The Führer versusFree Enterprise 185WallStreetJournalletterto the editorhowsimilarthe OccupyWallStreetmovementwas
in philosophyandactivisttacticsto the Volkishmovementof the 1920s.He implores
readersto directtheir“attentionto the parallels” between“fascistNaziGermanyto its
war on its ‘one percent,’ namelyits Jews,” and the corresponding“progressivewar on the
Americanone percent,namelythe ‘rich.’”^43 Themediarespondedby ridiculingPerkins
as a paranoid,right-wingbigot.Cracked.Com, whichtoutsitselfas an onlinehumorperi-
odical,deridedPerkinsas an “asshole” and “the supremedouche-moneybag.”^44 But the
historicalrecordbearsout the verityof Perkins’s assessment.
HitlerPutsSocialistTheoryintoSocialistPractice
It is no accidentthatAdolfHitlermodeledthe NationalSocialistGermanWorkers
Partyafterothersocialistmovements.InMeinKampf, the futureführerresolvedto enact
welfarelawsto mitigatethe growingdisparitybetweenthe incomesof the wealthiestand
poorest:“... we mustguardourselvesagainstan excessivedifferentiationof wage
rates.... It maybe that... goldhas becomethe exclusive” concernof the domineering
capitalists,“but the timewill comewhenmanwill againbowdownbeforea highergod.”
Thenationalsocialistmovement“mustheralda daywhichwillgiveto the individual
whathe needsfor living,but upholdthe principlethatmandoesnot live exclusivelyfor
the sakeof materialpleasures.Thismustsomeday findits expressionin a wiselylimited
gradationof earningswhichin any eventwill giveeverydecentworkingmanan honest,
regularexistenceas a nationalcomradeanda man.”MeinKampfadditionallypromised
Statesupportfor laborersin imposingdemandsuponemployers.^45 By 1931the Nazis
announcedthatanyonecaughtparticipatingin anyformof strikebreakingwouldbe
kickedout of theirparty.^46
Yet,in tryingto portrayAdolfHitleras an enemyof authenticsocialism,socialism’s
apologistscite a specifichistoricalfact.On May2, 1933,Hitlerhad the Nazigovernment
raidthe officesof laborunions,seizetheirassets,andarresttheirleaders.^47 Thisfact is
citedout of contextin attemptto demonstratethatthe NSDAP’s leaderswerestoogesof
big businessand indifferentto laborlegislation.^48 Contraryto left-wingpropaganda,still,
this is not evidenceof the nationalsocialistsfavoringentrepreneursovertheirlaborers.
Rather,the NSDAPrationalizedthatbecausethe governmentdictatedovereverything
businessownerswoulddo, proletariansno longerneededprivateunionsto assistthem.
Moreover,the Nazisdid not wantprivateunionsto competeagainstthe Statefor the
laborers’ loyalty.Just as the Sovietssawfit to nationalizeagriculture,the Führerfoundit
sensibleto nationalizethe tradeunions.The State-rununionwas the GermanLaborFront
(DeutscheArbeits-Front),headedby RobertLey,whomwe quotedin chapter3 concern-
ing his explanationthatloyaltyto Hitleris a formof faith.By the summerof 1934,the
Staterequiredeverycorporateemployeeto jointhe government-approvedlaborunion
thatLey controlled.^49 On the daythatthe Nazisfirstattackedthe privatelaborunions,
Ley had the LaborFrontissuethis statement:“Workers!Yourinstitutionsare sacredto us
NationalSocialists.... I knowthe exploitationof anonymouscapitalism.... we will build
up the protectionand the rightsof the workersstill further.”
Hitlerhimselfenjoyedreciting,“Honorandrespectthe worker!”^50 In everyway,the
Reichdespotcherishedthe socialistagendaas the synonymfor good.^51 Thisis one among
manyreasonswhyit is fatuousfor MichaelParentito portrayHitleras an apostleof
capitalism.Parentimisleadshis readerswhenproclaimingthatHitleraimedto “abolish
laborunions” and that he “eliminatedworkerbenefits” and “ignoredoccupationalsafety
standards.”^52
PulitzerPrize-winninghistorianJohnWillardTolandedifiesthatthe Germandictator
heldfaithin the “organizedeconomy” whilehe nurtured“the bohemian’s ratherthanthe