So the official name of Hitler's party was the National Socialist German Worker's Party, right?
What did he do that was socialist, specifically? I have a feeling that I will need to cite these sort of things in the future, so I would appreciate any responses that inform on the socialist elements of Hitler's reforms.
From what I understand, he unified all private businesses to serve the state and apparently cared for the welfare of impoverished Germans, but my own research is limited.
National Socialism is different from "Democratic Socialism" because it involves a nationalist and patriotic vision, correct?
The government didn't own the means of production so it wasn't communism or Marxism
That's all that really mattered and what made it the biggest opposition to leftist communism/internationalism.
Fascism/National Socialism only ever existed as a way to oppose Jewish Communists taking over Europe.
>>73346508
socialism has two main branches (this is simplifying it, but it helps):
1. a state-run economy (stalinism, basically fascism)
2. an almost anarchist form of economy in which the "state" is a community run collection of resources for the working class
Hitler was no doubt a populist, he appealed to German workers, and his use of "socialism" in his platform was just another ploy to get the working class on his side.
Democratic socialism is just capitalism with some public services, nothing too crazy. National socialism is basically stalinism/fascism.
>>73346784
Okay! Thanks for the response!
So if Hitler's fascism was actually very similar to Stalinism, why did the Nazis seem to fair better (economically) for most of the war while the USSR struggled immensely?
>FOR THE HISTORICALLY UNEDUCATED
NatSoc had socialism in it because prior wise Bismarck was viewed as a "socialist" by the nobility of prussia (and later united Germany).
To attract voters, the party has "socialism" in the name, as the view was of the golden age of Bismarck coming back.
>>73347082
to add to that, pretty much the first people Hitler threw into the concentration camps were Communists and Socialists.
Hitler let corporations and private industry take monopoly over the economy, that is why from 30~% unemployment germany went to near 0% unemployment.
>>73347230
I see, so he wasn't exactly socialist. That explains why Germany's economy worked.
>>73347478
kek, yup
>>73347042
Germany was a refined war machine. They may have been in a slump, but they were still better off than the USSR before the war started.
Keep in mind that the USSR had incredibly high poverty rates, many of their people were starving and unemployed. They had been under fascist rule for a while and were suffering immensely. Germany hadn't truly begun their transition until much later. Hitler also keenly allowed corporations to employ as many people as possible, so he basically created a hyper-capitalist state run by the government (so ultimately, a fascist state.) Kinda complex, I feel as though that's why it flew over so many German's heads in the first place.
>>73346508
>Socialism: A political and economic theory of social organization that advocates that the means of production, distribution, and exchange should be owned or regulated by the community as a whole.
From the OED definition, Socialist is when "the community" control "the means of production". Well, what is the means of production? You. You are the means of production. Ore does not mine itself. And who is "the community"? Who can say they represent "the community"? They are the guild or government.
In Hitler's Germany, several objectives set out by the government involved controlling the means of production. In addition to maintaining control over industries the government already controlled, namely health care and pensions, the government nationalized the trade unions (German Labour Front), created courts to monitor retail practices, implemented strict licensing requirements to open stores, and so on. The government became involved in every major industry to "ensure" they were working for "the people" and used the force of law to punish those who were not.
This does not equate to the strict nationalization of many industries we see in Cuba or Venezuela today, but it does represents a very large measure of control by "the community", i.e. the central authority who claims to represent them, over the "means of production".
>>73347230
>Hitler threw into the concentration camps were Communists and Socialists
Communists yes, Socialists no.
>Hitler let corporations and private industry take monopoly over the economy
False. See the Deutsche Arbeitsfront and government control of retail markets. The government sought to control industry "for the people".
Source: Fascism and National Socialism: A Study of the Economic and Social Policies of the Totalitarian State.
>>73348517
Well, you provided a source! This was what I was originally thinking.
This is very interesting, there isn't a consensus here.
>>73347082
Yeah, this is what I suspected, that the use of the word "socialism" was mostly about branding.
