A major socially-media-pushed theme and meme from the US Republican Trump 2020 campaign is that socialists are Nazis. This is intended to scare people away from voting for Democratic candidates for President, especially Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. I want to shine a light onto this lie.
The Nazis party ruled Germany from the late 1920’s until their defeat in World War 2 in 1945. They were an evil fascist movement lead by the demagogue Adolf Hitler. They visited misery and death upon Europe and then the whole world, and murdered million and millions of people. They employed the fascist tactic of naming themselves the opposite of what they, in fact, were. In 1920 they took the name “National Socialist German Workers’ Party”. The word ‘socialist’ was a plain lie, designed to hide their power-crazed agenda behind a cloak of caring for the people – which is the core idea of socialism.
Anybody who perpetuates the lie that Nazi’s were socialists is effectively joining the Nazi’s in their deception. You can quote me on that. And lying is directly breaking the law of love for Christians, and contravening the Ten Commandments. If you choose to lie, then, who is the ‘father of lies’? Liars are children of the father of lies. So, it is repulsive for Christians to lie. It denies our Lord.
I invite you to consider Bernie Sanders. He is a self-avowed socialist and has consistently been so all his life. He is a Jew. Pause to consider that. Much of Sanders’ extended family perished in the Holocaust. Consider what it means to accuse Sanders of being a Nazi. Such a label is utterly despicable.
Socialism is a political philosophy based on the core idea that the prosperity and good resources of the majority of society should be used, at least in part, to care for the vulnerable, the people with no voice, and those trapped in poverty. So socialism posits that the most successful approach for this noble cause, is when responsibility lays with society (hence the word ‘social-ist’), rather than relying on the self-less philanthropy of some individuals. It was a philosophy born in many ways by those living through the great depression of the 1930s. Many European Christians are socialists, concluding that socialism aligns with the teaching of The Lord Jesus Christ, and apostles, and the practices of the church, especially the early church. Notice today that many European political parties include the word or ideas of socialism. It’s not scary. It’s not bad. It is patriotic (NOT nationalistic). It is an approach to prosperity that is deeply loving, caring and seeks to bring dignity to all people.
How ironic that a very Christian approach to society was born out of the same 1930’s depression that birthed the murderous and evil Nazis. I guess in adversity people are drawn to the extremes of either self-preservation (on the fascist side) or profound kindness. Of course there are other approaches and political philosophies that are based on ideas of kindness. Socialism doesn’t have exclusive rights to that. And of course there are socialists that are driven by hatred of the wealthy rather than kindness towards the poor and vulnerable. I am not writing in monochrome. My point is – Christians must reject swallowing and regurgitating the manipulative lies of our times. Jesus said “I am the Truth…”.