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.