Hitler and socialism

A lunatic Chaplin imitator and his greatest fans Nazism

First as tragedy

Otto Rahn Rudolf Hess A. K. Chesterton Nazi Germany Aryan Circle Sebastian Gorka

Then as farce

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“”First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Socialist.

—The very first line from Martin Niemöller's poem.

An entirely Americentric argument, spurred on by certain batty ideologues and infamous websites, claims that Adolf Hitler was not the far-right, anti-communist nationalist that everyone else remembers him to be, but rather an egalitarian socialist. Much like the Discovery Institute and their assault on the theory of evolution, this attempts to evoke the association fallacy on anyone who practices left-wing politics and, by that standard, anyone who slightly leans to the left is an adherent of fascism - Dinesh D'Souza, for instance, loves to peddle this trope. That we even need to write this should tell you something about these people, but why not take a hack at it? While the Nazis did oppose capitalism as an "international" ideology out to destroy the German nation, Hitler was not opposed to private enterprise within a national "sandbox". Furthermore, to get to power, he allied with people whose economic views were much more pro-business, distancing himself from alte kaempfer like Gottfried Feder and bringing people such as Hjalmar Schacht into his circle.

Origin of the National Socialist label

The conservative revolution and their "socialism"

Conservative revolution leader Edgar Jung (c.1925) and his brainfarts about socialism are one of the causes for the whole "Nazi are Socialist" commotion.

“”Other contributors to the mood of conservative revolution were Oswald Spengler and Moeller van den Bruck. Spengler contributed cultural pessimism and the idea of Prussian socialism. Prussia, with its highly developed ethos of service to the state and the common good, represented a higher form of socialism than the class socialism of Marx. Moeller van den Bruck also proclaimed socialism, specifically German synthesis of Western individualism and Eastern collectivism. The new society was to be realised in the mystical Third Reich, a revived medieval term. [...] The socialism of Moeller van den Bruck and Spengler was an aspiration for national solidarity rather than a plan for concrete action.

—E.J. Feuchtwanger, 1993

The whole "German right-wing socialism" shenanigans - and how it led to Nazis becoming National Socialists - began with the German interwar-period Conservative Revolution movement. The Nazi Party/it's predecessor group were not ipso facto part of this movement, even though their ideas gave them their means for ascension.

Emerging following the German defeat during World War I, the conservative revolution consisted of various factions of various beliefs; being generally unified in opposing traditional Wilhelmine era Christian conservatism, egalitarianism, liberalism, democracy, the bourgeoisie and modernity. Otherwise they all had their own ideas and issues they agreed or disagreed on, creating a conundrum dubbed the "conservative dilemma".

Still, one of the the overlapping issues / the few things they agreed on, was the dejection of "Marxist socialism", to which they had not yet made the distinction between socialism (i.e. social democracy and/or democratic socialism) and communism (as championed by Lenin and the Bolsheviks). Their solution to combating it, was to craft a new form of socialism, being referred to as either "front-line socialism", "Prussian socialism" or "socialism of the blood".

Thing is though, by the the early-to-mid 19th-century (i.e. not post-WW1 Germany), the word socialism actually began to mean something. Originating from Henri de Saint-Simon and his Saint-Simonians movement, the word socialism started to catch on with the working-/industrial-class, even though they used to describe various things; from generic opposition against laissez-faire capitalism to the systematic communism of classical Marxism and anything in between. At the time, even Marxism, despite Karl Marx's book being the Communist Manifesto, was primarily referred to as socialism or social democratic, since "communism" at the time was primarily associated with militancy in France and Germany. By the last third of the 19th century, democratic socialist parties started to get foothold in politics. With it being 1899 when the Australian Labor Party become the first socialist party to get elected to form a government in the Colony of Queensland, even though it lasted merely a week. By turn of the 20th century, the term socialism had been established as an umbrella term for "anyone who believed labour was cheated out of its natural product under historical capitalism."

Regardless, the Weimar Republic Conservative Revolutionaries defied such descriptor, refusing to be guided by the "sterile resentment of the class struggle". As György Lukács puts it, to the German conservatives, and in particular to their Lebensphilosophie-influenced ideologues; "the more that the new enemy, socialism, became the focal point of their polemics, the more the irrationalists were faced with a problem of whose true content they understood nothing and, for the most part, did not care to understand anything."

Their plan was to abolish the categorization of left and right politics, with their ideal governance being that, where "Volksgemeinschaft" (national community / social cohesion) was achieved by type of socialism that invoked "Frontgemeinschaft", sort of front-line camaraderie of German soldiers during the First World War. How they planned to achieved this, was to twist the narrative of "revolution", regarding the German revolution of 1918–1919, and instead, apply it to the Spirit of 1914. Thus the conservative revolution movement framed the 1918 November Revolution, which led to the foundation of the Weimar Republic, as a betrayal of "the true revolution".

The one thing the Conservative Revolution movement agreed on with socialism, was reining in the bourgeoisie and the capitalist class... but it comes with a catch. Edgar Jung, one of the movement's ideologues, argued that business should remain in private while "greed of capital" should be subjugated, in a society based on common interests should be created by workers and employers. An another factor for the ​​dissatisfaction with capitalism was war profiteering and the inflation in caused. The movement also tried to play "centrist", in playing up to middle-class fears that ruling capitalist and the civil unrest of the working class, would get them engulfed in destruction of civil society.

Regardless, the conservative revolution is very capitalist by intent, with them having planned to emulate British- and French imperialism. As at least outlined by Spengler, the movement opposed labor strikes, trade unions, progressive taxation (or taxes on the rich), short working days, and any form of sickness, old age, accident, or unemployment insurance. They championed ideas of private property, competition, imperialism, capital accumulation, the wealth collected in few hands (and among the ruling classes) and the creative value of the entrepreneur. While the lower-classes were to "work a whole lot, for the absolute minimum" and to "be happy about it."

While they rejected Marx and his beliefs, the Conservative Revolution still appropriated Marxist language in their writings. As the movement was strongly guided by philosophies of Lebensphilosophie (aka German Vitalism) and Irrationalism, they opeted to see things in terms of historical determinism. Edgar Jung for one, deemed it was "inevitable", that conservatism will overtake the liberal era of Weimar Republic, mirroring Karl Marx's sentiments. While Oswald Spengler, in his "The Decline of the West", saw the "decline" as inevitable doom and life being meaningless, again mirroring Marx's idea of "the coming of paradise on earth".

Additionally, at the time, National Bolshevism also began taking shape, being championed by Ernst Niekisch. National Bolshevism is seen as "little sister" to the Conservative Revolution, with Nazbols described as the "left-wing-people of the right".

Oswald Spengler's "Prussianism and Socialism"

One of the key ideologies of the Conservative Revolution was Oswald Spengler, particularly thanks to his 1918 book The Decline of the West, which became a best-seller following Germany's defeat during World War I. Another notable work of Spengler's was his 1919 book, Prussianism and Socialism, which not only had noted impact on Conservative Revolution's understanding of socialism, the title of the book also presumably gave Nazis their name. In Prussianism and Socialism, Spengler openly opposes Marxism and class conflict as well as supports corporatism:

“”English society is founded on the distinction between rich and poor, Prussian society on the distinction between command and obedience...Democracy in England means the possibility for everyone to become rich, in Prussia the possibility of attaining to every existing rank.

—H. Stuart Hughes. Oswald Spengler. New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA: Transaction Publishers, 1992. Pp. 108.

“”In general, it is a question not of nominal possession but of the technique of administration. For a slogan’s sake to buy up enterprises immoderately and purposelessly and to turn them over to public administration in the place of the initiative and responsibility of their owners, who must eventually lose all power of supervision—that means the destruction of socialism. The old Prussian idea was to bring under legislative control the formal structure of the whole national productive force, at the same time carefully preserving the right of property and inheritance, and leaving scope for the kind of personal enterprise, talent, energy, and intellect displayed by an experienced chess player, playing within the rules of the game and enjoying that sort of freedom which the very sway of the rule affords….Socialization means the slow transformation—taking centuries to complete—of the worker into an economic functionary, and the employer into a responsible supervisory official.

— H. Stuart Hughes. Oswald Spengler. New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA: Transaction Publishers, 1992. Pp. 109.

Spengler viewed Marxism as a foreign encroachment of the French and British and insisted on his form of socialism with German characteristics:

“”Prussiandom and socialism stand together against the inner England, against the world-view that infuses our entire life as a people, crippling it and stealing its soul…The working class must liberate itself from the illusions of Marxism. Marx is dead. As a form of existence, socialism is just beginning, but the socialism of the German proletariat is at an end. For the worker, there is only Prussian socialism or nothing... For conservatives, there is only conscious socialism or destruction. But we need liberation from the forms of Anglo-French democracy. We have our own.

—Heinrich August Winkler, Alexander Sager. Germany: The Long Road West. English edition. Oxford, England, UK: Oxford University Press, 2006. Pp. 414.

György Lukács compared Spengler to Nietzsche, and how the two viewed socialism. That; "[Nietzsche] had made a direct, frontal assault on socialism - of which he knew little. Of course it cannot be claimed that Spengler was any better acquainted with socialist literature, but his mode of attack was different, a dodging of the issue and a demagogic ruse: socialism, he conceded, would triumph - but the 'genuine article ' was Prussianism."

But what about the German Workers Party!?

You might be thinking; "Before they were National Socialists, they were the German Workers Party (DAP). It has workers on its name, so surely it's leftist?" Well, you'd be half-right. As the German Workers Party was a fusion of two political parties; the Political Workers' Circle (run by Karl Harrer) and Free Workers' Committee for a Good Peace (run by Anton Drexler, who was later designated the chairman of DAP). Of the two, the Political Workers' Circle was a "syncretic" political party that tried to mix German nationalism and Socialism (with good dose of antisemitism).

However, regarding the German Workers Party/DAP (i.e. when Hitler became aboard), that no longer applied, as Drexler was appointed the Chairman and was thusly running the show. The DAP was mainly guided by an antisemitism-fuelled ideology of Pan-Germanism and Völkisch nationalism. And even though they were anti-capitalist, they were even more anti-Marx. And unless you pull Spengler's "Prussian Socialism card", you can't exactly be anti-Marxist and a socialist at the same time, especially since prior to the Bolshevik Revolution (when Lenin introduced the communism brand), Marx's politics were universally known as socialism and/or Marxism. The 1919 DAP program was explicitly outlined as nationalistic, Anti-Semitic and anti-Marxist. Besides the “right-wing socialism” spearheaded by the Conservative Revolution, another reason to adopt socialist as a marketing gimmick, to reach a wider voter base. To their credit, unlike the Conservative Revolution, Nazis actually managed to make it work.

All in all, the DAP was a textbook case of a far-right political party that evolved into the best known example of far-right political party. Who would have thought? In February 1920, the German Workers Party, the predecessor of Nazi Party, change their name to match this definition of socialism, as put forward by the conservative revolution and Oswald Spengler.

The Nazis are everywhere, Glenn!

“”It this historic hour, we German Social Democrats pledge ourselves to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and socialism. No Enabling Act can give you the power to destroy ideas which are eternal and indestructible ... You can take our lives and our freedom, but you cannot take our honour. We are defenseless but not honourless.

—Otto Wels, the final head of the pre-war German social democrats

For this argument to be even close to being solvent (fans of Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, we're looking at you), large chunks of history need to be thrown out the window:

1. The 96-member Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) was Hitler's main opposition in the Reichstag and the only political party that attempted to halt the laws that established him as a dictator and brought down the Weimar Republic. In fact, all of the ideological predecessors of today's conservative and classically liberal parties voted unanimously for the law. In contrast, the SPD voted unanimously against despite the presence of SA guards in the building.
2. The first political groups targeted during the Nazi ascendancy were pacifists, trade unionists, and communists.
3. That Strasserism, the only strand of Nazism that could be referred to as "left-wing" (i.e., pro-working class in nature), were all killed off (with a handful of conservative dissidents) in what we all know as the Night of the Long Knives, so Hitler could win support from the conservative industrialists and military generals. About the only genuine socialists within the Nazi Party include the likes of Gregor and Otto Strasser, for example. And even then, the Strasserists weren't actually very socialist either.

We're waiting.

Hitler on the topic of left-wing politics

Socialist politician Bernhard Kuhnt clearly being cordial with the Nazis in 1933

Hitler was not a political theorist akin to Lenin, Stalin, Trotsky, Che, Mao, or any other of the members of the Marxist pantheon. In fact, the clearest point he makes in Mein Kampf is that he found the topics of political economy and class boring and mundane, lacking any merit for deep thought (mostly because he was absolutely clueless about the topic). Instead, Hitler's fundamental belief was this:

• Germany = good
• Jews = Bolsheviks = bad

Hitler believed that Germany could have won World War I if the Socialist Second International (all of whom had pretty Jewish last names – of course, almost any German surname can be Jewish) had not conspired with the Bolsheviks, "hijacked" the government, and "forced" the German surrender. This piece of Nazi pseudohistory is known as the stab-in-the-back legend.

Hitler said that everything ever touched by Jews, especially their evil new "religion" of Bolshevism, was a vast conspiracy... with international capitalism. However, he also said that the notably Christian "Bismarckian Socialism" was not just un-Jewish; it was wholly German and had been a highlight of their cultural and imperial epoch. Ergo, he decided to create a new reactionary populist political trend from a century before. The fact he chose to add the word "socialist" to the party name (National Socialist German Workers' Party) was as relevant to his true thinking as would be tying the word "rational" to Stalin or "Democratic People's Republic" to China or North Korea — a fig-leaf to sucker the hoi polloi vote. And even then, after becoming Chancellor in 1933, Hitler voiced regret in ever writing Mein Kampf, which he dismissed as "fantasy behind bars", so keep that in mind whenever moonbats use cherry-picked passages from the book as "proof" that Hitler was a socialist.

Socialists on Hitler

Not only did Hitler make clear he wanted to eradicate the Bolsheviks and any elements of communism on the planet, every type of leftie on earth, from the Soviets to the British Labour Party to George Orwell, saw the Nazis as bad news. Nonetheless, because Stalin wanted to consolidate power in the government, he adopted the all-or-nothing "social fascist" policy. As a result, across Europe and Asia, the German Communist Party spent more time demonizing moderate dissidents as fascists (sound familiar?) rather than the actual Nazis who were keen to murder them all as soon as humanly possible. Trotsky, of course, called this point. Still, like almost everybody else in the 1920s, he thought of Hitler more as a cranky tool of German business interests than a genuinely sociopathic authoritarian that could manage to get enough political support. It was only into the tumultuous 1930s and later the liberation of the extermination camps in Eastern Europe that the Allies realized who they had really been up against.

After Hitler banned the SPD, they worked against him in exile (as Sopade) and wrote the "Prague Manifesto", which called for the overthrow of Hitler. Yep, sounds like they got along just fine.

See also

• Equivocation
• Fascism and the political spectrum
• Horseshoe theory
• Lying by omission
• Nazi analogies
• Psychological projection
• Red-baiting
• Social Darwinism
• Third positionism
• The Pink Swastika

External links

• Was Hitler a socialist? on YouTube

References

• Woods, Roger (1996). The Conservative Revolution in the Weimar Republic. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-333-65014-X. 
• Bar-On, Tamir (2011). Backes, Uwe; Moreau, Patrick. eds. Intellectual Right - Wing Extremism – Alain de Benoist's Mazeway Resynthesis since 2000 (1 ed.). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. pp. 333–358. doi:10.13109/9783666369223.333. ISBN 9783525369227.