“But they didn’t have a Gestapo, KGB or Stasi to do it for them.”
The Tsars had a large secret police force. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okhrana
Yes. But the Ohkrana had little or no interest in getting involved with the “totality” of the Tsar’s subject’s lives.
They focused on pretty much those they saw as real or potential enemies of the Tsar, as most absolutists down through history have.
IOW, if you didn’t directly oppose or threaten the Tsar’s rule (or appear to) they pretty much left you alone.
Oddly enough, the Nazi and Fascist dictatorships were similar. Large areas of life were just left alone, since like earlier absolutisms they were primarily concerned with threats to the Party.
Only Communism, AFAIK, had his obsession with making sure that its subjects not only behaved right but also thought right.
Mao’s China was totalitarian to a much greater extent than Nazi Germany.