Nazism vs Communism
Nazism and communism are two ideologies or political systems of governance that were once very prominent in the world. While Nazism is associated with Germany and Hitler, Communism is a thinking that is associated with Karl Marx and Russia. Nazism is no longer relevant in present times, and even communism is existent only in a handful of countries around the world. Many people think Nazism to be similar to communism because of the use of the word socialist in Nazi Germany. However, the fact is that there are many differences between Nazism and communism and experts place these ideologies on two extremes of a scale from left to right. Let us take a closer look.
Nazism
Nazism stands for the political ideology endorsed by Adolf Hitler and his Nazi party in Germany before the 2nd World War. Not many are aware of the fact that Nazi is a word that is formed from the first two syllables of the word National as it is pronounced in the German language. The party was officially called National Socialist German Workers’ party. The ideology of Nazi party was that of racial superiority of the German people and anticommunist feeling or sentiment. It was also based upon anti-Semitism. This ideology believed in governance by racially superior people (Aryans) while getting rid of the Jews who were considered impure and source of sickness in the society. Nazism rejected both democracy and communism as it believed that Jews clung to democracy for their preservation and communism sought a classless society, whereas Nazi wanted rule by the dominant race. It is this belief in the superiority of the German race that places Nazism in the far right position of the political spectrum.
Communism
Communism is both a political ideology as well as a social and economic theory. This system advocates the elimination of private property and creation of a classless society. System of governance seeks total control of the ruling party over means of production and assets. The ideology is opposite of capitalism that advocates entrepreneurship and the profit motive. This ideology is greatly influenced by socialism as advocated by Karl Marx and became very popular during the 2nd half of the 20th century to rival capitalism and democracy. It allured the landless and the labour class as they were promised equal rights and equal distribution of assets in this ideology. Communism was at its peak during the cold war era but started to fade away with the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990 and the fall of the Berlin wall in Germany.
Nazism vs Communism
• Communism falls at the far left of the political spectrum while Nazism is believed to lie at the far right of this spectrum.
• Communism strives to create a classless society, whereas Nazism tries to establish a society ruled by the superior race.
• Communism detests private property and entrepreneurship, whereas Nazism finds nothing objectionable with private property.
• Nazism is associated with Hitler’s Nazi party of Germany, whereas communism is associated with Soviet Union and Karl Marx.
Terrace Thornhill says
I’m curious of this left right scale you refer to. How can two forms of authoritarianism end up on opposite ends of the political scale? Where does liberal democracy reside? Where does anarchy reside? The center? Doesn’t the fundamental difference in political philosophy range between authoritarianism and individualism?
I would place Nazis and Communists on the left because they’re authoritarian, with Communists being further left than Nazis because Nazis allowed property ownership and Communists didn’t. I’d put parliamentary democracies across the center, ranging from countries like Sweden on the center left to countries like America on the center right with extreme individualists and anarchists on the far right. That scale would actually represent something meaningful, it seems like the one in play is deliberately designed to muddy the waters.
Sid Hartha says
I like your response. It is well thought out and exposes obvious biases by the author of the article.
jbetker693 says
Terrace Thornhill, Nazism and Communism were political opposites. This is shown in the event in Germany during the Third Reich when they were burning books by Karl Marx. They considered Bolshevism to be extremist in nature as compared to National Socialism.
Christian Pledger says
Communism and Naziism by this articles definition are quite the same. The only difference is government is the superior race, imposing slavery on the masses.
Stevo says
Communism and Nazism are both on the left. Communism is war of the classes Nazism is war of the races. Interesting quotes by Nazis :. “My political sentiments inclined toward the left and emphasized the socialist aspects every bit as much as the nationalist ones.” – Adolf Eichmann
“Our opinion at the time was that National Socialism and the Communism of the Soviet Republic were sort of ‘siblings….” – Adolf Eichmann
“Lenin is the greatest man, second only to Hitler, and that the difference between Communism and the Hitler faith is very slight.” – Joseph Goebbels
“Basically, National-Socialism and Marxism are the same.” — Adolf Hitler Munich, November 1941.
“I have learned a great deal from Marxism as I do not hesitate to admit … The difference between [Marxists] and myself is that I have really put into practice what these peddlers and pen-pushers have timidly begun. The whole of National Socialism is based on it. Look at the workers’ sports clubs, the industrial cells, the mass demonstrations, the propaganda leaflets written specially for the comprehension of the masses: all these new methods of political struggle are essentially Marxist in origin. All I had to do is take over these methods and adapt them to our purpose.” – Adolf Hitler
Kitt Michele Love says
Fascism (e.g., National Socialism and Italian Fascism) and Marxism (i.e., Socialism and Communism) are disparate political ideologies. A political ideology is a set of ethical ideals, principles, doctrines, myths, or symbols of a social movement, institution, or a large group. These ideologies explain how society functions, providing a blueprint for social order.
Marxism is a philosophy of history or, more specifically, a philosophical study of history, known as historical materialism. Marxism is Karl Marx’s (1818-1883) interpretation of history which uses socioeconomic analysis with a materialist interpretation of historical development. In one sense, Marx tried to analyze history through the lens of class struggle.
The political ideologies of socialism and communism developed from the works of Marx, among others. The first English language reference to fascist and fascism are in 1919 and 1921, respectively, and are related to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s (1883-1945) regime and its philosophy, but fascisti, and their fasces, precede him.
While communism is a political doctrine that dictates economic equality, its aim is a revolution of the proletariat (or working class) against a capitalist system to form a classless society. Communism is an international struggle that seeks a classless society and the dissolution of national borders and nations states. On the other hand, fascism is a nationalistic, top-down system with rigid class roles dominated by a single party and ruled by an all-powerful leader. In theory, communism is a truly utopian society that is both classless and stateless, lacking the apparatuses of political parties or a political leader. In practice, the communist revolution that Marx describes has not occurred, and all the nations, past and present, that claim to be socialist-communist republics are, in point of fact, not.
Unscrupulous people exploit the gullible, uneducated, and low-information citizen’s inability to research topics of concern against them. In the present case, the attempt to conflate fascism and socialism/communism is to sully modern liberalism and bring down the world’s truly representative democracies. Through the use of propaganda, they officiate, deceive, lie, manipulate and indoctrinate the weak-minded among us by conflating fascism and communism so that the ideologies of the far-right (i.e., populism and nationalism), to which they belong, will be seen by the masses who consumer their lies as the only alternative, the “pure” political philosophy, worthy of a great nation and the sole political philosophy that can protect the nation from the “others.”
In sum, the aforesaid are but a few of the differences between the two political philosophies, given they are disparate political ideologies, it is self-evident why, on a linear spectrum, they are on opposite sides, fascism on the right and communism on the left. Those who tell you otherwise, either have an agenda or require more study of the relevant historical and political science literature.