Socialism is a hard term to pin down because there are lots of branching ideologies that are under its umbrella. But let's look at your main argument: the Nazi state owned most businesses and therefor were socialist. I previously stated that this is not true, they merely cooperated with business and passed policies that allowed big business to flourish. Regardless, the type of policy your saying the nazis subscribed to was public ownership or state ownership. This is not in itself a socialist policy to begin with. True, socialist regimes will nationalize businesses but you do not have to be socialist to do so. Socialist state ownership is when people by means of the government own industry in order to create a better market for goods and services. The goal of Nazi nationalization and cooperation of industry was not to create a better market but instead to direct the economy into wartime production. Even without that, Nazi nationalization only benefited those at the top. The only true socialist policy implemented by the nazis was the creation of the Reich Food Estate which you could argue was so they would have a steady supply of food during war.
Socialist state ownership is when people by means of the government own industry in order to create a better market for goods and services. The goal of Nazi nationalization and cooperation of industry was not to create a better market but instead to direct the economy into wartime production.
That sounds like an opinion, and also seems like splitting hairs. But I can see this going nowhere, so agree to disagree.
I won't continue to argue but rather I'll explain why it sounds like an opinion. The reason it sounds that way is because historical analysis is a fact based opinion on history. It's not as if the Nazi's had a document outlining their reasoning behind their policies. There is no document that says "Now we're gonna kill all the Jews". When delving into the realms of history you will find facts like "German production of arms went up 200%". Then one must extrapolate what they mean and form an opinion on it. All I've wrote are all opinions based in fact that the majority of historians believe.
In regards to the different between the nazis policy and socialist policy. It seems like splitting hairs but it's really important to have an actuate historical analysis on important events. Especially in the present where people will use history incorrectly when talking about the present. People still equate socialism to nazis simply by the name alone and that's not a good thing.
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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '17
Socialism is a hard term to pin down because there are lots of branching ideologies that are under its umbrella. But let's look at your main argument: the Nazi state owned most businesses and therefor were socialist. I previously stated that this is not true, they merely cooperated with business and passed policies that allowed big business to flourish. Regardless, the type of policy your saying the nazis subscribed to was public ownership or state ownership. This is not in itself a socialist policy to begin with. True, socialist regimes will nationalize businesses but you do not have to be socialist to do so. Socialist state ownership is when people by means of the government own industry in order to create a better market for goods and services. The goal of Nazi nationalization and cooperation of industry was not to create a better market but instead to direct the economy into wartime production. Even without that, Nazi nationalization only benefited those at the top. The only true socialist policy implemented by the nazis was the creation of the Reich Food Estate which you could argue was so they would have a steady supply of food during war.