Nazism, and why the people who call people Nazis today are ignorant of it's meaning, especially those claiming to be Communist

 Note: If you are from Germany, this post will address some content from the official NSDAP program in a purely academic context only. The author does not endorse Nazism (and in fact has no love for it) and only wishes to cover selected excerpts in English translation under premises that would be legal under the laws of the United States and limited exceptions provided by German law for the purposes of educational and scholarly comment. If you are a German citizen and believe further reading would be unadvisable regardless, please do not read any further.

We live in a day and age where certain political types, like those ANTIFA types that are common on social media, call their enemies "nazis" and "fascist", to the point it's become the new "faggot" (this term was a derogatory slur against gays, but devolved into a common generalized internet insult), and based on what I can tell, their definition of Nazi is basically "whatever they have been told to vilify", instead of knowing what the Nazis actually stood for. Since most of the people of these people are of a hard-left political persuasion, they assume Nazism (typically associated with the right, despite the fact it does have actual socialist ideas as well) is anyone on the right, no matter the degree of their actual affiliation with the right side of politics, especially the American political right.

Now, I've always considered myself a classical liberal (with conservative sympathies), but I've always been the former first, meaning I support the right of the individual over the state insofar as that does not harm the rights of any other individual. In short, I prefer just enough conservatism to safeguard liberalism's more general aspects, which is a generally centrist position. However, such nuance seems lost in this day and age where many seem to prefer black and white labels in a world that is far more shades of gray.

That said, below is the original NSDAP (THE NATIONAL SOCIALIST GERMAN WORKERS' PARTY, aka "Nazi") programme circa 1920 in italics, my comments in bold for any comments and notes. Aside from formatting for readability, the original text is unchanged.

The Programme of the German Workers’ Party is limited as to period. The leaders have no intention, once the aims announced in it have been content achieved, of setting up fresh ones, merely in order to increase the dis-content of the masses artificially, and so ensure the continued existence of the Party. 1. We demand the union of all Germans to form a Great Germany on the basis of the right of the self -determination enjoyed by nations. 

The opening lede is revealing. One thing the Nazis claim is that unlike their opponents, they will cease to agitate for revolution and change once it has been achieved. Until then, they planned to keep stirring the pot. Ironically, Communists of old and today claim the same.

2. We demand equality of rights for the German People in its dealings with other nations, and abolition of the Peace Treaties of Versailles and St. Germain. 

This provision is a direct shot at the humiliating circumstances and treaties that Germany was put under after the end of World War I.

3. We demand land and territory (colonies) for the nourishment of our people and for settling our superfluous population.

This position is an anachronism by modern standards, but at the time this was drafted, colonial possessions and the belief in their need to provide living space for the people who owned said colonies was very much a credible idea, particularly to the Germans, who were land poor in regards to arable lands.

4. None but members of the nation may be citizens of the State. None but those of German blood, whatever their creed, may be members of the nation. ' No Jew, therefore, may be a member of the nation. 

This is the first time racism rears its ugly head in the Nazi creed. You could easily switch a few words around and turn this into a screed against any political enemy you want by simply replacing "Jew" and "German" with different targets.

5. Anyone who is not a citizen of the State may live in Germany only as a guest and must be regarded as being subject to foreign laws. 

This is an outgrown of extreme nativism, or the belief only native-born people deserve rights and everyone else deserves to be second-class citizens at best. Ironically, many leftists of the extreme bent simply invert the logic and want the native-born to be the oppressed minority in the contemporary day.

6. The right of voting on the State’s government and legislation is to be enjoyed by the citizen of the State alone. We demand therefore that all official appointments, of whatever kind, whether in the Reich, in the country, or in the smaller localities, shall, be granted to citizens of the State alone. We oppose the corrupting custom of Parliament of filling posts merely with a view to party considerations, and without reference to character or capability. 

This is a really generic veiled way of saying "only people we consider proper Germans should have political power". You could easily change a few words for whatever political position you want.

7. We demand that the State shall make it its first duty to promote the industry and livelihood of citizens of the State. If it not possible to nourish the entire population of the State, foreign nationals (non-citizens of the State) must be excluded from the Reich. 

This is another reference to the fact Germany had little arable land and the NSDAP didn't think anyone who wasn't a native-born German should be taking food to eat they believed only native-born Germans should eat. An anachronistic position in the modern-day to be sure.

8. All non-German immigration must be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who entered Germany subsequent to August 2nd, 1914, shall be required forthwith to depart from the Reich.

Here is where we find a point easily found in leftist counterpart creeds of the time. Communist countries also were similarly exclusive of anyone from outside their borders and suspicious of non-natives.

9. All citizens of the State shall be equal as regards rights and duties. 

This is some pretty generic boilerplate, but the veiled implication is that it extends only to those the Nazis believed should be considered actual citizens. Everyone else could get bent. Left and right movements throughout history have expressed similar sentiments about who they considered unworthy of political rights, the Nazis are not unique in this.

10. It must be the first duty of each citizen of the State to work with his mind or with his body. The activities of the individual may not clash with the interests of the whole, but must proceed within the frame of the community and be for the general good. We d e m a n d t h e r e f o r e: 

This is something you could find in a communistic or socialist tract, ironically enough. In this sense, the Nazis and Communists were basically on the same page.

11. Abolition of incomes unearned by work. 

Again, you could find similar logic in communist tracts. Both Nazis and Communists hated the idea of anyone making money they did not directly earn by their own effort.

Abolition of the Thraldom of interest 

12. In view of the enormous sacrifice of life and property demanded of a nation by every war, personal enrichment due to a war must be regarded as a crime against the nation. We demand therefore ruthless confiscation of all war gains. 

This is a bit of foreshadowing that if the Nazis ever got in power, this is what they would do. In effect, they basically admitted any war they started would be to enrich the state only.

13. We demand nationalisation of all businesses which have been up to the present formed into companies (Trusts). 

Another item you could find in similar form in Communism and socialism.

14. We demand that the profits from wholesale trade shall be shared out. 

Another item you could find in similar form in Communism and socialism.

15. We demand extensive development of provision for old age. 

This is actually pretty tame. The United States has Social Security for this purpose.

16. We demand creation and maintenance of a healthy middle class, immediate communalisation of wholesale business premises, and their lease at.a cheap rate to small traders, and that extreme consideration shall be shown to all small purveyors to the State, district authorities and smaller localities. 

This is a key point where Nazism and Communism differ. Communism tried to stamp out the idea of the individual business, Nazis encouraged it, but with the caveat those small guys on the food chain kicked back to the rest of the economy instead of just making a profit without regard for anyone else. This is basically capitalism with socialist sympathies.

17. We demand land-reform suitable to our national requirements, passing of a law for confiscation without compensation of land for communal purposes; abolition of interest on land loans, and prevention of all speculation in land*. We demand ruthless prosecution of those whose activities are injurious to the common interest. Sordid criminals against the nation, usurers, profiteers, etc. must be punished with death, whatever their creed or race. 

Again, an area where Nazis and Communists are not all that different. Both hated the idea of land speculation and profiteering, except the Nazis hated it because they felt it screwed over the common man, while Communism was more about how it was abhorrent deviance from the ethos all property was public property and all people were joint employees of the state. The former at least gave lip service to capitalism, the latter was openly contemptuous of it. 

19. We demand that the Roman Law, which serves the materialistic world order, shall be replaced by a legal system for all Germany. 

This provision really only makes sense in a historical context. The antecedents of the modern Roman state were descended from the Germanic tribes the Romans never managed to conquer, and this is a blatant nationalist and cultural appeal to those of Germanic descent.

20. With the aim of opening to every capable and industrious German the possibility of higher education and of thus obtaining advancement, the State must consider a thorough re-construction of our national system of education. The curriculum of all educational establishments must be brought into line with the requirements of practical life. Comprehension of the State idea (State sociology) must be the school objective, beginning with the first dawn of intelligence in the pupil. We demand development of the gifted children of poor parents, whatever their class or occupation, at the expence of the State. 

This is noble in theory but with the veiled implication the school system was to make people obedient to the ideals of the state above all else, with the latter half not a bad thing on its own, but when combined with the other half, is really saying "we want everyone to be educated to be drones of the state, no matter their social standing". Communism is not much different in intent on that score.

21. The State must see to raising the standard of health in the nation by protecting mothers and infants, prohibiting child labour, increasing bodily efficiency by obligatory gymnastics and sports laid down by law, and by extensive support of clubs engaged in the bodily development of the young. 

Again, sounds fairly tame, but keeping in mind how the Nazis earlier stated how if you didn't do useful work they had no love for you, this is basically saying "we want to stamp out laziness and make sure everyone is working their butt off for our ideal state". Again, Communism has similar beliefs.

22. We demand abolition of a paid army and formation of a national army. 

This is a bit unusual, but a bit of context. The German army prior to the end of World War I was run by a bunch of blue-blooded types who traced their ancestry back to guys who bought their commissions in the military instead of earning it. This is basically insisting everyone should be a soldier on merit. The Communists again believed in pretty much the same thing.

23. We demand legal warfare against conscious political lying and its dissemination in the Press. In order to facilitate creation of a German national Press we demand: (a) that all editors of newspapers and their assistants, employing the German language, must be members of the nation ; (b) that special permission from the State shall be necessary before non-German newspapers may appear. These are not necessarily printed in the German language ; (c) that non-Germans shall be prohibited by law from participation financially in or Influencing German newspapers, and that the penalty for contravention of the law shall be suppression of any such newspaper, and immediate deportation of the non-German concerned in it. It must be forbidden to publish papers which do not conduce to the national welfare. We demand legal prosecution of all tendencies in art and literature of a kind likely to disintegrate our life as a nation, and the suppression of institutions which militate against the requirements above-mentioned. 

This is an area of DEFINITE "could apply to anyone with a few word changes". Both Nazis and Communists wanted all sources of information to reflect their views, nothing else could be tolerated, and they wanted to wipe their backsides with the concept of dissenting opinions.

24. We demand liberty for all religions denominations in the State, so far as they are not a danger to it and do not militate against the moral feelings of the German race. The Party, as such, stands for positive Christianity, but does not bind itself in the matter of creed to any particular confession. It combats the Jewish-materialist spirit within us and without us, and is convinced that our nation can only achieve permanent health from within on the principle : The Common Interest before Self. 

This is a veiled way of saying they wanted religion to be a tool of the Nazi Party in order to ensure loyalty to their ideal, hence their attempt at making Positive Christianity (the Nazi approved variant) the only legal variant of state religion. The Communists suppressed religion as an opiate of the masses, except when it could be used as a tool to make people more compliant with the Communist state. The Soviet Union and modern-day China have done and still do this. 

25. That all the fore-going may be realised we demand the creation of a strong central power of the State. Unquestioned authority of the politically centralised Parliament over the entire Reich and its organisation ; and formation of Chambers for classes and occupations for the purpose of carrying out the general laws promulgated by the Reich in the various States of the confederation. The leaders of the Party swear to go straight forward to sacrifice their lives — if necessary - in securing fulfilment of the foregoing Points.

Munich, February 24th, 1920. 

Again, Communism, at least in the form it has generally emerged in any state in known history, has tended toward the same model of centralized power in which a strong ruling body is the only political power that decides the laws and enforces them. Nazism was simply the fascist equivalent.

In essence, as regards the Nazi platform (note all of the above was originally mostly penned before Hitler took them over, he did not change very much at all of their basic platforms), it is indeed racist, nativistic, and very bigoted to anyone not considered under the protection of whom they considered worthy of the right of citizenship. At the same time, a lot of provisions save a few points are highly interchangeable with socialism and communism, so for all the modern people (especially those of communist or socialist sympathy) who call their opponents nazi or fascist, it's worth noting they had a considerable overlap on many key points, so said insult is not as easy a conversational "gotcha" as they would like to believe.

Basically, those who use the term "Nazi" as an insult really should be more cognizant of what it stands for, many of the things the Nazis believed in are not too much different from Communists, which is what many of the people who use the term as a pejorative profess to believe in or sympathize in the modern era as of the time of this writing.