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National Socialism, emerging from the shattered remains of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the wake of World War I, promised yet another a “third way” between capitalism and communism.<ref>Artur Moeller van den Bruck's book ''The Third Reich'' (1923) was originally entitled ''The Third Way.'' (George Lachmann Mosse, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6oiD85C9HzUC Masses and Man: Nationalist and Fascist Perceptions of Reality]'' [Wayne State University Press, 1987] ISBN 0814318959, pp. 84, 166) On Fascism as “third way,” see Zeev Sternhell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ccgIu6oYkREC Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France]'' (Princeton University Press, 1996) ISBN 0691006296, p. 94, and Roger Eatwell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=x3U6AAAAMAAJ Fascism: A History]'', (London: Allen Lane, 1996), ISBN 071399147X, p. 11.</ref> Whereas Communism sought to unite the working class of all nations to fight for their class, and fascism sought to unite all the classes within a country to fight for the State, National Socialism sought to unite all members of a race, from whatever class or nation, to fight for their race. It was this "Third Way" that attracted [[Adolf Hitler]].

National Socialism, emerging from the shattered remains of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the wake of World War I, promised yet another a “third way” between capitalism and communism.<ref>Artur Moeller van den Bruck's book ''The Third Reich'' (1923) was originally entitled ''The Third Way.'' (George Lachmann Mosse, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=6oiD85C9HzUC Masses and Man: Nationalist and Fascist Perceptions of Reality]'' [Wayne State University Press, 1987] ISBN 0814318959, pp. 84, 166) On Fascism as “third way,” see Zeev Sternhell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=ccgIu6oYkREC Neither Right nor Left: Fascist Ideology in France]'' (Princeton University Press, 1996) ISBN 0691006296, p. 94, and Roger Eatwell, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=x3U6AAAAMAAJ Fascism: A History]'', (London: Allen Lane, 1996), ISBN 071399147X, p. 11.</ref> Whereas Communism sought to unite the working class of all nations to fight for their class, and fascism sought to unite all the classes within a country to fight for the State, National Socialism sought to unite all members of a race, from whatever class or nation, to fight for their race. It was this "Third Way" that attracted [[Adolf Hitler]].

As early as 1933, Nobel prize winning economist F.A. Hayek warned William Beveridge, director of the London School of Economics, that "National 'Socialism' is a genuine socialist movement."<ref>Memorandum: Hayek to Beveridge, Nazi-Socialism, Spring 1933 (F.A. Hayek Papers (Hoover Institution), Box 105, Folder 10, in Friedrich August Hayek, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qg61T_I1mwsC The road to serfdom: text and documents]'' (University of Chicago Press, 2007) ISBN 0226320553, p. 245</ref> As Hitler put it:

As early as 1933, Nobel prize winning economist F.A. Hayek warned William Beveridge, director of the London School of Economics, that "National 'Socialism' is a genuine socialist movement."<ref>Memorandum: Hayek to Beveridge, Nazi-Socialism, Spring 1933 (F.A. Hayek Papers (Hoover Institution), Box 105, Folder 10, in Friedrich August Hayek, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=qg61T_I1mwsC The road to serfdom: text and documents]'' (University of Chicago Press, 2007) ISBN 0226320553, p. 245</ref>

Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels denounced capitalism in Marxist terms:

Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels denounced capitalism in Marxist terms:

{{cquote|The worker in a capitalist state — and that is his deepest misfortune — is no longer a living human being, a creator, a maker. He has become a machine. A number, a cog in the machine without sense or understanding. He is alienated from what he produces.<ref>Joseph Goebbels and Mjölnir, ''[http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/haken32.htm Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken] [“The cursed swastika. Something to think about”]'' (Munich: Verlag Frz. Eher, 1932), trans. Randall Bytwerk, Calvin College</ref>}}

{{cquote|The worker in a capitalist state — and that is his deepest misfortune — is no longer a living human being, a creator, a maker. He has become a machine. A number, a cog in the machine without sense or understanding. He is alienated from what he produces.<ref>Joseph Goebbels and Mjölnir, ''[http://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/haken32.htm Die verfluchten Hakenkreuzler. Etwas zum Nachdenken] [“The cursed swastika. Something to think about”]'' (Munich: Verlag Frz. Eher, 1932), trans. Randall Bytwerk, Calvin College</ref>}}

As Nazi ideologist Gregor Strasser put it:

As Nazi ideologist Gregor Strasser put it:

{{cquote|''We are Socialists,'' are enemies, mortal enemies of the present capitalist economic system with its exploitation of the economically weak, with its injustice in wages, with its immoral evaluation of individuals according to wealth and money instead of responsibility and achievement, and we are determined under all circumstances to abolish this system! And with my inclination to practical action it seems obvious to me that we have to put a better, more just, more moral system in its place, one which, as it were, has arms and legs and better arms and legs than the present one!<ref>Gregory Strasser, ''Thoughts about the Tasks of the Future'' (1926), reprinted in Barbara Miller Lane and Leila J. Rupp (eds.),  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_JghDQAAQBAJ Nazi Ideology Before 1933: A Documentation]'' (University of Texas Press, 2014) ISBN 1477304452, p. 89</ref>}}

{{cquote|''We are Socialists,'' are enemies, mortal enemies of the present capitalist economic system with its exploitation of the economically weak, with its injustice in wages, with its immoral evaluation of individuals according to wealth and money instead of responsibility and achievement, and we are determined under all circumstances to abolish this system! And with my inclination to practical action it seems obvious to me that we have to put a better, more just, more moral system in its place, one which, as it were, has arms and legs and better arms and legs than the present one!<ref>Gregory Strasser, "Thoughts about the Tasks of the Future" (1926), reprinted in Barbara Miller Lane and Leila J. Rupp (eds.),  ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=_JghDQAAQBAJ Nazi Ideology Before 1933: A Documentation]'' (University of Texas Press, 2014) ISBN 1477304452, p. 89</ref>}}

 

{{cquote|We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic system for the exploitation of the economically weak, with its unfair salaries, with its unseemly evaluation of a human being according to wealth and property instead of responsibility and performance, and we are all determined to destroy this system under all conditions.<ref>John Toland, ''[http://books.google.com/books/about/Adolf_Hitler.html?id=bcyduKEh8hsC Adolf Hitler: The Definitive Biography'', Volume 1] (Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1976) 0385420536, pp. 224-225</ref>}}

Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas admitted, "In no way was Hitler the tool of big business."<ref>Norman Thomas, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=dJBWAAAAMAAJ A Socialist's Faith] (Norton, 1951), pp. 53-35</ref> Hitler stated that under Nazism, "the attitude of the State towards capital would be comparatively simple and clear. Its only object would be to make sure that capital remained subservient to the State."<ref>Adolf Hitler, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=EBUBUEeUwxUC Mein Kampf: zwei Bände in einem Band'', Vol. 1] 40th Ed. (Bottom of the Hill, 1938) ISBN 1935785079, p. 183</ref> David Schoenbaum notes that the Nazi Party census found the single largest category of Party members was “Workers” (30.3%); the second-largest category was “White collar,” (19.4%), of which 59.1% were in sales; the third-largest category, “Independent”/“Self-Employed” made up 19%, the largest group of whom were in “handicraft” (43.7%). Schoenbaum adds that of the two exhibits most often trotted out in defense of the Naziism-as-capitalist-plot thesis&mdash;Fritz Thyssen and the Krupps&mdash;that Thyssen eventually had to flee Nazi Germany for Switzerland, while even the Krupps “did not finance Hitler before 1933,” when his victory had become a ''fait accompli''.<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 67</ref> Moreover, some business people likewise supported FDR's policies (e.g., "Although I'm a capitalist, I happen to believe in [Roosevelt's] program").<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref> Even Ronald Reagan was a New Dealer, back when he was a liberal Democrat and a Roosevelt man (although he later saw the light, saying, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal").<ref>Howell Raines, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FB3A5F12728DDDAE0994D0405B8084F1D3 Reagan Denies Plan to Answer Carter]," ''The New York Times'', August 17, 1980, p. 1</ref>

Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas admitted, "In no way was Hitler the tool of big business."<ref>Norman Thomas, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=dJBWAAAAMAAJ A Socialist's Faith] (Norton, 1951), pp. 53-35</ref> Hitler stated that under Nazism, "the attitude of the State towards capital would be comparatively simple and clear. Its only object would be to make sure that capital remained subservient to the State."<ref>Adolf Hitler, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=EBUBUEeUwxUC Mein Kampf: zwei Bände in einem Band'', Vol. 1] 40th Ed. (Bottom of the Hill, 1938) ISBN 1935785079, p. 183</ref> David Schoenbaum notes that the Nazi Party census found the single largest category of Party members was “Workers” (30.3%); the second-largest category was “White collar,” (19.4%), of which 59.1% were in sales; the third-largest category, “Independent”/“Self-Employed” made up 19%, the largest group of whom were in “handicraft” (43.7%). Schoenbaum adds that of the two exhibits most often trotted out in defense of the Naziism-as-capitalist-plot thesis&mdash;Fritz Thyssen and the Krupps&mdash;that Thyssen eventually had to flee Nazi Germany for Switzerland, while even the Krupps “did not finance Hitler before 1933,” when his victory had become a ''fait accompli''.<ref>David Schoenbaum, ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=1wNCSxrUlyMC Hitler's Social Revolution: Class and Status in Nazi Germany, 1933-1939]'' (W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) ISBN 0393315541, p. 67</ref> Moreover, some business people likewise supported FDR's policies (e.g., "Although I'm a capitalist, I happen to believe in [Roosevelt's] program").<ref>Lorena A. Hickok, et al., ''[http://books.google.com/books?id=nstfz85S4ccC One Third of a Nation: Lorena Hickok Reports on the Great Depression]'' (University of Illinois Press, 1983) ISBN 0252010965, p. 218</ref> Even Ronald Reagan was a New Dealer, back when he was a liberal Democrat and a Roosevelt man (although he later saw the light, saying, "Fascism was really the basis of the New Deal").<ref>Howell Raines, "[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FB3A5F12728DDDAE0994D0405B8084F1D3 Reagan Denies Plan to Answer Carter]," ''The New York Times'', August 17, 1980, p. 1</ref>