Are nazism/fascism examples of a mixture of left and right wing politics/economy(not taking into consideration the ethnically relevant agendas)?

by [deleted]

[deleted]

PantsTime

One must be careful to not conflate a 1930s view of 'right wing politics' with a post 1980s one.

In the 1930s conservatism and being 'right wing' meant something very different to rampant free markets. Many people blamed capitalists for causing World War One, or at least held them up to ridicule for making enormous sums while working class people died in the millions.

In the 1920s and 30s the wealthy had much to fear from inflation as well as revolution. Economic forces were little understood but government borrowing was generally seen as disastrous. Keynes was advocating his radical ideas, Hayek had barely formulated his. Much debate surrounded whether to peg currencies to gold, with there being no clear 'correct' ideological answer. Unions were relatively powerful and could use strike action effectively.

So basically the idea of equating conservatism with complete deregulation and privatisation had to wait another 50 years to have its day. In the 1930s 'conservatism' represented protecting the privileges of the wealthy in a general sense, protecting religious institutions, and keeping production profits in private hands by avoiding nationalisation of heavy industries.