Is Nazism left-wing?

[tpfkaw]

Yes.

[tpfkaw]

The way I see it, there are two ways of measuring if an ideology is "left-wing" or "right-wing."

The first is the simplest - right-wing ideologies support systems closer to laissez-faire economics, left-wing ideologies support greater redistribution of wealth and greater central planning.  Fascism and Naziism support total government control of the economy and a vastly expanded welfare state.  They are therefore clearly left-wing, if not far-left, in this regard.

The second is a more subjective one - "left" ideologies are generally futurist and disdainful of old social orders, "right" ideologies seek to defend traditional social orders against modern encroachment.  Fascism and Naziism advocate a literal "end to history" in which all "old" thinking, culture, and artifacts would be eliminated, and be replaced by modern "new" thinking.  The aristocracy would be overthrown and the "new man" would be king.  Symbols of modernism - planes, trains, automobiles, and the military, would form the focus of their ideology.  Hence the Nazi plans to bulldoze the entire historical district of Berlin and fill it with gigantic neoclassical monstrosities, and the Fascist plans to fill in the Venetian canals.  The Nazis even banned the use of Fraktur type in newpapers and encouraged the use of Futura.  They are therefore "left" on a cultural basis as well.

Which brings us to the horseshoe theory.

[tpfkaw]

It's funny that the only member we have who is a real, no-holds-barred, genuine article bonafide fascist is the one who's accusing others of fascism.

[tpfkaw]

When the Bolsheviks took power in Russia, they promptly set to work purging all the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries.  Does that mean they aren't left-wing?  When either Maoists or Marxist-Leninists have taken power in countries, they always set to work almost immediately purging the slightly-different Communists, as would the Trotskyists if they ever got into power.  Are they not left-wing?  In most European countries, Socialist parties refuse to form coalitions with Communist parties.  Are they not left-wing?  Like all political movements, far-leftists have their own infighting, which they tend to resolve violently more often than other groups.  Because the Nazis persecuted some leftists who publicly opposed them (and they also persecuted rightists who publicly disagreed with them), does not mean that they were not left-wing themselves.

Furthermore, the decline in real wages for workers can be explained by three rather obvious factors:

a. Far-left nutcase economic policies tend to depress real wages.
b. There was a massive worldwide depression.
c. There was a war in which millions of tons of bombs were dropped on German factories.

Of course the Nazis had a tiny chosen elite that they rewarded with great wealth and influence.  So did the Soviets.  So is the case in every centrally-planned economy, and the more centrally-planned, the more that is the case.

It is true that "left" and "right" did not originally refer to what is now referred to as the economic left and right.  Hence my alternate definition.  But it is the terminology we use nowadays, and so we should refer to ideology with modern notation for consistency.

The Nazis did borrow quite a bit from social conservative ideology as well.  The fact remains, however, that their plan all along was to create a radically-redefined culture they viewed as diametrically opposed to the previous one.

Opebo is a fascist due to his support of nonsensical populism and made-up identity politics, worship of authority figures, and, most importantly, calling for his political opponents to be rounded up in camps and presumably killed.

Have I addressed every concern?