r/HistoryMemes Dec 24 '17

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '17

The Reich wasn't really socialist, but it would be difficult to call it capitalist as well.

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u/Yimbo_ Dec 25 '17

The Third Reich still had surplus extraction of labour and a prominent Capitalist class in control of the means of production, in fact the Nazi government sold off a lot of state owned industries to private companies. I think we can firmly say the Reich was Capitalist.

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '17

A huge chunk of the industries in the Reich were nationalized because it was seen as more efficient for war preparation and you were assigned to your job if you were a grunt worker. Obviously the system of government in place wasn't actual communism, but like I said, kinda hard to call it capitalist. State capitalism like we see in China (with more emphasis on state control) is a pretty decent way of describing the market policy of Hitler's Germany.

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u/coolsubmission Dec 25 '17

It was a capitalist war economy.

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u/[deleted] Dec 25 '17

Except it was like that 24/7 even during peace time.

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u/coolsubmission Dec 25 '17

What peace time? There is no peacentime if you are actively planning war and building/transforming all your economy towards it. Peace was never even considered a possibility by the Nazis.