National Socialism

National Socialism refers primarily (see below) to the ideology and practices of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei—NSDAP) and the form of government in the German Reich from 1933 to 1945.

National Socialism is often considered by scholars to be a form of fascism. While it incorporated elements from both political wings, it identified itself ideologically with the Socialist Left. Although it was a ethnic brand of Socialism it was considered a National or German Socialism, sharing many views with other socialist movements of the era such as Bolshevism and Italian Fascism. The NSDAP formulated its program in the 25 point National Socialist Program in 1920. Among the key elements of Nazism were a form of anti-parliamentarism, Pan-Germanism, racism, anticapatialist, collectivism, and communitarianism, as well as welfare, equal rights, profit sharing, and national healthcare.

Contrary to popular belief, National Socialism was not a monolithic movement, but rather a (mainly German) combination of various ideologies and groups, sparked by anger at the Treaty of Versailles and what was considered to have been a Jewish/communist conspiracy to humiliate Germany at the end of the World War I. However, soon after Adolf Hitler's rise to power, the left wing of the NSDAP (the Strasserists) was mostly destroyed in the infamous Night of the Long Knives, and the right wing of the NSDAP (the Hitlerists) came to define National Socialism.

Hitlerism vs. Strasserism

While both Hitlerists and Strasserists believed that a Jewish conspiracy controlled finance capitalism, they differed largely on their positions on how to solve that imagined problem. For the Hitlerists, the solution was to disenfranchise (and later kill) the Jews and other groups which Hitler had believed to be undesireables. Strasserists for the most part rejected this racialist solution, seeing the real way to solve the problem to be the establishment of a new economic system. While Hitlerists were extremely anti-communist, Strasserists spoke of class conflict, wealth redistribution and alliance with the Soviet Union. By 1930, the divide between the Hitlerists and the Strasserists grew to the point where Otto Strasser, in his Ministersessel oder Revolution ('Cabinet Seat or Revolution') attacked Hitler for his betrayal of the purported socialist aspect of National Socialism, and also criticized the notion of the Führerprinzip (which the Hitlerists believed strongly in). The Strasserist argument expanded, eventually, to calls for the break-up of large estates and the development of something akin to a guild system and the related establishment of a Reich cooperative chamber to take a leading role in economic planning. But in 1934's Night of the Long Knives, the Hitlerist wing destroyed the Strasserist wing for all intents and purposes.

National Socialist Micronations

National Socialism is largely regarded as an unacceptable ideology in micronationalism. Nazi micronations have been extremely few, and are invariably isolated from the community. In order to continue this approach, there will be no listing of National Socialist micronations (past or present) here.