[Maru]

Originally Posted by Toy Soldier

Hitler supported BABY MURDER just like the LEFTIES!!!

Oh my... whoever wrote that quoted article needs a massage. It's not exactly balanced, is it...

@Bold I don't see that quote.

I don't find the situation that difficult to understand really. Hitler used "socialism" (or more accurately, populism with agenda) to gain mass support from a dejected population in the wake of WW1, and used that support to begin a quest for right-of-center global fascism in WW2. I guess people forget (or don't want to remember) that Hitler was able to conquer most of Europe because he had the support of normal German people in doing so. Not "Nazis", not monsters, just the average German man and woman. So, if you understand that he had to gain that before switching to his true agenda, it's not difficult to see why he had so many socialist policies during that rise.

Also, much of his nationalisation was more linked to authoritarianism than leftism. Had far more to do with gaining state control of infrastructure and workforce (quite handy to have when waging a massive war) than it did genuine economic leftism.

We know nationalism is linked to authoritarianism, but as you say, he enacted left-leaning policy to keep the public happy. So, while he himself is far-right, the enablers of his platform were more left-leaning, probably far left-leaning (I mean how much privilege would be needed to get you to support so much atrocity?...)..

That's where I think the left-right schema sort of leaves us to wander alone, because you can't say the movement is entirely right-leaning when you need left-leaning policies/agenda to hold it all together (to essentially keep support)...


I don't know how these things play out in the UK, but in the US, most young people wouldn't know what socialism is, even when they support it. If you ask them what it means. Most would know what a Nazi is, and they would only associate it to the far right because of the media... so they don't maybe understand enough to know how two very different platforms could lead to essentially the same thing.