Wxman

Ya beat me to it Heartc.

Hey GlobalExplorer, I don't know where you learned your political theory, but a lack of extra-national altruism has nothing to do with fascism.

Socialism is any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods, i.e., industry, is vested in a centralized government on behalf of the proletariat. This centralized government often plans and controls the economy. The proletariat, at who's behest the central government putatively is acting for, is that of the the class of wage earners, esp. those who earn their living by manual labor or who are dependent for support on daily or casual employment; the working class.

In contrast the theory or system of social organization that is based on the holding of all property in common being ascribed to the community as a whole, the collective, or to the state. In this system there is no concept of "private" property per se. In the former the concept of ownership of business, industry, enterprise and personal possession such as home, hearth and life do exist, but the government controls how these are to be implemented and used for the good of the State, i.e. the central authority. This is a Machiavellian concept in that when the State benefits, the people benefit. The philosophical distinction between socialism and communism, is that in the latter the State is the proletariat, i.e., the hoi polloi, itself. In theory, the central government merely conducts its affairs for the benefit of the people en mass.

The Italian name of the movement, fascismo, is derived from fascio, "bundle, (political) group," but also refers to the movement's emblem, the fasces, a bundle of rods bound around a projecting axe-head that was carried before an ancient Roman magistrate by an attendant as a symbol of authority and power. The name of Mussolini's group of revolutionaries was soon used for similar nationalistic movements in other countries that sought to gain power through violence and ruthlessness, such as National Socialism. The Nazi party was the fascist embodiement of National Socialism. Fascism being a system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

While it is true that Hitler was voted into office through democratic means, the 9th German federal election of the Weimar Republic held on March 5, 1933 was significant in that it was the last election to be held in Germany before World War II. However, despite achieving a much better result than in the November 1932 election, the Nazis did not do as well as Hitler had hoped, polling 43.9%, rather than the 50+% that he had expected. Therefore, Hitler was forced to maintain his coalition with the Nationalist DNVP to control a majority. In addition to this, Hitler needed a two-thirds majority to pass the Enabling Act (a law which allowed him to pass laws without consulting the Reichstag), which he gained by persuading the Centre Party to vote with him. The bill was passed on March 23 and though it was only meant to be effective for four years, it was formally prolonged twice. The powers conferred by the bill allowed the KPD and SPD to be outlawed, and firmly established Germany as a dictatorship. On the 14th July 1933 Germany officially declared a one party state with the passing of the Law against the formation of parties. On 30 January 1934, Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reichs changed the highly decentralized federal Germany of the Weimar era into a centralized state by disbanded state parliaments, transferring sovereign rights of the states to the Reich central government and put the state administrations under the control of the Reich administration.

That Hitler was voted into power was a direct result of crushing punative war-reparations that were demanded by the European allies at the end of WWI. Subsequently, in conjunction with the fundamental socialist philosophies prevalent throughout Germany since the latter half of the 19th century, the German political scene was quite a tragic scene. I would hazard to say that if but the German penchant for government social programs, and that the country was being bled dry with respect to compliance with the staggering burden of war reparations, the Great Depression would not have been the great catalyst with respect to Hilters rise to power. I believe that without the latter, the former also would not have been as significant concerning Hitler's rise to power. To the German people at the time, Hitler seemed to be the answer to all their problems. By the time they realized the horror in which they lived, it was far too late to do anything about it. The system that was implemented demanded complete and utter allegience to Hilter, and the Nazi party. There was no way that anybody had any hope of being anyone or doing anything without being a member of the Nazi party.