# I pit the idiots who say the Nazis were "Socialists". **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 15, 2014, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568 "2014-08-15T01:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/321 "2018-03-21T16:13:35Z")
It vaguely annoys me that a lot of people seem to think the Nazi regime was super efficient. They are conflating the Nazi period with the stereotypical German work ethic. The regime was actually extremely economically inefficient, regardless of how socialist it may or may not have been. Just saying. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/322 "2018-03-21T18:27:59Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It vaguely annoys me that a lot of people seem to think the Nazi regime was super efficient. They are conflating the Nazi period with the stereotypical German work ethic. The regime was actually extremely economically inefficient, regardless of how socialist it may or may not have been. > > Just saying. I’m glad you didn’t mention the war. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/323 "2018-03-21T18:55:33Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I’m glad you didn’t mention the war. I’m not sure what your point is (I’m guessing I’d have to reread the thread more carefully) but even when the regime was engaged in full-blown war production, they weren’t efficient about it, or at least not nearly as efficient as they could have been nor as efficient as a lot of people assume on their behalf. Regardless of what economic-system labels one could apply to Germany 1933-1945, there were a number of hampering (indeed crippling) limitations. ---
**Author:** ![QuickSilver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quicksilver/32/7832_2.png) [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/324 "2018-03-21T19:27:14Z")
I just wanted to make a Fawlty Towers joke. That was my point. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/325 "2018-03-21T19:44:12Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#): > > I just wanted to make a Fawlty Towers joke. That was my point. Ah. Not a fan, personally. ---
**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/326 "2018-03-21T20:00:03Z")
Maybe we get another 3 1/2 year break before he comes back to respond. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/327 "2018-03-21T20:06:52Z")
Yeah, you would have thought he would be back from school by now. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2018, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/328 "2018-03-21T20:16:14Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It vaguely annoys me that a lot of people seem to think the Nazi regime was super efficient. They are conflating the Nazi period with the stereotypical German work ethic. The regime was actually extremely economically inefficient, regardless of how socialist it may or may not have been. In 1933, the German economy was not doing well. In 1945, it had ceased to exist. So yeah, the Nazis weren’t great at that, either. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/329 "2018-03-22T00:56:22Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > It vaguely annoys me that a lot of people seem to think the Nazi regime was super efficient. They are conflating the Nazi period with the stereotypical German work ethic. The regime was actually extremely economically inefficient, regardless of how socialist it may or may not have been. The stereotypical German work ethic was/is precise, not efficient. I was recently shopping for a used car and I bounced a Passat off my brother, a VW loyalist. He warned me that there are twelve (or is it eight; whatever; too many) screws to remove the air cleaner cover. “They never stopped building Tiger tanks.” VW founder Ferdinand Porsche designed the Tiger. > [@James Holland](#): > > "The Tiger had a six-speed, semi-automatic, hydraulically controlled pre-selector gearbox,” Mr Holland told the Today Programme. > > “If you put an 18-year-old in that it’s going to break.” > > “The Tiger was…incredibly complicated, mechanically unreliable, very difficult to sustain in combat, unusable for anything other than short distances. [Nazis lost the war through 'spectacular inefficiency', new account claims](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/05/02/nazi-war-machine-spectacularly-inefficient-new-history-claims/) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/330 "2018-03-22T00:59:45Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > The stereotypical German work ethic was/is precise, not efficient. I was recently shopping for a used car and I bounced a Passat off my brother, a VW loyalist. He warned me that there are twelve (or is it eight; whatever; too many) screws to remove the air cleaner cover. “They never stopped building Tiger tanks.” VW founder Ferdinand Porsche designed the Tiger. There’s an old joke: An American gunmaker makes a gun with 25 parts. A Japanese gunmaker makes one with 17 parts. The German’s gun has 75 parts. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/331 "2018-03-22T01:07:29Z")
The poster who dredged up this thread has been inactive for a full day. Only 1276 more before he gets around to it again. ---
**Author:** ![WillFarnaby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/willfarnaby/32/514_2.png) [@WillFarnaby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WillFarnaby)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/332 "2018-03-22T01:47:16Z")
As long as nobody calls them capitalists, I’m good. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/333 "2018-03-22T04:57:35Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > The poster who dredged up this thread has been inactive for a full day. Only 1276 more before he gets around to it again. It says something about his character that he found an old thread about “idiots who say the Nazis were Socialists” and came here to report in. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/334 "2018-03-22T05:38:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > It says something about his character that he found an old thread about “idiots who say the Nazis were Socialists” and came here to report in. This thread was idle for about 40 days when he first posted in it (observing that **adaher** had victoriously dominated the discussion). There were about half a dozen posts by others before he came back three and a half years later to revive it. His post count is 86; he has 86 posts in this thread. And it would have been very easy for him to find it, because he would have had a sub to it. Hopefully his great wisdom will remain confined to this thread alone. Unless the mods decide to lock it, forcing him to find other threads to shit in. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/335 "2018-03-22T06:27:02Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > This thread was idle for about 40 days when he first posted in it (observing that **adaher** had victoriously dominated the discussion). There were about half a dozen posts by others before he came back three and a half years later to revive it. His post count is 86; he has 86 posts in this thread. And it would have been very easy for him to find it, because he would have had a sub to it. > > Hopefully his great wisdom will remain confined to this thread alone. Unless the mods decide to lock it, forcing him to find other threads to shit in. I think you may have missed that I was making a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2018, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/336 "2018-03-22T08:33:07Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > As long as nobody calls them capitalists, I’m good. Calling them capitalists or socialists implies that the Nazi had \*any \*economic principles, which they didn’t. They didn’t care about money or labor. They cared about race, war, land and pride. Everything else was just a means to an end. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2018, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/337 "2018-03-26T10:24:05Z")
> [@Eminent](#): > > But okay…Which socialist leader would you prefer, if not Hugo? I think we can pretty much rule out the entirety of Africa, Latin America, and much of Asia. You all have done a bang up job destroying those places. Who’s the most celebrated socialist figure in Europe these days? I’m sure there are important socialist leaders in Finland and France. But socialism isn’t really about celebrating leaders. That was part of fascism, since that was a dictatorship-based system. It was also Stalin’s trip, but Stalin was a very large-scale dictator with an anti-capitalistic policy, rather than a textbook socialist. I mean, I don’t completely demonize him, but he was not even a standard Bolshevik, let alone the future Marx and Engels were looking for. Dictatorship as an idea doesn’t come from socialism, even if they sometimes overlap. Dictatorship is apparently older than our oldest historical records; socialist dictators are a tiny fraction of dictators; and not all socialists are pro-dictatorship. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2018, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568/338 "2018-03-28T08:13:59Z")
> [@Eminent](#): > > The recent event of leftists helping peddle pro-Iranian government propaganda against the protesters? Wait wait, what’s _this_ story now? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-idiots-who-say-the-nazis-were-socialists/695568.md?page=16)