But you'd be what is known in common parlance as "Wrong." Sweden provided alot of assistance to Finland; in the form of a "Volunteer" unit (more than 8,000 volunteered), not just turning a blind eye to many officers and soldiers "disappearing" eastwards but actively encouraging them to do so. They also gave or lent war material to the Finns , including aircraft (an amount equal to one third of the entire Swedish airforce at the time), and quite frankly, providing a large deal of support to Finland while maintaining a level of deniability. The 19. Flyflottilj This Unit consisted of Swedish aircraft, and 272 Swedish volunteers (including 2 women), further, all POL, ammunition, supplies, and maintenance needs were met by... SWEDEN. Swede Ian Iacobi shot down a I15 on the 12th January. Over a 62 day period (until the armistice) the group shot down 12 Russian aircraft, for 6 of its own, and lost three SWEDISH pilots killed. On the conclusion of the Winter War, the planes and aircrew were returned to the SWEDISH airforce. The issue at hand, was that the Swedish government prior to the war, encouraged Finland to call Stalin's bluff, saying they'd provide more assistance than they did. Ultimately, the Swedes couldn't afford, even what they did provide, and took too long to get it organised. Fingers were, however, lifted. Just to be clear, the amount of aid sent to Finland (approximately $312 million USD) amounted to twice the size of the Finnish military budget in 1939, and basically amounted to the entire Swedish military budget of 1939.
The UK was desperate. We had run out of money (the 'cash and carry' scheme with the US saw to that...plus lots of overseas UK interests were also apparently ceded to the USA. Although it might be contentious your side of the Pond, remember that one of the USAs aims was to emasculate the British Empire), so yes, the USSR was, by necessity, an ally. Of course Operation Barbarossa and Pearl Harbour gelled it all together so that even the USA sent loads of Lend Lease material to the USSR. Think about it: the British Empire, the USA and the USSR working together for the 'common good'. Seems to also be happening now between the USA and USSR?.........all you need is a common foe to bring everyone else together.
Looks at it this way, a beat cop surprises two burglars making a heist, they immediately start to run. The cop can only chase down one of them, the other is going to get away. Germany was more dangerous, so they were the focus. Bit of a stretch there, British Empire GDP exceeds that of Germany and Italy combined in 1940. Munitions could not be bought Cash and Carry when war began
GDP does not pay bills! Gold and Foreign Currency Reserves were what was used. I'm working from memory but I think the source information is in Churchills book "Their Finest Hour".
America has drifted towards fascism since the end of WWII to the present. This whole media reporting about Russia hacking us, and all the pundits and politicians constantly talking about it like its fact and stirring up, reminds me of a Goebbels propaganda trick when he's trying to drift opinion towards a certain enemy.
Well the US certainly had such laws. Internationally arbitrarily declaring war on someone was rather discouraged although doing so in support of a third party particularly one who was a "victim" was acceptable. The second half is correct the first half not so much. The USSR and Stalin lived up to most of their agreements, especially with regards to those with the West. They did try to get them worded in ways that would allow them to accomplish their own aims with out violating the letter of said agreements but that's pretty much the way diplomatic agreements are fashioned. That's debatable. The Commonwealth would have quite a time winning the war by itself but it wasn't impossible. The entry of the US or the USSR made a victory far more likely and the US was pretty clearly going to come in at some point as long as the UK hung on. Churchill certainly wasn't upset at the German attack on the USSR though. The British and French went on record as insuring Poland against a German invasion. The Soviets also claimed that they were moving into Poland in support of the Poles. That fiction was pretty clear early on but the Germans actually challenging the British and French and backed them into a place where they had little other choice. Attacking and/or declaring war on the Soviets was considered. If the Germans hadn't attacked the Soviets it's not clear if or when action might have been taken against them. I think an even stronger case can be made for the US drifting toward socialism. If one looks at the Greco Persian wars the Greeks tended to over report the size of the Persian armies as they felt it made them look better. The Persians also tended to over report the size of their armies as they felt it made them look stronger. Some rather classic propaganda from long before Goebbels.
Yes it has been drifting more towards socialism, a Nationalist Socialism with a security/police state presence in which our privacy and rights can be violated in more ways than we know ourselves.
"Nationalist Socialism" i.e. the Nazis weren't socialist at least for the most part. Early on they did have a socialist wing but not long after they came to power they dispose of that. Of course both extremes tend to limit personal freedom but that's hardly the point.
I agree. The Nazis were for private property, private initiative, etc. Hitler believed private enterprise would lead to the best results in terms of competition to make the best product, etc. The government hand guided the direction, output, etc. But that was no different from the New Deal or tight government regulations, which is regarded as another form of Socialism.
Actually the Nazis controlled things a bit more than that. If you haven't read it I recommend Wages of Destruction if you have consider rereading it.
As a rule post elections politicians are much less radical than earlier, and Hitler was no different. And really, at that time nobody had the money to implement socialism fully. The pre-1933 Nazis were radical socialists, for example Gregor Strasser (the leader of the NSDAP's national organization) in 1926: We are Socialists, enemies, mortal enemies of the present capitalist economic system with its exploitation of the economically weak, with its injustice in wages, with its immoral evaluation of individuals according to wealth and money instead of responsibility and achievement, and we are determined under all circumstances to abolish this system! And with my inclination to practical action it seems obvious to me that we have to put a better, more just, more moral system in its place, one which, as it were, has arms and legs and better arms and legs than the present one. Strasserian Fascists didn't deradicalize after 1933 and were purged by Hitler. Hitlerian Fascists did but they still remained socialists - only more modern, less radical, less naive. They had more in common with modern socialists (without the SJW stuff) than with the pre-WW2 socialists (who basically were communists without Gulags). And actually Hitlerian Fascists implemented a lot of socialists ideas (before they ran out of money), for example: - National Socialist People's Welfare - a country wide social welfare organization, - National Socialist War Victim's Care - a social welfare organization for veterans, - Winter Relief of the German Peoples - with the none shall starve nor freeze slogan, provided for the less fortunate Germans during winter, - Reich Labour Service - mitigated the effects of unemployment, - German Labour Front - the Nazi trade union organization: The employees were given relatively high set wages and security of employment, and dismissal was increasingly made difficult. Social security and leisure programmes were started, canteens, breaks and regular working times were established, and German workers were generally satisfied by what the DAF gave them in repayment for their absolute loyalty. - Strength through Joy - free concerts, plays, libraries, day trips, holidays for workers, - Beauty of Work - workplace improvements, - National Vocational Competition - an annual vocational competitions, - cheap radios (people's receivers), cheap cars (people’s cars) , cheap refrigerators (the Volkskühlschrank), even planes (the Volksflugzeug - People’s Aircraft). Germany had "Obamacare" already so they Nazi couldn't improve there, but actually they were great supporters of animals rights if I'm not mistaken.
Otto Strasser left the party, left Germany, and formed the Black Front which tried to undermine Nazi Germany and assassinate Hitler. Gregor didn't and was killed in the Long Knives. They felt Hitler was too cozy with big business and too un-socialist for their liking.
The socialists and their goals in the twenties and thirties: Now, in order to obtain a production directed towards social ends, society must control production absolutely, that is to say "the ownership and control of the industries and services essential for the satisfaction of the people's needs" should pass from the capitalists to the community. Nationalization of the great public services, such as transport, mines, the production of electricity and gas, is admitted at the present time even by a number of people who cannot exactly be called socialists. The expropriation by the community of other industries has the almost unanimous support of the socialist world. The general rule that all the means of production should pass to the community. The ownership of the soil should be national, whatever may be the system by which agricultural production is secured. [As] to artisans working on their own account and to independent intellectual workers [...] there is our necessary condition, that production should be carried on without the employment of the labour of others. Immediately the phenomenon of wages appears; as soon as work in production is exacted for the benefit of a third person, society has a right to intervene. In other cases production and distribution may be left in the hands of municipalities and other local authorities or federations of local authorities, which, according to the authors of the resolution, will be called upon to play a very important part. [...] Under the socialist regime they would extend their field of action, and supplement the action of the State, where the latter did not think it proper to carry on the industry directly. In the last place, the co-operative societies might deal with the production and distribution of objects of domestic consumption. The Congress of the Labour and Socialist International, 1920 - International Labour Office, Geneva, Studies and Reports. (The Labour and Socialist International was an international organization of socialist and labour parties.) Hitlerian socialists realized that the total confiscation of all means of production and of all land would be pointless and inefficient (they were right, the fate of the USSR and the entire communist bloc would prove that later). Their solution of this problem was capitalism tightly controlled, regulated, kept in line, and governed by a big government. In this they were much more reasonable and progressive than the "real" socialists.
Gregor and Otto Strasser were brothers Gregor Strasser advocated socialism in the party, arguing that the national revolution should also include strong action to tackle poverty and should seek to build working class support. Ernst Röhm, head of the SA, called for a "second revolution," aimed at removing the elites from control, threatening the promises Hitler had made to industrialists, Conservatives, and the Army. Not surprisingly, this was opposed by the conservative movement, as well as by the right-wing Nazis who preferred an ordered authoritarian regime to the radical and disruptive program advocated by the Party's socialist wing. Gregor was killed during the Night of the Long Knives (already in 1933). Otto Strasser was expelled by the Nazi Party in 1930 and set up his own dissident group, the Black Front, which called for a specifically German nationalist form of social revolution. He fled Germany in 1933 to live in Czechoslovakia and Canada before returning to West Germany in later life. Hitler never really believed in "Socialism"; the word was merely a tool to extract the most from workers. They advocated Socialist policies because they understood it would attract votes. It provided for the Chimera of socialism, without actually being such. Those that believed the "Socialism" line were soon eradicated after they gained power, or learned to be very quiet indeed. 1) The failure to deliver a "People's car" is symptomatic. Citizens that signed up were docked pay, yet no private citizen ever received a "Kdf-Wagen" (although after the war, Volkswagen did give some customers a 200 DM discount for their stamp-books). The entire project was financially unsound, and only the corruption and lack of accountability of the Nazi regime made it possible. "Even if the war had not intervened, developments up to 1939 made clear that the entire conception of the 'people's car' was a disastrous flop." - Tooze. 2) Hitler Youth and the League of German Youth were powerful tools for indoctrination for the subordination of individuals to the service of the state. Non-participation in these and other KdF activities (for instance, "the Office for After-Work Activities"), was regarded as highly suspicious.. 3) Although the leisure vacations were ostensibly available for everyone, and the propaganda stated that the cabins were assigned by lottery, the Cruise ships only seemed to have hard-working and loyal Nazis on board. 4) The common workers were treated about as well as medieval serfs, except they were bound by the state, unable to switch jobs without the permission of both their current employer, and the State.Wages were little above subsistence level. The upside being, the worker could not be made redundant without the consent of the government employment office. "We had to divert the attention of the masses from material to moral values. It is more important to feed the souls of men than their stomachs." - Robert Ley The primary purpose of the KdF was to crush trade unionism. Trade Unions were banned, and the Nazi Duetsche Arbeitdfront (DAF) was formed. But labourers didn't flock to DAF, even though membership was made compulsory; Hitler and Ley were aware that the suppression of the trade unions and the prevention of wage increases by the Trustees of Labour system, coupled with their relentless demands for increased productivity to hasten German rearmament, was creating working-class discontent. This is why the KdF was formed. Not because of any inherent "Socialism" existing within NSDAP.
By community, they mean central authority, or government, correct? Because someone has to make the decisions.
They were more oppressive and unfriendly to workers than any "Socialist" nation or program should be.
Generally wise men were going to make the decisions - elected by an enlightened, always voting socialists, population. And government was going to keep the best parts, the rest was a mess: The plan adopted by the Geneva Congress contemplates three forms [..]: National, Municipal and Co-operative. [...] For certain branches of production nationalisation is always preferable, for example, for agriculture, for the great industries of national importance (mines, transports) or concerning the community as a whole (for example, certain branches of the chemical industry, the production of electric current, etc.). The national form is also preferable where the industry has attained such a degree of economic concentration that the different industrial units of production may be considered as inseparable parts of a single organic industrial whole (for example, the metallurgical industry, the cotton industry, etc.). In other cases production and distribution may be left in the hands of municipalities and other local authorities or federations of local authorities, which, according to the authors of the resolution, will be called upon to play a very important part. Even at the present time, under the capitalist regime, the municipalities carry on with success a certain number of industrial enterprises (tramways, water, gas, certain services in connection with food and dwellings, etc.). Under the socialist regime they would extend their field of action, and supplement the action of the State, where the latter did not think it proper to carry on the industry directly. In the last place, the co-operative societies might deal with the production and distribution of objects of domestic consumption.
The Western Powers had much invested in Tsarist Russia. These countries openly supported the "Whites" during the revolution. If you were a Bolshevik would you trust the west?
