Lately I have been seeing a resurgence of the idea that the National Socialist Workers Party, the NAZIs, was a product of the left and should not be considered as an aspect of rightward politics. This is a patently ludicrous position. Oh I can understand if you were utterly unfamiliar with the NAZIs, their rise to power, their targeted enemies, and their social position how the words ‘socialist’ and ‘workers’ might lead you astray, but anyone can slap words on something in an attempt to disguise its true intent or nature. However the situation with the NAZIs was a bit more complex than branding, though that did play a factor. It should be remembered that Hitler did not found the NAZI party, but rather was recruited by it and at the time he joined it was already riven with competing and warring factions. One such division within the NAZIs was the Strasserist faction led by Greggor Strasser. Strasser and his wing advocated a much more socialist and anti-capitalist ideology direction for the NAZI party. They shared the party’s central dogma of anti-Semitism but not from a racial war prejudice but because they blamed the Jewish faith for the excesses and evils of capitalism. (Both views are irrational, conspiratorial, and disgustingly racist.) When advocates of the ‘NAZIs were leftists’ arguments produces quotes and official party positions to defend their premise these come from the Strasser faction. The Strasser wing was ruthlessly eliminated from the party during The Night of the Long Knives.
Another avenue of evidence often offered to support the position that NAZIs were truly left and not right were policies pushed by the NAZIs. I have even heard that since NAZI Germany had unemployment insurance as ‘proof’ of their leftist nature, ignoring not only that the program predated the NAZI regime but also predated the Weimer Republic and the entire twentieth century. Under the NAZIs work programs existed but never on the massive scale as they are usually presented as evidence and the grand German project the Autobahn predated the NAZI’s rise to power. The NAZIs, while they did eventually go to a full war footing, did not nationalize their major industries and they destroyed trade union, sending their leaders to the concentration camps. Perhaps the most dishonest and insulting ‘evidence’ is that the NAZI compelled abortions in the ‘undesirables.’ This offensive line does double duty, insinuating that person’s on the left want abortions for abortion’s sake and not from a position of personal liberty and choice and it ignores the ban on abortion for ‘Aryans’. The NAZI were in many respects well ahead of the curve in public health, such as proving that tobacco use promoted cancer, but they only cared to promote the ‘Aryan’ race and its mythical supremacy. Even on the oft repeated and erroneous issue of gun control the NAZI did not behave as politicians of the left. The Weimer Republic had fairly tight gun laws, as you might expect of a system with hundreds of political assassination and political parties rioting in the streets, the NAZIs loosed gun control for most of the population while striping undesirables, such as the Jewish population, of the rights to weapons.
On any number axes the NAZIs consistently fall on the right side of the spectrum.
Soverign Relations, National vs. International: The left favors international institutions the World Court, The UN, etc, while the right favors domestic sovereignty. The NAZIs were clearly nationalistic.
The Arts, Traditional vs. Avant Garde: In General those with left leaning are more tolerant and welcoming of experimental arts while those on the right favor already accepted artistic expressions. The NAZIs, while embracing new technological distribution and methods such as radio and film, rejected content that was not seen as wholesome traditional arts. They considered avant-gardeas degenerate and destroyed such art while looting Europe of classical forms.
Social Mores Traditional vs. Expansive: Persons on the left tend to be more accepting of people who refuse to follow established social mores and customs, expanding the range of publicly tolerated behavior while on the right their is a reverse for established conduct and a suspicion of modes of expression that violate community morals. The NAZIs condemned, destroyed, and murdered member of communities that diverged from accept social norms, declaring such person as degenerate and destroying scientific research that did not conform to the party philosophy.
Even as some try to argue the position that the NAZIs and fascists were of the left we can see in real time that this is not the case. Neo-NAZIs and fascists when they engaged in our modern politics nearly invariable do so by aligning themselves with conservative parties and appeals to the ‘right.’
In my opinion any published political commentator who pushes the line that Fascists and NAZIs were of the left is at best ignorant and more likely disingenuous as they try to put distance between their own political philosophy and it’s murderous extreme. (It should be noted that all political and religious philosophies have murderous extremes and that those extremes exist in no way invalidate position, which are not out there on the fanatical zealot frontiers.)
p.s.
If you are going to make a comment make it your own and not just a link to a Ben Shapiro lecture ….
