[Rembrandt_fan]

It is disingenuous, I think, to claim that Hitler's national socialism and Stalin's socialism belong on the same 'leftward' side of the political spectrum. 'Left' and 'Right' appellations are a shorthand of convenience, for one thing, and misleading in this context. The nazis, although sharing the usual totalitarian disregard for human life, certainly derived nothing from either Marxist or Leninist economic models. If one is talking about American politics, then 'left' and 'right' are commonly understood to mean those domestic political parties descended from American historical tradition--political groupings literally reading from the same page; e.g., the US Constitution. Followers of Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, and Osama bin Laden (and so on) fall into another category entirely. The comparisons and associations many folks are making here are simply invalid.

[cynicom]

Invalid??? You seem to be in a very small minority here.

A vocal section of world socialism finds it embarrassing to admit that Hitler was indeed one of their brethren.

I understand why some have a problem. Among those are some that do not realize they are being used by their own.

[monday]

This might help you shed some light on what is considered left and right. The political map actually has four compass points, left, right, authoritarian, and libertarian.

Fascism is far right and authoritarian, while socialism is far left and authoritarian. What makes them similar is their reliance on the power of the state to enforce their narrow views on the rest of society.


Go here to see where you are on the political spectrum. It's a quick 30 second multiple choice quiz;

http://www.self-gov.org/quiz.html