Nazism, being a subset of fascism, has its own unique attributes apart from socialism generally. However, fascism can be legitimately viewed as a form of socialism, or at the very least, originating out of socialism and strongly related to socialism.
This thesis is certainly controversial. It first occurred to me, personally, when I was in college. The more I thought about it, the less fascism seemed to be a political philosophy of the right and more of one of the left. I proposed this to my favorite politics professor in the late 1970s, and he was open-minded enough to take it seriously.
Others smarter, and with more time on their hands than I have come to similar conclusions in the years since then. The fellow most associated with the argument today that fascism is a political pathology of the left, along with socialism in all its hues, is Jonah Goldberg, who has written a book on the subject, Liberal Fascism. You might want to go look over at National Review on-line if you're unfamiliar with his book.
In that he's written a number of articles on the subject that are readily available at National Review on-line, I won't try to make weakly the arguments he makes strongly.
sitetest
Jonah Goldberg, who has written a book on the subject, Liberal Fascism. You might want to go look over at National Review on-line if you're unfamiliar with his book.I'm familiar with Goldberg's book. It's *incredibly* dishonest and ignorant. Go through my old forum posts if you want to see why.
Lots of commies, Marxists, and socialists flocked to NSDAP rallies. Leftists like Roehm, Drexler, Goebbels, and Strasser joined the NSDAP. The Brownshirts were mostly recruited from the left. I guess these people couldn't tell the difference between NSDAP and other whacko leftist groups. Hitler was happy to see commies showing up at NSDAP events.
Julian Huxley, the Darwin Medalist, called himself a socialist and a humanist. What kind of society did he advocate? Huxley's society emphasizes biology and genetics. Eugenics would be a 'sacred duty', a national religion. The state will determine what religious beliefs are permissible. Undesirables would be sterilized. Euthanasia would be widespread. The government would distribute happy pills to make everyone happy. Under-achievers would not be allowed to have more than 1 or 2 children. If they have more, they will be sent to labour camps. And so on. What kind of socialism does this sound like? What kind of socialism is so obsessed with human biology and eugenics? Nevertheless, Huxley said that Naziism was an aberration caused by the 'belief in a personal God.'