The Nazis co-opted the word "socialism" and meant something entirely different
by it than did the actual socialists of the era. The Nazis absolutely did *not*
mean economic collectivism, i.e. state ownership of the means of
production and
distribution, the hallmark of socialism.
In fact, the Nazis *privatized*
industries that had been taken over by the state under the Weimar
republic.
What Hitler and the Nazis meant by their use of "socialism" was a sort of cultural and Aryan identity collectivism. The Nazis were mortally opposed
to
Marxism, Leninism, "Fourierism," "Fabian" socialism, "democratic"
socialism, or
*any* of the traditional left-wing socialist philosophies.
Nazis: extreme nationalism
Socialists: internationalist; national identity is bad
Nazis: indifferent to existence of private enterprise
Socialists: collectivist first and foremost regarding enterprise
Nazis: virulently racist
Socialists: anti-racist
Nazis: extreme reverence for the past and "traditional values"
Socialists: "progressive" - hostility to past and tradition
Nazis: romantic and folkloric; anti-intellectual
Socialists: "scientific" and pro-intellectual
Nazis: glorification of military and war as greatest expression of
national identity; effective military control of state
Socialists: military subordinate to civilian-controlled state
Nazis: aggressively expansionist through war
Socialists: passively expansionist through collapse of capitalist
economies due to capitalism's so-called "inherent contradiction"
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