waybread
Well-known member
Dirius, you are making some common errors.
On "socialism" in the name of Hitler's Naitonal Socialist Party, read:
https://www.vox.com/2019/3/27/18283879/nazism-socialism-hitler-gop-brooks-gohmert
"Socialism" was a common word in German political parties in his day. Hitler himself opposed trade unions and communism. He wrote:
“Fascism offers us a model that we can absolutely replicate! As it is in the case of Fascism, the entrepreneurs and the workers of our National Socialist state sit side by side, equal in rights, the state strongly intervenes in the case of conflict to impose its decision and end economic disputes that put the life of the nation in danger.”
What Hitler offered was a cult of personality that positioned himself as the invincible Leader, a way out of the Depression and rampant inflation, and a belief in German superiority as an antidote to defeat in WW I and the humilation of the Treaty of Versailles.
It's hard to explain Germany's war against Stalin's Russia if Germany were somehow a political comrade.
Right-wing dictators do attract their followers, do they not? Never mind the body count. Cf. Franco in Spain. As well as left-wing dictators (Cf. Ho Chi Minh.) It becomes part of a national mythology. Really, it's just an ancient longing for a Strong Man form of governance.
Unfortunately, as Lord Acton noted, "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."
On "socialism" in the name of Hitler's Naitonal Socialist Party, read:
https://www.vox.com/2019/3/27/18283879/nazism-socialism-hitler-gop-brooks-gohmert
"Socialism" was a common word in German political parties in his day. Hitler himself opposed trade unions and communism. He wrote:
“Fascism offers us a model that we can absolutely replicate! As it is in the case of Fascism, the entrepreneurs and the workers of our National Socialist state sit side by side, equal in rights, the state strongly intervenes in the case of conflict to impose its decision and end economic disputes that put the life of the nation in danger.”
What Hitler offered was a cult of personality that positioned himself as the invincible Leader, a way out of the Depression and rampant inflation, and a belief in German superiority as an antidote to defeat in WW I and the humilation of the Treaty of Versailles.
It's hard to explain Germany's war against Stalin's Russia if Germany were somehow a political comrade.
Right-wing dictators do attract their followers, do they not? Never mind the body count. Cf. Franco in Spain. As well as left-wing dictators (Cf. Ho Chi Minh.) It becomes part of a national mythology. Really, it's just an ancient longing for a Strong Man form of governance.
Unfortunately, as Lord Acton noted, "Power tends to corrupt. Absolute power corrupts absolutely."