It's one of those things that's fascist coded, but with the information we got in SHB we learn that he was indeed being literal. It just sounds like dictatorial madness at the time, because it was supposed to, sort of like a, "Is the villain actually a villain sleight of hand maneuver?"

I saw it for what it was at the time, because it's a magical world and they don't insert that stuff just for the sake of it, usually.