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Friday, June 17, 2011 5:40:14 PM
O.K. I looked it UP. A very popular argument by the Right is to say that the Nazis were Leftwing, when in fact they were Rightwing in both Germany and the United States.
.....I know this is lengthy, however, if you want to learn the truth you will read it at some point and you will read the embedded links and begin to know what you are talking about
The Nazis were pro-Christian, anti-communist, certainly anti-Marxist, imprisoned atheist and labor leaders--that sounds right-wing to me! So since the Nazis embraced the Catholic Church (and the Church embraced Hitler), should we call Christianity fascist? And why did the Nazis view "liberals" as their enemy?
In America, German Fascism dazzled many American leaders of capitalist industry. They were William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy(JFK’s father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon(head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Henry Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush (don’t forget him), National City Bank, and General Electric.
Charles Lindberg with Nazi officials.
In October 1938, Lindbergh was presented by Goering, on behalf of the Fuehrer, the Service Cross of the German Eagle for his contributions to aviation.
GM and Ford built nearly 90% of the armored 3-ton half-trucks and 70% of the Nazi medium and heavy-duty trucks used in WWII. Greame K. Howard, Vice President of General Motors, wrote and published “American and a New World Order” and argued that America should cooperate with the Nazis.
Hearst with Nazi officers...bunch of good ol' boys.
The Du Ponts financed the Black Legion that was an American Nazi group that used violence against unions and was connected to the Ku Klux Klan.
Williams Randolph Hearst was a real fan of the Nazi party. Remember those magazine pictures of Hilter’s retreat in Germany. Did you ever wonder how Better Homes and Gardens magazine got those pictures for the 1938 article? Hearst and Hilter were friends!
Thomas J. Watson and the Hollerith number tattoos.
And this is the worst of all. Thomas J. Watson, the head executive of IBM, leased data sorting computers using IBM's Hollerith punch card technology in 1933 to the Nazis enabling them to identify, find, and collect the victims of the Holocaust. Those numbers tattooed on the Jewish prisoners were of the Hollerith numbering system. Adolph Hitler awarded Watson a medal for his contribution! [ http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/ ] [ http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/1920sp2.html ]
The criminal behavior and lack of ethics illustrated by Watson's early career was pervasive between the wars. When the Nazis seized power, Watson saw an opportunity to expand in Germany. In the depths of the Great Depression, Watson increased IBM's investment in Germany by nearly a million dollars. Even more gratifying was the secret pact Watson concluded in October, 1933 which gave Dehomag commercial powers beyond the German borders. Previously, all IBM subsidiaries had been confined to a single country. With Dehomag now established as the defacto "IBM Europe," the Nazis were able to conduct statistical services throughout Europe. In effect, Watson had established a cartel much like I.G. Farben's.
In an attempt to justify Watson's, and IBM's dealings with the Nazis, many suggest that Watson was not a fascist, but simply a ruthless businessman. Evidence, however, suggests that if Watson was not a fascist, he was at the very least a great admirer of fascism. At a 1937 sales convention Watson said:
"I want to pay tribute(to the) great leader, Benito Mussolini. I have followed the details of his work very carefully since he assumed leadership. Evidence of his leadership can be seen on all sides. Mussolini is a pioneer…. Italy is going to benefit greatly."26
This is not the only evidence of Watson's support and admiration for fascism. He also had an autographed picture of Mussolini hanging in his living room for years. Watson was quoted saying:
"we should pay tribute to Mussolini for establishing this spirit of loyal support." 26
In a private letter to Reich Economic Minister, Hjalmar Schacht, Watson wrote:
"the necessity of extending a sympathetic understanding to the German people and their aims under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. 26
Watson wrote the letter years after Hitler seized power, and described Nazi aggression toward neighboring countries as a dynamic policy. The letter ended with:
"an expression of my highest esteem for himself (Hitler), his country and his people." 26
While Watson's praise for Hitler and Mussolini do not supply definitive proof that Watson was a fascist, it certainly confirms the conclusion of Harvard professor, Gaetano Salvemini, that corporate America was in sympathy with fascism.
In 1938 Henry Ford received the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle as a birthday present from Adolph Hitler and Ford refused to return the medal even after the war.
And get this. After the war, Ford and IBM demanded the US government reimburse their companies for the loaned assets destroyed in the war. And we, the American people, paid them!
The Nazi party was greatly impressed with American scientists’ study of Eugenics that claimed social ills were the result of genetic inferiority and not social conditions. In 1907 Indiana first legalized forced sterilization of the inferior-- the poor, prisoners, and the mentally ill. The Rockefeller Foundation funded and endorsed eugenics programs. The impression American eugenics had on the Nazis cannot be understated.
More history of how American Corporations overwhelmingly supported, exported material and knowledge, protected Nazi interests during the 1920s.
The Roaring 20s and the Roots of American Fascism
Part 2: Economic Warfare & Traitors in High Places
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/1920sp2.html
...Between the cartel agreements of I.G. and the monopolistic behavior of our own robber barons, the Dulles brothers had no shortage of investors willing to invest in Germany. In 1940, Professor Gaetano Salvemini of Harvard was quoted as saying that 100 percent of American big business was sympathetic towards fascism. Corporate America's support for fascism was so great that U.S. Ambassador to Germany William Dodd proclaimed:
"A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy." 21
Americans have never been told the truth about the extent of corporate America's involvement with the Nazis. The media has spoon-fed Americans into believing that only a handful of companies traded with the Nazis. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, well over 300 American corporations were arming Nazi Germany during the war in violation of the law.
Many of these corporations took extraordinary steps to maintain communication with their German offices and to conceal their Nazi involvement from the U.S. government. They could have severed all links with Nazi Germany, but instead chose to continue support a regime at war with their own country. In doing so, these corporations became willing accomplices to the Holocaust, traitors to their country and guilty of war crimes. Those responsible for such actions and crimes should have received justice at the end of a hangman's noose. Sadly, none were even charged.
Even the bluest of the "blue chips," IBM, actively sought business with the Nazis during the war. Dehomag, IBM's German subsidiary, supplied the Hollerith machines that played a prominent role in the Holocaust. Without Hollerith machines the efficiency with which the Holocaust was carried out would have been impossible. The roundup of the Jews would have been slowed to a snail's pace by forcing the Nazis to divert additional manpower to the task of locating their Jewish victims. Hollerith machines were located in every concentration camp and were serviced by Dehomag representatives under the full appraisal of the New York office.
The inclusion of IBM provides a look at the mindset of corporate America. Edwin Black's IBM and the Holocaust details the ruthlessness of corporate America in its pursuit of profits. 22 When the Nazis came to power, IBM was under the direction of Thomas Watson, who actively sought out a contract to provide the equipment for the Nazi census.
Up until then, Watson's career had been less than ethically stellar. Watson learned his business skills from John Patterson, the ruthless founder of the National Cash Register (NCR). Watson rose quickly in the ranks of NCR, learning to use frivolous lawsuits against competitors, as well as the threat of lawsuits against competitors' customers. At NCR, Watson was placed in charge of driving out competitors selling used equipment. He quickly adopted the tactics of the robber barons to establish a monopoly by using predatory pricing, threats of lawsuits, bribes and even smashed storefronts. On February 22, 1912, Watson was indicted for criminal conspiracy to restrain trade and found guilty. 23
The criminal behavior and lack of ethics illustrated by Watson's early career was pervasive between the wars. When the Nazis seized power, Watson saw an opportunity to expand in Germany. In the depths of the Great Depression, Watson increased IBM's investment in Germany by nearly a million dollars. Even more gratifying was the secret pact Watson concluded in October, 1933 which gave Dehomag commercial powers beyond the German borders. Previously, all IBM subsidiaries had been confined to a single country. With Dehomag now established as the defacto "IBM Europe," the Nazis were able to conduct statistical services throughout Europe. In effect, Watson had established a cartel much like I.G. Farben's.
In an attempt to justify Watson's, and IBM's dealings with the Nazis, many suggest that Watson was not a fascist, but simply a ruthless businessman. Evidence, however, suggests that if Watson was not a fascist, he was at the very least a great admirer of fascism. At a 1937 sales convention Watson said:
"I want to pay tribute(to the) great leader, Benito Mussolini. I have followed the details of his work very carefully since he assumed leadership. Evidence of his leadership can be seen on all sides. Mussolini is a pioneer…. Italy is going to benefit greatly."26
This is not the only evidence of Watson's support and admiration for fascism. He also had an autographed picture of Mussolini hanging in his living room for years. Watson was quoted saying:
"we should pay tribute to Mussolini for establishing this spirit of loyal support." 26
In a private letter to Reich Economic Minister, Hjalmar Schacht, Watson wrote:
"the necessity of extending a sympathetic understanding to the German people and their aims under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. 26
Watson wrote the letter years after Hitler seized power, and described Nazi aggression toward neighboring countries as a dynamic policy. The letter ended with:
"an expression of my highest esteem for himself (Hitler), his country and his people." 26
While Watson's praise for Hitler and Mussolini do not supply definitive proof that Watson was a fascist, it certainly confirms the conclusion of Harvard professor, Gaetano Salvemini, that corporate America was in sympathy with fascism.
Before the ink was dry on the Treaty of Versailles, American corporations were rushing to invest and support Germany. The first to support what became the Nazi line was Henry Ford. In the early 1920s, Ford began publishing an anti-Semitic newspaper. Ford was also an early financial supporter of Hitler at a time when the Nazis were virtually unknown.
Another early backer of Hitler and the Nazis were the du Ponts. The power behind the du Pont throne in the 1920s was Irenee du Pont who, like Ford, was a supporter of Hitler before he was known outside Munich. Irenee du Pont followed Hitler's career avidly from the early 1920s on. Du Pont representatives traveled to Germany almost immediately after the armistice to renew their alliance with I.G.
In November 1919, mere months after the armistice was signed, representatives of du Pont and the Badische Company, the principal corporate identity of I.G. Farben in Switzerland, worked out a tentative agreement for the organization of a global corporation to exploit the Haber process for ammonia and nitrate production. Du Pont also sought technical help in the dyestuffs industry. Although a complete agreement was never reached on a grand alliance, the relationship between du Pont, Verinigte Koln-Rottweiler Pulverfabriken (VKR) and Dynamit Aktiengesellschaft (DAG) became closer. At one point, du Pont had roughly three million dollars invested directly in I.G. Farben 24
The most notable aspect of the November 1919 meeting and tentative agreement was the lightning speed with which the German cartels reestablished control over the all-important Haber process for ammonia and nitrate production. All parties had a stake in completing the agreement behind closed doors, sincethe very nature of the agreement was in violation of the armistice. For Germany, it meant control over explosives and fertilizer production, freeing the country from dependence on Chilean nitrates. For du Pont, it was a matter of profits. Before WW II, one of the most profitable periods for du Pont was WW I. During that war, du Pont's profits rose to $230,000,000. The profits from the war were used to buy a controlling share of General Motors. 27
On January 1, 1926, an agreement between du Pont, VCR and DAG was consummated, and was similar to the agreement of the same date between du Pont and Imperial Chemical Industries of Britain. This agreement, debated at length in the 1934 Nye Committee hearings, was found unsigned in du Pont files. It was a gentlemen's agreement detailing exchanges of patents and technical information that could be denied if discovered. In defiance of the Treaty of Versailles banning German companies from selling military explosives, the agreement provided a means by which du Pont could sell German produced explosives. The Nye report provides the best summary of the agreement:
"In other words, though German munitions companies cannot sell abroad, American companies can sell for them, and to our own government at that." 25
In effect, the agreement between du Pont, DAG and VCR reestablished the pre-war cartel between du Pont, Koln-Rottweiler Pulverfabriken and the British Nobel Dynamite Trust. Under the pre-war agreement, du Pont agreed not to erect any powder works in Europe, and the other signers agreed not to erect powder works in the United States. Technical information was exchanged among the signatories, and du Pont agreed to inform the others of the quantity, quality and requirements of all powder sales to the United States government. In 1910, the Justice Department found the agreement to be a violation of anti-trust laws, resulting in the breakup of du Pont powder works and the formation of Atlas Powder and Hercules Powder. Within a few years of the 1910 ruling, du Pont reorganized in Delaware because to the state's lax regulations of corporations.
An agreement between du Pont and Dynamit in 1929 controlled the production of tetrazine, a substance for greatly improved ammunition primers. When WWII began in 1939, Remington (controlled by du Pont) received huge British ammunition orders. Because of a clause in the agreement with I.G. Farben the British received an inferior cartridge lacking tetrazine. 34
"Fascism is on the march today in America. Millionaires are marching to the tune. It will come in this country unless a strong defense is set up by all liberal and progressive forces... A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government, and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy. Aboard ship a prominent executive of one of America's largest financial corporations told me point blank that if the progressive trend of the Roosevelt administration continued, he would be ready to take definite action to bring fascism to America."
-former U.S. ambassador to Germany William Dodd in 1938
So under this version of history all those American capitalists mentioned above were "socialist!"
Reductio ad absurdum!
Here is a summary of the beliefs of Nazi fascism as described in the article Understanding Fascism and anti-Semitism by Geoff Price
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles...ing_fascism.htm
1. Social Fascism: Fascism, in the social sense, is ultimately an affirmation of “traditional values”.
2. Fascism was ultimately born out of, and supported by, conservatism and the belief that Western Civilization had become decadent and self-ruinous.
3. So fascism, as it developed, was reactionary; it was a reaction to the perceived problems of modernism, and the immediate perceived threat of Communism.
4. Fascism labeled their enemies as decadent “liberals” and “Social Democrats.”
5. Early on fascism was seen as a movement that embraced Christianity. In Germany fascists promoted what they called “true Christianity”, which was essentially “Christian fundamentalism.”
6. The fascists opposed atheism, modernism, the Enlightenment, intellectualism, liberalism, democracy, Social Democrat activist, Marxism, secularism, true laissez-faire capitalism, and evolutionary theory. What is most important to note about this is that many people, not just the fascists, shared many elements of these same feelings. These sentiments are in essence the definition of right-wing social ideology.
7. Hitler himself complained of evolutionary theory and advocated teaching creationism in the German schools. "God Is With Us": Hitler's Rhetoric and the Lure of "Moral Values" by Maureen Farrell http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/12/far04041.html “The book The German Churches Under Hitler includes his assertion that secular schools should not be tolerated while Hitler's Table Talk quotes him questioning the wisdom in teaching children both creationism and the theory of evolution. "The present system of teaching in schools permits the following absurdity: at 10 a.m. the pupils attend a lesson in the catechism, at which the creation of the world is presented to them in accordance with the teachings of the Bible; and at 11 a.m. they attend a lesson in natural science, at which they are taught the theory of evolution,"he said. "Yet the two doctrines are in complete contradiction. As a child, I suffered from this contradiction, and ran my head against a wall." [ http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/12/far04041.html ]
8. In 1929 Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI. This established Catholicism as the official religion of the State, gave the Pope increased political powers, gave papal sovereignty to Vatican City, ensured that the Catholic religion would be taught in all schools, compensated the Pope with $90 million for the loss of papal property since 1870, and cemented broad Catholic support for Mussolini.
8. In 1929 Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI. This established Catholicism as the official religion of the State, gave the Pope increased political powers, gave papal sovereignty to Vatican City, ensured that the Catholic religion would be taught in all schools, compensated the Pope with $90 million for the loss of papal property since 1870, and cemented broad Catholic support for Mussolini.
9. The Great Scandal: Christianity's Role in the Rise of the Nazis by Gregory S. Paul http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/paul_23_4.html The Concordat , signed on July 20, 1933, was a classic POLITICAL KICKBACK SCHEME. The Catholic church supported the new dictatorship by endorsing the end of democracy and free speech. In addition it bound its bishops to Hitler’s Reich by means of a loyalty oath and in exchange for supporting Hitler the Catholic church received enormous 1.) tax income and 2.) protection for church privileges. 3.) Religious instruction and prayer in school were reinstated. 4.) Criticism of the church was forbidden. [ http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/paul_23_4.html ]
10. The first concentration camp in Germany was Dachau, which opened in 1933. The primary prisoners of the Dachau camp were Communists, Social Democrats, and atheists. The first camps were essentially for "enemies of the State". Over time Gypsies, homosexuals, and dissenting clergymen were sent to Dachau as well.
So the American NeoCon Fascists have to rewrite history to hide there ideological identity and affinity to the German Nazi Fascists. Otherwise, who would listen to their propaganda?
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/whitepapers/defining/leftwing_or_rightwing.htm
.....I know this is lengthy, however, if you want to learn the truth you will read it at some point and you will read the embedded links and begin to know what you are talking about
The Nazis were pro-Christian, anti-communist, certainly anti-Marxist, imprisoned atheist and labor leaders--that sounds right-wing to me! So since the Nazis embraced the Catholic Church (and the Church embraced Hitler), should we call Christianity fascist? And why did the Nazis view "liberals" as their enemy?
In America, German Fascism dazzled many American leaders of capitalist industry. They were William Randolph Hearst, Joseph Kennedy(JFK’s father), Charles Lindbergh, John Rockefeller, Andrew Mellon(head of Alcoa, banker, and Secretary of Treasury), DuPont, General Motors, Standard Oil (now Exxon), Henry Ford, ITT, Allen Dulles (later head of the CIA), Prescott Bush (don’t forget him), National City Bank, and General Electric.
Charles Lindberg with Nazi officials.
In October 1938, Lindbergh was presented by Goering, on behalf of the Fuehrer, the Service Cross of the German Eagle for his contributions to aviation.
GM and Ford built nearly 90% of the armored 3-ton half-trucks and 70% of the Nazi medium and heavy-duty trucks used in WWII. Greame K. Howard, Vice President of General Motors, wrote and published “American and a New World Order” and argued that America should cooperate with the Nazis.
Hearst with Nazi officers...bunch of good ol' boys.
The Du Ponts financed the Black Legion that was an American Nazi group that used violence against unions and was connected to the Ku Klux Klan.
Williams Randolph Hearst was a real fan of the Nazi party. Remember those magazine pictures of Hilter’s retreat in Germany. Did you ever wonder how Better Homes and Gardens magazine got those pictures for the 1938 article? Hearst and Hilter were friends!
Thomas J. Watson and the Hollerith number tattoos.
And this is the worst of all. Thomas J. Watson, the head executive of IBM, leased data sorting computers using IBM's Hollerith punch card technology in 1933 to the Nazis enabling them to identify, find, and collect the victims of the Holocaust. Those numbers tattooed on the Jewish prisoners were of the Hollerith numbering system. Adolph Hitler awarded Watson a medal for his contribution! [ http://www.ibmandtheholocaust.com/ ] [ http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/1920sp2.html ]
The criminal behavior and lack of ethics illustrated by Watson's early career was pervasive between the wars. When the Nazis seized power, Watson saw an opportunity to expand in Germany. In the depths of the Great Depression, Watson increased IBM's investment in Germany by nearly a million dollars. Even more gratifying was the secret pact Watson concluded in October, 1933 which gave Dehomag commercial powers beyond the German borders. Previously, all IBM subsidiaries had been confined to a single country. With Dehomag now established as the defacto "IBM Europe," the Nazis were able to conduct statistical services throughout Europe. In effect, Watson had established a cartel much like I.G. Farben's.
In an attempt to justify Watson's, and IBM's dealings with the Nazis, many suggest that Watson was not a fascist, but simply a ruthless businessman. Evidence, however, suggests that if Watson was not a fascist, he was at the very least a great admirer of fascism. At a 1937 sales convention Watson said:
"I want to pay tribute(to the) great leader, Benito Mussolini. I have followed the details of his work very carefully since he assumed leadership. Evidence of his leadership can be seen on all sides. Mussolini is a pioneer…. Italy is going to benefit greatly."26
This is not the only evidence of Watson's support and admiration for fascism. He also had an autographed picture of Mussolini hanging in his living room for years. Watson was quoted saying:
"we should pay tribute to Mussolini for establishing this spirit of loyal support." 26
In a private letter to Reich Economic Minister, Hjalmar Schacht, Watson wrote:
"the necessity of extending a sympathetic understanding to the German people and their aims under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. 26
Watson wrote the letter years after Hitler seized power, and described Nazi aggression toward neighboring countries as a dynamic policy. The letter ended with:
"an expression of my highest esteem for himself (Hitler), his country and his people." 26
While Watson's praise for Hitler and Mussolini do not supply definitive proof that Watson was a fascist, it certainly confirms the conclusion of Harvard professor, Gaetano Salvemini, that corporate America was in sympathy with fascism.
In 1938 Henry Ford received the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle as a birthday present from Adolph Hitler and Ford refused to return the medal even after the war.
And get this. After the war, Ford and IBM demanded the US government reimburse their companies for the loaned assets destroyed in the war. And we, the American people, paid them!
The Nazi party was greatly impressed with American scientists’ study of Eugenics that claimed social ills were the result of genetic inferiority and not social conditions. In 1907 Indiana first legalized forced sterilization of the inferior-- the poor, prisoners, and the mentally ill. The Rockefeller Foundation funded and endorsed eugenics programs. The impression American eugenics had on the Nazis cannot be understated.
More history of how American Corporations overwhelmingly supported, exported material and knowledge, protected Nazi interests during the 1920s.
The Roaring 20s and the Roots of American Fascism
Part 2: Economic Warfare & Traitors in High Places
http://www.spiritone.com/~gdy52150/1920sp2.html
...Between the cartel agreements of I.G. and the monopolistic behavior of our own robber barons, the Dulles brothers had no shortage of investors willing to invest in Germany. In 1940, Professor Gaetano Salvemini of Harvard was quoted as saying that 100 percent of American big business was sympathetic towards fascism. Corporate America's support for fascism was so great that U.S. Ambassador to Germany William Dodd proclaimed:
"A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy." 21
Americans have never been told the truth about the extent of corporate America's involvement with the Nazis. The media has spoon-fed Americans into believing that only a handful of companies traded with the Nazis. Nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, well over 300 American corporations were arming Nazi Germany during the war in violation of the law.
Many of these corporations took extraordinary steps to maintain communication with their German offices and to conceal their Nazi involvement from the U.S. government. They could have severed all links with Nazi Germany, but instead chose to continue support a regime at war with their own country. In doing so, these corporations became willing accomplices to the Holocaust, traitors to their country and guilty of war crimes. Those responsible for such actions and crimes should have received justice at the end of a hangman's noose. Sadly, none were even charged.
Even the bluest of the "blue chips," IBM, actively sought business with the Nazis during the war. Dehomag, IBM's German subsidiary, supplied the Hollerith machines that played a prominent role in the Holocaust. Without Hollerith machines the efficiency with which the Holocaust was carried out would have been impossible. The roundup of the Jews would have been slowed to a snail's pace by forcing the Nazis to divert additional manpower to the task of locating their Jewish victims. Hollerith machines were located in every concentration camp and were serviced by Dehomag representatives under the full appraisal of the New York office.
The inclusion of IBM provides a look at the mindset of corporate America. Edwin Black's IBM and the Holocaust details the ruthlessness of corporate America in its pursuit of profits. 22 When the Nazis came to power, IBM was under the direction of Thomas Watson, who actively sought out a contract to provide the equipment for the Nazi census.
Up until then, Watson's career had been less than ethically stellar. Watson learned his business skills from John Patterson, the ruthless founder of the National Cash Register (NCR). Watson rose quickly in the ranks of NCR, learning to use frivolous lawsuits against competitors, as well as the threat of lawsuits against competitors' customers. At NCR, Watson was placed in charge of driving out competitors selling used equipment. He quickly adopted the tactics of the robber barons to establish a monopoly by using predatory pricing, threats of lawsuits, bribes and even smashed storefronts. On February 22, 1912, Watson was indicted for criminal conspiracy to restrain trade and found guilty. 23
The criminal behavior and lack of ethics illustrated by Watson's early career was pervasive between the wars. When the Nazis seized power, Watson saw an opportunity to expand in Germany. In the depths of the Great Depression, Watson increased IBM's investment in Germany by nearly a million dollars. Even more gratifying was the secret pact Watson concluded in October, 1933 which gave Dehomag commercial powers beyond the German borders. Previously, all IBM subsidiaries had been confined to a single country. With Dehomag now established as the defacto "IBM Europe," the Nazis were able to conduct statistical services throughout Europe. In effect, Watson had established a cartel much like I.G. Farben's.
In an attempt to justify Watson's, and IBM's dealings with the Nazis, many suggest that Watson was not a fascist, but simply a ruthless businessman. Evidence, however, suggests that if Watson was not a fascist, he was at the very least a great admirer of fascism. At a 1937 sales convention Watson said:
"I want to pay tribute(to the) great leader, Benito Mussolini. I have followed the details of his work very carefully since he assumed leadership. Evidence of his leadership can be seen on all sides. Mussolini is a pioneer…. Italy is going to benefit greatly."26
This is not the only evidence of Watson's support and admiration for fascism. He also had an autographed picture of Mussolini hanging in his living room for years. Watson was quoted saying:
"we should pay tribute to Mussolini for establishing this spirit of loyal support." 26
In a private letter to Reich Economic Minister, Hjalmar Schacht, Watson wrote:
"the necessity of extending a sympathetic understanding to the German people and their aims under the leadership of Adolf Hitler. 26
Watson wrote the letter years after Hitler seized power, and described Nazi aggression toward neighboring countries as a dynamic policy. The letter ended with:
"an expression of my highest esteem for himself (Hitler), his country and his people." 26
While Watson's praise for Hitler and Mussolini do not supply definitive proof that Watson was a fascist, it certainly confirms the conclusion of Harvard professor, Gaetano Salvemini, that corporate America was in sympathy with fascism.
Before the ink was dry on the Treaty of Versailles, American corporations were rushing to invest and support Germany. The first to support what became the Nazi line was Henry Ford. In the early 1920s, Ford began publishing an anti-Semitic newspaper. Ford was also an early financial supporter of Hitler at a time when the Nazis were virtually unknown.
Another early backer of Hitler and the Nazis were the du Ponts. The power behind the du Pont throne in the 1920s was Irenee du Pont who, like Ford, was a supporter of Hitler before he was known outside Munich. Irenee du Pont followed Hitler's career avidly from the early 1920s on. Du Pont representatives traveled to Germany almost immediately after the armistice to renew their alliance with I.G.
In November 1919, mere months after the armistice was signed, representatives of du Pont and the Badische Company, the principal corporate identity of I.G. Farben in Switzerland, worked out a tentative agreement for the organization of a global corporation to exploit the Haber process for ammonia and nitrate production. Du Pont also sought technical help in the dyestuffs industry. Although a complete agreement was never reached on a grand alliance, the relationship between du Pont, Verinigte Koln-Rottweiler Pulverfabriken (VKR) and Dynamit Aktiengesellschaft (DAG) became closer. At one point, du Pont had roughly three million dollars invested directly in I.G. Farben 24
The most notable aspect of the November 1919 meeting and tentative agreement was the lightning speed with which the German cartels reestablished control over the all-important Haber process for ammonia and nitrate production. All parties had a stake in completing the agreement behind closed doors, sincethe very nature of the agreement was in violation of the armistice. For Germany, it meant control over explosives and fertilizer production, freeing the country from dependence on Chilean nitrates. For du Pont, it was a matter of profits. Before WW II, one of the most profitable periods for du Pont was WW I. During that war, du Pont's profits rose to $230,000,000. The profits from the war were used to buy a controlling share of General Motors. 27
On January 1, 1926, an agreement between du Pont, VCR and DAG was consummated, and was similar to the agreement of the same date between du Pont and Imperial Chemical Industries of Britain. This agreement, debated at length in the 1934 Nye Committee hearings, was found unsigned in du Pont files. It was a gentlemen's agreement detailing exchanges of patents and technical information that could be denied if discovered. In defiance of the Treaty of Versailles banning German companies from selling military explosives, the agreement provided a means by which du Pont could sell German produced explosives. The Nye report provides the best summary of the agreement:
"In other words, though German munitions companies cannot sell abroad, American companies can sell for them, and to our own government at that." 25
In effect, the agreement between du Pont, DAG and VCR reestablished the pre-war cartel between du Pont, Koln-Rottweiler Pulverfabriken and the British Nobel Dynamite Trust. Under the pre-war agreement, du Pont agreed not to erect any powder works in Europe, and the other signers agreed not to erect powder works in the United States. Technical information was exchanged among the signatories, and du Pont agreed to inform the others of the quantity, quality and requirements of all powder sales to the United States government. In 1910, the Justice Department found the agreement to be a violation of anti-trust laws, resulting in the breakup of du Pont powder works and the formation of Atlas Powder and Hercules Powder. Within a few years of the 1910 ruling, du Pont reorganized in Delaware because to the state's lax regulations of corporations.
An agreement between du Pont and Dynamit in 1929 controlled the production of tetrazine, a substance for greatly improved ammunition primers. When WWII began in 1939, Remington (controlled by du Pont) received huge British ammunition orders. Because of a clause in the agreement with I.G. Farben the British received an inferior cartridge lacking tetrazine. 34
"Fascism is on the march today in America. Millionaires are marching to the tune. It will come in this country unless a strong defense is set up by all liberal and progressive forces... A clique of U.S. industrialists is hell-bent to bring a fascist state to supplant our democratic government, and is working closely with the fascist regime in Germany and Italy. Aboard ship a prominent executive of one of America's largest financial corporations told me point blank that if the progressive trend of the Roosevelt administration continued, he would be ready to take definite action to bring fascism to America."
-former U.S. ambassador to Germany William Dodd in 1938
So under this version of history all those American capitalists mentioned above were "socialist!"
Reductio ad absurdum!
Here is a summary of the beliefs of Nazi fascism as described in the article Understanding Fascism and anti-Semitism by Geoff Price
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles...ing_fascism.htm
1. Social Fascism: Fascism, in the social sense, is ultimately an affirmation of “traditional values”.
2. Fascism was ultimately born out of, and supported by, conservatism and the belief that Western Civilization had become decadent and self-ruinous.
3. So fascism, as it developed, was reactionary; it was a reaction to the perceived problems of modernism, and the immediate perceived threat of Communism.
4. Fascism labeled their enemies as decadent “liberals” and “Social Democrats.”
5. Early on fascism was seen as a movement that embraced Christianity. In Germany fascists promoted what they called “true Christianity”, which was essentially “Christian fundamentalism.”
6. The fascists opposed atheism, modernism, the Enlightenment, intellectualism, liberalism, democracy, Social Democrat activist, Marxism, secularism, true laissez-faire capitalism, and evolutionary theory. What is most important to note about this is that many people, not just the fascists, shared many elements of these same feelings. These sentiments are in essence the definition of right-wing social ideology.
7. Hitler himself complained of evolutionary theory and advocated teaching creationism in the German schools. "God Is With Us": Hitler's Rhetoric and the Lure of "Moral Values" by Maureen Farrell http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/12/far04041.html “The book The German Churches Under Hitler includes his assertion that secular schools should not be tolerated while Hitler's Table Talk quotes him questioning the wisdom in teaching children both creationism and the theory of evolution. "The present system of teaching in schools permits the following absurdity: at 10 a.m. the pupils attend a lesson in the catechism, at which the creation of the world is presented to them in accordance with the teachings of the Bible; and at 11 a.m. they attend a lesson in natural science, at which they are taught the theory of evolution,"he said. "Yet the two doctrines are in complete contradiction. As a child, I suffered from this contradiction, and ran my head against a wall." [ http://www.buzzflash.com/farrell/04/12/far04041.html ]
8. In 1929 Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI. This established Catholicism as the official religion of the State, gave the Pope increased political powers, gave papal sovereignty to Vatican City, ensured that the Catholic religion would be taught in all schools, compensated the Pope with $90 million for the loss of papal property since 1870, and cemented broad Catholic support for Mussolini.
8. In 1929 Mussolini signed the Lateran Treaty with Pope Pius XI. This established Catholicism as the official religion of the State, gave the Pope increased political powers, gave papal sovereignty to Vatican City, ensured that the Catholic religion would be taught in all schools, compensated the Pope with $90 million for the loss of papal property since 1870, and cemented broad Catholic support for Mussolini.
9. The Great Scandal: Christianity's Role in the Rise of the Nazis by Gregory S. Paul http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/paul_23_4.html The Concordat , signed on July 20, 1933, was a classic POLITICAL KICKBACK SCHEME. The Catholic church supported the new dictatorship by endorsing the end of democracy and free speech. In addition it bound its bishops to Hitler’s Reich by means of a loyalty oath and in exchange for supporting Hitler the Catholic church received enormous 1.) tax income and 2.) protection for church privileges. 3.) Religious instruction and prayer in school were reinstated. 4.) Criticism of the church was forbidden. [ http://www.secularhumanism.org/library/fi/paul_23_4.html ]
10. The first concentration camp in Germany was Dachau, which opened in 1933. The primary prisoners of the Dachau camp were Communists, Social Democrats, and atheists. The first camps were essentially for "enemies of the State". Over time Gypsies, homosexuals, and dissenting clergymen were sent to Dachau as well.
So the American NeoCon Fascists have to rewrite history to hide there ideological identity and affinity to the German Nazi Fascists. Otherwise, who would listen to their propaganda?
http://www.oldamericancentury.org/whitepapers/defining/leftwing_or_rightwing.htm
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