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Nazism or National Socialism (German Nationalsozialismus) refers to the totalitarian ideology of the dictatorship which ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945: the 'Third
Reich'. In this ideology, the German nation and the purported
"Aryan" race were considered superior to all other races. Nazism is usually associated
with Fascism.
The dictator Adolf Hitler
rose to power as leader of a political party, the National Socialist German
Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP for short). Germany during this period is
also referred to as Nazi Germany. Adherents of Nazism were called Nazis.
Nazism has been outlawed in modern Germany, although tiny remnants, known as Neo-Nazis, continue to operate in Germany and abroad.
General History
A Frenchman, Maurice
Barrés, coined the term "national socialism". Nietzsche drew an analogy
between nationalism and socialism considering both to be "dominated by envy and laziness". "Jules Monnerot in his Sociologie
du communisme affirms that modern tyranny must always combine social (or socialistic) with national appeal."
Austrian National Socialism
Pan-German socialism has its beginnings in Georg Ritter von Schönerer and his Linzer Programm of 1882 which is the core influence on the National Socialist Program. On November 15, 1903, a
political party formed called the German Worker's Party (D.A.P.) had their secretariat stationed in the town of Aussig and could be considered probably the most important center of early German national
socialism. (4) A year later in Trautenau, they produced a program which in part says:
-
- "We are a liberty-loving nationalistic party that fights energetically against reactionary tendencies as well as feudal, clerical, or capitalistic priviledges and all alien influences."
At a party congress in Vienna in May of 1918, the DAP party changed its name to the Deutsche Nationalsozialistische
Arbeiterpartei (D.N.S.A.P.). Rudolf Jung was a member of this group. It
produced the National Socialist program. In his book, he traces the rise of Austrian (Pan-German) national socialism to the
activities of Ferdinand Burschofsky and Ludwig Vogel. (1) Baron Galéra traces it to another person "a certain Franko Stein who in 1897 transferred a small paper, Der Hammer from Vienna to
Egar. Stein belonged to a tiny organization
called the Deutschnationaler Arbeiterbund." (2). Three members of the Mährisch-Trübauer Verbund—a
co-ordinating organization (what the Germans call a "roof organization") of nationalistic worker's associations in Morovia,
Hans Knirsch, Rudolf Jung, and
Hans Krebs(ns) {(ns)
short for "national socialism" is to differentiate from another Hans Kreb}, went on to become members of the Nazi Party of Adolf
Hitler.
Ideological theory
According to "Mein Kampf" (My Struggle), Hitler developed his political
theories after "carefully observing" the policies of the Austro-Hungarian
Empire. He was born as a citizen of the Empire, and believed that ethnic and
linguistic diversity had "weakened" it. Further, he saw democracy as a destabilizing force, because it placed power in the hands of ethnic
minorities, who he claimed had "incentives" to further "weaken and destabilize" the Empire.
The Nazi rationale was heavily invested in the militarist belief that "great
nations" grow from military power, which in turn grows "naturally" from "rational, civilized cultures." Hitler's calls appealed
to disgruntled German Nationalists, eager to save face for the failure of World
War I, and to salvage the militaristic nationalist mindset of that previous era. After Austria and Germany's defeat of
World War I—many Germans still had heartfelt ties to the goal of
creating a "unified Germany," and thought that the goal, as well as the use of military force to achieve it, were both correct.
For many, the utopian imaginary vision of a unified German nation became a kind of
idolatry. Unable to blame their leaders, policies, and ideologies, many placed the
blame instead on those who they perceived, in one way or another, to have "sabotaged" the goal of nationalist unification.
"Jews and communists" were the ones
perceived by many Germans to have been less than fully behind "the plan," and would become the ideal scapegoats for Germans
deeply invested in a German Nationalist ideology.
Expanding upon the popular German blame of Jews and Communits, Hitler's Nazi "theory" also claimed that the Aryan race is a "master race" superior to other races. It rationalized this claim with another claim
—that a nation 'is the highest creation of a race, and great nations (literally large nations) were the creation of great races. These nations developed
cultures that "naturally" grew from races with "natural good health, and aggressive, intelligent, courageous traits." The weakest
nations, Hitler said were those of impure or "mongrel" races, because they have divided, quarrelling, and therefore "weak
cultures."
According to the Hitlerian vision, it was an obvious mistake to permit or encourage multilingualism and multiculturalism
within a nation. Thus fundamental to the Nazi goal was the unification of German-speaking peoples, "unjustly" divided into
different territories. He claimed that nations that cannot defend their borders must be said to have been the creation of weak or
slave races —Slave races, he thought of as less-worthy to exist than "master races." In particular, if a "master race"
should require room to live (Lebensraum), he thought such a "race" should have the right to displace the indigenous
inferior races. Hitler draws parallels between Lebensraum and the American ethnic-cleansing and relocation policies of
the Native Americans as key to the success of the US.
"Races without homelands," Hitler claimed, were "parasitic races," and the richer the members of a "parasitic race" are, the
more "virulent" the parasitism was thought to be. A "master race" could therefore, according to the Nazi doctrine, easily
strengthen itself by eliminating "parasitic races" from its homeland. This was the given rationalization for the Nazi's later
oppression and elimination of Jews and Gypsies.
Despite the popularity of Hitler and his Lebensraum appeal, some Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS soldiers found the "duty" morally
repugnant. Only a small fraction of them were activily involved in genocide.
Hitler extended his rationalizations into religious doctrine, claiming that
those who agreed with and taught his "truths," were "true" or "master" religions, because they would "create mastery" by avoiding
comforting lies. Those that preach love and tolerance, "in contravention to the facts,"
were said to be "slave" or "false" religions. The man who recognizes these "truths," Hitler continued, was said to be a "natural
leader," and those who deny it were said to be "natural slaves." "Slaves," especially intelligent ones, he claimed were always
attempting to hinder masters by promoting false religious and political doctrines.
Though not quite complete, the general current understanding of Nazism is that it was centered in ethnic bigotry and racism, which eventually brought about a rationalization for engineering one of the greatest
crimes of the 20th Century in the Holocaust. But aside from the scapegoating of non-Aryans, the ideological roots which became German "National
Socialism" drew from numerous and deep sources in European history, especially Romantic 19th Century idealism, and Friedrich
Nietzsche's thoughts on "breeding upwards" toward the goal of an Übermensch. According to the biographer Ian Kershaw, Hitler was an avid reader and borrowed all his ideas what was later to become Nazism from
traceable publications, sometimes of fringe groups.
Key elements of the Nazi ideology
- Nazi 25-point program
- Racism
- Euthanasia and Eugenics with
respect to "Racial
Hygiene"
- Anti-Marxism, Anti-Communism , Anti-Bolshevism
- The denial of democracy, with as a consequence the ending the existence of political parties, labour unions, and free
press.
- Führerprinzip/belief in the leader (Responsibility up the ranks,
and authority down the ranks.)
- Strong show of local culture.
- Social Darwinism
- Defence of Blood and Land (German: "Blut und
Boden" - represented by the red and black colors in the Nazi flag)
- "Lebensraumpolitik", "Lebensraum im Osten" (The creation of more living space for Germans)
- Related to Fascism
Nazism and romanticism
According to Bertrand Russell, Nazism comes from a different
tradition than that of either liberal capitalism or communism. Thus, to understand values of Nazism, it is necessary to explore this connection, without
trivializing the movement as it was in its peak years in the 1930s and dismissing it as a
little more than racism.
Many historiographers say that the antisemitic element, which does not exist in the sister fascism movement in Italy and Spain, was adopted by Hitler to gain popularity for the movement.
Anti-Semitic prejudice was very common among the masses in German Empire.
It is claimed that mass acceptance required anti-Semitism, as well as flattery of the wounded pride of German people after the
defeat of WWI.
Many see strong connections to the values of Nazism and the irrationalist tradition of the romantic movement of the early 19th century. Strength,
passion, lack of hypocrisy, utilitarianism, traditional family values,
and devotion to community were valued by the Nazis and first expressed by many Romantic artists, musicians, and writers. German romanticism in particular
expressed these values. For instance, the Nazis identified closely with the music of
Richard Wagner (a noted anti-Semite and the author of Das
Judenthum in der Musik). Many of his operas express the ideals of the strong
dominating the weak, and a celebration of traditional Norse Aryan folklore and values. The style of his music is often very militaristic.
Ideological competition
Nazism and Communism emerged as two serious contenders for power in Germany after
the First World War, particularly as the Weimar Republic became increasingly unstable.
What became the Nazi movement arose out of resistance to the Bolshevik-inspired insurgencies that occurred in Germany in the aftermath of the First World War. The Russian
Revolution of 1917 caused a great deal of excitement and interest in the Leninist version of Marxism and caused many socialists to adopt
revolutionary principles. The 1918-1919 Munich Soviet and the 1919 Spartacist uprising in Berlin were both manifestations of this. The
Freikorps, a loosely organised paramilitary group (essentially a militia of former World War I
soldiers) were used to crush both these uprising and many leaders of the Freikorps, including Ernst Röhm, later became leaders in the Nazi party.
Capitalists and conservatives in Germany feared that a takeover by the Communists was inevitable and did not trust the democratic parties of the Weimar Republic to be able to resist a communist revolution. Increasing
numbers of capitalists began looking to the nationalist movements as a bulwark against Bolshevism. After Mussolini's fascists took power in Italy in 1922, fascism presented itself as a realistic option for opposing "Communism",
particularly given Mussolini's success in crushing the Communist and anarchist movements which had destabilised Italy with a wave
of strikes and factory occupations after the First World War. Fascist parties formed in numerous European countries.
Many historians such as Ian Kershaw and Joachim Fest argue that Hitler and the Nazis were one of numerous nationalist and
increasingly fascistic groups that existed in Germany and contended for leadership of the anti-Communist movement and, eventually, of the German state. Further, they assert that fascism and its
German variant National Socialism became the successful challengers to Communism because they were able to both appeal
to the establishment as a bulwark against Bolshevism and appeal to the working class base, particularly the growing underclass of
unemployed and unemployable and growingly impoverished middle class elements who were becoming declassed (the lumpenproletariat). The Nazi's use of socialist rhetoric appealed to
disaffection with capitalism while presenting a political and economic model that divested "socialism" of any elements which were
dangerous to capitalism, such as the concept of class struggle or
worker control of the means of production.
Support of anti-Communists for Fascism and Nazism
Various right-wing politicians and political parties in Europe welcomed the rise of fascism and the Nazis out of an intense
aversion towards Communism. According to them, Hitler was the savior of Western civilization and of capitalism against Bolshevism. Among these supporters in the 1920s and early 1930s was the Conservative Party in Britain. During the later 1930s and
1940s, the Nazis were supported by the Falange movement in Spain, and by political
and military figures who would form the government of Vichy France. A
Legion of French Volunteers against Bolshevism (LVF) was formed.
The British Conservative party and the right-wing parties in France appeased the Nazi regime in the mid- and late-1930s, even
though they had begun to criticise its totalitarianism. Some contemporary commentators suggested that these parties did in fact
still support the Nazis.
Nazism and Anglo-Saxons
Hitler admired the British
Empire. Racist theories were developed by British intellectuals in the 19th
century to control the Indian people and other "savages." These methods were often copied by the Nazis.
Similarly, in his early years Hitler also greatly admired the United
States of America. In Mein Kampf, he praised the United States for its anti-immigration laws. According to Hitler, America was a successful nation because it kept itself "pure"
of "lesser races." However as war approached, his view of the United States became more negative and he believed that Germany
would have an easy victory over the United States precisely because the United States in his later estimation had become a
mongrel nation.
Economic practice
Nazi economic practice concerned itself with immediate domestic issues and separately with ideological conceptions of international economics.
Domestic economic policy was narrowly concerned with three major goals:
- Elimination of unemployment
- Elimination of hyperinflation
- Expansion of production of consumer goods to improve middle- and lower-class living standards.
All of these policy goals were intended to address the perceived shortcomings of the Weimar Republic and to solidify domestic support for the party. In this, the party was very successful.
Between 1933 and 1936 the German GNP increased by an average annual rate of 9.5 percent, and the rate for industry alone rose by
17.2 percent. However, many economists argue that the expansion of the Germany economy between 1933 and 1936 was not the result
of the Nazi party, but rather the consequence of economic policies of the late Weimar Republic which had begin to have an
effect.
In addition, it has been pointed out that while it is often popularly believed that the Nazis ended hyperinflation, that the end of hyperinflation preceded the Nazis by several
years.
This expansion propelled the German economy out of a deep depression and into full employment in less than four years. Public consumption during the same
period increased by 18.7%, while private consumption increased by 3.6% annually. However, as this production was primarily
consumptive rather than productive (make work projects, expansion of the war-fighting machine, initiation of
the draft to remove working age males from the labor force), inflationary pressures began to rear their head again, although not
to the highs of the Weimar Republic. These economic pressures, combined with the war-fighting machine created in the expansion
(and concomitant pressures for its use), has led some commentators to the conclusion that a European war was inevitable for these
reasons alone. Stated another way, without another general European war to support this consumptive and inflationary economic
policy, the Nazi domestic economic program was unsupportable. This is not to say that other more important political
considerations were not to blame. It is only meant to state that economics have been, and are a primary motivating factor for any
society to go to war.
Internationally, the Nazi party believed that an international banking cabal was behind the global depression of the 1930s. The control of this cabal was identified with the ethnic group known as Jews, providing another link in their ideological motivation for the destruction of that group in the holocaust. However, broadly speaking, the existence of large international banking or merchant banking organizations was well known at this time. Many of these banking organizations were able to exert influence upon nation states by extension or
withholding of credit. This influence is not limited to the small states that preceded the creation of German Empire as a nation
state in the 1870s, but is noted in most major histories of all European powers from the 1500s onward. In fact, some
transnational corporations in the 1500 to 1800 period (the Dutch East India Company for one good example) were formed specifically to engage in warfare as a
proxy for governmental involvement, as opposed to the other way around.
It is important to note that the Nazi Party's conception of international economics was very limited. As the
National Socialist in the name NSDAP suggests, the party's primary motivation
was to incorporate previously international resources into the Reich by force, rather than by trade (compare to the international
socialism as practiced by the Soviet Union and the COMECON trade organization). This made
international economic theory a supporting factor in the political ideology
rather than a core plank of the platform as it is in most modern political parties.
In a economic sense, Nazism and Fascism are related. Nazism may be considered a
subset of Fascism, with all Nazis being Fascists, but not all Fascists being Nazis. Nazism shares many economic features with
Fascism, featuring complete government control of finance and investment (allocation of credit), industry, and agriculture. Yet
in both of these systems, corporate power and market based systems for providing price information still existed. Quoting Benito
Mussolini: "Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because
it is a merger of State and corporate power."
Rather than the state requiring goods from industrial enterprises and allocating raw materials required for their production
(as in socialist / communist systems), the state paid for these goods. This allows price to play an essential role in providing
information as to relative scarcity of materials, or the capital requirements in technology or labor (including education, as in
skilled labor) inputs to produce a manufactured good. Additionally, the unionist (strictly speaking, syndicalist) veneer placed
on corporate labor relations was another major point of agreement. Both the German and Italian fascist political parties began as
unionist labor movements, and grew into totalitarian dictatorships. This idea was maintained throughout their time in power, with
state control used as a means to eliminate the assumed conflict between management labor relations.
Effects
These theories were used to justify a totalitarian political
agenda of racial hatred and suppression using all the means of the state, and suppressing dissent.
Like other fascist regimes, the Nazi regime emphasized anti-communism and the leader principle
(Führerprinzip), a key element of fascist ideology in which the ruler is deemed to embody the political movement and the
nation. Unlike other fascist ideologies, Nazism was virulently racist. Some of the
manifestations of Nazi racism were:
Anti-clericalism was also part of Nazi ideology.
Backlash effects
Perhaps the primary intellectual effect has been that Nazi doctrines discredited the attempt to use biology to explain or influence social issues, for at least two generations after
Nazi Germany's brief existence.
The Nazi descendants have been mute in the post-war democracies with some exceptions when interviewed by psychologists and
historians. In Norway a group of descendants have taken the official stigmatizing appellation "Nazi children" in order to break the silence and to protest against the continuous demonization of
their families. Some historical revisionists
disseminate propaganda which denies or minimizes the Holocaust and other Nazi acts, and attempts to put a positive spin on the policies of the Nazi regime and the events which occurred under it.
People and history
The most prominent Nazi was Adolf Hitler, who ruled Nazi Germany from 30 January 1933 until his
suicide on 30 April 1945, led the German Reich into
World War II, and oversaw the murder of over 40 million people. Under
Hitler, ethnic nationalism and racism were joined together through an ideology of militarism to serve his goals.
After the war, many prominent Nazis were convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials.
The Nazi symbol is the clockwise swastika.
Nazism in relation to other concepts
Nazism and religion
The relationship between Nazism and Christianity can only be described
as complex and controversial.
Hitler and other Nazi leaders clearly made use of Christian symbolism and emotion in propagandizing the overwhelmingly
Christian German public, but it remains a matter of controversy whether Hitler believed himself a Christian. Some Christian
writers have sought to typify Hitler as an atheist or occultist -- even a Satanist -- whereas non-Christian writers have
emphasized Nazism's outward use of Christian doctrine, regardless of what its inner-party mythology may have been. The existence
of a Ministry of Church Affairs, instituted in 1935 and headed by Hanns Kerrl, was hardly recognized by ideologists such as Rosenberg and by other political decision-makers.
The Nazi Party's relations with the Catholic Church
are yet more fraught. Many Catholic priests and leaders vociferously opposed Nazism on the grounds of its incompatibility with
Christian morals. Pope Pius XI issued in 1937 the encyclical Mit brennender Sorge to condemn
the ideology and pseudo religion of Nazism. As with many political opponents, many priests were sentenced in the concentration
camps for their opposition, however most of them were Poles persecuted due to their
nationality. Nevertheless, the Church hierarchy represented by Pope Pius XII
remained largely silent on the issue, and allegations of the Pope's complicity are today commonplace. There were also pro-Nazi
Catholic leaders like Bishop Alois Hudal.
As well, the Vatican has been criticised for agreeing that the Catholic Centre
Party would support the Enabling Act that gave the Nazis dictatorial powers
in exchange for the provisions in the 1933 Concordat between the Vatican and the
Third Reich guaranteeing that the church would maintain the right to govern its own internal affairs and maintain its parochial
schools.
Criticisms of the Church's relationship with the Nazis in particular and fascism in general are developed extensively in John
Cromwell's book Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII.
As Nazism continued to rule Germany, to many people it became a kind of religion in and of itself.
Nazism is considered as a kind of fascism
Nazism and fascism
The term Nazism is often used interchangeably with fascism, but
this usage is controversial. Some insist that the word Fascism (spelled with a capital F) can only accurately be used to
describe Italian Fascism, while others argue that there is another generic fascism (spelled with a small f)
that may include many different movements, in many different countries.
Nazism and Italian Fascism both employed a similar style of propaganda, including military parades and uniforms. The
ideologies of both ostensibly included an extreme nationalism and a rebirth of their own nation to some former, past state of
national greatness. Both movements, when in power, also put in place totalitarian governments that pursued wars of expansion.
There were also many important differences between the two movements. For example, racism was central to Nazism but of less
significance in Italian Fascism. Fascist Italy did not adopt anti-semitism until urged to do so by Hitler.
Nazism and socialism
Because Nazism is an abbreviation for "National Socialism", and Nazi leaders sometimes described their ideology as a form of
socialism, some people believe that Nazism was a form of socialism, or that there are similarities between Nazism and socialism.
It has also been argued that the Nazi use of economic intervention, including central planning and some limited public ownership, is indicative of socialism.
Nazi leaders were opposed to the Marxist idea of class conflict and opposed the idea that capitalism should be abolished and that workers should
control the means of production. For those who consider class
conflict and the abolition of capitalism as essential components of socialist progress, these factors alone are sufficient to
categorize "National Socialism" as non-socialist.
Nazi leaders made statements describing their views as socialist, while at the same time opposing the idea of class conflict espoused by the Social Democrats (SPD) and Communists (KPD). Established socialist movements did
not view the Nazis as socialists and argued that the Nazis were thinly disguised reactionaries. Historians such as Ian Kershaw also note the links between the Nazis and the German political and economic establishment and the significance of the Night of the Long Knives in which Hitler purged what were at the time seen as "leftist" elements in the Nazi Party and how this was done at the
urging of the military and conservatives.
Many of the traditional center and right political parties of the Weimar Republic accused the Nazis of being socialists citing planks in the Nazis' party program which
called for nationalization of trusts and other socialist measures. However, the German National
People's Party (DNVP), the most important party on the mainstream right, usually treated the Nazis as a respected potential
member of coalition cabinet.
The Nazis' came to power through an alliance with traditional conservative forces. Franz von Papen, a very conservative former German Chancellor and former member of the Catholic Centre Party supported Hitler for the position of Chancellor and later became an important
Nazi official.The Enabling Act which gave the Nazis dictatorial powers passed only because of the support of conservative and centrist deputies
in the Reichstag, over the opposition of Social Democrats and Communists.
When the Nazis were still an opposition party some leaders, particularly Gregor Strasser, espoused anti-big business stances
and advocated the idea of the Nazis as a workers' party. In spite of this, most workers continued to vote for the SPD or the KPD
as late as the March 1933 elections held shortly after Hitler's appointment as chancellor.
Central to Nazi ideology and propaganda was not the rights of workers or the need for socialism but opposition to Marxism and Bolshevism which the Nazis called
Judeo-Bolshevism. According to the Nazi world view Marxism was part of a Jewish conspiracy. Rather than being afraid of the Nazis'
"socialism" many prominent conservatives and capitalists supported and funded the Nazis because they saw them as a bulwark
against Bolshevism.
Ideologically fascism and Nazism reject the most important aspects of Marxist theory. For instance, Hitler did not exalt the
working class over the capitalist class as Marx prescribed. In his book Mein Kampf,
Hitler wrote 'the suspicion was whispered in German Nationalist circles that we also were merely another variety of Marxism,
perhaps even Marxists suitably disguised, or better still, Socialists... We used to roar with laughter at these silly
faint-hearted bourgeoisie and their efforts to puzzle out our origin, our intentions and our aims. '
Moreover, Hitler despised Marx as a Jew and
condemned communism and Marxism as Judeo-Bolshevism pledging to block its rise in Germany arguing that the nation's downfall was due to Marxism and its Jewish influence.
There were ideological shades of opinion within the Nazi Party, particularly prior to their seizure of power in 1933, but a
central tenet of the party was always the leadership principle or Führerprinzip. The Nazi Party did not have party congresses in which policy was deliberated upon and
concessions made to different factions. What mattered most was what the leader,
Adolf Hitler, thought and decreed. Those who held opinions which were at
variance with Hitler's either learned to keep quiet or were purged, particularly after
1933. Although this is in some respects comparable to the behavior of certain Communist dictatorships such as that of Stalin in the Soviet Union
or Mao Zedong in China, it also
presents a strong contrast to the collective leadership exercised in other Communist parties, more so to the more democratic
organization of most European socialist parties.
In power, the Nazis jettisoned practically all of the socialistic aspects of their program, and worked with big business, frequently at the expense of both small business and the working classes.
Gregor Strasser was murdered, as was Ernst Röhm while Otto Strasser was purged from the
party. Independent trade unions were outlawed, as were strikes. In place of the unions, the Nazis created the Deutsche Arbeitsfront. The Nazis took other symbolic steps to co-opt the working classes'
support, such as the introduction of May Day as a national holiday in 1933. These were described by socialists as superficial moves designed to win the allegiance of
workers rather than grant them any material concessions at the expense of capital.
Industries and trusts were not nationalised, with the exception of private rail lines (nationalised in the late 1930s to meet
military contingencies). The only private holdings that were expropriated were those belonging to Jews. These holdings were then sold or awarded to businessmen who supported the Nazis and satisifed their ethnic and
racial policies. Military production and even film production remained in the hands of private industries whilst serving the Nazi
government, and many private companies flourished during the Nazi period. The Nazis never interfered with the profits made by
such large German firms as Krupp, Siemens
AG, and IG Farben. Efforts were made to coordinate business's
actions with the needs of the state, particularly with regard to rearmament, and the Nazis established some state owned concerns
such as Volkswagen. But these were functions of the new German expansionism
rather than an implementation of socialist measures. Germany had moved to a war
economy, and similar measures occurred in the western democracies during the first World War, and again once the second World
War had begun.
The Nazis engaged in an extensive public works program including the construction of the Autobahn system. As with the expropriation of rail lines, however, the Autobahn system was created with the
purpose of facilitating military transport, and government investment in transport systems is common in almost all nations.
Similarly, all political movements that have formed governments have used economic intervention of some form or another. The
suggestion that economic intervention is left-wing ignores the tradition of
intervention practiced by monarchies and oligarchies in Europe before the eighteenth
century, and the intervention, including protectionism, subsidies and
anti-trade union laws, practiced by right-wing parties in government in Europe and North America during the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
Since the fall of the Nazi regime, many theorists have argued that there are similarities between the government of Nazi
Germany and that of Stalin's Soviet Union. In most cases, this has not taken the form of arguing that the Nazis were socialist, but arguing
that both Nazism and Stalinism are forms of totalitarianism. This
view was advanced most famously by Hannah Arendt in The
Origins of Totalitarianism. However, most socialists argue that Stalin's system was not a truly socialist one, since it
did not meet certain requirements that they see as essential for socialism - requirements such as a functional democracy, for
example.
For more information see the article on Totalitarianism
Nazism and race
All forms of socialism focus on economic relationships as central in shaping society. In contrast, as can be seen in
Mein Kampf, the central doctrine of Nazism is racism and the struggle between peoples. Nazis see the society divided not according to social classes, but
according to races and peoples. A strict hierarchy is assumed between the races; at the top, there is the German or ("Aryan") race, then lesser races. At the bottom of this
hierarchy are "parasitic" races, especially the Jews, which are perceived to be dangerous to
society.
Primo Levi suggested another difference between socialism and Nazism: while
both had their idea of what kind of parasitic classes or races society ought to be rid of, he saw the former to determine them by
a social position (which people may change within their life), while the latter assign a place given by birth. In his view,
revolutionary communists would accept one may be born the son of a wealthy capitalist to be acceptable as a productive member of society; according to Nazis, one born a Jew is a born parasite who must be disposed of. A counterexample may be found in Maoism in China, where at times during the Cultural Revolution the relatives of a "capitalist", even generations
removed, were beaten, killed, or, at best, sent to a reeducation camp. Collective punishment
is another way of describing this phenomenon. In support of Levi's contention, however, the Chinese Communists have had some
members with "bourgeois" social origin, some of whom, such as Soong Ching-ling, achieved prominent positions in the People's Republic of
China. Similarly there were a number of prominent Bolsheviks who came from
wealthy backgrounds and were accepted in the movement despite this.
The role of the nation
The Nazi state was founded upon a racially-defined "German nation". This is a
central concept of Mein Kampf, symbolized by the motto Ein Volk,
ein Reich, ein Führer (one people, one empire, one leader).
In comparison, many socialists refute the idea of nations, which they see as artificial divisions that support the status quo and oppression: according
to them, dividing the world among nations leads to artificial oppositions between these nations, which themselves lead to wars,
which are, according to them, waged for the interest of the ruling classes and arms manufacturers.
Modern 'Nazism'
Toward the end of the 20th century, Neo-Nazi movements have arisen in a number of countries, including the United States of America and several European nations. Neo-Nazism can
include any group or organization that exhibits an ideological link to Nazism. It is frequently associated with the skinhead youth subculture. Some fringe political parties, such as the Libertarian National
Socialist Green Party, have also adopted Nazi ideas.
Factors which promoted the success of Nazism
An important question about National Socialism is that of which factors promoted its success, not only in Germany, but also in
other European countries (in the 1930s and early 1940s Nazi-type movements could be found in Sweden, Britain, Italy, Spain and
even in the US) in the twenties and thirties of the last century? These factors may have included:
- Traditional hatred of Jews
- Economic devastation all over Europe
after WWI
- Lack of orientation of many people after the breakdown of monarchy in many
European countries.
- A perception that there was a disproportionate number of Jews in the German bourgeoisie (or upper class).
- Perceived Jewish involvement in WWI of war profiteering
- Appeal of socialism or socialist rhetoric to the German working
class
- Humiliation of Germany at the Treaty of Versailles
- Rejection of Communism (particularly redistribution of wealth ) and the perception that
socialism and Communism were Jewish-inspired and Jewish -led movements; hence the Nazi use of the term
Judeo-Bolshevik.
The term Nazi in popular culture
The multiple atrocities and extremist ideology that the Nazis followed have made them notorious in popular grammar as well as
history. The term "Nazi" is used in various ways. It's often used to describe groups of people who try to force an unpopular or
extreme agenda on the general population, and also commit crimes and other violations on others without remorse.
In the context of the Western World, Nazi or fascist
is sometimes used to qualify political groups (such as the French National Front) advocating restrictive measures on immigration, or strong law enforcement
powers.
Critics of Israel have recently taken to using comparisons with the Nazis in
describing its treatment of Palestinians, particularly with regards to Israel's "security barrier" on the West Bank. Many regard
this usage to be antisemitic.
The term is also used (more humorously) to describe anyone or anything seen as strict or doctrinaire. Phrases like "Open Source Nazi" and "Feminazi" are
examples of those in common use. These uses offend many, as the controversy in the popular press over the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episode should
indicate. Those offended consider the use to be a trivialization of the Nazis, who killed millions of people.
The term is used so frequently as to inspire "Godwin's Law" which
states "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one". A
popular corollary states that when one disputant compares the other to the Nazis, meaningful discussion is over and the former
has lost the debate.
See also
Bibliography
- Haffner, Sebastian Anmerkungen zu Hitler (German)
- Hitler, Adolf Mein Kampf (German)
- Kershaw, Ian Hitler 1889 – 1936, Hubris
External links
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