Sunday, December 7, 2014
Naziism As Socialism
Most people who have studied the Nazi era know that Nazi was an abbreviation for the National Socialist German Workers' Party. But if you war the strong association that the Nazis had with left wing groups in the Weimar Republic era, progressives are leftists get very very very upset. This column in the February 25, 2014 Telegraph by Daniel Hannan discusses this was some embarrassing examples from both NAZI propaganda posters showing their fierce and hostility to capitalism and quotes from NAZI leaders. Maybe teaching Western Civilization two in the spring will be such a bad thing after all.
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I have run into people who deny that the Nazis were socialists, but they denial is baffling. If you just goto Wikipedia and read the 25-point Nazi program, you will see that most of it is socialist. Some of it is also racist or nationalist, but it is certainly socialist.
ReplyDeleteThe Nazis certainly had some socialist roots; the Sturmabteilung were described as "beefsteaks" (Brown outside, Red inside).
ReplyDeleteBut Hitler had no real interest in socialist economics. The socialists in the NSDAP leadership were purged just before (the Strassers) and soon after (the SA leaders) Hitler took power. The "25-Point Program" had been a dead letter for many years by then.
At no time during Hitler's rule did the Nazis engage in redistribution of private wealth, except from Jews to themselves.
So painting the Nazis as a branch of the Second International is not accurate.
I will agree that the Nazis moved away from their socialist roots to get money from the industrialists starting in 1931. But there were serious socialist elements like the Strassers and Roehm.
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