Explanation: The Nazis were, formally, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Some people take this to mean that the Nazis were, in some meaningful way, ‘left’ or socialist.
The truth is that they were neither. The name was made to appeal to the working-class by feigning interest in workers’ issues, but the Nazis drew overwhelmingly from, and addressed the pet issues of, the disaffected middle class. While there were less capitalist-friendly factions in the party (notably, the working-class SA and the Strasserists), they were not what we would recognize as left-wing, instead representing a distinctly reactionary take on opposition to capitalism more in-line with Catholic conservatives expressing resentment of the bourgeoisie in the 19th century.
Those less-capitalist-friendly factions were suppressed in favor of Hitler’s alliance with land magnates and capitalists in 1934, and so became moot in any case.
They were famous for manipulating public opinion and preying on people’s base instincts to get the population to do what they wanted and follow along with their song and dance …
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play”
Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Party Reich Minister of Propaganda
… it’s a good thing governments don’t say or do things like this anymore *(/s, /saracasm, this line is sarcasm, I am emphasizing that this last line is SARCASM!!) *
…. it’s a good thing governments don’t say or do things like this anymore (/s, /saracasm, this line is sarcasm, I am emphasizing that this last line is SARCASM!!)
Y-yeah, g-good thing we live in more enlightened times now
The NSDAP was originally just the DAP (German Worker’s Party) started by Anton Drexler, who, while was anti-capitalist, was also anti-communist, and incredibly antisemitic.
Hitler joined the party in 1919, after his return from WW1, he was put on intelligence recon duty to observe the party (which was already making waves with their rhetoric, enough that the Weimar Republic considered them an internal element that required constant observation), liked the ideals of Drexler, and slowly pushed the party to be more nationalistic.
And mind you this was during a time where most Germans were… quite unhappy. Similar to today, they wanted quick and easy wins, as they just came out of a war most Germans didn’t want (it was the nobility of the German Empire that pushed for it), having lost said war, with sizeable reparations to be paid, tons of territory cut off… the Republic needed to raise taxes on already strained people, people who mostly thought the Versailles treaty was unfair and overly strict. A nationalism wave was essentially unavoidable at that point - and followed in pretty much all the other Central Power countries due to the same treaty and its effects.
Hitler’s push to make the DAP nationalistic and “socialist” was to appeal to the workers even more - because socialism IS appealing to most workers, especially in shitty economical situations where the blame can be directly put on Big Money.
And while it’s true that at its beginnings the NSDAP used socialist talking points, it’s also important to point out that the moment Hitler gained actual power, his literal first move was to clean out all the socialists, communists, and anyone else with even just fleeting views you could consider as socialist, during the Night of Long Knives…
The name was made to appeal to the working-class by feigning interest in workers’ issues, but the Nazis drew overwhelmingly from, and addressed the pet issues of, the disaffected middle class.
Explanation: The Nazis were, formally, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. Some people take this to mean that the Nazis were, in some meaningful way, ‘left’ or socialist.
The truth is that they were neither. The name was made to appeal to the working-class by feigning interest in workers’ issues, but the Nazis drew overwhelmingly from, and addressed the pet issues of, the disaffected middle class. While there were less capitalist-friendly factions in the party (notably, the working-class SA and the Strasserists), they were not what we would recognize as left-wing, instead representing a distinctly reactionary take on opposition to capitalism more in-line with Catholic conservatives expressing resentment of the bourgeoisie in the 19th century.
Those less-capitalist-friendly factions were suppressed in favor of Hitler’s alliance with land magnates and capitalists in 1934, and so became moot in any case.
They were famous for manipulating public opinion and preying on people’s base instincts to get the population to do what they wanted and follow along with their song and dance …
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play”
… it’s a good thing governments don’t say or do things like this anymore *(/s, /saracasm, this line is sarcasm, I am emphasizing that this last line is SARCASM!!) *
Y-yeah, g-good thing we live in more enlightened times now
A bit more in detail:
The NSDAP was originally just the DAP (German Worker’s Party) started by Anton Drexler, who, while was anti-capitalist, was also anti-communist, and incredibly antisemitic.
Hitler joined the party in 1919, after his return from WW1, he was put on intelligence recon duty to observe the party (which was already making waves with their rhetoric, enough that the Weimar Republic considered them an internal element that required constant observation), liked the ideals of Drexler, and slowly pushed the party to be more nationalistic.
And mind you this was during a time where most Germans were… quite unhappy. Similar to today, they wanted quick and easy wins, as they just came out of a war most Germans didn’t want (it was the nobility of the German Empire that pushed for it), having lost said war, with sizeable reparations to be paid, tons of territory cut off… the Republic needed to raise taxes on already strained people, people who mostly thought the Versailles treaty was unfair and overly strict. A nationalism wave was essentially unavoidable at that point - and followed in pretty much all the other Central Power countries due to the same treaty and its effects.
Hitler’s push to make the DAP nationalistic and “socialist” was to appeal to the workers even more - because socialism IS appealing to most workers, especially in shitty economical situations where the blame can be directly put on Big Money.
And while it’s true that at its beginnings the NSDAP used socialist talking points, it’s also important to point out that the moment Hitler gained actual power, his literal first move was to clean out all the socialists, communists, and anyone else with even just fleeting views you could consider as socialist, during the Night of Long Knives…
Something something history rhymes.