The most important article on what is happening in the US

[ProfessorPlum]

It's the "f-word" again. But this time, instead of just comparing how our government is doing the same thing that the Nazis did (using slave/prison labor, invading sovereign countries for no reason, stifling dissent, etc.), this one explains the economic underpinnings of tying corporate to government power in both fascist Germany and Italy, and the parallels to what we are seeing today. This country needs to WAKE UP, and fast, about what the consequences of concentration of wealth really mean.

This is the most important article I've seen on this topic.

http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&call_pageid=971358637177&c=Article&cid=1132960211791

quotes:

Hitler attended to the reduction of taxes applicable to large businesses while simultaneously increasing the same taxes as they related to small business. Previous decrees establishing price ceilings were repealed such that the cost of living for the average family was increased. Hitler's economic policies hastened the destruction of Germany's middle class by decimating small business. Ironically, Hitler pandered to the middle class, and they provided some of his most enthusiastically violent supporters. The fact that he did this while simultaneously destroying them was a terrible achievement of Nazi propaganda.

Hitler also destroyed organized labour by making strikes illegal. Notwithstanding the socialist terms in which he appealed to the masses, Hitler's labour policy was the dream come true of the industrial cartels that supported him. Nazi law gave total control over wages and working conditions to the employer.

Compulsory (slave) labour was the crowning achievement of Nazi labour relations. Along with millions of people, organized labour died in the concentration camps. The camps were not only the most depraved of all human achievements, they were a part and parcel of Nazi economic policy. Hitler's Untermenschen, largely Jews, Poles and Russians, supplied slave labour to German industry. Surely this was a capitalist bonanza.

unquote

I note here with some concern that the US has its own untermenschen, who we lock up and then force to labor for big business. There have been several articles on prison labor being used for cheap manufacturing, US prisoners sewing jeans for Levi Strauss, etc. Is it less horrible that instead of linking slave labor directly to ethnicity as the Nazis did, that we use the war on drugs and a racially skewed justice system? Just asking.

quote:

Mussolini, the one-time socialist, went on to abolish the inheritance tax, a measure that favoured the wealthy. He decreed a series of massive subsidies to Italy's largest industrial businesses and repeatedly ordered wage reductions. Italy's poor were forced to subsidize the wealthy. In real terms, wages and living standards for the average Italian dropped precipitously under fascism.

...

Antitrust laws do not just protect the marketplace, they protect democracy.

...

Neo-liberals call relentlessly for tax cuts, which, in a previously progressive system, disproportionately favour the wealthy. Regarding the distribution of wealth, the neo-liberals have nothing to say. In the end, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. As in Weimar Germany, the function of the state is being reduced to that of a steward for the interests of the moneyed elite. All that would be required now for a more rapid descent into fascism are a few reasons for the average person to forget he is being ripped off. Hatred of Arabs, fundamentalist Christianity or an illusory sense of perpetual war may well be taking the place of Hitler's hatred for communists and Jews.

[postulater]

1. Thanks for posting this

I'm taking my daughter to the Black Holocaust Museum this morning and this will fit right in with my day!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Nice resource for books Professor... I have saved your hompage

to my "webs" folder to use later as a reference, thank you.... who would think that there was a parallel between Germany and US.

[ProfessorPlum]

3. Thanks very much - I have a better resource to link to

though I've just started blogging there:

http://professorplum2.blogspot.com/


PP

[Oceansaway]

4. good one !!...thanks

[pretzel4gore]

5. the 'socialist' angle in the hitlerian scheme

this is different. bush and his mighty mites have so demonized 'socialism' for such a long time that the hitler model can't work for them without cutting off their arms(:)) and the question is: how much did the hitler model depend upon the socialist angle? Could it be that the nazis were such a success because they hid the fascism while playing up the socialism, to their people (never mind the 2020 sight historians)?

[1932]

8. What do you think was the socialist angle in Nazi philosophy?

I'm not sure there was one.

[pretzel4gore]

9. just the optics, it seems...

anyone who's contended with a freeper, especially a working class or even a ayn randian type, confronts this 'best for society' idealism that motivates them (and is impossible to argue against) so it's like trying to untangle logical ropes while someone's skipping in it! The national Socialist Workers party was a weird groundswell of popular anger/frustration harnessed to certain improbable ideas, which, needless to say, most 'nazis' still, to this day, deny!
to answer your question, it was only big talk/small ideas socialism, intended to confuse or mislead the gullible herd (ie taking candy from a baby, just like the repuke plan)

[Armstead]

11. Hitler was very socialistic in some ways

One reason the Nazis got so far were programs that helped the working class. They provided a lot of goodies and state sponsored programs that on the surface were modeled on socialist utopian visions.

[1932]

12. Hitler was anti-socialist, but not above false advertising:

The very few pro-working class polices were bones he through to dillute support for true socialists and communists, whom his party violently attacked.


Hitler saw socialism as part of a Jewish conspiracy. Many of the socialist leaders in Germany, including Kurt Eisner, Rosa Luxemburg, Ernst Toller and Eugen Levine were Jews. So also were many of the leaders of the October Revolution in Russia. This included Leon Trotsky, Gregory Zinoviev, Lev Kamenev, Dimitri Bogrov, Karl Radek, Yakov Sverdlov, Maxim Litvinov, Adolf Joffe, and Moisei Uritsky. It had not escaped Hitler's notice that Karl Marx, the prophet of socialism, had also been a Jew.

It was no coincidence that Jews had joined socialist and communist parties in Europe. Jews had been persecuted for centuries and therefore were attracted to a movement that proclaimed that all men and women deserved to be treated as equals. This message was reinforced when on 10th July, 1918, the Bolshevik government in Russia passed a law that abolished all discrimination between Jews and non-Jews.

It was not until May, 1919 that the German Army entered Munich and overthrew the Bavarian Socialist Republic. Hitler was arrested with other soldiers in Munich and was accused of being a socialist. Hundreds of socialists were executed without trial but Hitler was able to convince them that he had been an opponent of the regime. To prove this he volunteered to help to identify soldiers who had supported the Socialist Republic. The authorities agreed to this proposal and Hitler was transferred to the commission investigating the revolution.

Information supplied by Hitler helped to track down several soldiers involved in the uprising. His officers were impressed by his hostility to left-wing ideas and he was recruited as a political officer. Hitler's new job was to lecture soldiers on politics. The main aim was to promote his political philosophy favoured by the army and help to combat the influence of the Russian Revolution on the German soldiers.

{snip}

The German soldiers who attended {Hitler's} lectures shared his sense of failure. They found his message that they were not to blame attractive. He told them that Germany had not been beaten on the battlefield but had been betrayed by Jews and Marxists who had preached revolution and undermined the war effort.

The German Army also began using Hitler as a spy. In September 1919, he was instructed to attend a meeting of the German Worker's Party (GWP). The army feared that this new party, led by Anton Drexler, might be advocating communist revolution. Hitler discovered that the party's political ideas were similar to his own. He approved of Drexler's German nationalism and anti-Semitism but was unimpressed with the way the party was organized. Although there as a spy, Hitler could not restrain himself when a member made a point he disagreed with, and he stood up and made a passionate speech on the subject.

{snip}

Hitler's reputation as an orator grew and it soon became clear that he was the main reason why people were joining the party. This gave Hitler tremendous power within the organization as they knew they could not afford to lose him. One change suggested by Hitler concerned adding "Socialist" to the name of the party. Hitler had always been hostile to socialist ideas, especially those that involved racial or sexual equality. However, socialism was a popular political philosophy in Germany after the First World War. This was reflected in the growth in the German Social Democrat Party (SDP), the largest political party in Germany.

Hitler, therefore redefined socialism by placing the word 'National' before it. He claimed he was only in favour of equality for those who had "German blood". Jews and other "aliens" would lose their rights of citizenship, and immigration of non-Germans should be brought to an end.

{snip}

To appeal to the working class and socialists, the programme included several measures that would redistribute income and war profits, profit-sharing in large industries, nationalization of trusts, increases in old-age pensions and free education.

{snip}

At the end of the march Hitler would make one of his passionate speeches that encouraged his supporters to carry out acts of violence against Jews and his left-wing political opponents.

As this violence was often directed against Socialists and Communists, the local right-wing Bavarian government did not take action against the Nazi Party. However, the national government in Berlin were concerned and passed a "Law for the Protection of the Republic". Hitler's response was to organize a rally attended by 40,000 people. At the meeting Hitler called for the overthrow of the German government and even suggested that its leaders should be executed.

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/GERhitler.htm

[happydreams]

20. Socialist is as socialist does.

Hitler used the term national socialist, IMHO, for symbolic effect. He worked in lockstep with industry and with his "Iron Fist" brutally eliminated the real socialists in Germany. But oddly the Soviet Socialists/ Bolsheviks crushed labor movements as well, though they used the excuse of "counterrevolutionary".

[converted_democrat]

6. What a great article!! Thank you for posting! K&R..n/t

[1932]

7. Many Jews were labor leaders and labor organizers.

By sending them to concentration camps, they broke up theh labor movement.

They also then used Jews (and others) as slave laborers throughout the war, which further drove down the value of labor and caused inefficiences.

An interesting thing about Germany during the war is that, because they treated labor so poorly (between enslaving people and not being willing to pay everyone else fair wages) they never reached full production in their factories. Every year of the war (despite extensive bombing of their factories and cities) they were able to increase production because they were starting off so low.

The US, however, operating under New Deal policies which rewarded labor and encouraged full employment, were able to reach maximum efficiency much faster.

One other thing about the war: the US and the British differed on strategy in Germany. The US wanted to drop bombs on cities and factories (because Wall Streeters wanted to create a justification for an expensive, materiel-intensive air force) while the British wanted to bomb roads and train tracks rather than factories because they thought it would be more disruptive to upset transportation routes.

A survey after the war on which JK Galbraith worked concluded the British were right and that the US bombings were very inefficient (not only did they miss their targets, the Germans were able to rebuild damaged factories almost overnight) whereas disrupting transportation really did hamper the German war effort.

[Armstead]

10. A little overblown but worth a kick

When I say a little overblown, I mean there are differences historically that make such neat parallels not applicable.

Germany and Italy in the 20's and 30's were not the US. And Hitler was a single meglomaniac who, despite his faults, at least had a coherent vision and the organizational skill to carry it out.

The situation in the US is much less coherent, and we have enough established checks and balances still that fascism in that form won;t happen here.

But nevertheless, there is a dangerous systemic trend towards a fusion of Big Business and Government that is bad news and will bring fundasmental changes for the worse if we as a country don't wake up soon.

[ProfessorPlum]

13. I'm not sure I understand your "overblown" comment

It is a certainly true that "Germany and Italy in the 20's and 30's were not the US".

ALL of our "checks and balances" have failed in stopping Bushco so far. Only the criminal legal system has slowed them down at all.

If anything, I find this article not "blown" enough. We have nearly achieved feudalism in this country. Diebold is taking over our voting system and people just don't care.

[lvx35]

16. People care.

I think what the guy is saying, is that this is a mess of new proportions and form. I think he's right in that. And I think you're right that we can't overestimate the threat of it all nevertheless.

[Armstead]

21. That would be it

While historical analogies are useful, we also have to take current circumstances on their own terms.

When false parallels are made, it distracts from actually dealing with real problems before us.

[gulfcoastliberal]

14. Prison labor

Lots of interesting things about how both the US and China justify it by saying it "teaches inmates a skill". Unreal!

http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~kastor/private/prison-labor.html

[Nothing Without Hope]

15. And the US public is mostly oblivious to the danger - READ THIS on the

DU home page:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/12/03_splash.html
DU editorial title: "A Splash of Cold Water"

Why are so many complacent about the neocons giving up power when "the people" finally start getting irritated by their crimes? They cannot imagine that a military dictatorship could ever happen here, but all the preparations have already been made and administering martial law - which Bush can declare at any time - is one of NorthCom's stated missions.

[Pachamama]

18. I totally agree! (Great DU Editorial that folks should read)

The complacency of so many in this country (especially by those that are aware of what the Bush/Cheney/Neo-con cabal have been doing to this country) is only going to allow the crimes to continue. Even some of the most educated and intelligent people I know still have either an idealistic view (hope) that this country will withstand all attempts for our country succumbing to fascism +/or dictatorship and therefore are not "doing anything" and then I know others who realize the danger, but aren't doing anything because frankly they are just too busy making ends meet, taking kids to school, dealing with life day to day.

I must admit, I keep wondering "Where is the outrage? Why isn't the American public literally out in the streets protesting? Where are the strikes? Sit-ins? Teach-ins?"

What is it going to take to "wake" this country up if we as a Nation and as a people, a community aren't already outraged enough to be out in the streets? :shrug:

[ngGale]

17. Excellent post...

:thumbsup:

[Hubert Flottz]

19. The same wealthy families in the US and the UK who enabled...

Hitler to do the things he did, are at it again here in the USSA!

Anyone who thinks things like Hitler's Reich can't happen again, is in error.

Read "The Rockefeller File" and "None Dare Call It Conspiracy" sometime and think about what all has happened as predicted by those OLD books. I think both books are on line, or if not can be found in used book stores. 'The History of IG Farben' and 'The Krupp Dynasty' are very good books also.

The neocon Reich has been in the planning stages for YEARS and if you think these people aren't as warped, determined and evil as the Nazis you are sadly mistaken IMHO!