From: Michael S. Lorrey (retroman@turbont.net)
Date: Wed Sep 27 2000 - 10:31:40 MDT
Spudboy100@aol.com wrote:
>
> <<Spudboy,
> Given that Hitler was a socialist how is it he was also a capitalist.
> Could you define that term capitalist? I am confused.
> Ron H.>>
>
> Ron! Please do not be decieved by the name National Socialist. My guess is that the Party name Nationalist Party, founded immediately after WW1 and also a Racist-Nordic myth party, funded by the autocrats and the industrial chieftans--their leader, if I remember correctly was Hugenburg. The National Socialists had nothing to do with socialism (despite the many flaws of socialism) it was just a way of packaging their hatreds while avoiding the "copyright infringements" of the larger competing racist, National Party. Hitler loaded his pockets down and was a capitalist in the sense that he wanted to make a profit. He was absolutely not a free-enterprise capitalist. The shopkeepers that supported him were also capitalists too. Hope this helps.
However, your statement is incredibly wrong. The one eyewitness source on the
Third Reich to be published was Albert Speer, author of _Inside the Third
Reich_. He makes it quite clear that the Nazis were in fact quite socialist, and
that they did nationalize quite a few companies (most notably jewish owned
companies) as well as Volkwagen, and the Hermann Goering Works was founded as a
socialist enterprise from the start. Moreover, Speer states that the top echelon
was quite enthusiastic about Hitlers post-war plans for 'Germania', which would
be a europe wide socialist state. They were holding off on widespread
restructuring of the economy from its mercantilist/socialist hodgepodge to a
fully socialist economy till after the war was won by Germany. Many top Nazis
would often comment how much their policies had in common with communism and
that they were of the opinion that the best Nazis were often ex-communists.
Hitler himself was NOT a capitalist, as I've said previously. He actually,
according to Speer, lived quite modestly. Goering and Bormann were the two big
looters (and were not capitalists either), who would as a matter of practice
force industrialists to pay them big kickbacks on government contracts,
appropriate state funds, equipment, and land for personal use.
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