"True, it is a fixed idea with the French that the Rhine is their property, but to this arrogant demand the only reply worthy of the German nation is Arndt's: "Give back Alsace and Lorraine". For I am of the opinion, perhaps in contrast to many whose standpoint I share in other respects, that the reconquest of the German-speaking left bank of the Rhine is a matter of national honour, and that the Germanisation of a disloyal Holland and of Belgium is a political necessity for us. Shall we let the German nationality be completely suppressed in these countries, while the Slavs are rising ever more powerfully in the East?"
"This is our calling, that we shall become the templars of this Grail, gird the sword round our loins for its sake and stake our lives joyfully in the last, holy war which will be followed by the thousand-year reign of freedom."
"Let us consider the actual, worldly Jew -- not the Sabbath Jew, as Bauer does, but the everyday Jew. Let us not look for the secret of the Jew in his religion, but let us look for the secret of his religion in the real Jew. What is the secular basis of Judaism? Practical need, self-interest. What is the worldly religion of the Jew? Huckstering. What is his worldly God? Money. Very well then! Emancipation from huckstering and money, consequently from practical, real Jewry, would be the self-emancipation of our time.... We recognize in Jewry, therefore, a general present-time-oriented anti-social element, an element which through historical development -- to which in this harmful respect the Jews have zealously contributed -- has been brought to its present high level, at which it must necessarily dissolve itself. In the final analysis, the emancipation of the Jews is the emancipation of mankind from Jewry"
Who said these things? If you guessed Adolf Hitler, I wouldn't fault you. Look at the first quote. Talking about taking back the old German territory of the West Bank of the Rhine. The third quote defining the religion of the Jewish population. Deciding if the "everyday Jew" needs to be freed so that "mankind" can be free. Sounds like one of Hitler's rants. Sounds like him wanting to build the Third Reich in his own way. But what if I told you that what you assumed was incorrect? Would you believe me? Would you believe that Hitler wasn't a far right-extremist? Of course you wouldn't. You were taught years ago that Hitler was a fascist. A far right-wing nut-job who had issues. But you would be wrong about him being far-right. Let me explain.
The first two quotes you read were written by a man by the name of Friedrich Engels, who was Karl Marx's co-author. As we all know, Karl Marx was a communist. The third quote was written by Karl Marx himself. What's even more fascinating is that the title of the essay Marx wrote is "Zur Judenfrage." The Englsih translation is "The Jewish Question." Is it a coincidence that Hitler's famous phrase is, "Endloesung der Judenfrage" or "Final solution of the Jewish question." Hmm. Some of the most condemned concepts of Nazism can be traced back to Marx and Engels. Including the language used. But, I thought Communism was on the left. It is.
What is the left? What are the ideas from the left today? We know they support labor unions, and believe that the government was created to help the needy. To better explain it, I'll use a description from Edward Feser of someone who would be a good Presidential candidate for the "modern-day US Democratic party" as well as use a quote to describe the left's belief of labor unions. Please let me know if I'm incorrect in this description:
He counted a number of homosexuals as friends and collaborators, and took the view that a man's personal morals were none of his business; some scholars of his life believe that he himself may have been homosexual or bisexual. He was ahead of his time where a number of contemporary progressive causes are concerned: he disliked smoking, regarding it as a serious danger to public health, and took steps to combat it; he was a vegetarian and animal lover; he enacted tough gun control laws; and he advocated euthanasia for the incurably ill."As things stand today, the trade unions in my opinion cannot be dispensed with. On the contrary, they are among the most important institutions of the nation's economic life. Their significance lies not only in the social and political field, but even more in the general field of national politics. A people whose broad masses, through a sound trade-union movement, obtain the satisfaction of their living requirements and at the same time an education, will be tremendously strengthened in its power of resistance in the struggle for existence".
He championed the rights of workers, regarded capitalist society as brutal and unjust, and sought a third way between communism and the free market. In this regard, he and his associates greatly admired the strong steps taken by President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal to take large-scale economic decision-making out of private hands and put it into those of government planning agencies. His aim was to institute a brand of socialism that avoided the inefficiencies that plagued the Soviet variety, and many former communists found his program highly congenial. He deplored the selfish individualism he took to be endemic to modern Western society, and wanted to replace it with an ethic of self-sacrifice: As Christ proclaimed 'love one another', he said, so our call -- 'people's community,' 'public need before private greed,' 'communally-minded social consciousness' -- rings out.! This call will echo throughout the world!
The reference to Christ notwithstanding, he was not personally a Christian, regarding the Catholicism he was baptized into as an irrational superstition. In fact he admired Islam more than Christianity, and he and his policies were highly respected by many of the Muslims of his day. He and his associates had a special distaste for the Catholic Church and, given a choice, preferred modern liberalized Protestantism, taking the view that the best form of Christianity would be one that forsook the traditional other-worldly focus on personal salvation and accommodated itself to the requirements of a program for social justice to be implemented by the state. They also considered the possibility that Christianity might eventually have to be abandoned altogether in favor of a return to paganism, a worldview many of them saw as more humane and truer to the heritage of their people. For he and his associates believed strongly that a people's ethnic and racial heritage was what mattered most. Some endorsed a kind of cultural relativism according to which what is true or false and right or wrong in some sense depends on one's ethnic worldview, and especially on what best promotes the well-being of one's ethnic group
Look at the protests in Madison, WI that took place earlier this year. The Republican legislature and governor sought to change the rules when dealing with union contracts, and there were massive protests saying that the Republicans have no heart and look to end safe work environments. So naturally, these two quotes describe the view of liberals, or left-leaning people. Many of them are for gays rights, strict gun-control laws, workers' rights, labor unions, they are usually against forms of Christianity (mainly Catholicism), they hate big corporations or chain stores and prefer small businesses when confronted with large successful stores. Back to the point I was making. These two quotes sound very much like a leftist in today's world. However, the first quote is a very accurate description of Hitler, and the second quote, about labor unions, is an excerpt from Chapter 12 of Mein Kampf, where in that chapter, Hitler stressed the importance of unions, so much so, that he went through great efforts to have the unions support his party.
Another quote from Artur Axman, who was a Nazi youth leader remembering a conversation with Goebbels in the Hitler bunker May 1, 1945. Same day Goebbels and his wife killed themselves after she killed their children.
"He (Goebbels) said one of the great accomplishments of the Hitler regime had been to win the German workers over almost totally to the national cause. We had made patriots of the workers, he said, as the Kaiser had dismally failed to do. This, he kept repeating, had been one of the real triumphs of the movement. We Nazis were a non-Marxist yet revolutionary party, anticapitalist, antibourgeois, antireactionary...."
Hmm. For some reason these ideas sound familiar. Oh that's right, Michael Moore had a movie about capitalism and how this country is wrong for supporting it. Weird, Michael Moore hates capitalism, yet benefits from it. Oh well. Now I won't get caught up in just quotes. Let's also look at symbols.
Pre-WWI socialists (including American socialists) wore a patch on their shoulder. A red one. One that was used by the Red Army in the early days of their creation. The patch was red with a golden symbol in the middle. The socialists used the symbol on the grounds that it was two arms representing two entwined letters. They were both the letter "S" which was to stand for socialist. Wanna take a bet as to what that symbol was? I'll give you a hint. Hitler used the two "S's" to stand for "Sozialismus" and "Sieg". "Sozialismus" means Socialism, and "Sieg" means Victory. Give up? Know what a swastika is? Hitler said that it stood for the victory of Aryan men (original speakers of Indo-European languages) and the victory of the idea that the worker was a creative force. Nationalism and socialism.
It seems I'm ganging up on socialists, so let's talk about the conservatives that were around in Hitler's day. Hitler despised the conservatives. Both in Germany, and especially in Britain, as well as they despised him. They weren't anywhere close to being an ally of him. His most famous foe, and arch enemy, was a famous conservative. Winston Churchill. This is the same man who once said, "If you are not a liberal by 20 you have no heart. If you are not a conservative by 40, you have no brain." The same man who praised the Finns for "tearing the guts out of the Red Army," found himself in a pickle. He was forced to become an ally with Stalin due to Churchill seeing Hitler as the bigger threat.
Here's the funny thing. Hitler came to power by democratic means. He didn't take power by force. He won it. It was awarded to him by the people. Germany was in a depression at the time, and the people looked for a leader who was willing to take from those who had wealth, and redistribute it to those who had nothing. Hitler started by nationalizing industries. Not all, but most. Even post-war Communism didn't totally nationalize industry. He provided the much needed employment opportunities by expanding programs of public works, roads, providing subsidized holidays that only the rich had the luxury of experiencing. These were ideas that were put into place by a man who is seen as a hero by many socialists and liberals. FDR. That's right Franklin D. Roosevelt. Ever heard of Social Security? Hitler's idea.
A lot to absorb? I think it is. I recommend reading this a couple of times. Remember, I've been doing this kind of research for years. Now I know that many of you who are on the left are saying, "Hitler was a fascist. He was a right-wing psycho. This isn't true." That's fine. You are entitled to your opinion, however, I ask that if you do oppose me, bring examples and well researched material. Saying something over and over again, doesn't make it true. I will say this:
Leftists in present time hate it when I say that Hitler was actually one of them. They deny the whole thing. Many conservatives jump to the conclusion that since Hitler's party was named National Socialist then he must be a socialist. The conclusion is correct, but the path to get there is too thin. I will give the Leftists one point. Socialism, according to Marxists, requires worker ownership and control of the means of production. This tells me that Hitler was less left than the Communists, which is true. The Nazis did not advocate the public ownership of the means of production, which is contrary to Marxist beliefs. They did, however, demand that government oversee and run the nation's economy. They also stated that private citizens could continue to hold titles to their property, but the state reserved the right regulate the use of those properties. It does sound like the Leftists of today. I have heard that conservatives favor politics and militarism over diplomacy, and dictatorship over democracy. Leftists prefer pacifism and democracy. Ok. I guess Stalin wasn't a militarist nor a dictator. Hmm. Think about that one.
It should be stated that Hitler was more right than Stalin, in the sense that Stalin used extreme forms of oppression to control his people. Germany was different. The people followed Hitler willingly. However, and I get this quite a bit, just because Hitler and Stalin were enemies during the war, it doesn't mean that their ideology were complete opposites. Take for example Leon Trotsky. You know the Russian born Marxist who got an ice-pick in the head compliments of Stalin. This would be an example that even Communists, including revolutionaries, had the potential to be rivals. Mussolini himself called Hitler a "barbarian, a criminal and a pederast." Mussolini. The Fascist leader in Italy. Granted he later became Hitler's ally in WWII.
Hitler was both a nationalist and a socialist. The full name of his party is The National Socialist German Worker's Party.
Now I will admit that the small band of worshippers of Hitler, that still exist today, are extreme right. However, their mission is racial in nature. Hitler himself stated that his antisemitism wasn't going to distract him from his vision of fundamentally transforming Germany. However, to say that racism is a form of right-wing thinking is totally incorrect. Example:
Stalin was a Communist. Communism is far left. Read about the post-war exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union, and the persecution that they brought with. Would that mean that, with this kind of racism, Communism is a far right agenda? Any association of racism and Rightism comes only from circumstances and not by definition. Anti-Semitism was more of a Northern European issue. Mussolini was a Fascist, but wasn't anti-Semitic. Initially. He was pushed by Hitler to do so. Actually, during WWII, the safest place for Jews was in Fascist Italy. Many Jews to this day say they owe their lives to the Fascist Italians. Hmm. Am I shattering that image you once had? I hope so.
The point I'm making here is don't always take what you hear as the truth. Don't even take what I'm saying as the truth. Take what I'm saying and research it. Look for things that I'm incorrect on. Look for things that I'm correct on. Oppose me, but do it in a well researched fashion and not one that is just, "You're wrong Brian W." If I didn't change your mind, then nothing will, and I'm not talking about your view of Hitler being a Socialist. I'm talking about your view of history is boring. What I find most interesting is that I can guarantee you that nowhere in any of your high school history classes, were you ever taught what I just told you. Why is that? Well let's see. Hitler: Probably the most hated dictator in modern history. Hmm. The teachers in public schools today, well most of the teachers, are in unions. Let's see. Hitler loved unions. They are in one. Therefore they would be preaching how bad Hitler was, and at the same time talking about his love for the type of organization they are apart of. Can't have that now, can we? Teachers in public schools teach what they are told to. Not what they know, but what they are told to teach. Maybe someone should "fundamentally change" the schooling system in this country. I prefer in a more Republican fashion. We are a Republic. Not a Democracy. Don't believe me? Recite the Pledge of Allegiance. Don't remember the words? Here ya go:
I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America, and to the Republic, for which it stands, One nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
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