NAZISM & FASCISM IN 2011
In today's political climate in the U.S. extremes are making outlandish charges from both sides. And name-calling is common. So, why am I again bringing up Nazism and fascism which have been used in name-calling rants against both sides? Because most of those name-calling references have no place on the reality spectrum. And the changes in today's political environment have the right-wing making the most untrue rants. With an M.A. in history, accuracy and references are extremely important to me.
First and foremost, let me state unequivably that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Nazism, and fascism represent the extreme right-wing political position. There is no doubt about that. Because the term Nazi derives part of its German wording for "socialism" has no more to do with socialism than does the statement that Joe's Place has "the best hamburgers in the world." Fearful of the onslaught of socialism and communism that was sweeping eastern Europe and some of the German worker organizations, the industrialists of Germany and the world wanted to put a stop to it for fear of losing some of their big profits if workers organized and made demands...let alone move in the direction of socialism.
European and American banks organized to put a stop to this creeping socialism. Steel, chemical, vehicle, petroleum, and many other industries sought to find a prevention political program that would stop socialism. But they needed political clout. The small group of German and Italian political organizations known as Nazi or fascisti were chosen to do the bidding of big industry and banks. Some familiar American individual and industrial giants were asked to join German and Italian corporations to lend support. Henry Ford was a known anti-Semite and was fearful of organized labor. In the Dearborn Independent he was writing in support of the Nazis, and Hitler gave him a top German award. Other American corporations joined in giving financial and moral support to the rising Nazis and fascists. Among them were duPont and Chase Manhattan Bank. But there were many others. Likewise, in America, Mussolini was propagandized into being a hero. Many leading American celebrities and others joined in support. Charles Lindbergh and Father Coughlin were notorious in that group.
The European, American, and Japanese banks began to meet regularly in Switzerland. They helped to finance Hitler's military juggernaut. Big industry and big banks were now reaping huge profits in the fast building Nazi and fascist war machine. Jobs became plentiful. The right-wing politicos and the right-wing industrialists had struck gold, found nirvana. Hitler and Mussolini were strange men, but they were like puppets when it came to operating financial and economic matters. What the industrialists promised would happen in their fight against socialism was more than coming true. In order to keep the banks and industries on a war footing, propaganda was used [see, Joseph Goebbels] to make charges against Czechoslovakia, Poland, etc. This cabal between dictators and industry even had a preview in which to learn how well their military equipment was doing [see Spanish Civil War]. Sure, Mussolini was nuts, but he made Italians pround of their nation, and he made the trains run on time (finally!).
What is developing in the United States today has echoes of this extreme right-wing political and industrial arrangement. Just as the Nazis and fascists propagandized and used misleading words, today the right-wing in the U.S. uses words and phrases that resonate with pariotic Americans. Examples: "Let's take back America,' The Tea Party, flying the flag, wearing lapel flags, blaming labor unions for our problems [not record profits or sending jobs to slave markets], a national war mentality, greed is good, don't foist taxes on the wealthy and corporations because it is bad for business, calling health care and other humane programs "socialism," instead of Jews being the problem today it is illegal immigrants, the very undemocratic "Patriot Act," and like Hitler did we create illegal reasons for starting wars [see Iraq War]. In the midst of all this manipulation comes fights between classes, ethnicities, races, genders, and even the fight within traditional political parties. We are in the middle of a manipulated mess that smacks of Germany and Italy in the 1930s. It is growing here. And our greed and our inhumanity and our fear of the economic situation, has us falling prey to profit-protecting industrial and economic propaganda. . And they will see to it that this side or the other is to blame, and it is much easier to use these tactics among conservatives who are now fast-becoming right-wing extremists. You might even call them contemporary Nazis or today's fascists. Not yet, but we are on the brink. The Republican Party that served us so well for decades and decades, no longer exists.
Space does not permit me to adequately cover this development. I ask you to read. Search engines will give you tons of material: Ford.Nazi...Father Coughlin...Dearborn Independent...Nazi award for Ford...General Smedley Butler...Bush.Nazi...duPont.Nazi...Chase Manhattan Bank.Nazi...etc.
"The Americans ought to be ashamed of themselves for letting their medals be won by Negroes." -Adolf Hitler
"Fascism, which was not afraid to call itself reactionary...does not hesitate to call itself illiberal or anti-liberal." -Benito Mussolini
"Knowledge is ruin to my young men." -Adolf Hitler [and today education is under attack, and like the uneducated Fuhrer felt, today you are suspect if you are "too educated"]
"In the size of the lie is always contained a certain factor of credulity, since the great masses of the people...will more easily fall victims to a great lie than a small one." -Adolf Hitler [today we have a great and popular reservoir of "hate radio" and media without proof and huge budgets for corporate departments to manage and manipulate "truth"]
"We stand for the maintenance of private property." -Adolf Hitler [so do people of all political persuasions, but this is a scare tactic for what was seen as creeeping socialism]
"The victor will never be asked if he told the truth." -Adolf Hitler`
"We have buried the putrid corpse of liberty." -Benito Mussolini
"All propaganda has to be popular and has to adapt its spiritual level to the perception of the least intelligent of those toward whom it intends to direct itself." -Adolf Hitler
