Wednesday, May 05, 2004

Policy Manifesto

I tripped over this while doing some research. I found it to be astonishing:

Policy Manifesto:

All citizens of the State shall be equal as regards rights and duties.

The first duty of every citizen must be to work mentally or physically. The
activities of the individual may not clash with the interests of the whole, but
must proceed within the frame of the community and be for the general good.

Therefore we demand:

That all unearned income, and all income that does not arise from work, be abolished.

Since every war imposes on the people fearful sacrifices in life and property, all personal profit arising from the war must be regarded as a crime against the people. We therefore demand the total confiscation of all war profits whether in assets or material.

We demand the nationalization of businesses which have been organized into cartels.

We demand that all the profits from wholesale trade shall be shared out.

We demand extensive development of provision for old age.

We demand the creation and maintenance of a healthy middle-class, the immediate communalization of department stores which will be rented cheaply to small businessmen, and that preference shall be given to small businessmen for provision of supplies needed by the State, the provinces and municipalities.

We demand a land reform in accordance with our national requirements, and the enactment of a law to confiscate from the owners without compensation any land needed for the common purpose. The abolition of ground rents, and the prohibition of all speculation in land.

So who put that manifesto forward? Was it the US Democrats, the British Labour Party, the Canadian Liberals, some European Social Democratic party? No. The manifesto is an extract from the (February 25th., 1920) 25 point plan of the National Socialist German Workers Party and was written by the leader of that party: Adolf Hitler. Most of the rest of the manifesto had to do with the Jews, of course, which made it all that much more attractive to German leftists, many of whom were very antisemetic.

Elsewhere, the author that reviews this bit notes that many of the world's states are increasingly turning toward fascism, which old Adoph himself described as a third way between capitalism and socialism that features the best elements of both.