From: thescotandscotland.wordpress.com By Libertarian Views Scotty M.
I recently covered in a short video on “Top 10 Reasons Nazi Germany Was Socialist” which is bound to spark controversy. Those who know about this subject knows that there are a lot of people who live in denial to the facts that Nazi Germany was Socialist as was Adolf Hitler. In this blog I will go into a little more detail on the ‘top 10 reasons’ to give people more information as to why the Nazis were Socialists.
So here are the following ‘Top 10 Reasons Nazi Germany Was Socialist’
10. Nazi Abbreviation.
For people with common sense that could understand this will know that the tern ‘Nazi’ was basically abbreviation for what originated in German for ‘Nationalsozialismus’ which translated to ‘National Socialism’. People tend to look at Socialism from the theoretical meaning of the word and the mistake people are making is that Socialism is not defined in black and white; we don’t define Socialism by what it is theoretically as it has never existed, rather what we define it by is what it has proven to be in practice. People’s denial of National Socialism stems from the idea that Socialism is all about internationalism, which is really just a simplification of what Socialism actually means. When we define Socialism, it simply means ‘Centralisation’, in other words the economy is ‘centralised’ into the hands of the ‘group’ or ‘state’. When we talk about Socialism it is all about THE PLAN and in order to carry out THE PLAN, it needs to be carried out by THE PLANNERS; it is the people who give empowerment to THE PLANNERS, after all there needs to be an entity to carry out the distribution and to ensure there is going to be ‘equality’.
Socialists have a hard time differentiating theory and practice, either they see it’s there and unwilling to stare at what it actually is clinging onto dreams, or they just don’t understand the importance of the difference between theory and practice. Since Socialism is all about THE PLAN, it is therefore ‘Central Planning’ which is a large part of what defines Socialism; it’s all about economic control and direction of the economy. The one who controls, conducts, governs and organises society under Socialism are THE PLANNERS which is another name for ‘the government’. In other words, Socialism is defined by government direction of the economy. We can look at this short definition of Socialism:
‘A political and economic theory of social organization which advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulatedby the community as a whole.’
Source: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/socialism
In other words, theoretically speaking it is owned or regulated by the community, but in practice as we have seen throughout recorded history, it has always been the state that has been the true ownership or regulator. The word ‘regulate’ is another word for ‘control’. The keywords there “owned or controlled”, what does that mean? Well here are 2 other important definitions of Socialism to help you understand:
‘any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods’ and ‘a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state‘
So you may ask yourself the question why I pointed this out; well the point is from the first definition you can see there, it doesn’t matter what economic or political theory that is, if it is managed, directed, controlled or owned by the state, that is Socialism. Socialism is not some black and white picture that Socialist apologists would like to have you believe; in other words, it doesn’t matter whether that is Communism, Fascism, Feudalism, Theocracy; so long as you have a government planning and determining how an economy is run, it doesn’t matter whether that is governmental ownership via nationalisation or government regulated private industry, it’s still Socialism. The Nazi government was a central planner of the economy, they dictated, governed, organised how the economy was run. This was the same Nazi government who used strong protectionist tariffs for the state to direct trade, they also heavily regulated private businesses which meant the Nazi government was in effect completely controlling the means of production.
Again, the definition of Socialism is clear as quoted: “the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated“. In other words, using heavy regulation on private industry, the Nazi government knew they didn’t need to own a fancy piece of paper with the name or entitlement of ownership on it to claim they owned the business, all the Nazi government had to do was ‘regulate’ private industry, which meant the Nazi government was the director and controller of the means of production; that’s Socialism!
So what do I mean about government regulating to direct private industry, how does that make the government the true “ownership” of the private industry? Let’s take a look at the word ‘ownership’ in the dictionary:
Control — the activity of managing or exerting controlover something; “thecontrol of the mob by the police was admirable”
Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ownership
So what can we take from this? That the word ownership closely relates to the word control. So when the government regulates (controls) private industry, it gets to decide:
- what wage your workers earn
- how many hours your workers work
- what height your workers can work at
- what machinery the workers can use
- how many workers you can employ
- how much you can produce (quantity controls)
- what you can produce
That’s merely the tip of the iceberg, the point being, just because you are a private company owner, if the state is the one dictating all of those things, you are hardly the owner of your own business, especially when government controls all of that and on top of that, the Nazi government hit the private businesses with heavy taxation which meant the Nazi government was earning more per year in the private businesses than the private business owners were.
So in a nutshell; Socialism is NOT defined in black and white like Socialist apologists would like to have you believe, you hear about the fairy tales about “workers control over the means of production” yet time and time again throughout recorded history all you ever see are Socialist economies where the government is true owner and regulator. Socialism simply means, the means of production are controlled, managed and directed by the means of the state; doesn’t matter whether you have nationalisation or private industry, so long as you have the state directing private industry via regulations, it is still Socialism.
9. Nazi Flags and Banners.
Another clear sign I chose was the red Nazi flags and banners that the Nazis had flew and marched with on May Day. Despite the red flags being a symbol of Socialism in history, Socialist apologists turn a blind eye to this, as we can see from the following sources:
“In politics, a red flag is a symbol of Socialism,Communism, and left-wing politics; it has been associated with left-wing politics since the French Revolution(1789–99).[1] Socialists adopted the symbol during the Revolutions of 1848 and it became a symbol of communism as a result of its use by the Paris Commune of 1871.”
Source 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_flag_(politics)
May Day was a widely Socialist anticapitalist celebrated day, as quoted by ‘Socialist Review’ “After a long period when the workers’ day was either assumed to be nearly dead, or institutionalised and no longer a threat to authority, it is back. Recent years have seen growing protests on 1 May, and the anti-capitalist movement in many countries has made the day its own.” You can read more about May Day from a Socialist perspective in the source below.
Source 2: http://socialistreview.org.uk/263/may-day-festival-workers
The following image you will see the Nazi’s marching under their red flags on May Day.
The evidence is clear, as quoted even by the Socialist Review “The link between May Day and the use of the red flag as a symbol for socialist workers is close, perhaps above all in France.” As Huberman and Sweezy of the ‘Monthly Review’ (two prominent Marxist thinkers) said “The attitude of both parties toward the Soviet Union grows directly out of their approach to this problem. Generally speaking, Communist parties praise the Soviet Union; Socialist parties denounce it in varying degrees. For the Communists, the Soviet Union merits the applause of all true believers in socialism because it has transformed the socialist dream into a reality; for the Socialists, the Soviet Union deserves only condemnation because it has not built socialism at all—at least not the socialism they dream of.” To quote Kevin D. Williamson’s response in his book ‘The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism’ he said “Not the socialism they dream of! That is the essence of modern socialist apologists: never mind the socialism we have, the socialism that the world has experienced—judge us by the socialism we dream of.” No truer words could have been spoken. As stated previously, theories to a Socialist matter more than practice and what a big mistake that is to make.
8. Nazi Propaganda Posters.
If the evidence of the Nazi abbreviation and Nazi flags and banners wasn’t enough evidence to prove the Nazi’s were Socialists, we have the damning clear evidence of the similarities between Nazi and Soviet Union propagandist posters, below you will find several of these sources.
Here are two posters side by side; one of Adolf Hitler doing the salute with the other Stalin doing exactly the same:
Source: http://www.studiolum.com/wang/russian/stalin60/hitler-stalin-propaganda.jpg
Here are another two posters side by side showing clearly the similarities as to how identical the Nazi and Soviet Union propaganda posters were:
Source: http://cdn.trinixy.ru/pics5/20120911/plakat_03.jpg
There are many other posters out there of the Nazi Germany and Soviet Union propagandist posters showing clear similarities which is striking for two regimes Socialist apologists like to have you believe were completely different from one another.
7. Nazi Anticapitalist Propaganda.
The most pervasive lie that is spread by Socialist apologists is the idea that Nazi Germany was a Capitalist movement because it used private ownership, or that Adolf Hitler was some sort of Individualist and supported Capitalism; of course, nothing could be further from the truth. One of the Nazi propaganda posters stated in clear bold words
“MET DUITSCHLAND TEGEN HET KAPITALISME”
which translated to:
“WITH GERMANY AGAINST CAPITALISM”
For any rational minded person who can understand the above definitions of Socialism, the marching on May Day under red flags and banners celebrating anticapitalism, as well the propaganda posters showing clear similarities, it’s simple enough for one to see that there is an agenda behind Socialist apologists and are living in denial of clear facts.
6. Nazi and Soviet Symbolism.
For me this is some of the most telling evidence of the connection between Nazi Germany and Socialism, nothing could come clearer than the identical symbolism used between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union; it was in fact the Soviet Union who used the Swastika.
Below the damning evidence of the Soviet Union Swastika as well as the 1934 Nazi Germany coin which bears the Swastika with the hammer and sickle:
Source: http://pledge-of-allegiance.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/swastika-of-soviet-socialism-russia-led.html
The hammer and sickle was always a strong symbol of Socialism which you can learn more about below:
It is not hard to see with the understanding of the hammer and sickle, where it comes from, what it symbolises, the colour red and their anticapitalist propaganda that the Nazis were strongly Socialist, even Joseph Goebbels made this very clear which you can find in his own writing below:
Those Damned Nazis
Source: http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/haken32.htm
5. Hitler Did Not Hide the Fact He Was a Collectivist.
Hitler was very clear in his words and actions that he was Collectivist, all it takes is a simple understanding of the differences between Individualism and Collectivism. Yet what is remarkable is despite clear cut definitions Socialists still live in denial to the fact he was a Collectivist. The fundamental differences between Individualism and Collectivism are very clear in what they mean; Individualism simply means that the basis of society is the individual, meaning each and every single individual of society are free and economically independent over their own finances, goals and careers; meaning they are economically independent from the state. The state under Individualism is a servant to the individuals, it is there to protect individual property rights, and is limited and largely separated from the economy. Whereas Collectivism is the opposite of Individualism; Collectivism places the state as the primary element of the economy and the purpose of the people is to serve the state.
It is very clear by definitions of what both mean and is crystal clear that Nazi Germany was a Collectivist movement, it would take the height of ignorance and insanity to deny this fact. Nazi Germany placed the state as the primary element of the economy; it was the planner, organiser, manager and controller of the economy. As mentioned from number 10 on my list under ‘Nazi Abbreviation’ I made this point clear by the definitions of Socialism. To be Individualist is to place the individuals of society as the primary element of the economy. That would mean that the people of society would be free and economically independent of their own finances and economic goals and paths. The state would NOT have the power or control over their economic life. To call Nazi Germany which was a dictatorship as an Individualist movement is a gross misrepresentation and wilfully ignorant attempt to ignore dictionary definitions. As Adolf Hitler made clear in his own words:
“Societies needs come before the individuals needs.” ~ Adolf Hitler
Where he also told his associate:
“We must find and travel the road from Individualism to Socialism without revolution.” ~ Adolf Hitler
It wasn’t so much that Adolf Hitler hated Marxism, it wasn’t Marxism he was opposed to; it were the tactics which Marxism used as a revolutionary one, Hitler believed in moving peacefully away from Individualism to Socialism.
Here you can also find an interesting article that further backs up the evidence he was a Socialist:
Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/hitler-and-the-socialist-dream-1186455.html
4. Synonym for Collectivism.
Now that we have covered the fact Hitler did not hide the fact he was a Collectivist, we can look at the synonym for Collectivism, which tells us more evidence to who the Nazi’s and Hitler were. First we’ll take a look at the synonym for Collectivism:
Synonym for Collectivism:
http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/collectivism
Not only does it list Capitalism as an Antonym for Collectivism which is more damning evidence, it clearly lists Socialism as the synonym for Collectivism and that is not the only source. The word synonym by definition means:
“a word or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word or phrase in the same language, for example shut is a synonym of close.”
In other words, Collectivism is really just another word for Socialism, but to back this evidence up we must look at the definition of Collectivism that compares to the definition of Socialism from earlier.
Collectivism:
“The principles or system of ownership and control of the means of productionand distribution by the people collectively, usually under the supervision of a government.”
What did we say was the definition of Socialism again?
Socialism:
“a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state” and “Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans andcontrols the economy.“
In other words, we can clearly see that by clear cut definitions of both Collectivismand Socialism that they both mean the same thing. That is why when you hear about ‘Collectivised farming’ or ‘Collectivised healthcare’, it’s really just the same thing, same meaning as ‘Socialised healthcare’ or ‘Socialised farming’. Don’t let Socialists fool you; another word for Collectivisation is Centralisation and Centralisation is essentially what defines Socialism.
3. Hitler’s Hate of Jews.
One of the most telling evidence of Hitler’s support of Socialism came from a quotation stating his clear dislike of Jews as Hitler said in his own words:
“If we are socialists, then we must definitely be anti-semites – and the opposite, in that case, is Materialism and Mammonism, which we seek to oppose.” “How, as a socialist, can you not be an anti-semite?”
~ Adolf Hitler
Yaron Brooke, leader of the Ayn Rand Institute (ASI) gave an interesting speech about the connections between anticapitalism and anti-Semitism, something which you may find interesting to check out yourself below.
Anti-Capitalism and Anti-Semitism with Yaron Brook
This of course was the same Adolf Hitler who made himself clear when in 1927 he said
“We are Socialists, enemies of today’s Capitalistic economic system…” ~ Adolf Hitler
and in 1930, addressed to Otto Strasser, Hitler said:
“I am a Socialist and a very different kind of Socialist from your rich friend Count Reventlow.” ~ Adolf Hitler
With so much evidence out there you may ask yourself the question why Socialists live in denial of this; one of the main reasons is that it’s feelings that drive the mind set of Socialists, they’re not particularly bad people or wish bad upon anyone, they’re just misled by feelings.
2. Hitler’s Nationalisation.
This was more telling evidence proving how anticapitalist Hitler was, what is even more remarkable is the fact that he Nationalised more things than he ever did privatise; he nationalised;
- Banks
- Radio
- Newspaper
- Automobile Industry
- Churches
- Education
- Healthcare
and so much more, but if that weren’t enough, the most bogus claim of all, the biggest myth we hear most often, is the claim that Hitler abolished the trade unions. Adolf Hitler did NOT abolish the trade unions, he simply replaced the Weimar Republic’s trade unions in 1933 with his very own trade unions known as the German Labour Front.
1. Nazi’s Hated Communists
As explained earlier, it wasn’t so much that Hitler hated the ideas of Marxism, it were the tactics he opposed. One of the biggest complaints we hear from Socialist apologists is that Hitler had the Socialists and Communists sent to concentration camps to die, little do they realise that how Joseph Stalin came to power was by through the same means; wiping out his competition to become leader of the Soviet Union. It wasn’t that Hitler opposed Socialism, it was that it was a competition between one Socialist faction to another Socialist faction.
“The [other socialists] were more honest than we were. Ours was the extreme version of pretending that the U.S.S.R. was not the fault of socialists, or even of Bolsheviks (which we wished to be). Of course it was their fault, the fault of people exactly like us, but we closed our minds to this with a web of excuses. We pretended not to be who we were, and that the U.S.S.R. was not what it was.” ~ Peter Hitchens, veteran of the Internationalist Socialists
A pretty telling quote from Peter Hitchens, which gives you an insight into the level of denial from Socialists as the same story plays out with Nazi Germany. So anyway folks, those are my ‘Top 10 Reasons Why Nazi Germany Was Socialist’.
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