Kanye West, Hitler and the Nazi ideology

The famous musician Kanye West recently declared his admiration for Adolf Hitler in an interview with Alex Jones. West said he sees "redeeming qualities" in the Nazi dictator. And of late, the entertainer has expressed anger toward Jewish Hollywood leaders and Jews in general.

So, what did Hitler stand for? Elitist nationalism coupled with socialism was the national socialism ideology that dominated the German democracy prior to World War II. NAZI is the abbreviation for "Nazionalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei," namely the National Socialist German Workers' Party. The name itself declares it a socialist movement.

The Nazi party stood for strong centralization of government, a rigid culture of consensus, few individual liberties, strict media censorship and propaganda. Simply by observing the old photographs of the multitudes greeting Hitler with Nazi salutes, one gets a glimpse into the immense group-think social pressure. You were not allowed to keep your hand down. Everyone was to have the same political opinion; the only accepted view was that of the ruling Nazi elites.

Today, few seem to recall that the Nazi party was left-wing socialism. Among many, author Jonah Goldberg has pointed this out in his book "Liberal Fascism."

"It is now clear beyond all reasonable doubt that Hitler and his associates believed they were socialists, and that others, including democratic socialists, thought so too. The title of National Socialism was not hypocritical. The evidence before 1945 was more private than public, which is perhaps significant in itself," wrote George Watson in The Independent.

Communism, socialism and national socialism have the same root ideology, which was very popular in Europe at the time. Hitler fought against Stalin's Russia and referred to communism as the enemy, yet pure Marxist thinking influenced both ideologies.

Hitler spoke of the importance of the socialist element of national socialism as the solution for Germany. "Albert Speer: His battle with truth," written by the remarkable Austrian-British journalist Gitta Sereny, is described by Financial Times as "an essential experience that conveys like no other book the qualities of the Nazi elite." It tells the story through one of Hitler's confidantes, the minister of armaments, who came to openly regret the wrongdoings and admit his guilt. He was one of the few at the Nuremberg Trials to acknowledge responsibility for the Nazi war crimes, yet he maintained that he knew nothing of the Holocaust.

Hermann Rauschning, who knew the German chancellor personally, told of Hitler's deep appreciation of the pre-Christian religion and wrote in "Hitler Speaks: A Series of Political Conversations with Adolf Hitler On His Real Aims" that Hitler felt profoundly indebted to the Marxist tradition. Hitler said that his differences with communists were more tactical, stating that national socialism itself was based on Marxism. "I have learned a great deal from Marxism," he said, "as I do not hesitate to admit." The Rauschning work was first published in 1939 and has been thoroughly researched since.

Yet, Hitler deviated from Marxism in its original form by accentuating the importance of racial heritage. He also emphasized nationalism – the belief in the fatherland, rather than "the internationalist proletariat," the classical Marxist ideal of a borderless society. Rauschning quotes Hitler: "We must be brutal. We must regain a clear conscience about brutality. Only then can we drive out the tenderness from our people. ... I naturally have the right to destroy millions of men of inferior races who increase like vermin ... Yes, we are barbarians. We want to be barbarians. It is an honorable title."

Hitler also spoke, as stated in the memoir of his friend Otto Wagener "Hitler: Memoirs of a Confidant," of the importance of the evolution from individualism to socialism. The Nazi dictator advocated killing individualism and creating a socialist state but without revolutions such as that of Lenin. Hitler said the Bolshevik revolution turned the Russian people into the group-think controlled masses: "What counts is to establish new laws and new authority in place of old traditions."

Bloody revolution, Hitler said, would kill the educated bourgeoisie. He wished to enforce a national socialist state without removing the elites. His slogan "crusade against Marxism" may be understood in this light. Noteworthy, the German industrial elites supported Hitler and jointly pushed for both government and private capital to strengthen the Nazi German project.

It has been quite an accomplishment by the left to hide the fact that Hitler was socialist. Therefore, what exactly Kanye West means by offering his admiration for this man remains to be explained.

Read Hanne's The Herland Report.

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