Hitler's definition of socialism?

[AK]

I recall it being something along the lines of everyone having just enough to comfortably live off of and that it wasn't the negation of private property as Marxists believe. But I need an exact quote.

[M-26-7]

"Our adopted term 'Socialist' has nothing to do with Marxian Socialism. Marxism is anti-property; true Socialism is not."
--Adolf Hitler, Sunday Express, 28 September 1930; cited. in The Rise of Fascism by F.L. Carsten, p. 137

"We stand for the maintenance of private property ... We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order."
--Adolf Hitler

"I absolutely insist on protecting private property."
--Adolf Hitler

Sorry that I don't have a source for the second two. I wrote them down a long time ago. However, googling either phrase will return a bunch of results.

[mikelepore]

M-26-7, as for that second quote of yours, a book of quotations entitled "The Great Thoughts" by George Seldes, pub. Ballantine, 1985, page 186, contains the following entry:


"We stand for maintenance of private property. We shall protect private enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible, economic order." -- Adolf Hitler, speech in 1926, quoted by Heiden in _Der Fuhrer_.

(That's a reference to a 1944 book by the historian Konrad Heiden.)

[bailey_187]

In Leo Huberman's Man's Worldly Goods, it quotes the economist from i think 1936 (the year Hitler proclaimed Germany had reached Socialism IIRC) giving some information on the general features of the German economy. I will right it out for you when i feel better if u aint got the book.

[AK]

In Leo Huberman's Man's Worldly Goods, it quotes the economist from i think 1936 (the year Hitler proclaimed Germany had reached Socialism IIRC) giving some information on the general features of the German economy. I will right it out for you when i feel better if u aint got the book.
It's online here: http://www.questia.com/read/77353018
What page?

[RadioRaheem84]

His idea of socialism was a strange made up brand of anti-Marxian, Keynesian rhetoric. The epitome of state lust that right libertarians love to chide when describing socialism.

[Nolan]

Does it matter? Bourgeois academia that isn't on propertarian kool-aid already believes it to be a misnomer.

[Nolan]

"We stand for the maintenance of private property ... We shall protect free enterprise as the most expedient, or rather the sole possible economic order."
--Adolf Hitler

He apparently didn't see "free enterprise" as most right-wingers did either. This man made up his own definition for everything.

[anticap]

... at the age of seventeen the word 'Marxism' was as yet little known to me, while 'Social Democracy' and socialism seemed to me identical concepts. Here again it required the fist of Fate to open my eyes to this unprecedented betrayal of the peoples.

http://hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/mkv1ch02.html

So we know that the mature Hitler didn't equate socialism with social democracy.

I stopped there, but if you continue searching the chapters (http://hitler.org/writings/Mein_Kampf/) for "socialis" you might deduce more.

[Who?]

I believe that Hitler advocated some form of social democracy
for those of German blood. He wanted to nationalize just about all German industries and expand some sort of social security program.

From the 25-point Program of the NSDAP:


13. We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).



15. We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare.


I think we can all agree that Hitler was a nut and all this "socialism" talk was just a ploy to get working class support for his nutty programs.

[Nolan]

I believe that Hitler advocated some form of social democracy
for those of German blood. He wanted to nationalize just about all German industries and expand some sort of social security program.

From the 25-point Program of the NSDAP:





I think we can all agree that Hitler was a nut and all this "socialism" talk was just a ploy to get working class support for his nutty programs.

And the nationalization promise was never carried out. In fact the nazis privatized many public utilities when they came to power, and slashed wages.

I do think that social democracy can be seen as a kind of center-left mirror image of fascist corporatism.

[Who?]

And the nationalization promise was never carried out. In fact the nazis privatized many public utilities when they came to power, and slashed wages.

I do think that social democracy can be seen as a kind of center-left mirror image of fascist corporatism.

Like I said, it was really more of a ploy to get working class support being that worker's parties were popular in Germany at the time.

[Kiev Communard]

I recall it being something along the lines of everyone having just enough to comfortably live off of and that it wasn't the negation of private property as Marxists believe. But I need an exact quote.

Economics of fascism - Sohn-Rethel's class analysis

In his book Economy and Class Structure of German Fascism, Alfred Sohn-Rethel, the independent Marxist, used class analysis in his assessment of the fascist economy in Germany. This was built upon years of experience secretly working in the offices of the Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftstag or MWT - the headquarters of the German big business association. Sohn-Rethel argued fascist rule in Germany as part of the reconsolidation of bourgeois rule with the political triumph of financially unsound and unstable groups of big and small business (the Harzburg Front) over parts of the economy that were well adapted to the financial conditions of the time. However he argues than it is a mistake to see the the "Nazis as the direct agents of a monopoly capital in command of capital in command of profits..." and that "profit-making itself had gone into the red before the Nazis could exploit the now unresolvable contradictions and get the better of finance capital." The strengthened state took over the entrepreneurial, managerial functions but capital remains in private hands even though the state sets prices, profit margins and the allocation of raw materials. This was part and parcel of the suspension of normative legal environs (both social and financial) in Germany.

Sohn-Rethel continues: "Capital is only in possession of its private initiative to dispose freely over its means of production while it keeps to the market rules. But only if one sees the crisis as an economic catastrophe which shatters all these rules can one get the measure of its immense dangers. In this case capitalism can survive in the paradoxical shape of the 'corporate state' in which the contridiction between the social character of production and the private appropriation of capital assumes the form of a state-run economy on private account". The bourgeoisie needed the defeat of the worker's class solidarity and further the depreciation in overall working conditions. This was in order to increase in the rate of surplus value and profit from wage freezes. The drive in the increased exploitation of the proletariat was greatly assisted by anti-semitism and resurgence of the war economy that reached fruition with the Nazi party's capture of power during the early 1930's. As Sohn-Rethel puts it: "the (world) capitalist was lifted off the rocks of stagnation only by means of the arms race forced upon the world powers through the initiative of German fascism preparing for world war."

[NoOneIsIllegal]

Can't supply a source right now, but I remember reading a Hitler quote saying he at first adopted the term "socialism" simply because it was popular (SPD?) in Germany at the time (the early years of the Nazi's).

[Forward Union]

By Socialism, he mean a genocidal racist dictatorship.

[TwoSevensClash]

I recall it being something along the lines of everyone having just enough to comfortably live off of and that it wasn't the negation of private property as Marxists believe. But I need an exact quote.
Hitlers definition of socialism changed when ever he wanted to or when ever political necessity came about. So its hard to give his exact definition since he changed the term. Examples

1927 "We are socialist, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions.
1929 "Socialism was an unfortunate word altogether and that if people have something to eat, and their pleasures, then they have their socialism."

1930 "Our adopted term ‘Socialist’ has nothing to do with Marxian Socialism. Marxism is anti-property; true Socialism is not."
and
"I want everyone to keep what he has earned, subject to the principle that the good of the community takes priority over that of the individual. But the State should retain control; every owner should feel himself to be an agent of the State ... The Third Reich will always retain the right to control property owners"



The original 25 point plan of the Nazi party sorta had socialist elements but most of it was about German Nationalism and the need for a strong state. Hitler then broke the more socialist sounding points when he was wooing the junkers and other rich industrialists. Basically I think Hitlers socialism wasn't class struggle but racial struggle. The Aryan race against the inferior ones. Economically I think Hitler supported mercantilism. He hated capitalism foe the same reason he hated communism he though the Jews ran it.

[TwoSevensClash]

The original 25 points of the nazi party.

Basic programme of the National Socialist

German Workers’ Party




We demand:



The unity of all German-speaking peoples.

The abolition of the Treaty of Versailles.

Land and colonies to feed Germany’s population.

Only Germans can be citizens. No Jew can be a German citizen.

People in Germany who are not citizens must obey special laws for foreigners.

Only German citizens can vote, be employed or hold public office.

Citizens are entitled to a job and a decent standard of living. If this cannot be achieved, foreigners (with no rights as citizens) should be expelled.

No further immigration of non-German must be allowed. All foreigners who have come to Germany since 1914 must be expelled.

All citizens have equal rights and duties.

The first duty of a citizen is to work.

All payments to unemployed people should end.

All profits made by profiteers during the war must be shared.

Nationalisation of public industries*.

Large companies must share their profits.

Pensions must be improved.

Help for small shops and businesses; large department stores** must be closed down.

Property reform to give small farmers their land.

An all-out battle against criminals, profiteers, etc., who must be punished by death.

Reform of the law to make it more German.

Improve education so that all Germans can get a job.

Improve people’s health by making a law for people to do sport.

Abolition of the Army, and a new People’s Army in its place.

German newspapers must be free of foreign influence.

Freedom of religion.

Strong central government with unrestricted authority.

[AK]

1929 "Socialism was an unfortunate word altogether and that if people have something to eat, and their pleasures, then they have their socialism."
This, thank you.

Funny thing, many people would say, then, that capitalism in the developed world is actually socialism (based on this, anyway. Many people already claim such ridiculous nonsense based on other loosely-defined principles).

[RebelDog]

Hitler was the epitome of demagoguery. He manipulated anyone and anything to gain power. Other historical figures have also used the moral appeal of socialism to gain favour among the masses. That fella with the law degree from Ulyanovsk comes to mind.

[The Feral Underclass]

I recall it being something along the lines of everyone having just enough to comfortably live off of and that it wasn't the negation of private property as Marxists believe. But I need an exact quote.

This might be of help: 25 Point Programme of the NSDAP (http://www.hitler.org/writings/programme/)

[Nolan]

Hitler was the epitome of demagoguery. He manipulated anyone and anything to gain power. Other historical figures have also used the moral appeal of socialism to gain favour among the masses. That fella with the law degree from Ulyanovsk comes to mind.

Oh except that feller from Ulyanovsk actually was a socialist. You kinda left that little part out.

[RebelDog]

Oh except that feller from Ulyanovsk actually was a socialist. You kinda left that little part out.

If he was a socialist why did he dismantle the organs of workers control?