Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021
Did World War II result in socialism being ‘beat’?
Socialism is not the same as "national socialism," more popularly known as Nazism, an ideology that was adopted by the Nazi Party of Germany.
Socialism is most commonly defined as collective ownership of the means of production. The Soviet Union, officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was one of the major Allied Powers of World War II, which won the war.
Lead Stories reached out to Ronald Granieri, an associate professor of history in the Department of National Security and Strategy at U.S. Army War College, and author of a piece in The Washington Post discussing the difference between socialism and national socialism. Granieri categorized the claim as "not remotely accurate."
Among several points he made:
"The Soviets contributed mightily to the defeat of Nazi Germany, and they literally called their participation a triumph for socialism."
This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.
Sources
- Washington Post The right needs to stop falsely claiming that the Nazis were socialists
- Investopedia Socialism
- Encyclopædia Britannica Socialism - Postwar socialism
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