Well, I agree that some people could be Communists or Nazis through naivete, but only under limited circumstances. There was a German financier who supported the Nazis until about 1935, when he realized the virulence of their anti- semitism, and their ultimately anti- Christian stance, and broke with them. He was harassed out of the country, and ended his life denouncing Hitler in America. He had shrugged off the uglier aspects of Nazism as inessential, supposing it was mainly a populist, nationalist movement that would reinvigorate Germany. I would say that as a grown man, he had something to answer for, though he suffered and tried to repair the damage. Similarly, there were American Communists who were seduced by the Popular Front, and saw Communism mainly as a progressive party, rather than a revolutionary movement under foreign direction, and ruthless in its tactics. Most of them broke with the Party over the Hitler- Stalin Pact, fortunately.
However, anyone with deep acquaintance with the doctrinal core should be judged harshly. Real Nazis knew that racialism was of the essence, and even if the party had not yet taken an exterminationist route, they knew that Jews were subject to horrible beatings and despoliation, even if they were Christian, so long as they had a grandparent who had been Jewish. No decent person would condone such treatment without a far higher standard of proof than could be provided of Jewish "verminousness". Similarly, an educated Communist knew that the "dehumanization" of the bourgeoisie was of the essence, and before committing to ruining people's lives, and perhaps shooting them, one should have a greater proof that Marxism was sound, and that "social democracy" required revolution. Thus, the credulity which yielded easily to such malicious doctrines is blameworthy....... |
