Nazism in relation to capitalism.

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

I agree with Trotsky when he said that Fascism is capitalism in crisis, if we understand fascism in the context of class-collaborationism and the like. But Nazi policies, to me, seem to be a unique version of fascism.

Of course here, we are essentially talking about the racial aspect, which as far as I understand, isn't and inherent aspect of fascism as a socio-economic system.

So, what are the relevant social, economic and cultural factors that formed Nazism and its racist aspects? We know that Jewish people have been persecuted for a very long time as a result of (as I understand it, in a rudimentary fashion) religious ideology, but how did this repression carry through to a system that had features of pseudo-scientific practice? What made race a factor in Nazi Germany, obviously despite Hitler's discourse because, as we know as materialists, his discourse didn't exist in a vacuum.

Hope this makes sense. I'd try and flesh the question out more but I've drank too much wine.

[JPSartre12]

This is a very good thread! I'm interested in seeing what some of the responses will be.

I'm not sure what catalyst blended racist and fascism together in Germany. As you said, of course there were historical conditions that caused them to rise - Hitler didn't just pull them out of thin air. Many times that I hear fascism being discussed, it's generally explained as a sort of nationalist-reactionary response to economic problems. It would make more sense to me to have a socialist alternative to capitalism arise when capitalism starts tearing at the seams, but sense so many people (perhaps simply because they're historically situated right here, or due to incessant Western propaganda, etc) think that capitalism is perfect and the best system ever, they'll band together into vehemently pro-capitalist and nationalist groups, and aggressively defend it.

Perhaps that nationalist-reactionary response to the the pre-WW2 economic slow-down simply used the Jewish community as its scapegoat for all economic problems simply because it was historically convenient. Then again, I'm not particularly well-read on the lead-up events to WW2, so this is just personal speculation :rolleyes:

[Admiral Swagmeister G-Funk]

I think that anti-semitism was a fairly well established view by the time that Hitler got to power so perhaps the scapegoat idea has some validity. It could perhaps be that some kind of social scapegoat is just a convenient tool in the turn to fascism.

If we look crudely at Islamic terrorism in recent years, the formation of the anti-terror (dare I say anti-Muslim?) discourse and the huge adoption of authoritarian policy in western governments as a response, could we draw historical similarities? This is assuming that authoritarianism is a creeping-feature of fascism and a view that fascism comes from the top down and not the other way around. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages]

Fascism in Germany came from the petit bourgeoisie, it initially tried to ally with the working class and then sided with the big capitalists once it had earned their trust.

[Questionable]

The racism could have been a populist move. Antisemitism was already well-established in Germany before it became institutionalized. Hitler could have just been jumping on the bandwagon in order to appeal to the broadest amount of people.

Furthermore, it could be useful to see if any prominent left-wing socialist figures in Germany at the time were Jews. If leaders of the German Communist Party were Jewish, it could have served Nazi interests in order to demonize them as puppet masters.

[JPSartre12]

If we look crudely at Islamic terrorism in recent years, the formation of the anti-terror (dare I say anti-Muslim?) discourse and the huge adoption of authoritarian policy in western governments as a response, could we draw historical similarities? This is assuming that authoritarianism is a creeping-feature of fascism and a view that fascism comes from the top down and not the other way around. Correct me if I'm wrong.

I've had the same thought, about the whole "Muslims being the new target of the global racist discourse" concept. Given what's been going on around the world - Sarkozy's anti-burqa laws, the rise of nationalist parties' popularity throughout Europe (Golden Dawn, anyone?), the Tea Party's racism, the vulgar post-9/11 dialogue, and so on - I'm not terribly surprised that there's a wide anti-Muslim sentiment.

I see a whole bunch of historical similarities. Hopefully we can nip it in the bud before it happens again, cause I'm not much in the mood for another world war.

[Book O'Dead]

[...]

So, what are the relevant social, economic and cultural factors that formed Nazism and its racist aspects? [...]

The simple answer is "those factors which were prevalent in Germany in the 1920's and 1930's." Being that German Fascism has very specific Germanic characteristics.

As to the Antisemitism of German fascism, well, they did not invent it; they merely exploited it.

Antisemitism was a festering wound at the heart of Europe since at least the Middle Ages. However, even before the diaspora (which occurred during antiquity, there was in Alexandria and other Roman-controlled city, an intense rivalry between Jews and Greeks that would spill into race-riots and pogroms perpetrated usually by Greeks against Jews. On several occasions Roman emperors and governors had had to issue edicts prohibiting the arbitrary killing of Jews in Roman-controlled Greek cities.

In case you didn't know this, it was Greeks who were the usual target of race hatred and persecution on the part of Romans. This changed almost as soon as the Jews were expelled from Judea and forbidden to return because they had resisted Roman control.

No other people that I know of, except for the Armenians, have been so completely banned from returning to their homeland as the Jews.

Thus the origins of Antisemitism.

[Tjis]

The movement that the nazi party originated in was the völkisch movement. They believed Germany to be a unified whole of which each German (of each class) was a part, in a symbiotic relationship with all Germans. This movement had its origins before the first world war, but after Germany lost and the German Empire ceased to be, volk became a very popular concept among nationalists.
Part of this movement believed being German was something decided by blood. This is where the anti-semitism originates. Since in this ideology Jews were not German, this would also mean they had no interest in the good of Germany (and therefore the good of Germans). So when Germany lost the war, in volkish circles this was not only blamed on the socialists and republicans who disbanded the Empire, but also Jews in Germany who supposedly sabotaged the war effort for their own betterment, since they had a Jewish interests rather than German ones.

The NSDAP finds its origins in this movement. It grew out of various organizations that fought against the Bavarian Soviet Republic, and had anti-socialist and anti-Semitic ideals from the start. The continuing popularity of the volkisch ideology, combined with a fear for a socialist revolution among the small business owners allowed the party to grow and eventually get in power.

[Le Socialiste]

Anti-semitism was prevalent throughout continental Europe and the broader world. It's not a coincidence that Nazism (and Hitler in particular) labelled communism as a vehicle for the furtherance of Jewish interests. In fact, the label "Judeo-Bolshevism" was used in Germany by the bourgeoisie, Hitler, and the Nazi party as a means of discrediting the communist movement (as well as members of the Jewish community). It certainly was an easy way of placing the complications and burdens of post-war Germany on a people with a history of displacement and abuse. The initial upswing of revolutionary activity (1917), followed by its subsequent decline and defeat (1923), coupled with Germany's volatile and precarious economic situation and the bourgeoisie's patronage of rightwing paramilitary groups (i.e. the freikorps) laid the groundwork that made Nazism possible. The near defeat of the German bourgeoisie after WWI created, out of necessity, grounds for a total reclamation of political and cultural power. Nazism served as a necessary vehicle toward these goals, unique in a way to the predicament and desperation of the German bourgeoisie.