Comments on: Hitler defines socialism

By: Steve

Steve — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:31:00 +0000

I’ll never forget a line from Goebbel’s personal diary, in which, while reflecting on economics, he writes: “I despise capitalism.” He goes on to write about the great virtues of, and deep necessity for, collectivism. Sounds pretty socialistic, and pretty much leftist, to me.

Check out “The Goebbels Diaries” on DVD (or get them in print, if you have the time and the stomach).

By: Andrew

Andrew — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 15:37:28 +0000

@Jim when you say that “corporatism” is one reading of Catholic social teaching, you lose me.

I’d also ask whether it is any way meaningful to talk about Franco as being “fascist”.

This article also seems to contradict your suggestion that the Church supported him (even if he supported the Church) http://www.concordatwatch.eu/showtopic.php?org_id=845&kb_header_id=34521

If anything it was Western Liberals who were defending Franco during the cold war because of his staunch opposition to soviet communism. Just look at the support he garnered from the United States.

I would characterize Franco as being far to the left of western democracy (esp. in his total disregard for traditional spanish governmental institutions), but to the right of soviet communism. His rule was a hybrid of authoritarianism, monarchism, anti-communism, oppression, and free-marketeering. To put him in the same camp as Hitler and Mussolini is absurd.

You seem to be massively oversimplifying.

By: Jim Aune

Jim Aune — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 03:09:02 +0000

Speaking of coalitions: you are leaving out the Franco regime in Spain and the Salazar regime in Portugal, both of which were allied with Mussolini and both of which were strongly connected to the Roman Catholic Church. One reading of Catholic social teaching is “corporatism,” which was an essential part of Fascist, if not Nazi, politics. It was precisely because of the RC church’s defense of Franco and Salazar that many Western liberals (and social democrats) came to believe that Catholicism was incompatible with liberal democracy. I am, of course, leaving out the Vatican’s behavior during the Holocaust, because I know that is still contentious at First Things (if not for the rest of the intellectual–especially Jewish–world).