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[[Image:Wille.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Political poster from Germany during the 1930s; translated, it reads ''National Socialism -- the organized will of the nation'']]

[[Image:Wille.jpg|right|200px|thumb|Political poster from Germany during the 1930s; translated, it reads ''National Socialism -- the organized will of the nation'']]

'''National [[Socialism]]''' ('''[[Nazism]]''') is a [[totalitarian]] system originally created in [[Germany]] immediately following [[World War I]], and characterized by intense [[nationalism]] (although, ironically, Joseph Goebbels indicated that Nazism hated the concept of nationalism due to it being a bourgeois concept when explaining the NSDAP's political position), [[dictatorial]] or [[draconian]] [[police state]] rule, mass appeal, brutal use of violence, disregard for the law, and a racial policy emphasizing the subjugation or extermination of people considered inferior, based heavily on a belief in social [[Darwinism]], as advocated by people such as Heinrich von Treitschke and Houston Stewart Chamberlain.<ref>[http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/warzone/world-war-two/nazi-germany/article/what-national-socialism/ What is National Socialism? (yesterday.uktv.co.uk/warzone/world-war-two/nazi-germany/article/what-national-socialism)]</ref> This philosophy extrapolated Darwin's "survival of the fittest" theory and said that persons, groups, and races are subject to the same laws of [[natural selection]] that Darwin proposed for animals.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551058/social-Darwinism Britannica's entry on social Darwinism]</ref>  

'''National [[Socialism]]''' ('''[[Nazism]]''') is a [[totalitarian]] system originally created in [[Germany]] immediately following [[World War I]], and characterized by intense [[nationalism]] (although, ironically, Joseph Goebbels indicated that Nazism hated the concept of nationalism due to it being a bourgeois concept when explaining the NSDAP's political position), dictatorial or draconian [[police state]] rule, mass appeal, brutal use of violence, disregard for the law, and a racial policy emphasizing the subjugation or extermination of people considered inferior, based heavily on a belief in social [[Darwinism]], as advocated by people such as Heinrich von Treitschke and Houston Stewart Chamberlain.<ref>[http://yesterday.uktv.co.uk/warzone/world-war-two/nazi-germany/article/what-national-socialism/ What is National Socialism? (yesterday.uktv.co.uk/warzone/world-war-two/nazi-germany/article/what-national-socialism)]</ref> This philosophy extrapolated Darwin's "survival of the fittest" theory and said that persons, groups, and races are subject to the same laws of [[natural selection]] that Darwin proposed for animals.<ref>[http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/551058/social-Darwinism Britannica's entry on social Darwinism]</ref>  

The name [[Nazi]] is a contraction of the full party name, [[National Socialist]] German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP).  Nazism, in short, is simply one of several varieties of [[socialism]]. As a political party it controlled Germany from 1933-1945 under [[Adolf Hitler]], resulting in [[World War II]] and a campaign of mostly anti-[[Jewish]] and [[racist]] [[politics]], resulting in [[genocide]] (see the [[Holocaust]]).

The name [[Nazi]] is a contraction of the full party name, [[National Socialist]] German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP).  Nazism, in short, is simply one of several varieties of [[socialism]]. As a political party it controlled Germany from 1933-1945 under [[Adolf Hitler]], resulting in [[World War II]] and a campaign of mostly anti-[[Jewish]] and [[racist]] [[politics]], resulting in [[genocide]] (see the [[Holocaust]]).

Supporters of [[Communism]], or of [[socialism]] in general, like to pretend that Nazism was not socialist but "[[right wing]]", for similar reasons to why [[fascism]] is often associated with the right wing despite being left wing. Despite this, however, it featured enough similarities with Communism that they were in fact closer to the far left, even including anti-Semitism, which Karl Marx had advocated.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20020116231910/http://russp.org/nazis.html</ref>

Supporters of [[Communism]], or of [[socialism]] in general, like to pretend that Nazism was not socialist but "[[right wing]]", for similar reasons to why [[fascism]] is often associated with the right wing despite being left wing. Despite this, however, it featured enough similarities with Communism that they were in fact closer to the far left, even including anti-Semitism, which Karl Marx had advocated.<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20020116231910/http://russp.org/nazis.html</ref>

* It was common in those days, as it is in ours, to identify the [[Communist]]s as [[leftist]] and the Nazis as [[rightist]]s, as if they stood on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. But [[Ludwig von Mises]] knew differently. They both sported the same ideological pedigree of socialism. "The German and [[Russian]] systems of socialism have in common the fact that the [[big government]] has full control of the [[means of production]]. It decides what shall be produced and how. It allots to each individual a share of consumer's goods for his consumption."

* It was common in those days, as it is in ours, to identify the [[Communist]]s as [[leftist]] and the Nazis as [[rightist]]s, as if they stood on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. But [[Ludwig von Mises]] knew differently. They both sported the same ideological pedigree of socialism. "The German and [[Russian]] systems of socialism have in common the fact that the [[big government]] has full control of the means of production. It decides what shall be produced and how. It allots to each individual a share of consumer's goods for his consumption."

* The difference between the systems, wrote Mises, is that the German pattern "maintains private ownership of the means of production and keeps the appearance of ordinary prices, wages, and markets."  But in fact the government directs production decisions, curbs [[entrepreneurship]] and the labor market, and determines wages and [[interest rates]] by central authority. "Market exchange," says Mises, "is only a sham." [http://mises.org/daily/47]

* The difference between the systems, wrote Mises, is that the German pattern "maintains private ownership of the means of production and keeps the appearance of ordinary prices, wages, and markets."  But in fact the government directs production decisions, curbs [[entrepreneurship]] and the labor market, and determines wages and [[interest rates]] by central authority. "Market exchange," says Mises, "is only a sham." [http://mises.org/daily/47]