? Loyalty test | Main | Ghost of a flea: Mentat Emperor ?
July 29, 2010
Parvenus and communists
Dorothy Thompson's August 1941 Harper's piece "Who goes Nazi?" is a gem; a classic for its style and entirely current in its observations and class, character and consequences (thanks to Kathy Shaidle for the link).
I won't spoil it by excerpting anything except its opening lines. One observation among many stands out for me: There was a time when, amongst many other things, it was obvious the Nazi Party was just another Communist Party.
It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times–in Germany, in Austria, and in France. I have come to know the types: the born Nazis, the Nazis whom democracy itself has created, the certain-to-be fellow-travelers. And I also know those who never, under any conceivable circumstances, would become Nazis.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at July 29, 2010 08:48 AM
