Hitler did not have Mussolini's revolutionary socialist background... Nevertheless, he shared the socialist hatred and contempt for the 'bourgeoisie' and 'capitalism' and exploited for his purposes the powerful socialist traditions of Germany. The adjectives 'socialist' and 'worker' in the official name of Hitler's party ('The Nationalist-Socialist German Workers' Party') had not merely propagandistic value... On one occasion, in the midst of World War II, Hitler even declared that 'basically National Socialism and Marxism are the same.’

[Hitler] aimed to make Germany the dominant Power in Europe and maybe, more remotely, in the world. Other Powers have pursued similar aims, and still do. Other Powers seek to defend their vital interests by force of arms. In international affairs there was nothing wrong with Hitler except that he was a German.

Hitler said: ‘We shall banish want. We shall banish fear. The essence of National Socialism is human welfare. There must be cheap Volkswagen for workers to ride in, broad Reich Autobahns for the Volkswagen. National Socialism is the Revolution of the Common Man. Rooted in a fuller life for every German from childhood to old age, National Socialism means a new day of abundance at home and a Better World Order abroad.’

National Socialism is a philosophy first codified and brought to power by Adolf Hitler in Germany. Today a Catholic need not be an Italian simply because it was in Italy that his religion first became the official one of the State. Philosophies and philosophers - or prophets - are largely interchangeable within the framework of our blood... Any philosophy must adapt itself to a large degree to the customs and traditions of the people among which its proselytes must move and work... Hitler made the philosophy work for his people in the context of the time and place and, in turn, the philosophy made the people greater. Hitler made National Socialism in Germany the epitome of everything German and, by that, he was the first and thus far the only man to forge a truly united Germany - even the Kaisers had been unable to fully accomplish this. By making some superficial concessions to the everyday whims of the people. Hitler's philosophy, together with its greater meaning, was able to "creep up" painlessly on the common man in his simplicity, who otherwise could have been expected to rebel against such sudden changes in his world and in his picture of things. Hitler's was the world's first truly peaceful revolution.

Like Marx and Lenin, Hitler is an anti-capitalist. And as ‘capitalism ’ is evil, it is, in Hitler’s eyes, Jewish. Anti-Semitism and anti-Capitalism frequently go hand in hand—the Pan-German movement before the war and Austria’s anti-Semitism were strongly anti-capitalistic. Hitler made them indissoluble in Germany. He succeeded in bringing about a fusion of class hatred and racial hatred, of revolutionary socialism and revolutionary nationalism.

Thus, to mention just a few facts, not the social democracy but Hitler fulfilled the long desire of the socialists, the Anschluss of Austria; not social democracy but fascism established the wished — for state control of industry and banking; not social democracy but Hitler declared the first of May a legal holiday. A careful analysis of what the socialists actually wanted to do and never did, compared with actual policies since 1933, will reveal to any objective observer that Hitler realised no more than the programme of social democracy, but without the socialists.

Hitler not only supported Germany’s communist regime during this brief time period, but also bestowed his blessings to a government that had pledged allegiance to Lenin’s Soviet Russia in Moscow. Hitler apparently displayed few qualms over the international (or supposedly Jewish) aspects of Marxism. The significance of Hitler’s elected posts cannot be overstated. By serving under both the socialist, and later communist, governments, Hitler ‘held a position that existed to serve, support and sustain the left-wing revolutionary regime.’ One wonders, given this, why Hitler would be regarded as more of a right-wing socialist or revolutionary conservative than a left-wing socialist. Social Democrats have considered themselves left-wing and favored similar socialist policies that corresponded well to Hitler’s own collectivist visions and socioeconomic ideology.

Hitlerian socialism… was a form of socialism that resembled a combination of utopian socialism and the socialist market economy found in communist China.

Hitler was a humble man and a man of the people if ever there was one. What he wanted he wanted for Germany and the German people, not for himself. He would have had Germany win the First World War - in which he risked his own life many times - so as to have been just a small part afterwards in its national life. He would have rather helped someone else in the task of resurrecting Germany after 1918 but, then just as now, everybody seemed to be waiting. So an honest man of the people did it himself.

I am still the Hitler of the time. This Hitler has only one objective, justice for his own people, sovereignty for his people, recognition of the independence of his people, and their right to their resources. If that is Hitler, then let me be a Hitler tenfold. Ten times, that is what we stand for."

[Hitler] has thought it all out. His ideal: Blend of collectivism and individualism. The land: all that is on it and below it for the people. Production, individualistic for those who create. Combines, trusts, production of finished articles, transport, etc. to be socialized.

Marxism had a lot to offer Hitler. Largely saddled with an unmovable, single-mindedness, hardcore Marxism allowed proponents to see themselves as noble crusaders saving humankind. Here too, Hitler could identify with such closed-mindedness, political messianism, and authoritarian tactics that licensed him to see himself as the savior of the world. A lover of the power of politics, Hitler’s hidebound views pushed him into the unshaded world of white and black antipodes, a battleground where you were either with him or undoubtedly against him, leaving no luxury of neutrality. Such exacting standards of political absolutism likely blinded him to other alternatives, or at least to the possibility of subjective objectivity that would allow the people to freely display their own diversity of opinions.

The Nazi appealed to the socialist traditions of German labor, declaring the worker ‘a pillar of the community,’ and the ‘bourgeois’—along with the traditional aristocracy—a doomed class. Hitler, who told associates that he was a ‘socialist,’ had the party adopt the red flag and, on coming to power, declared May 1 a national holiday; Nazi Party members were ordered to address one another as ‘comrades (Genossen). His conception of the part was, like Lenin’s, that of a militant organization a Kampfbund, or ‘Combat League.’

Hitler believed in discrimination. We know what happened. He carried it to its finality. He believed in a superior race. He believed in a superior people and the power of might and dictatorship. I believe in the law. I prefer due process of law to paying tribute to any individual in this country.