Why are they considered a far right group? From what I saw in the movie American History X, they oppose welfare, government intervention, and immigration–making them more conservative. And yet, they idolize Hitler and the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nazis). The political ideas of the Nazis were leftist–they advocated socialism (a liberal idea), strict government control over the economy and peoples’ lives.
Why the paradox? Is it merely race related?
It’s not a paradox, it’s a misperception.
Nazis were nationalists, not socialists. They promised the biggest German capitalists that they would help them deal with the problem of communist unions if the capitalists would bankroll the nazi campaign, and the very first group of people they locked up in the very first concentration camp at Dachau was the heads of the Communist Party and the communist members of the Reichstag.
The Nazis were a fascist organization–the furthest tip of the right wing.
Would a Socialist organization lock up the communist party? No.
Fascists, on the other hand, define themselves partly as anti-communist….
The Nazis were not leftist, for the millionth time. Nazism is generally considered by scholars to be a form of fascism, and while it incorporated some elements from the political left, it formed its most solid alliances on the political right. Among the key elements of Nazism were anti-parliamentarism, ethnic nationalism, racism, collectivism, eugenics, antisemitism, opposition to economic liberalism and political liberalism, anti-communism, and totalitarianism
The white supremesists support the closest thing to the Nazi party they can get in this country – The Republicans.
Heil Bush.
I thought Bush was sporting a Hitler Mastache in one of his photos, but it was just a Dirty Sanchez from Carl Rove.
they hate homosexuals and jews..then again..Obama’s new white preacher is a jew hater..but something tells me he likes alter boys..if you know what I mean..the nazis are more like the dems..Hilter was for big goverment and was anti gun and anti smoking and a veggie only eater..
There was nothing remotely leftist about the Nazis. What you’re engaging in here is half-baked revisionist history, based on taking things out of context.
Its tosh to say the Nazis were socialist in deed. The fact is the Nazis were ultra right wing nationalists. Which is the correct term for conservatives. So there you have it. Similarly the current Russian regime is called conservative for that same reason.
The old left-right spectrum is a bit dated. It was based on old European parliaments, where the socialists would sit on the left and the proponents of free entreprise on the right of the house.
Recent changes in theory have also added the authoritarian/libertarian dimension, so that you have a graph with four sectors. You’re either for free markets ruling the economy or for intervention, but also either in favor of authoritarian governments or hands off governments.
So left authoritarians would be people like Stalin, communism enforced through the military and police.
Hitler would be more of a centre authoritarian, while some regimes in South America would be more right authoritarian: With the army merely there to ensure free enterprise remains untouched.
On the libertarian side of the spectrum you also have opposites. Left wing libertarians are people like Gandhi and the Dalai Lama, who believe in the distribution of resources, but believe people must be persuaded to do so out of their own free will.
Right-wing libertarians, on the other hand believe free markets are the way to go, but don’t believe in enforcing the idea, since they believe free markets occur naturally in the absence of government intervention.
So to answer your question, the American skinnhead is closer to Pinochet than Hitler in ideology: They believe in force and authority and in protecting enterprises through the army and police if necessary. They generally oppose labour movements and any attempt at wealth redistribution.
Some of Hitler’s ideas would seem socialist to them.
Because Nazi’s were also a far right group, they wrongly used that name.
Many conservatives accuse Hitler of being a leftist, on the grounds that his party was named "National Socialist." But socialism requires worker ownership and control of the means of production. In Nazi Germany, private capitalist individuals owned the means of production, and they in turn were frequently controlled by the Nazi party and state. True socialism does not advocate such economic dictatorship — it can only be democratic. Hitler’s other political beliefs place him almost always on the far right. He advocated racism over racial tolerance, eugenics over freedom of reproduction, merit over equality, competition over cooperation, power politics and militarism over pacifism, dictatorship over democracy, capitalism over Marxism, realism over idealism, nationalism over internationalism, exclusiveness over inclusiveness, common sense over theory or science, pragmatism over principle, and even held friendly relations with the Church.
To most people, Hitler’s beliefs belong to the extreme far right. For example, most conservatives believe in patriotism and a strong military; carry these beliefs far enough, and you arrive at Hitler’s warring nationalism. This association has long been something of an embarrassment to the far right. To deflect such criticism, conservatives have recently launched a counter-attack, claiming that Hitler was a socialist, and therefore belongs to the political left, not the right.
The primary basis for this claim is that Hitler was a National Socialist. The word "National" evokes the state, and the word "Socialist" openly identifies itself as such.
However, there is no academic controversy over the status of this term: it was a misnomer. Misnomers are quite common in the history of political labels. Examples include the German Democratic Republic (which was neither) and Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s "Liberal Democrat" party (which was also neither). The true question is not whether Hitler called his party "socialist," but whether or not it actually was.
http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-hitler.htm
Then there is the enabeling act.
The only party to go on record voting against it were the social democrats (Democratic socialists) after communists had already been thrown in jail.
A two thirds majority was needed, since the law would actually alter the German constitution. Hitler needed 31 non-Nazi votes to pass it. He got those votes from the Center Party after making a false promise to restore some basic rights already taken away by decree.
However, one man arose amid the overwhelming might. Otto Wells, leader of the Social Democrats stood up and spoke quietly to Hitler.
"We German Social Democrats pledge ourselves solemnly in this historic hour to the principles of humanity and justice, of freedom and socialism. No enabling act can give you power to destroy ideas which are eternal and indestructible."
http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/enabling.htm
Nazi’s were not far right they were socialists who purged their own ranks and killed and persecuted their communist competition…….Nice try sorosbots but Soros is one of them and Chavez emulates him.
I consider Anarchy to be usually seen on the far-right.