From the time of
Renaissance, when humans started dominating, constitutions started being
created and hence political, economic systems also. From that time, the whole
world is following only three ideologies, which are Socialism, Communism and
most commonly Capitalism. Each type of economic system has its own view on how
the society should function. Firstly, Capitalism which is followed by a
majority of countries in the world says people have their own property and can
do whatever they want with it, whereas, in socialism the ideologies are
opposite of that of Capitalism. Here, in Socialism, the profit is not only
taken by the owner but is divided amongst a community. Some people say that
Capitalism is fair while others think otherwise. Communism has a similar
ideology to that of Socialism except that Socialism has an unemployment benefit
while Communism is not in favour of it. Also, in Socialism, government does not
play an important role while in Communism almost nothing is done without the intervention
of the governing body.
Each country in
the world has developed in its own way. While most finally settled on Capitalism,
there are still a small portion of countries following Socialism and only 5
countries (Cuba, Laos, Vietnam, China and North Korea) following Communism. One
such country that went through a lot of problems is Germany. It followed the
“so called Socialism” during the rule of Hitler but changed over time to
Capitalism. There are many countries that had Socialism earlier and opted
Capitalism later. These countries still retain some ideologies of Socialism
which they find beneficial to themselves (such as healthcare systems). There
would be very less countries in this world that follow only one economic system
purely.
To know about
Germany’s economic system really well, first we need to know a bit about
Germany’s history. Germany is a European country that has faced both the World
Wars in the past. Both the Wars had caused a lot of devastation to the country.
The main influences to the country’s governance were before the Second World
War and these influences were led by Adolf Hitler. He is very well known for
leading the Second World War’s German side but what is not known to many is
that he had brought down German government (Weimar Republic - Socialist) and
led it with his own NAZI party (also Socialist). Although both Weimar Republic
and Nazism had the same socialist ideologies, some Germans did not like Weimar
Republican rule. One such person was Adolf Hitler. With his speeches, he won
the German people’s support and in 1933 became the Chancellor of Germany.
Germany has had
several economical influences during its past under different types of rules
and finally has a stable economical system. It follows a federal political
system and is a country that could call itself Capitalist while still following
some ideologies of Socialism (a few). It is one of the only countries in Europe
that follows more of Capitalism.
But, it has not
always been like this. Germany’s political and economic system has evolved over
the decades from before the First World War till after the Second World War
under the rule of Adolf Hitler and influences of other countries.
Well, the NAZI
party had always dominated in Germany between the First World War and the
Second World War due to the great influential speeches of their leader Adolf
Hitler. He claimed that their party was a socialist party (National German
Socialist Worker’s Party) but people argue against this statement whether it
was really a socialist country or not.
Hitler was against the
ideas of Communism and Capitalism but could still stand Capitalism as long as
the businesses were not by Jews. The term that Hitler used was ‘National
Socialism’ which meant he wanted only Germans in the country’s
society/community. Although he could stand Capitalism, he was completely
against the idea of Communism. Hitler feared what happened in Russia would
happen in an already doomed Germany. Communism was against the middle class,
against private property and was almost completely opposite of Hitler’s
ideology.
As an argument, we
could say that Hitler’s NAZI party was not completely socialist as they
claimed. Hitler followed what was happening in Italy. He followed the footsteps
of Mussolini (Italian dictator). What was followed in Italy was fascism where
it was a society similar to socialism except for Socialist government was
governed by low/middle class while Fascist government was governed by the upper
class.
We could argue that
Hitler did not mainly focus on reviving the German economy but he wanted to
conquer other countries due to the ill-treatment of their country after the
First World War. Fascism is a government that supports this type of rule where
the main focus is either nationalism, racism or both. Although Hitler had both
ideologies, he still gave an opportunity to the middle class to have their own
businesses which is an attribute of Socialism and Capitalism. By now, we can
see that the NAZI had a confused economic and political system and although they
claimed Socialism, they mainly followed Fascism. This confusion can also be
noticed from two statements that Hitler had given in the past. Firstly he said,
“Our
adopted term ‘Socialist’ has nothing to do with Marxist Socialism. Marxism is
anti-property; true Socialism is not.”
Also he made another
statement that shows us that Hitler didn’t oppose Capitalism as much as he
opposed Communism,
“I
absolutely insist on protecting private property … we must encourage private
initiative.”
This was how Germany’s
economic status was in the past. But, what has changed the country’s economic
system – this is my research. Well, from the clear fact above that Germany had
a confused economic system that they followed; we could say that it is an unknown
fact to many that Germany didn’t just follow Socialism but they followed a
combination of economic systems. Germany’s current economic status now is quite
stable but to compare any changes in the system, we would have to know what
Germany’s current law says.
The laws present today
in Germany were created by former Western Germany when Germany had split up.
Eastern Germany was of communist ideology and tried building new communist laws
over the already existing National Socialism whereas, Western Germany had
enough of Socialism and Communism and emerged with its own constitution. The
new law was created such that the good points of NAZI Germany remained and the
other criminal aspects were reversed. This is how new type of economic system
emerged in Germany (or more precisely a part of Germany). West Germans after
the war considered communist and terrorist as the same. They thought so because
they felt endangered to be in a strict (freedom less, democracy less) place.
They could compare it only with terrorists because that is how terrorists
behave!
Well, when revolt for
the fall of Soviet Union started, even East Germans felt an urge for revolt and
they started a revolt! The citizens wanted a unified Germany under the law of
Western Germany. They called out “Wir bleiben hier, Wir wollen raus” (“We are
staying here! We want out”). They had enough of Communism and the “Hitler, NAZI
ideologies” and hence finally in late 1989 (on 9th November 1989), the demolishing of the Berlin wall began.
After this time, Germany
followed laws similar to West Germany and finally opted for Capitalism after
decades of rule under Socialism and Communism. I wouldn’t be one-sided but capitalism has
more benefits to the society’s economy than socialism and communism and it also
provides people opportunities to show up their talent. That is what Hitler
wanted but he chose the wrong way. The right way was to opt for Capitalism
which he refused to. The results are now very clear. But, finally, German’s
economy is stable following a Capitalist economy model…
-Suhas
8/3/14
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