A totalitarian state demands conformity down to the smallest detail. People can then be punished without doing anything wrong at all, simply because they cannot bring themselves to belong. The state comes to treat its own people as enemies, waging war on them while the country is officially at peace.
A regime that promises better times can win people over at first, but material security alone does not make people content. When a state offers comfort in exchange for obedience, some people will eventually find the bargain empty and turn against it.
Loyalty is only worth something if it starts with being true to yourself. When a regime asks for loyalty that means betraying your own conscience, that is the point where loyalty itself requires breaking away.
When officials override or confiscate what a group holds dear, like its own flag, they show they do not understand what it means to the people who carry it. Small humiliations of this kind can turn loyal young members into doubters.
Where all free expression is suppressed, open dissent has no channel. Opposition then moves into small secret networks that spread anonymous leaflets, and the people involved take mortal risks to do it.