Contrary to myth, Germany was a socialist state, not a capitalist one. And socialism, understood as an economic system based on government ownership of the means of production, positively requires a totalitarian dictatorship. Indeed, the identification of Nazi Germany as a socialist state was one of the many great contributions of Ludwig von Mises. FULL ARTICLE
Here is a video of the speech too.
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Not only was the National Socialist German Workers Party socialist, its symbol was used to represent meshed S-letters for their “Socialism.” American socialists (e.g. Edward Bellamy and Francis Bellamy teamed with the Theosophical Society and Freemasons) also bear some blame for the notorious symbol used by the National Socialist German Workers Party.
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-swastika.html
The same symbol was used by the Theosophical Society during the time when the Bellamys, Freemasons and the Theosophical Society worked together. They also helped spread the stiff arm salute via the Pledge at their meetings.
The symbol was used as alphabetical symbolism for socialism, and adopted later by German socialists as their flag symbol. Although an ancient symbol, was altered for use as overlapping S-letters for ‘socialism.’ It was deliberately turned 45 degrees counter clockwise and always oriented in the S-direction. Similar alphabetic symbolism is still visible as Volkswagen VW logos.
American Socialists also created the stiff-arm salute of German socialism. The early Pledge of Allegiance (created by Francis Bellamy in 1892) used a straight arm salute, not the modern hand over the heart.
http://rexcurry.net/book1a1contents-pledge.html
Edward Bellamy’s book “Looking Backward” was an international bestseller that launched the nationalism movement worldwide. Edward’s book was translated into every major language, including German. They wanted government to take over all schools and impose robotic chanting to flags. The Pledge’s early right-arm salute was not an ancient Roman salute, and the ‘ancient Roman salute’ myth came from the Pledge.
People were persecuted for refusing to perform robotic chanting to the national flag at the same time in the USA and Germany (to the American flag, and to the German symbol flag). All of the above are modern discoveries by America’s leading authority on the Pledge of Allegiance, the historian Dr. Rex Curry (author of “Pledge of Allegiance Secrets”).
The following makes more logical sense than anything George Reisman has written:
Many conservatives accuse Hitler of being a leftist, on the grounds that his party was named “National Socialist.” But socialism requires worker ownership and control of the means of production. In Nazi Germany, private capitalist individuals owned the means of production, and they in turn were frequently controlled by the Nazi party and state. In other words, more a Corporate-Government, much like Mussolini’s. True socialism does not advocate such economic dictatorship — it can only be democratic.
To most people, Hitler’s beliefs belong to the extreme far right. For example, most conservatives believe in patriotism and a strong military; carry these beliefs far enough, and you arrive at Hitler’s warring nationalism. This association has long been something of an embarrassment to the far right. To deflect such criticism, conservatives have recently launched a counter-attack, claiming that Hitler was a socialist, and therefore belongs to the political left, not the right.
The primary basis for this claim is that Hitler was a National Socialist. However, there is no academic controversy over the status of this term: it was a misnomer. Misnomers are quite common in the history of political labels. Examples include the German Democratic Republic (which was neither) and Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s “Liberal Democrat” party (which was also neither). The true question is not whether Hitler called his party “socialist,” but whether or not it actually was.
In fact, socialism has never been tried at the national level anywhere in the world. This may surprise some people — after all, wasn’t the Soviet Union socialist? The answer is no. Many nations and political parties have called themselves “socialist,” but none have actually tried socialism.
Germany’s far-right Neo-Nazis are now called The National Democratic Party. Does this now mean that Nazis are Democratic? This is the absurdity of Reisman’s claims.
Or perhaps the new claim will be that ‘Democrats’ are fascists, but Republicans are good, strong members of the Corporate-government. Goebbels would be proud.
On another note, Hitler said he had taken the image for the swastika from a book on Buddhism. So the double ‘s’ ? Uh, no.
A lie travels halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its shoes on.
REPLY FROM REISMAN:
Nazi Germany was socialist not because it was called socialist but because the Nazi government possessed de facto ownership of the means of production in Germany. This came about as the result of its imposition of universal wage and price controls, which created general shortages, necessitating government rationing of consumers’ goods and allocation of the means of production. The Nazi government decided what was to be produced, by what methods, and in what quantity, and who was to receive it. That is socialism.
Wouldn’t a socialist society include worker ownership of a business rather than just promote government ownership? Of course, the government may have to get involved to assure such a thing and most of the time the responsibility for this falls into the wrong hands.
The Nazis believed in an elite few controlling the many. To me, that does not seem to follow the original tenants of socialism.
I certainly don’t think we have anything to fear in the United States except maybe better working conditions, better compensation, a police and fire department that respond immediately, etc. Also, people here can still say the pledge of allegiance however they want and whenever they want without being thrown in prison. Forcing everyone to do it in a certain way and at the same time seems kind of fascist (or socialist if going by some people’s definition) to me.
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