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Were the Nazis left-wing or right-wing
A Whig Manifesto Blog ^ | Oct. 27, 2011 | Chuck Morse

Posted on 10/27/2011 10:51:11 AM PDT by Chuckmorse

My co-host, liberalcommentator Dr. Patrick O’ Heffernan, raised this salient question during ourradio program The Fairness Doctrine. On October 26, we interviewed JoshuaRubenstein, the author of “Leon Trotsky-A Revolutionary Life.” Mr. Rubenstein mentionedwhat has become received wisdom which was that Stalin and the German Communistparty had helped to elect Hitler in 1933. I responded with the observation thatthe communists were probably motivated in their support for the Nazis by aninterest in turning Germany in a leftward political direction.

Rubenstein responded toPatrick’s follow-up question, in a condescending tone, that of course the Naziswere right-wing and that one should not be fooled by the word “Socialist” whichis part of the name of the National Socialist Nazi Party. Rubenstein based hisclaim that Nazism was right-wing on the claims that the Nazis were nationalistsand anti-Semites with the implication that these two principles should beconsidered as right-wing. This serious assertion, which constitutes conventionalthinking on the left, deserves a response.

Firstly, the right advocates,as I pointed out to Rubenstein, limited government and Hitler was not exactlyan advocate of limited government. The right understanding of nationalisminvolves an overall love of one’s home country whether that country is theUnited States, Canada, Mexico etc. The left understanding of nationalism, onthe other hand, involves a love of the State. In this sense the left ishyper-nationalist as opposed to the more conservative nationalism. The leftviews the State as a redemptive force that should be empowered to changesociety and to literally change human nature through programs thatre-distribute wealth from the private earner and through bureaucracies made upof “enlightened” experts who would use the force of law to inveigh themselvesinto all matters of the private lives of the citizen.

This, obviously, describesNazism to a tee. This also clarifies why the Nazis were “right-wing” in thatthey were to the right of the Communists who sought total control by the Stateover all aspects of human life in their quest to establish a world ant colony,what they called a “collective.” The Nazis supported State Socialism, a highdegree of public ownership within a super state. The Communists supported WorldSocialism, what they euphemistically referred to as Internationalism, andoutright total ownership of all property and business. This is why Communism isto the left of Nazism and Nazism is to the right of Communism. Both ideologiesand both systems are, obviously, to the left of the American system ofindividual rights and private ownership.

The second piece of evidencepresented by Josh Rubenstein in his assertion that Nazism is right-wing, thatNazism is anti-Semitic is more complex. It should be noted that there are anti-Semitesand racists on both the left and the right and in this regard the left ishardly pure. As a matter of philosophy, the right rejects anti-Semitism andracism as these tendencies represent “barnyard socialism” as was noted byconservative philosopher Ayn Rand. Indeed anti-Semitism and racism assigncollective characteristics to groups of people based upon their ancestry andthis idea runs contrary to the core conservative tenet which is respect for theinherent rights of the individual. Judaism and Christianity, when viewed asphilosophies, also reject racism as the Judeo-Christian understanding is thateach and every individual is uniquely created in the image of God and shouldnot be in any way viewed as part of any group. This view explains in part why bothNazism and Communism were anti-Jewish and anti-Christian.

Furthermore, it should benoted, the father of Communism, Karl Marx, was a vicious anti-Semite who referredto Jews in his 1843 book “On the Jewish Question” as “self-interested hucksterswho should be annihilated. Marx also profoundly influenced Hitler how creditshim with providing the foundation of his political education in his autobiographyMein Kampf.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bob152; communism; nazi; nazism; politics; socialism
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1 posted on 10/27/2011 10:51:15 AM PDT by Chuckmorse
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To: Chuckmorse
nazi=NATIONAL SOCIALIST

To ask the question is ignorance personified.

LLS

2 posted on 10/27/2011 10:57:10 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ("Americans are hungry to feel once again a sense of mission and greatness." Ronaldo Magnus)
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To: Chuckmorse
Here in America the National Socialist Democrat Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Democrat Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated NSDAP or simply “the Nazi Party”, or even more simply “the Democrats”) use strongarm tactics to remove Christianity from public view, populate the universities and newsrooms to rewrite history and propagandize the daily news, attack traditional cultural institutions like marriage, the nuclear family, and even the Boy Scouts, and personally destroy scientists and professors who do not toe the line with regard to Democrat Party doctrine on abortion, embryonic stem cells, the environment, and “global warming”.

Naturally, imposing rationed state-controlled health care on the masses, threatening to suppress opposing opinion and free speech through a “fairness doctrine”, and using quasi-terrorist tactics to stonewall any attempt to roll back socialism (for example, legislators in Wisconsin fleeing the state with a clap on the back from Fuhrer Ubama in order to prevent a vote on pending legislation) perfectly fits the modus operandi of America's own 21st century Nazi party.

In other words, America’s Democrats are operating in EXACTLY the same way the original version of their party operated in Germany during the 1930s.


3 posted on 10/27/2011 10:57:35 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: Chuckmorse

They were evil control freak totalitarians - just like the communists. That’s ALL that matters.


4 posted on 10/27/2011 10:58:08 AM PDT by GOPJ ( Democrats are the only reason to vote for Republicans.... Will Rogers)
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To: Chuckmorse
Perhaps this 1920 letter of Lenin will help. It identifies right wing socialists.

Lenin 1920 letter defining right wing socialists

5 posted on 10/27/2011 10:59:29 AM PDT by rustbucket
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To: Chuckmorse
We are quite sophisticated around here at FR. Obviously everything we don't like is leftwing and everything we like is rightwing.

Justin Bieber, for example, is leftwing.

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are rightwing.

6 posted on 10/27/2011 11:00:36 AM PDT by who_would_fardels_bear
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To: Chuckmorse
The way I explained it to my kids was the following: the communists and the Nazis were more similar than different. For the commies, their foundation was class demonization and warfare; for the Nazis it was ethnic warfare and demonization of others (Jews, Slavs, etc.). Nationalism (hence "National Socialism") versus classism.

But BOTH were from the left.

7 posted on 10/27/2011 11:02:21 AM PDT by Pharmboy (Democrats lie because they must...)
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To: LibLieSlayer

nazi=NATIONAL SOCIALIST
To ask the question is ignorance personified.

LLS

ME: that’s cause libs like to redefine even obvious terms, to fit their worldview....


8 posted on 10/27/2011 11:02:47 AM PDT by raygunfan
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To: Chuckmorse

“Rubenstein based hisclaim that Nazism was right-wing on the claims that the Nazis were nationalistsand anti-Semites with the implication that these two principles should beconsidered as right-wing.”

The Communists of the Soviet Union were nationalists and anti-Semites (in the latter case, more hostile to the religion than the ethnicity). Does that make them right wing?


9 posted on 10/27/2011 11:03:49 AM PDT by rightwingcrazy
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To: Chuckmorse

The NAZIs had no room for “wings.” They ran the whole show and brooked no opposition.


10 posted on 10/27/2011 11:04:09 AM PDT by YHAOS (you betcha!)
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To: LibLieSlayer

exactly.


11 posted on 10/27/2011 11:04:51 AM PDT by GOP Poet (Obama is an OLYMPIC failure.)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

—Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are rightwing.—

You are ignoring important nuances. Chunky is rightwing. Creamy is leftwing.


12 posted on 10/27/2011 11:05:44 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Chuckmorse
NAZI.

or NSDAP.

Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei.

Translated: National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Any other questions?

13 posted on 10/27/2011 11:06:04 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Attacking Wall Street because you're jobless is like burning down Whole Foods because you're hungry.)
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To: Chuckmorse

Good analysis.

Its always interesting to see how most people today claim Nazi = right wing. I guess words mean whatever people want them to mean anymore.

As to the anti Semitic aspect of National Socialism, I think that’s basically orthagonal to the whole issue.

To the extent that it’s racist, racism knows no political ideology.


14 posted on 10/27/2011 11:06:04 AM PDT by Pessimist
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To: Chuckmorse
Communists seek to own the means of production.

Fascists seek to control the means of production.

That is the only difference between these two totalitarian political systems. They are as different as chalk ... and chalk.

To illustrate the identity between these two flavors of totalitarianism: here are images of two 1917 Bolshevik notes: a 250 rouble note and a 1000 rouble note. Can anybody spot the symbol in the center of each one? (hint: look behind the double eagle?)


15 posted on 10/27/2011 11:07:20 AM PDT by agere_contra ("Debt is the foundation of destruction" : Sarah Palin.)
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To: Chuckmorse

The whole who was left and who was right question is commonly asked on liberal message boards. It’s because they are so startlingly ignorant of history and the shifting meanings of words. When arguing on such sites, my first post usually includes a Who lyric: “The party on the left is now the party on the right.”

I then build from there to expose the lunacy of the question.


16 posted on 10/27/2011 11:08:00 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: who_would_fardels_bear

“Obviously everything we don’t like is leftwing and everything we like is rightwing.”

LOL! Yeah, that’s pretty true!


17 posted on 10/27/2011 11:09:08 AM PDT by Pessimist
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To: cuban leaf

“You are ignoring important nuances. Chunky is rightwing. Creamy is leftwing.”

And getting them mixed together in the same jar is pure Anarchy!


18 posted on 10/27/2011 11:11:03 AM PDT by Pessimist
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To: agere_contra

—They are as different as chalk ... and chalk. —

That’s bs. They are as different as grey and gray.

:-D


19 posted on 10/27/2011 11:11:03 AM PDT by cuban leaf (Were doomed! Details at eleven.)
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To: Chuckmorse

HITLER WAS A SOCIALIST

http://ray-dox.blogspot.com/2006/08/this-article-is-published-on-internet.html


20 posted on 10/27/2011 11:12:44 AM PDT by ventanax5
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