The New Nazis

Author: Stefan Kichev

During Donald Trump's presidential campaign last year, we witnessed a new phenomenon in American political culture, which, to some extent, was also transmitted to Europe via the Internet. And which, according to many analysts, had a key role in the victory of the now current US president.

What is the alt-right movement?

This phenomenon represented a broad mass of supporters, as well as intellectual leaders, who campaigned for Trump, mostly on social media, and have recently begun holding political rallies. They are all united by a diverse set of values, but at the root of the problem is the belief that white people as a collective group are losing their influence in Western society. Often, this belief rests on assumptions that can be described as racist.

The movement got its name from the media – alt -right, which is short for “alternative right.” There has been a lot of talk about the alt-right lately (especially in the context of the recent riots in Charlottesville), and mostly it is the social aspect of the ideology that is exposed and deeply criticized, i.e. the racial prejudices that are glaring and give it an ugly and narrow-minded look.

The alt-right could be called Nazism, but those who call it that forget that the word carries with it more content than what they usually imagine - just the racist element. Nazism is a shortened version of "national socialism", in which the second part of the word states the economic theory of the ideology in question.

Nazism is not only a racial ideology, but also an economic one.

We could argue about which aspect of an ideology is the most important, but it is certainly possible to agree that economic theory occupies a large part and is of vital importance. It is rare to find criticism of the economic theory of the Nazis, because if it were to be presented in detail, the similarities with many of today's socialist parties would be obvious. A striking example is the Labour Party in England under the leadership of the far-left Jeremy Corbyn.

Hitler, like Corbyn, wanted to nationalize major sectors of the economy and keep banking under national control. State-guaranteed healthcare and education were also prominent in the economic program of the German Workers' Party (NSDAP). All policies that are now a permanent fixture in the political program of almost every left-wing party around the world, including the Democratic Party in the United States.

All this, of course, was given a racist tinge through the Aryan racial theory and its ruthless objectification in obscurantist laws that sent millions of innocent people to the prisons and camps of the Nazi state. But the two aspects of a given ideology are strongly intertwined with each other, and this is of crucial importance; one could even say that an ideology in its entirety represents the skillful practical symbiosis - objectification through laws - of its political philosophy and economic theory.

Nazism is a form of totalitarian socialism

The Nazis' dictatorial style of rule, as well as their barbaric self-dealing with their opponents and critics, was not caused solely by the fact that they were racist – such state arbitrariness went hand in hand with socialist property grabbing.

From the same belief that stems from the claim and attitude of the state towards the citizen according to the Nazis, i.e. total subordination to the state, which actually allows for the SS arbitrariness over minority groups, also stems from the conviction that the state apparatus, headed by a far-sighted omnipotent planner, can dispose of and distribute your property better than you yourself. In the same way that the principle of individual freedom is inextricably linked to the right to private property, i.e. how you dispose of your person and decide to express yourself is as much your right as the right to freely dispose of these privileges over your property.

The Nazis' dictatorial style of rule, as well as their barbaric self-dealing with their opponents and critics, was not caused solely by the fact that they were racists – such state tyranny goes hand in hand with socialist property grabbing. In fact, the connection between the two mentalities – the idea that you have the right and ability to dispose of other people's property better than others, and the idea that you and your race/ethnic group are inherently superior to others – is obvious.

The alt-right, or alternative right, is a dangerous, criminal, and collectivist ideology that bears a striking resemblance to Nazism, not simply because its rhetoric is filled with racist rhetoric; but because, at a more fundamental level, it shares a socialist view of the role of the state, which is always backed up by violence against the collective enemies of the economically disadvantaged class (or race).

Related literature:
Zhelyu Zhelev - Fascism
Jared Taylor - White Identity: Racial Consciousness in the 21st Century
Hans Herman Hoppe - Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
Henry D. Aiken - The Age of Ideology

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