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Do not fill this in! ==== Anti-communism ==== [[File:Bolshevism is Jewish!.jpg|thumb|upright=0.9|Anti-communist, antisemitic propaganda poster in Nazi Germany]] The Nazis claimed that communism was dangerous to the well-being of nations because of its intention to dissolve [[private property]], its support of [[class conflict]], its aggression against the [[middle class]], its hostility towards small business and its [[atheism]].<ref name=autogenerated20 /> Nazism rejected class conflict-based socialism and [[economic egalitarianism]], favouring instead a [[Social stratification|stratified]] economy with [[social class]]es based on merit and talent, retaining private property and the creation of national solidarity that transcends class distinction.<ref name=autogenerated11/> Historians [[Ian Kershaw]] and [[Joachim Fest]] argue that in post–[[World War I]] Germany, the Nazis were one of many nationalist and fascist political parties contending for the leadership of Germany's [[anti-communist]] movement.{{citation needed|date=September 2020}} In ''Mein Kampf'', Hitler stated his desire to "make war upon the Marxist principle that all men are equal".<ref>Hitler, Adolf, ''Mein Kampf'', Hurst and Blackett ltd., 1939, p. 343</ref> He believed that "the notion of equality was a sin against nature."{{sfn|Bendersky|1985|p=51}} Nazism upheld the "natural inequality of men," including inequality between races and also within each race. The Nazi state aimed to advance those individuals with special talents or intelligence, so they could rule over the masses.{{sfn|Bendersky|1985|p=49}} Nazi ideology relied on elitism and the {{Lang|de|[[Führerprinzip]]}} (leadership principle), arguing that elite minorities should assume leadership roles over the majority, and that the elite minority should itself be organised according to a "hierarchy of talent", with a single leader—the [[Führer]]—at the top.{{sfn|Bendersky|1985|pp=49–50}} The {{Lang|de|Führerprinzip}} held that each member of the hierarchy owed absolute obedience to those above him and should hold absolute power over those below him.{{sfn|Bendersky|1985|p=50}} During the 1920s, Hitler urged disparate Nazi factions to unite in opposition to [[Jewish Bolshevism]].<ref name="Adolf Hitler"/> Hitler asserted that the "three vices" of "Jewish Marxism" were democracy, [[pacifism]] and [[Internationalism (politics)|internationalism]].<ref name="Hitler, the Germans, and the Final Solution"/> The Communist movement, the trade unions, the Social Democratic Party and the left-wing press were all considered to be Jewish-controlled and part of the "international Jewish conspiracy" to weaken the German nation by promoting internal disunity through class struggle.{{sfn|Bendersky|1985|p=50}} The Nazis also believed that the Jews had instigated the [[Bolshevik revolution]] in Russia and that Communists had [[Stab-in-the-back myth|stabbed Germany in the back]] and caused it to lose the First World War.{{sfn|Bendersky|1985|p=52}} They further argued that modern cultural trends of the 1920s (such as [[jazz|jazz music]] and [[cubism|cubist art]]) represented "[[cultural Bolshevism]]" and were part of a political assault aimed at the spiritual degeneration of the German ''Volk''.{{sfn|Bendersky|1985|p=52}} Joseph Goebbels published a pamphlet titled ''The Nazi-Sozi'' which gave brief points of how Nazism differed from Marxism.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Nazi-Sozi|url=http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/nazi-sozi.htm|trans-title=Joseph Goebbels, Der Nazi-Sozi (Elberfeld: Verlag der Nationalsozialistischen Briefe, 1927).}}</ref> In 1930, Hitler said: "Our adopted term 'Socialist' has nothing to do with Marxist Socialism. Marxism is anti-property; true Socialism is not".<ref name="university29"/> The [[Communist Party of Germany]] (KPD) was the largest Communist Party in the world outside of the Soviet Union, until it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1933.<ref>David Nicholls. ''Adolf Hitler: A Biographical Companion''. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2000, p. 50.</ref> In the 1920s and early 1930s, Communists and Nazis often fought each other directly in [[Weimar paramilitary groups|street violence]], with the Nazi paramilitary organisations being opposed by the Communist [[Roter Frontkämpferbund|Red Front]] and [[Antifaschistische Aktion#Establishment|Anti-Fascist Action]]. After the beginning of the Great Depression, both Communists and Nazis saw their share of the vote increase. While the Nazis were willing to form alliances with other parties of the right, the Communists refused to form an alliance with the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany]], the largest party of the left.<ref>Ben Fowkes. ''Communism in Germany under the Weimar Republic''. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1984. pp. 166–167</ref> After the Nazis came to power, they quickly banned the Communist Party under the allegation that it was preparing for revolution and that it had caused the [[Reichstag fire]].<ref>Ben Fowkes. ''Communism in Germany under the Weimar Republic''. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1984. pp. 170–171</ref> Four thousand KPD officials were arrested in February 1933, and by the end of the year 130,000 communists had been sent to [[Nazi concentration camps]].<ref>Ben Fowkes. ''Communism in Germany under the Weimar Republic''. St. Martin's Press, New York, 1984, p. 171</ref> During the late 1930s and the 1940s, anti-communist regimes and groups that supported Nazism included the [[Falangism|Falange]] in [[Francoist Spain]], the [[Vichy regime]] and the [[33rd Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS Charlemagne (1st French)]] in France and the [[British Union of Fascists]] under [[Oswald Mosley]].<ref name="carroll"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page