Was Hitler more right-wing or more left-wing?

[manifold]

Discuss if you dare.

 

[FuelRod]

That depends I suppose on if you consider a Socialist to be left or right wing.

 

[Baruch Menachem]

My first three months on the board, that is all I discussed.

Most conservatives who have read "Road to Serfdom" would unequivocally say left wing. He used socialist arguments, was anti religion, vegetarian, and believed in enforced egalitarianism. The Horst Wessel story was an important part of National socialist ideology, the rich guy who discovers that the morals of the volk are higher than those of the rich and lives as an ordinary person and distributes his wealth.

The Road to serfdom chronicles the progression of social democratic thought, and where it leads to National Socialism.

When it comes to the right wing, there is very little there.

 

[manifold]

That depends I suppose on if you consider a Socialist to be left or right wing.

Is it really that simple?

 

[paulitician]

The Nazi Party was a Socialist Movement so i would say he was more Left Wing. His past writings expressed a disdain for Capitalism. The idea that Fascism was a Right Wing Movement is a very big error in Historical recording. Fascism was born of Socialism. I'm not sure who decided it was a Right Wing Movement but it was decided by many Historians. The real History of Fascism is quite different than what the history books say. I would compare Hitler to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. They are both Nationalist Socialists. They are not Right Wingers. But in the end Hitler & Chavez are just brutal Dictators who need to control everything. That's it in a nutshell.

 

[manifold]

I've heard Nazism compared to Feudalism, and there are indeed some noticeable similarities.

Would you also argue that Feudalism is left-wing?

 

[Baruch Menachem]

how do you make the comparison to feudalism? You need to provide more detail.

Naizism's relation to social democratic theory is right there in its writings.

 

[Wry Catcher]

Discuss if you dare.

Hitler was evil! The political spectrum uses left and right, conservative and liberal, radical and revolutionary. Evil is evil, the usual labels aren't necessary or sufficient and don't apply IMHO.

 

[manifold]

Nazism and the Fedual System: A Comparison on the Nazi Style of Government and Medieval Feudalism | Suite101.com

 

[Mr. Peepers]

Nazis were socialist in name only. Hitler was a fascist right wing dictator.

Political Compass - Analysis

 

[FuelRod]

To my knowledge Hitler didn't write the Nazi party platform either. The platform gave him his rise to power. Let's discuss that.

 

[manifold]

Nazis were socialist in name only. Hitler was a fascist right wing dictator.

Political Compass - Analysis

According to that he was close enough to center on the left-right scale to call it a wash.

 

[Vaard]

The Nazi Party was a Socialist Movement so i would say he was more Left Wing. His past writings expressed a disdain for Capitalism. The idea that Fascism was a Right Wing Movement is a very big error in Historical recording. Fascism was born of Socialism. I'm not sure who decided it was a Right Wing Movement but it was decided by many Historians. The real History of Fascism is quite different than what the history books say. I would compare Hitler to Hugo Chavez in Venezuela. They are both Nationalist Socialists. They are not Right Wingers. But in the end Hitler & Chavez are just brutal Dictators who need to control everything. That's it in a nutshell.

yeah, big error in historical reading.......

its not like the founders of facism stated: "We are free to believe that this is the century of authority, a century tending to the 'right,' a fascist century."

the nazi party started out as a socialist movement until the "night of long knives" when the socialists who supported hitler were either jailed, camped or killed.....

 

[paulitician]

The Right Wing/Left Wing thing can get pretty confusing. Both can lead to horrific totalitarian regimes. For instance,Right Wing in America is perceived to be a Conservative Movement. But that's not correct. If you're a real Conservative,you would support smaller Government and less interference in your life. So it would be virtually impossible to get a totalitarian regime with Conservatives in power. So i'm not even sure what Right Wing is anymore. Also,Right Wing in Europe means something different than in America. And that's probably where all the confusion stems from. Hitler and the Nazis were diehard Socialists though,so i would have to say he was Left Wing.

 

[Dragon]

Nazism should not be considered a socialist movement. It's true that the Nazis used socialist talking points, but those were only an electoral ploy.

In reality, fascism (including its Nazi subset) was not an economic philosophy at all, like socialism or capitalism, but rather a political philosophy like democracy or monarchy, concerned with the expression of political power not with the production and distribution of wealth. The sole Nazi concerns with respect to the economy was that it 1) keep the people's support; 2) maintain the military machine effectively; and 3) serve the consolidation of national power in the hands of the Fuhrer.

Economically, therefore, Nazism was neither left-wing nor right-wing; it was whatever-works-wing. Politically, as an anti-democratic philosophy that pursued extreme concentration of power into few hands, it must be considered right-wing -- indeed, WAY right-wing, much more so than any significant American right-wing movement, as none of those would support literal abolition of elections and an overt dictatorship.

However, while no significant part of the American right would go anywhere near as far as Hitler, the general distrust of democracy on the right remains to show the similarity.

 

[Dragon]

Nazism should not be considered a socialist movement. It's true that the Nazis used socialist talking points, but those were only an electoral ploy.

In reality, fascism (including its Nazi subset) was not an economic philosophy at all, like socialism or capitalism, but rather a political philosophy like democracy or monarchy, concerned with the expression of political power not with the production and distribution of wealth. The sole Nazi concerns with respect to the economy was that it 1) keep the people's support; 2) maintain the military machine effectively; and 3) serve the consolidation of national power in the hands of the Fuhrer.

Economically, therefore, Nazism was neither left-wing nor right-wing; it was whatever-works-wing. Politically, as an anti-democratic philosophy that pursued extreme concentration of power into few hands, it must be considered right-wing -- indeed, WAY right-wing, much more so than any significant American right-wing movement, as none of those would support literal abolition of elections and an overt dictatorship.

However, while no significant part of the American right would go anywhere near as far as Hitler, the general distrust of democracy on the right remains to show the similarity.

 

[BlindBoo]

He was a militaristic racist fascist authoritarian. Don't think he was either left or right in todays American politics. Nazi Germany was like the KKK on steroids.

 

[paulitician]

Read up on some of Hitler's writings. It will shock many who have this pre-conceived notion he was a "Right Winger." He actually wrote about how much he despised Capitalism. It's very interesting reading.

 

[8537]

He was a genocidal maniac hell-bent on murdering millions of people in order to strengthen his grip on power.

That's not left or right, it's bat shit crazy.

 

[paulitician]

Yea i think Left Wing/Right Wing definitions have been distorted over the years. I'm called a Right Winger all the time and i'm a Conservative. Hitler and the Nazis were called Right Wingers yet they were not Conservatives. It's impossible to have Dictatorship/Totalitarianism with a truly Conservative Government.

A true Conservative believes in the Constitution and supports less Government interference in Citizens' lives. Hitler and the Nazis were for absolute Government domination of Citizens' lives. That's just not real Conservatism. So i still say Hitler and the Nazis were more accurately comparable to today's Socialists/Progressives. And today's current brutal Dictators are Socialists/Communists for the most part. They definitely don't support less Government. That's how i see things anyway.