belief that the party ideology matched best with their own and would provide the best future for their nation, and they became devout and unwavering followers of the system. In Whittaker Chambers’ memoir Witness, he mentions how his decision to join the Communist Party was made from the fact that he saw the party as being the best chance at making a more fair and peaceful world compared to the current one everyone had been living in in the 1930s. Chambers later makes a similar comment about Alger Hiss when discussing the Hiss Case, referring to his struggle as “one single man, seeking to do what was right to the limit of his understanding and strength,” (Chambers, 617). Hiss committed his deceptions during the trial because it was the best way for him to protect the Soviet involvement in the US so that the Communist Party could continue on with their work. The loyalty Hiss showed by lying in court and committing treason was widespread across many followers of totalitarian groups, Hanna Arendt stating it as a reason for those parties’ success. In The Origins of Totalitarianism, Arendt says, “the success of totalitarianism is rather the true selflessness of its adherents… neither is he likely to waver when the monster begins to devour its own children and not even if he becomes a victim of persecution himself… he may even be willing to help in is own prosecution,” (Arendt, 307). And the parallel to the followers’ willingness to do anything for the party’s success out of loyalty, are the party leaders’ efforts to cover up and minimize the true horrors committed by the party in order to keep them appearing more benevolent than they truly are. In the introduction of The Black Book of Communism, Stéphane Courtois said, “When the tyrants could no longer hide the truth… they did their best to justify these atrocities by glossing them over. After admitting the use of terror, they justified it as a necessary aspect of revolution,” (Courtois, 19) because it made their actions appear as well intentioned and the only way to achieve their goals, also serving to draw in their followers further.