Letter to the editor: Where the 'fascism' label belongs

In the simple arrangement of socioeconomic political systems, all systems that use government as a means of production are accurately placed on the left, and all systems that use for-profit corporations to do so are on the right. You cannot place fascism on the left simply because in the German-to-English translation of Nazi, the word socialism appears.

The opinion is that one word does not make a socioeconomic system. Additionally, that leaves nothing on the far right (vacuum?) and leaves only capitalism on the right. Then, pray tell, who are the insurrectionists who are referred to as right-wing extremists? Stockbrokers?

After World War I, some German corporations were nationalized, but Hitler reprivatized them all. He thought the German people would be more patriotic for the war effort if they were working in for-profit corporations. Krupp was the big steel producer and Daimler-Benz was a big producer of tanks and cannons. Do they sound familiar? No wonder, they are today’s major German companies. U.S. capitalists were major investors in Hitler’s war machine up until Dec. 7, 1941, when Hitler stupidly declared war on the U.S. The worst example was GM, which built in Germany assembly line truck factories for Hitler.

Hitler did have social welfare programs. These programs were for the good of the German people. That is, if you were a productive white, Christian nationalist and could contribute to the war effort. Everybody else — too bad. Sound familiar? Euthanized and exterminated.

Larry Josephs

Penn Township, Westmoreland County