Nazi Party: Difference between revisions

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Correcting revisionism and inaccuracies once again. Even the name "National Socialist German Worker's Party" implied the socialist (leftist) ideology of the Nazi Party. Socialism is a leftist view.
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|party_name_german = Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei
|party_logo= [[Image:Nazi eagle swastika.png<!-- DO NOT REPLACE THE 'PARTEIADLER' WITH THE 'REICHSADLER'! This article is about the PARTY. -->]]
|party_status = Former German national party|party articletitle= Nazi Party|active= 1919-1945|ideology= [[Nazism|National Socialism]]<br>[[Pan-Germanism]] <br> [[Secular Progressivism]] <br> [[Secularism]] <br> [[Humanism]] <br> [[Progressivism]] <br> [[Totalitarianism]]
|political position= [[Far RightLeft]]
|international= N/A[[Neo-Nazis]] in the [[United States]] and other countries
|newspaper=''[[Völkischer Beobachter]]''
|preceded_by= [[German Workers' Party]] (DAP)
|succeeded_by= None; Banned (in Germany); [[Neo-Nazis]] (in the [[United States]] and internationally)
|colors = [[Black]], [[White]], [[Red]], [[Brown]]
|website = None
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The party's last leader, [[Adolf Hitler]], was appointed [[Chancellor of Germany]] by president [[Paul von Hindenburg]] in 1933. Hitler rapidly established a [[totalitarianism|totalitarian]] regime<ref>Arendt, Hannah. ''The Origins of Totalitarianism.'' London; New York; San Diego:Harvest Book. Pp. 306</ref><ref>Curtis, Michael. 1979 ''Totalitarianism.'' New Brunsick (USA); London: Transactions Publishers. Pp. 36</ref><ref>Burch, Betty Brand. 1964 ''Dictatorship and Totalitarianism: Selected Readings''. Pp. 58</ref><ref>Bruhn, Jodi; Maier, Hans Hans Maier. 2004. ''Totalitarianism and Political Religions: Concepts for the Comparison of Dictatorships.'' Routledge: Oxon (U.K.); New York. Pp. 32.</ref> known as the [[Nazi Germany|Third Reich]].
 
Nazi ideology stressed the failure of [[democracy]], failure of [[Laissez-faire]] [[capitalism]], "racial purity of the German people" and persecuted those it perceived either as race enemies or ''[[life unworthy of life|Lebensunwertes Leben]]'', that is "life unworthy of living". This included [[Jew]]s, [[Slavs]], and [[Roma people|Roma]] along with German [[Homosexuality|homosexuals]], the [[Nazi eugenics|mentally disabled]], [[communists]], and others. To carry out these beliefs, the party and the German state which it controlled organized the systematic murder of approximately six million [[Jew]]s (in what has become known as the [[Holocaust]]), and about five million other people, mainly [[Russians]], [[Poles]] and [[Roma people|Roma]]. Many thousands of political enemies of the Nazi regime, along with German gays, people with disabilities, and religious minorities were also killed. Hitler's desire to build an empire in Europe through expansionist policies was a major influence that led to the outbreak of [[World War II]] in Europe.
 
==Origins and early existence: 1918-1923==
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On 5 January 1919, Drexler, together with [[Gottfried Feder]], [[Dietrich Eckart]] and [[Karl Harrer]], and twenty workers from Munich's railway shops and some others met to discuss the creation of a new political party based on the political principles which Drexler endorsed.<ref>Carlsten, F. L. The Rise of Fascism. University of California Press. Pp. 91</ref> Drexler proposed that the party be named the German-Socialist Workers Party, but Harrer objected to using the term "socialist" in the name, the issue was settled by removing the term from the name, and it was agreed that the party was named the [[German Workers' Party]] (''Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'', DAP).<ref>Carlsten, Pp. 91</ref> In the wake of World War I, monarchy in Middle Europe had collapsed. For centuries the monarch had been the ''raison d'être'' uniting the nation. To ease concerns among potential middle-class nationalist supporters, Drexler made clear that unlike Marxists, the party supported middle-class citizens, and that the party's socialist policy was meant to give [[social welfare]] to German citizens deemed part of the Aryan race.<ref name="Spector, Pp. 137"/> They became one of many [[völkisch movement|''völkisch'' movements]] that existed in Germany at the time. Like other ''völkisch'' groups, the DAP advocated the belief that Germany should become a unified "national community" (''Volksgemeinschaft'') rather than a society divided along class and party lines. This ideology was explicitly anti-Semitic as it declared that the "national community" must be ''judenfrei'' ("free of Jews").
 
From the outset, the DAP was opposed to non-nationalist political movements, especially counterpart movements also on the far left, including the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]] (SPD) and the newly-formed [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD). Members of the DAP saw themselves as fighting against "[[Bolshevism]]" and anyone considered to be part of or aiding so-called "[[international Jewry]]".
 
The Party believed that Social Welfare was the business of the State. Before the Nazi movement, the churches administered charity. The government enforced a collection of a 10% tithe which was paid directly to the churches. This charitable bureaucracy was shifted to the State.
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Hitler officially became the 555th member of the DAP, but this was in fact a lie; he was member number 55. The DAP decided to add '500' to every member's number to exaggerate the party's strength. He later claimed to be member number seven (he was in fact the seventh executive member of the party's central committee). Over the following months, the DAP continued to attract new members, while remaining too small to have any real significance in German politics. On 24 February 1920, the party added "National Socialist" to its official name, becoming the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), although Hitler earlier suggested the party to be renamed the "Social Revolutionary Party"; it was [[Rudolf Jung]] who persuaded Hitler to follow the NSDAP naming.<ref>{{harvnb|Heiden|1933|p=821}}</ref>
 
Hitler discovered that he had talent as an orator, and his ability to draw new members, combined with his characteristic ruthlessness, soon made him the dominant figure. Drexler recognized this, and Hitler became party chairman on 28 July 1921. When the party had been established, it consisted of a Leadership Board elected by the members, which in turn elected a Board Chairman. Hitler scrapped this arrangement. He acquired the title ''[[Führer]]'' ("leader") and, after a series of sharp internal conflicts, it was accepted that the party would be governed by the ''[[Führerprinzip]]'' ("leader principle"): Hitler was the sole leader of the party and he alone decided its policies and strategy. Hitler at this time saw the party as a revolutionary organization, whose aim was the violent overthrow of the [[Weimar Republic]], which he sawclaimed as controlled by the socialists (although the NSDAP even called themselves the "National Socialist" Party) , Jews and the "[[Dolchstoßlegende|November criminals]]" who had betrayed the German soldiers in 1918. The [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] (also known as "Brownshirts" or "storm troopers") were founded as a party militia in 1921 and began violent attacks on other parties.
 
Unlike Drexler and other party members, Hitler claimed that he was less interested in the "socialist" aspect of "national socialism" beyond moving Social Welfare administration from the Church to the State.. Though Himselfhimself of provincial lower-middle-class origins, he disliked the mass working class of the big cities, and hadactually nohad sympathy with the notions of attacking private property orand the business class (which some early Nazis espoused, and which were sadly evidenced by the attacking of especially private businesses founded or owned by Jewish people).{{Fact|date=June 2008}} For Hitler the twin goals of the party were always German nationalist expansionism and [[Antisemitism]]. These two goals were fused in his mind by his belief that Germany's external enemies - [[United Kingdom|Britain]], France and the [[Soviet Union]] - were controlled by the Jews, and that Germany's future wars of national expansion would necessarily entail a war against the Jews.<ref>{{cite book
|last=Hakim
|first=Joy
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During 1921 and 1922 the Nazi Party grew significantly, partly through Hitler's oratorical skills, partly through the SA's appeal to unemployed young men, and partly because there was a backlash against socialist and liberal politics in Bavaria as Germany's economic problems deepened and the weakness of the Weimar regime became apparent. The party recruited former World War I soldiers, to whom Hitler as a decorated frontline veteran could particularly appeal, small businessmen and disaffected former members of rival parties. Nazi rallies were often held in beer halls where downtrodden men could get free beer. The [[Hitler Youth]] was formed for the children of party members, although it remained small until the late 1920s. The party also formed groups in other parts of Germany. [[Julius Streicher]] in [[Nuremberg]] was an early recruit. Others to join the party at this time were former army officer [[Ernst Röhm]], who became head of the SA, World War I flying ace [[Hermann Göring]] and [[Heinrich Himmler]]. In December 1920 the party acquired a newspaper, the [[Völkischer Beobachter]].
 
In 1922, a party with remarkably similar policies and objectives came into power in Italy, the [[National Fascist Party]] under the leadership of the charismatic [[Benito Mussolini]]. The Fascists like the Nazis, promoted a national rebirth of their country; claimed to have opposed communism and liberalism; appealed to the working-class; opposed the [[Treaty of Versailles]]; and advocated the territorial expansion of their country. The Italian Fascists used a straight-armed [[Roman salute]] and wore black-shirted uniforms. Hitler was inspired by Mussolini and the Fascists and borrowed their use of the straight-armed salute as a Nazi salute. When the Fascists came to power in 1922 in Italy through their coup attempt called the "[[March on Rome]]", Hitler began planning his own coup which would materialize one year later.
 
In January 1923 France occupied the [[Ruhr]] industrial region as a result of Germany's failure to meet its [[World War I reparations|reparations]] payments. This led to economic chaos, the resignation of [[Wilhelm Cuno]]'s government and an attempt by the Communist Party (KPD) to stage a revolution. The reaction to these events was an upsurge of nationalist sentiment. Nazi Party membership grew sharply, to about 20,000.<ref>{{harvnb|Kershaw|2001|p=179}}</ref> By November, Hitler had decided that the time was right for an attempt to seize power in Munich, in the hope that the [[Reichswehr]] (the post-war German army) would mutiny against the Berlin government and join his revolt. In this he was influenced by former General [[Erich Ludendorff]], who had become a supporter though not a member of the Nazis.
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*[[Neo-Nazism]]
{{col-end}}
 
==The Irrefutability of the NSDAP (Nazi) Party Being A Far-Left Party==
 
Much debate has been held as to whether the NSDAP (Nazi) Party was a [[far-right]] or [[far-left]] [[political party]] (and even whether [[fascism]] itself is a far-left or far-right [[political ideology]]). Given that, as aforementioned, "Nazi ideology stressed the failure of democracy, failure of Laissez-faire capitalism, 'racial purity of the German people' and persecuted those it perceived either as race enemies or...'life unworthy of living';" one must conclude therefore that the Nazis were an [[anti-democratic]] (and [[anti-republican]]), [[socialist]] (even self-named "Socialist"), [[nationalist]] (and [[imperialistic]]) party that fits the profile of [[far left]] parties and [[wings of political parties]]. If nothing else, a comparison to [[Secular Progressivism]] and other [[anti-traditionalist]] [[ideologies]] in the [[Democratic Party]] shows that Nazi ideology is as far to the left as possible. For example, the [[Nation of Islam]] and other [[Black Nationalist]] groups are Black counterparts to the White Nazis, and both groups call for [[nationalism]] and their respective groups' ethnic, religious, and national superiority (both using even violent means, including [[terrorism]], to attempt achievement of their superiority goals). The Nation of Islam is also strongly [[anti-Jewish]] and [[anti-Israel]] as were the Nazis.
 
Both groups, furthermore, are at least likely to be (if not actually or specifically) supported by far-left, [[secular-progressive]] [[operatives]] such as [[George Soros]] (who himself even turned against and stole from his own people during the [[Holocaust]]); who tend to support groups like the [[Nation of Islam]] in one respect or another. For example, [[secular progressives]] may support groups that the Nation of Islam (and [[Islam]]) in general may not support (like [[NARAL]] and [[Planned Parenthood]], given the [[Islamic]] stance on [[abortion]]), at the same time that they support groups that the Nazis (who are succeeded by the [[Neo-Nazis]]) may not (like the [[PLO]], [[CAIR]], and the [[Taliban]], given the non-[[Caucasian]] and non-[[German]] ethnicity and nationality of these [[Muslim]] groups; and also their religion, given that the Nazis "believed that Social Welfare was the business of the State" and not of [[religious institutions]] of any kind).
 
==Notes==
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[[Category:Political parties established in 1919]]
[[Category:Political parties disestablished in 1945]]
[[Category:Banned far rightleft parties]]
[[Category:Defunct political parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:Parties of single-party systems]]
[[Category:Political parties in Weimar Germany]]
[[Category:Far-rightleft and fascist parties in Germany]]
[[Category:Nazi parties]]
[[Category:AntiPseudo-anti-communist organizations]]
 
{{Link FA|mk}}
 
[[als:Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei]]
[[ar:الحزب النازي]]
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[[fa:حزب ملی کارگران سوسیالیست آلمان]]
[[fr:Parti national-socialiste des travailleurs allemands]]
[[fy:NSDAP]]
[[gl:Partido Nacionalsocialista Alemán dos Traballadores]]
[[ko:민족사회주의 독일 노동자당]]