HITLER WAS NOT A SOCIALIST.

An oft repeated right wing lie that must be debunked whenever possible.

Firstly, I'm not a Marxist. I'm not especially a socialist, either, although I do believe that healthcare should be socialized. That's another post entirely, though. One, now that I think of it, I may write later. But I digress...

The Nazis outlawed socialism. They were imprisoning, and killing, socialists and communists before they were killing Jews. 

There were socialists in the Nazi party initially. They were represented mainly by the Strasser brothers and Strasserism. Guess what happened to them? Otto Strasser was expelled from the party in 1930 after a disagreement with Hitler over Hitler's disregard for socialist ideals during which Hitler repeatedly called Strasser a "liberal". He later went into exile in Czechoslovakia. The other brother, Gregor Strasser? Murdered during the Night of the Long Knives. 

Hitler didn't even believe in socialist economic principles nor did he institute them.

“Hitler was never a socialist. But although he upheld private property, individual entrepreneurship, and economic competition, and disapproved of trade unions and workers' interference in the freedom of owners and managers to run their concerns, the state, not the market, would determine the shape of economic development. Capitalism was, therefore, left in place. But in operation it was turned into an adjunct of the state."

            - Hitler 1936 – 45: Nemisis, by Ian Kershaw.

“We have to strip the terms ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Socialism’ of their previous meaning. Only that man is a nationalist who stands by his people, and only that man is a socialist who stands up for the rights of his people both internally and externally.”

            - Adolf Hitler, November 16, 1928.

There are so many articles that have been written on why Hitler was not a socialist that I honestly don't understand how anyone could fall for a lie so blatant.

Here is Reddit featuring many, many people debunking this nonsense. 

Here is a youtube video debunking the claim as made by Steven Crowder, a well known lying piece of shit -

Here is Professor David Klein of California State University, Northridge debunking the same myth.

Here's a Guardian opinion piece about this continually repeated lie. 

Here's a piece written by Albert Einstein on socialism.

Here's the definition of socialism itself for the people that are confused. 

When you search google for Hitler's links to left wing socialism you'll find yourself all but drowned in a murky green soup of right wing propaganda sites that try to distance themselves from this obviously right wing fascist dictator. Infowars, CNS, TheRebel, TheNationalReview, etc. The target of this fallacy is obvious, right wingers that don't check sources.  It's intended goal is equally obvious – Fear mongering.

“Look how the left is the enemy!” They scream. 

Ironically, this is exactly why Hitler sometimes claimed to be a socialist. It was a way to win over the workers with words while he acted in whichever way suited him best.

If he was such a left winger and a socialist then why was he supported by the right and by big business? Big business which, by the way, flourished before, during, and even after the war.

This shit is basic as hell and I feel like I shouldn't even have to write it... but I clearly do... So here it is.

Have a great day.