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Then define for me what is left and what is right. If Nazis and Commies are opposites on the political spectrum as we have been taught, what are the defining characteristics that make them so. According to Prof. Watson, before WWII it was generally accepted, even in socialist circles, that the Nazis were on the left. How, after their demise, did they become the far right? If the far left is total government, would not the far right be total anarchy?

How, after their demise, did they become the far right? If the far left is total government, would not the far right be total anarchy?

The two primary events that defined National Socialism as being on the right-wing were the Spanish Civil War and operation Barbarosa during World War II. When Hitler supported the rebels in Spain the first break with the Stalinist USSR occurred. There then came a rapproachmont with the non-agression pact of 1939 between the Third Reich and the USSR. If one reads early accounts of the Second World War Germany and the Soviet Union were considered allies in 1939 and 1940. It was not until 1941 when Germany invaded soviet occupied Poland that the two were at war.

When Hitler first came to power in Germany it was the Soviet Union that provided military training facilities for German paratroops. The original ideaology for Nazism was very much socialists so much so that the bronshirts were often refered to as Beefsteak Nazis. That is they were brown on the outside but red on the inside. The social programs of the Nazi Party were very much socialist. Expansion of national medical insurance and guaranteed employment were part of the Nazi programs. In fact the initial extermination of mentally handicapped was started both as a eugenics concept and a cost saving measure.

Mussolini also got his start as head of the Italian Socialist Party.

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