re: #228 Charles

I disagree that fascism incorporates socialist economics. It may look like that on the surface, because fascists want the state to control the means of production, but in practice (e.g., Nazi Germany) the result was that wealth was concentrated in the hands of a very few powerful industrialists, bankers, etc. And that’s the exact opposite of socialism, which strives to erase class distinctions and level the economic playing field.

Comparing the outcome of National Socalism with the INTENT of International Socialism is comparing apples and oranges.

The result of each is the same.

In the Soviet Union, wealth and power were concentrated in the hands of the party elites. In Nazi Germany, wealth and power were also concentrated in the hands of the party elites, many of whom happened to be industrialists and other captians of business who were smart enough to know which way the wind was blowing and cozy up to the Nazis. It is easy to find fault with them now in retrospect, but at the time their actions were simply a case of rational self interest.