I don't believe Nazi propaganda was, strictly speaking, "anti-financier" -
even in theory. It was designed to draw the connection between moneylending
and Jewry. It was not the charging of interest which was condemned as such,
but only usurious loansharking which was portrayed as the exclusive province
of Jewish bankers. "German patriots" like Fritz Thyssen and others who
financed the Nazi rise to power were welcomed and cultivated.
While Thyssen wasn't representative of the big German capitalists who
sniffed at the Nazis and generally supported elite-based conservative
parties during Weimer - the Nazis were strongest among the petty
bourgeoisie - when these right-wing parties proved ineffective, German
capital threw its support to the Nazis as a popular counterweight to the
mass left organizations. Leading financiers and manufacturers in the US,
Britain, Europe and elsewhere also, as we know, looked with favour on
Hitler, Mussolini, and the fascist parties during this period of economic
breakdown, turbulent class struggle, and the apparent inability of their
traditional parties and other institutions to contain it.
=============================
Jim D. wrote:
there's a big break between fascist theory (which was often populist,
anti-financier) and fascist practice (which was pro-financier, as long
as it served their purposes). The fascists were (and are) extremely
opportunistic.
Carrol:
Charles, I keep wondering why you are even bothering to explore a mode
of economics that has no future except as the ideology of a future
fascist movement.
Charles Brown wrote:
Carrol, did historical fascist regimes have an ideology against interest
taking by banks or financial institutions ? If so , was it another Big
Lie ?
What was the practice of the Nazis toward banks, and interest taking by
them
? Why did they respect Switzerland's neutrality ? Was it because of the
power of the European banking sector within the finance capitalists who
were
of the ruling class in Germany ? What was the role of the U.S. House of
Morgan in Germany in the 1920's and 1930's. Were they for ending interest
taking by banks and creditors ?
