so "this" is why Nazis were not Socialists?

[Superman]

Today in labor history: Nazis destroy unions
May 2, 2014 2:47 PM CDT By Special to People’s World

https://www.peoplesworld.org/articl...B-FDkyI9E8ItLOms9SiHY_PFJ4C1ABAcld1nn-7QncCn4

On May 2, 1933, Adolf Hitler’s storm troopers occupied all trade union headquarters across Germany, and union leaders were arrested and put in prison or concentration camps. Many were beaten and tortured. All of the unions’ funds – in other words, the workers’ money – were confiscated. Former union officials were put on blacklists, preventing them from finding work.

This was one of the first acts of Hitler and the Nazis, who had just come to power in Germany a few months earlier, in January 1933. The German labor movement was one of the largest and strongest in the world, with some 7 million members at the time. The Nazis, much like some far-rightists in our own country then and now, saw that unions exercised significant power by representing workers’ interests and promoting a democratic humanitarian outlook among workers. The unions presented a barrier to the Nazi effort to control all areas of life and create a corporate-fascist state. Therefore, the Nazis made a priority of eliminating trade unions in Germany.

In their place, Hitler set up a “German Labor Front,” which included both employers and workers. Under the guise of providing benefits and services to workers, it supported the racist and pro-corporate Nazi agenda and spread Nazi propaganda among workers. Jews were banned from membership. Collective bargaining and the right to strike were outlawed. Pay and working conditions were decided by Hitler officials. As a result, wages were frozen, and the average workweek increased by 20 percent in just a few years.

Hitler’s destruction of unions was supported by important German business leaders and conservative politicians who shared the Nazi fear of a socialist revolution during the turbulent 1920s and early ’30s. Many of these people wanted restrictions on or complete abolition of unions, which they felt had become “too powerful.” This was one reason why many conservatives helped the Nazis come into power and joined or supported Hitler’s government.

Between 1933 and 1945 thousands of German trade unionists were arrested and imprisoned, and many were tortured, executed or sent to concentration camps.

Thus, the defeat of Hitler and liberation of Germany from Nazism represented a momentous victory for the working class of Germany and the rest of the world. But the struggle for labor rights continues, as we see daily in our own country.

Photo: Communists and trade unionists were among Hitler’s first targets. Here, Nazis rally in front of the headquarters of the German Communist Party (KPD) in 1933 in Berlin. Slogans on the building include: Against war, fascism, hunger … for work, bread, and freedom. Robert Sennecke, Biblioteque nationale de France, Wikimedia Commons

 

[DBS1970]

Simply what EVERY socialist party does when they achieve power. There can be only one organization claiming to represent workers.

 

[wig]

Fascism is a flavor or socialism.

The government controls the mechanism of industry. They control how many people are employed, what they will earn and they control what industry will produce. All this is monitored in order to force industry to produce products at a rate that best serves both the government and the people. Of course there is ample room for corruption in any financial philosophy that puts all the control of industry, labor and pricing in the hands of one entity.

The U.S. actually follows (to a minor degree) a perverted form of fascism on a relatively minor scale. Rather than have the government control industry by setting wages, products, costs etc. the U.S. has evolved an upside down version wherein Industry controls the government. Since so many politicians campaigns depend upon ample funding, Industry and lobby groups that represent large segments of industry ply politicians with a great deal of money and perks. These come in the form of campaign donations, various perks and flat out bribes. The underlying intent of all this politician buying is to place people in influential political positions who will either pass or block laws that help your industry and allow you greater reign to exploit your own opportunities in industry.

the U.S. IS in a sense fascist but certainly not the type of fascists of Hitler's Germany. Our wealthy and connected saw how that all went and learned from it. Now, the wealthy truly do run the government by proxy.

That isn't to say that successful commerce is all bad. Indeed, healthy industry creates more jobs, more opportunities and generally allows people at all levels of society to live and succeed as they like. Ultimately, however, our current system is "rigged" as it were to provide additional benefits and rewards to the highest level members of industry.

It is possible that the best economic system for the U.S. is a hybrid of pure capitalism and some true socialist programs. We DO need programs to support people who simply can't support themselves. It is our responsibility as a humane society to help care for those who desperately need care. We DO need unions to counter-balance the needs of the employee with the needs of the owner/shareholder. We DO need social security, medicare and medicaid. However we need to return to a strongly enforced policy of monopoly busting. No single entity or aligned conglomeration should be allowed to dominate a market without reasonable opportunity for competition. Frankly, Google should be broken up. There is virtually no reasonable competitive company or group in the niche. SEC trading should be closely monitored. There is a great deal of insider trading that is not caught and for this reason a great number of very wealthy people become even wealthier. Patents should not be allowed to be abused for no other purpose than price-gouging. (The pharmaceutical industry is pretty much entirely based on this.)

It is the responsibility of a capitalist society to determine the market value of goods and services. Unfortunately, we now have many many programs and policies in place that subvert that principle. (Patents are one way. Government regulation is another.) It is only through unfettered competition that the true value of goods and services can be determined by society. Whenever any government program or policy hampers unfettered competition, then the value of a product or service is being artificially changed.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Simply what EVERY socialist party does when they achieve power. There can be only one organization claiming to represent workers.

Hitler was anti-Communist as well. It wasn't so much that he didn't like Communism but he regarded the Communist Party as competition.

 

[Vader]

Nazi Germany is not cookie cutter government. Hitler was a nut job and his henchmen were a bunch of thugs and psychopaths. It started off as a quasi socialist government then morphed into a dictatorship.

 

[deljzc]

As Ayn Rand said, they are all sides of the same evil: collectivism.

When the rights of society, when conformity becomes the law OVER the rights of the individual, then we are doomed.

Everything in the Bill of Rights is about protecting the rights of the individual over the collective. Over the majority. Over their representative government. Over the so-called "needs of the many".

We have brainwashed generations into thinking sacrifice is somehow special. Self-hate is an admirable trait. Consumption is for the greater good. That equality is more important than excellence. That achievement is based on privilege and luck.

As a society, we give more than ever, we buy more than ever but we are the most unhappy we have ever been (based on every research paper imaginable). The further our country goes to socialism and collectivism the more unhappy we will be as a society. The less self-worth we will feel. The less pride we will have in our accomplishments.