Big Business and the Nazis

[William S. Lear]

On Wed, June 17, 1998 at 10:38:24 (-0700) michael at ecst.csuchico.edu writes:
>Sohn Rethel said that they high tech companies initially opposed the
>Nazis; the old iron, coal and steel industries supported them because they
>would put a stop to competition and suppress labor -- the only way that
>they could see to improve profits.
>
>How correct was he?

This pretty much jibes with Thomas Ferguson's analysis of party
competition.  He notes that the industrial structure in Germany
brought about a New Order to deal with labor activity, whereas the US
got the New Deal.  I'm simplifying, but capital-intensive business
here was able to foot the bill for Roosevelt, whereas labor-intensive
business in Germany preferred a more "direct" approach to labor
control.  So, I'd say Ferguson adds a bit more detail to the picture.
He also analyzes industrial structure and party competition along
other dimensions (e.g., "internationalism"), but this one (labor
composition) is pretty fundamental.

Bill