Opinion

Clearing up misconception about socialism

Posted January 04, 2015 4:01 am

In the course of a Dec. 15 letter clearing up some misconceptions about World War II, writer Harold Knudsen took pains to link the National Socialist German Workers' Party (the Nazis) with socialism, as if to establish an equivalency between Nazi "socialists" and today's proponents of progressive-left ideas identified (often erroneously) as socialistic.

Nazi socialism was an aggressive, radical-right form of nationalism fueled by anti-Semitism. Hitler feared and loathed the left and made no secret of his plans to "annihilate" it. Before and after his assumption of power, the SA and SS mercilessly hounded Germany's socialists and communists.

When the German economy was socialized after 1935, Hitler's motive wasn't politically philosophical but bluntly practical: He wanted unimpeded access to industry in order to prepare for war. That's not socialism - just naked militarism.

David J. Hogan

Arlington Heights

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