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Oliver on Hitler and socialism

Oliver's case is that the historical record does not support the usual objection. Whenever Elon says Hitler was a socialist, the response is "That’s not real socialism" and "It was just in the name." But Hitler described himself as a socialist more than once, and the party carried it in the title: National Socialist German Workers' Party. Its official program, per Oliver, wanted trusts nationalized, profit-sharing, an end to "unearned income," land reform, and the common good ranked above the individual. Governing brought price controls, directed production, and a 4-Year Plan that made private companies answer to state goals. Socialism itself got recast as racial solidarity in place of class war, and the party members on the left who took the doctrine seriously were purged. Oliver insists this is not a gotcha, it is what happened. Then he extends the thread: the same operating system, in his reading, is still in motion, capturing language until words mean only what the movement requires, sorting people by group identity and casting the other side as an enemy rather than someone to persuade, running purity spirals where the harshest enforcer comes out on top, and putting lived experience or the anointed voice ahead of evidence. The collective claims the whole person, speech, associations and conscience included, and individual rights hold only while they serve the cause. His closing line is that the branding changed and the pattern did not, and that people should learn their history. Writer: Oliver. #AdolfHitler

1h

Jolyon@jolyon

Follow

Oliver on Hitler and socialism

Oliver's case is that the historical record does not support the usual objection. Whenever Elon says Hitler was a socialist, the response is "That’s not real socialism" and "It was just in the name." But Hitler described himself as a socialist more than once, and the party carried it in the title: National Socialist German Workers' Party. Its official program, per Oliver, wanted trusts nationalized, profit-sharing, an end to "unearned income," land reform, and the common good ranked above the individual. Governing brought price controls, directed production, and a 4-Year Plan that made private companies answer to state goals. Socialism itself got recast as racial solidarity in place of class war, and the party members on the left who took the doctrine seriously were purged. Oliver insists this is not a gotcha, it is what happened. Then he extends the thread: the same operating system, in his reading, is still in motion, capturing language until words mean only what the movement requires, sorting people by group identity and casting the other side as an enemy rather than someone to persuade, running purity spirals where the harshest enforcer comes out on top, and putting lived experience or the anointed voice ahead of evidence. The collective claims the whole person, speech, associations and conscience included, and individual rights hold only while they serve the cause. His closing line is that the branding changed and the pattern did not, and that people should learn their history. Writer: Oliver. #AdolfHitler

1h