Even in the thirties, it was obvious to journalists that Hitler was a socialist, even if a “national” one.
5 thoughts on “Nothing New Under The Sun”
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Even in the thirties, it was obvious to journalists that Hitler was a socialist, even if a “national” one.
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One of the items sounds very familiar:
5. His contempt for the intelligence of the ordinary man and for a democracy based on faith in his development to higher levels.
I hear that a lot, mostly from the left but some from the right.
Yes, but he attracted support of the wealthy and the business community, not because he was one of them, but because of his promise (that he kept) of outlawing the unions. So the Babbitry voted for him on the basis of the country needing a “strong leader” but not otherwise looking too closely at what direction that leadership would go.
Once he got into office and “crammed down his agenda”, I think it was fair to say that many of the wealthy and business people realized that they had gotten someone and something they hadn’t bargained for, and the union thing was only the beginning.
I also think it is fair to say that he “kept all of his campaign promises”, that is, if you read up on them.
I understand the ‘national’ thing you wrote Rand, but wouldn’t ‘national’ go with all socialists? I mean they’ve gotta go national before they can go global, don’t they?
I’ve never understood the idiot (Leftist, Liberal, MSM) notion that Hitler and the Nazis were Jack Booted RIGHT WING thugs. There’s hardly much difference in the Communist Theory and Socialist Theory, except for who owns the companies and the real estate.
Socialists at the time were generally “international” socialists who viewed national borders as artificial constructs to keep the ruling elites in power. There were strong intellectual arguments in the far left from around 1890 onward arguing that Marx’s vision of class revolution was flawed, since the revolution hadn’t come and the proletariat was still willing to fight for king and country. Given this, some of the leading socialist thinkers concluded that international socialism would fail to motivate the masses, and based on history what people will follow is a strong leader wrapped in a national mythology.
In essence, the thinkers had already written on what a socialist needed to do to seize and hold power. Hitler and Mussolini took the advice to heart. Early on this made them sharp political enemies of the international socialists. To a true believer, a schism or heresy is a far worse than a non-believer. Protestants and Catholics used to relish slitting each other’s throats and would get red-faced denouncing the slightest deviations from their established doctrines, yet didn’t give a second thought to the almost alien beliefs of Hindus, Muslims, or Buddhists. That’s why communism is an exercise in purges of any leader suspected of deviance.
The no borders OWS crowd seems content to push for socialism in all countries at the same time. While they don’t want countries or borders they do want an overarching organization to boss everyone around.