So the part of your argument I can understand is that the SPD didn't coalition with the Nazis because they were rivals. What your argument doesn't address, however, is why the Nazis were able to coalition with right-wing nationalist populist parties like the DNVP and that Hitler received critical support from conservative politicians like von Hindenburg and von Papen if the Nazis were ideologically similar to the left-wing SPD and KPD.Falco Knotwise wrote: ↑Fri Nov 10, 2023 9:49 amSzdfan wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 7:58 pm The German parliamentary system is set up that parties have to form coalitions in order to rule, because seats in parliaments are divided according to percentages and proportions of the vote. It's extremely rare for a party to win control of the parliament without coalition partners.
After the March 1933 election, the Nazi Party became the largest party in the Reichstag for the first time with 43% of the vote, which was still not enough votes to command a majority. The party with the second most seats was the SPD. Rather than forming a coalition with the SPD (which Falco is arguing was ideologically similar) the Nazis formed a coalition with the conservative Deutschnationale Volkspartei (DNVP), which was a right-wing, nationalist, populist party. Paul von Hindenburg and Franz von Papen, who both played essential roles in Hitler's appointment as chancellor, were also known as conservative politicians.
When the Nazis consolidated their power at the end of March 1933, they needed a 2/3rds vote in the Reichstag to pass the Enabling Act that banned other parties and allowed Hitler to rule by decree. This law was passed by the Nazis with the help of other conservative parties and not with the KPD and SPD.
Obviously the SPD didn’t want to vote National Socialists into power — they were rivals of the Nazis and wanted the top spot for themselves. None of this is any type of proof that National Socialism didn’t spring from the same roots as socialism.
I do not even understand what’s controversial about that statement.
I'm arguing that Hitler and the Nazis were able to coalition with and receive support from conservatives in Germany because they were more ideologically similar to German conservatism than to socialism and communism.