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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.
They are all bad.
Stalin killed more Jews than Hitler.
Socialism is communism and Facism is just a slightly different package. All lead to the same end.
We get called right wingers here, someone hopes we will be compared to Nazis. Truth is there probably isn't a group of people anywhere more opposed to all the Nazi's stand for than Freepers.
To paraphrase the old joke: "To you he's a left winger and to me he's a left winger; but to a left winger is he a left winger?"
Anyone who sees this and denies the Nazis were leftists is either stupid or mendacious.
Adolf was impressed with the early Progressives. Especially, what they were doing in the field of eugenics.
Look into it.
Adolf would have fit in nicely with any number of the leftist organizations of today.
While you are at it look into who is anti-slavery party, who voted in favor of the ‘64 civil Right Act, who gave us the KKK, Jim Crowe, and prohibition.
The left, with the help of the lame brain media, would have us believe that up is down and down is up.
I’ve never seen those images before. Thanks for posting them.
The term “statist” helps clear the air. Draw a scale with pure state on one end and no state on the other. The question posed is:
Do individuals exist for the benefit of the state, or do states exist for the benefit of individuals.
Based on the response to that question place the political system on the line.
Clearly Nazism and Communism are statist systems. Libertarians take up a location on the far right of that line. Republican forms of government reside in the center.
Only a clueless individual would attempt to lump Nazis with libertarians.
Historically, people have been confused because Hitler and Stalin had a falling out and fought each other. The left jumps to the simplistic conclusion that they must be polar opposites. Our history books contribute to the confusion by many times neglecting to mention that Hitler and Stalin were allies at the beginning of the war. The correct viewpoint can be arrived at by pointing out that Trotsky and Stalin also had a falling out, but one would hardly confuse Trotsky with a right-winger.
Another point of confusion is that many times the hard-line left poses as anarchists; i.e., those who oppose government. Of course, this is just the story of the “pigs” in Animal Farm. They really only oppose governments where they do not exert control. Only the foolish are duped.
We can now say that the Nazis are only "right wing" in a world represented only by the Communists/Socialists on one side and Nazis on the other. But, in a real world, in this world, both Nazis and Communists are to the far Left, and standing very close together on the far Left, of American Conservatives."©Wuli
From an American Conservative perspective, where Nazis and Communists/Socialists agree is far more than where they differ, while they both differ greatly from American Conservatives.
People love to reduce complex things to a single value on a number line.
Ok. Hitler was a 97. Stalin 85. Obama 150.
Amazing! A swastika...
Wrong!!
Obama = 0!
It is well known that the vast majority of the anti-Semites in the world are either libtards or Mooselimbs. Both species of rodent are a good fit for the ideology of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
Ping
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei - National Socialist German Worker’s Party. They were pure leftists through and through, right down to the classic anti-Semitism of the left.
You're right, mawiyah.
You and I know "who controls the means of production" is meaningless compared to the mass killings that go along with each philosophy - or the systems of secret police repression and totalitarian control that both use.
Communism and fascism have so much in common with each other that for anyone to nit pick differences based on 'means of production' or 'left or right' is bizarre.
Amen RGF!
LLS
Thank you.
LLS
When I read something like the above, I know why I appreciate Freepers so much.
It IS the boot that matters.
It IS ONLY the boot that matters - all else is illusion...
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