By socialism, I mean, and assume that you mean, an economic and political theory advocating collective or government ownership of the means of production.
People whose idea of politics is bipolar, left vs. right, greatly oversimplify National Socialism and Fascism, but it does not fit neatly into left or right.
In the 19th century, as democracy became more universal, and as working class people began to agitate for more autonomy in the workplace, communism and socialism became popular ideas. This was especially true among the residents of autocratic regimes, who turned to even more extreme political theories, e.g., anarchism. Fascism was a reaction to communism and socialism. It was perceived as a third way between capitalism and communism/socialism.
In the early 19th century, socialism was an upper-class movement. By mid-century, it had become popular with the working class. Karl Marx believed that capitalist societies would inevitably transform themselves into socialist societies. He believed in socialism "from below." In Victorian England, the plight of the working class was dire. England has always had a strong class system, but it was far worse in the 19th century. Karl Marx lived in London, and was horrified by the living conditions of the poor.
Marx was opposed to laissez faire capitalism because poor people who worked in factories and mines worked in dangerous, dirty conditions for very low wages, while the factory owners lived in luxury. Thomas Hobbes, a 17th century British man who believed in absolute monarchy, stated that the lives of the working class were "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." After the Industrial Revolution, it got worse. If you and I had worked in textile mills in 19th century England, we might have become Socialists, too. Capitalism was a bad word to those people.
In Germany, the Social Democratic Party (SDP), a truly Socialist political party, was established in 1875, based on the ideas of Karl Marx. At first a minority party, Socialists got their chance after the end of WWI. The Germans abolished the aristocracy, and established a democratic government. Elections to the Reichstag were based, not on regions, but on political parties. The SDP became the largest and most popular party in Germany during the Weimar era.
However, during the Great Depression, the Weimar government became discredited, and the masses started agitating for communism. There was rioting in the streets. Communists succeeded briefly in taking over some cities in Germany. Socialism became discredited, too. The German people who were not Socialists or Communists turned to the National Socialists (NSDAP) as an alternative. The SDP ceased being the most popular party in 1932, when the NSDAP won a majority of seats in the Reichstag.
"National Socialism" is a misnomer. Hitler was not a great thinker. His concept of socialism meant betterment of the plight of the working man, but he was an elitist. He wanted to tell the owners of private property how to run their businesses, but when he was talking to capitalists, he did not advocate government ownership of private property, just government ownership of large department stores and the like, which traditionally were owned by Jews. He gave different speeches to different groups of people, promising whatever they wanted, in order to get their votes.
Hitler believed that the "International Jew" was responsible for most of the ills of mankind, and was virulently opposed to communism and Marxist socialism, which he believed were Jewish movements. He felt the same way about pacifism, internationalism, Esperanto, nudism, democracy, parliamentarianism, liberalism and international capitalism. All were plots of the "International Jew" to undermine the Fatherland.
Although Hitler advocated nationalizing businesses prior to taking power, in reality the only businesses which were taken over when the Nazis came to power belonged to Jews, and they were not run by the state, they were given to powerful Nazis. No, and I cannot emphasize this strongly enough, no businesses were taken over except those which belonged to "enemies of the Reich."
As I stated previously, after Hitler became dictator, all Communists and Socialists were rounded up and killed, or put into concentration camps, or fled to other countries. He did that before he went after the Jews. He also abolished labor unions. There were no strikes after 1933.
German capitalism remained essentially untouched, German banks remained essentially untouched.
Hitler demanded, and got, unquestioning obedience to his orders - - but that is not socialism. Yes, it is a collectivist form of government. But if you lump all collectivist governments together, I think you are oversimplifying. Governments where one man controls the means of production are not the same as governments where the means of production are controlled by committees.
Hitler was, above all, an opportunist. |
