And is wrong.
Fascism is left wing.
Here's proof that Nazi's are Socialist.
Dr. Gobells, said that "Lenin was the greatest man, second only to Hitler, and that the difference between Communism and the Hitler faith, was very slight."
Which is why 55% of BrownShirts were former Communist. They called them "beef steak Nazi’s". Brown on the outside, red on the center.
Nazi’s share 95% of economic platform as Communist because they are both anti market ideologies. They are both separate branches of Socialism.
Economics of Fascism:
- Universal Healthcare
- Price controls
- Wage controls
- Guaranteed work programs
- Nationalizing industries.
- Government funded vacations
- Gun control
- Using censorship and violence as political weapons
- Controlling who a business can hire and fire.
Etc…
Again these read like current Leftist ideals in America. If I read you the "Nazi 25 point plan" you'd confuse it for a Bernie slogan. They were by no means right wing.
Both the policies they campaigned on and the policies they implemented once in power were undisputably Socialist.
This is because the father of Fascism Benito Mussolini and the philosopher of Fascism Giovanni Gentile were both lifelong socialist. These are the two men who created Fascism. Mussolini wrote in socialist publications from the age of 18. He was only kicked out of the party due to disagreements on the war. He never swayed from socialism, he even carried a coin/medallion with the head of Marx in his pocket.
They wanted to improve socialism. They saw the shortages created under socialism. They decided they didn't want to fire or kill the entrepreneur in an attempt to solve the shortage problem. It also allowed them to partner with big business who saw being able to keep their business and not die as an improvement to the Bolshevik and Communist. All of these groups had inner turmoil despite having very similar beliefs from an American perspective. They regularly fought for the recruitment of the same pools of men to join their ranks which caused bloody rivalries.
Fascism is a form of socialism with a veneer of private ownership. They implement all of the Socialist policies while keeping the business owner alive. They simply take all of his decision making from him.
Fascist effectively turned entrepreneurs into defacto government employees... Telling them what to produce, how much to charge, who to hire and fire... Not allowing the market to decide anything. Many of these businesses became dependent on government subsidies. This was clearly central planning aka not capitalism or right wing.
Price controls are by definition an anti market aka socialist policies. They are essential to all forms of socialism as under socialist economies you can't find prices. (See "Calculation problem with Socialism")
They also create shortages in any area they are used, which is why there are always food shortages under Socialist governments which has lead to the death of millions thru starvation.
People often bring up the fact that Fascist (Brown Shirts) and communist fought in the streets.
Again, they forget that 55% of the brownshirts were former communist. Some Nazis even flipped and joined the Communists.
They didn't move from socialism to laissez-faire capitalism overnight. They simply gave up the need to kill the entrepreneur... Instead they sided with fascist who wanted to create socialism by controlling the actions of the business owner.
NATIONALIZED ECONOMIES:
Nationalization is a huge part of Fascism aka the government taking ownership, while claiming "the people" now have ownership. Like all socialist.... Hitler nationalized over 500 major companies including banks, iron, manufacturing, etc..
Mussolini did as well I'm sure you remember Alfa Romeo, state oil and gas...
Mussolini nationalized 3/4 of the Italian economy. 75% is significant yet leftist today pretend fascist weren't socialist.
Hitler privatized a few companies but not in the way we think of privatization today, these were companies he gave to politically connected people and highly subsidized by tax payer dollars. "The Vampire Economy" does a great job describing this process. It was by no means right wing /capitalist.
TRADE UNIONS:
Hitler wanted to centralize the trade unions as well... Many small trade unions were too difficult to control. In 1933, he formed two national unions to replace the dozens of poorly organized, badly run organizations. Then he outlawed any new unions, forcing all workers to join.
So again... Far from being right wing/ free market. It was central planning, central control.
"I have learned a great deal from Marxism as I do not hesitate to admit… The whole of National Socialism is based on it… National Socialism is what Marxism might have been if it could have broken its absurd and artificial ties with a democratic order." - Hitler
"The Nazi credo that the individual belongs to the state also applies to business some business have been confiscated outright, on others what amounts to a capital tax has been levied, profits have been strictly controlled... hard pressed for foodstuffs as well as funds. The Nazi Regime has taken over large estates and in many instances collectivized agriculture, a procedure fundamentally similar to Russian Communism". - Adolf Hitler, Man of the Year, 1938 "Time Magazine" Jan. 2 1939
"It is not Germany that will turn Bolshevist but Bolshevism that will become a sort of National Socialism. Besides, there is more that binds us to Bolshevism than separates us from it…." - Hitler
"But we National Socialists wish precisely to attract all socialists, even the Communists; we wish to win them over from their international camp to the national one." - Hitler
Otto Wagener, in Hitler—Memoirs of a Confidant, editor, Henry Ashby Turner, Jr., Yale University Press (1985) p. 26
“We are socialists. We are enemies of today’s capitalistic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are determined to destroy this system under all conditions.” - Gregor Strasser, 2nd highest ranking Nazi, quote wrongly attributed to Hitler on May 1, 1927
In 1930, Hitler tasked Hans Buchner to clarify what Nazi economic policies were. What did Buchner elect to call the economic policies of the Nazis? “State socialism.”
From Mein Kampf:
The racial Weltanschauung (world view) is fundamentally distinguished from the Marxist by reason of the fact that the former recognizes the significance of race and therefore also personal worth and has made these the pillars of its structure. These are the most important factors of its Weltanschauung. - Hitler, Mein Kampf
Aka the single biggest difference between Nazism and Socialism was that Race is what defined their class struggle... not wealth. All forms of Socialism require someone to be greedy aka a class divide. You need the poor to be greedy and want what they wealthy have created in society or you'll never have the vanguard for your revolution.
Marx divided between the haves and have nots, Hitler Divided via race, Gramsci and the Frankfurt school came to America and saw that class divide wouldn't work because even the poor could afford similar amenities as the wealthy cars, air conditioning, etc... so they focused on group division and group identity aka shared consciousness.
Many Marxist saw the flaws in socialism. They then moved to support the third way... After seeing the failures of fascism they became disillusioned with Marxism.
Socialism has three meanings so sadly it confuses most people.
Think of it as three levels.
1. The umbrella term that encompasses any anti market economic system. Aka all left wing ideologies.
There are three major socialist economic systems Communism, Socialism, and Fascism. All of these are types of socialist aka anti market economies. All three of these share 95% of the same economic policies from Nationalizing companies to price controls etc....
2. The Socialist economic system
Uses many socialist policies. Can be achieved all at once or you can vote for each socialist policy individually via democratic socialism. This is where you'd seize the means of production.
This would be the level Marx was describing.
3. Any anti market policy that goes beyond the liberal idea that the government should only address "public goods" this is an economic term for goods that are non excludable and non rival. This theory of governance is best described by Robert Nozick.
So Medicare for all... Would be a socialist policy.