Freedom Publishing published a book by German author Rainer Zittelmann entitled “Socialism in Uniform. Adolf Hitler and his imagination of national socialism".
It is the author's PhD work, which originally appeared in Germany in 1987 entitled "Hitler Selbsverständnis eines Revolutionärs" (Hitler Self-Portrait of the revolutionary). In this publication, based on Hitler's book "Mein Kampf", "Second Book", his speeches and "Conversations at the Table" fought during the War at the Headquarters, the author attempts to reconstruct Hitler's views on economical issues, social policy as well as his attitude towards socialism, Marxism, the USSR and Stalin himself. In his work, the author avoids making assessments and valuing the Führer's views, assuming that he has already been harshly and unequivocally assessed and passed into past as 1 of the top criminals, so there is no point in repeating this assessment.
The reader will besides find no description of the crimes committed by the Nazis or the course of planet War II, as these matters are commonly known and repeatedly described. In contrast, the author tries to prove that contrary to the widespread thesis that Hitler was a typical of the right and a typical of the interests of the large capital, he truly had views more akin to the left, of course the non-Marxist left. Hitler described himself as a revolutionary. And here the author makes another objection – despite the popular opinion, the revolution does not should be connected with progress.
Hitler's revolution, according to Zittelmann, was not first a counter-revolution against the threat of communists taking power, but was an alternate revolution aimed at destroying the democratic bourgeois-capitalist social order. The essence of tactics was to first go legally to power and only after it had been taken up with the right revolutionary act.
The modernisation of the economy, as the author points out, does not request to be linked to the democratisation of the system. This is an example of the People's Republic of China, where the dynamic improvement of manufacture does not go hand in hand with the democratic state. Hitler, according to Zittelmann, advocated the modernisation of the German economy and its dynamic development. It should besides be stressed that Hitler's views on economical issues were not permanent but evolved. His observations of the successes of the centralised, planned russian economy had a major influence on the change of views. Under the influence of the successes achieved by the USSR, Hitler, with the first acceptance of the free marketplace economy, slow became a supporter of the nationalisation of basic economical branches and the conduct of a centralised planning economy in Germany. He planned to carry out these activities after the war ended. The author points out that, before and during the war, the freedom of action of companies that had to follow the guidelines of state authorities was severely restricted. In fact, the state monopoly on abroad trade was introduced. The prices were besides set by the State.
As Zittelmann rightly points out, on social issues Hitler advocated ensuring equal opportunities for the promotion of representatives of all social strata, (this active only the "racially pure" Germans), the elimination of class privileges and the improvement of surviving and surviving conditions of the working class. This undoubtedly puts him on the left side of the political scene, and most likely here lies the mystery of the mass support the nation gave him. After the Nazis took power, many erstwhile social democrats and communists joined the national socialist movement, precisely due to its left-wing program. Besides, Hitler in his speeches said that the door to the Nazi movement was open to erstwhile communists who abandoned erstwhile misconceptions. In support of this thesis, Zittelmann cites a passage of Hitler's speech, delivered on 8 October 1935, in which he stated that if a communist "remembers and returns to his people he will be welcome with us."
Zittelmann points out that after 1933, many simple people, specified as farmers, physical workers and lower-level minds, first gained a sense of being understood and taken seriously in a political sense. The difference between Hitler's Bolsheviks was that the first ones were betting on class fighting and social promotion of the working class, and Hitler was betting on equal opportunities for all. People who were talented regardless of their social background and material position had the chance to advance to the highest positions in the state. Zittelmann made a very correct message of this fundamental difference between the USSR and the 3rd Reich. Hitler's eventual goal was to make a national community where classes were no longer to be fought. The external manifestation of the creation of the national community was, for example, actions specified as sharing meals, or various kinds of charitable fundraising, e.g. collection for Winter Aid, (Winterhilfe). The fact that Hitler, unlike another warring states, personally prohibited the simplification of civilian production and was inactive at 93% in 1944.
In the author’s view, with whom we must undoubtedly agree, not the announcements of the slaughter of Jews or of the conduct of violent wars brought him mass. In fact, these criminal elements of the Nazi program in fresh years before gaining power were silenced in national socialist propaganda. The policy of equalising the opportunities described by the author can be perfectly illustrated by the situation in the armed forces. During the time of the German Empire, only landowners and higher circles of burgherhood had the chance to advance officers. In the Wehrmacht, however, any soldier showing courage and skill had a chance for fast promotion. Equal to all, from the field marshal to a simple soldier, a strategy of passes, promotions and distinctions, which were distributed generously, but only among the combat participants influenced the preservation of the immense cohesion of the German army. Until the end of the war, there were no signs of decay. This fact is highlighted by many publicists dealing with the past of the Wehrmacht.
The author besides tries to explain a paradox: why Hitler fought hard against left-wing organizations alternatively than right-wing organizations during the war for power. According to Zittelmann, this was due to the fact that Hitler despised burgher-conservative parties as unfit for vigorous action. Leftist organizations, close to his program, regarded him as a dangerous opponent, at the same time he did not impress them on the 1 hand and, on the another hand, fear them. Moreover, the fact that the institutions that are close to 1 another are accusing each another of heresy and fiercely fighting each other, as was the case in relations between social democrats and communists. 1 of the manifestations of Hitler's reluctance to burgherry, which may seem a paradox, was the fact that with any satisfaction he accepted information about the demolition of German cities as a consequence of Allied carpet raids.
Only after the assassination of 20 July 1944, carried out by representatives of city-conservative circles, Hitler came to the conclusion that he had made a mistake ignoring this social layer earlier and that he had not dealt with it before. He besides considered it a mistake that Stalin, like Stalin, did not clean up the officers' corps, replacing the old, inactive raised in the imperial tradition of officers, with the fresh national socialist views. Zittelmann besides disagrees with the widespread thesis that Hitler, in the areas captured in the USSR, only wanted to settle farmers. The most crucial for him was the anticipation of obtaining many of the natural materials there. Finally, this natural material base would give the Germans so desirable economical self-sufficiency and self-sufficiency in food supply, based on fertile Ukrainian lands. Then no economical blockade could break them.
Prophetically, too, he was quoted by Zittelmann as saying on 28 September 1941: “In Ukraine we will preserve the swamp. Not only due to the fact that we request them for the training, but besides due to the weather, due to the danger of steppe. They act like a sponge – otherwise 1 year we could lose all our crops due to drought." Also, his views on the harmfulness of combining political functions with sitting on corporate supervisory boards stay valid to this day. As Zittelmann writes, Hitler was of the opinion that in capitalist countries decisions are frequently made in the interests of private companies, alternatively of on the basis of political thought, due to the fact that MPs and leading politicians, due to their positions in supervisory boards and their company shares, are closely linked to the economical interests of these companies. How prophetic these words show, for example, the situation in present-day Poland.
As the author points out, even at the time of the opposition activities of the NSDAP in the Weimar Republic, any NSDAP associate to Reichstag had to sign a message in which he assured, inter alia, that he did not hold any position on the supervisory board of banks or another companies and that he would honorably undertake not to take that position, either straight or indirectly, with the participation of 3rd parties, even after the completion of the parliamentary activity. However, after the NSDAP took power, the actual situation deviated from this ideal.
Among any of the most interesting passages of the book are those in which the author is characterized by Hitler's attitude to Stalin, Italian fascism and Frankist Spain. In contrast to public speaking, Hitler did not hide his admiration for Stalin, who was able to turn the backward Tsar state into an economical power. He was besides close to utilizing the methods of absolute panic utilized in the USSR to accomplish his goals. In Stalin, he saw his mirror image – a realist of state modernization with the aid of a brutal dictatorship. He was besides associated with russian communism with the view of rejecting the model of parliamentary democracy However, with respect to Italian fascism, of course besides in private talks, he despised him for not abolishing the monarchy in Italy and maintaining the strong influence of the Catholic Church. However, with respect to Spain, he expressed regret that he helped win Francisco Franco's civilian war alternatively than "red".
Summing up, the reader gets a very interesting occupation showing Hitler's views on social, economical issues, presenting his attitude towards the Marxist left and the right. From the book emerges the image of Hitler as a man closer to the left, seeking to improve the destiny of average people, which evidently had a immense impact on the fact that he gained specified mass support The author has set and, in my opinion, defended the thesis that Hitler saw his concept of national socialism as the 3rd way between both extremes: capitalism and Bolshevikism. Of course, any reader of this work may disagree with these statements.
In the book Zittelmann, he besides does not hide that his views did not meet with acceptance by all historians. any could not accept that Zittelmann tried to overthrow Hitler's story as an utmost right-wing leader. According to the author, Hitler regarded reactionaries as his top enemies. The author showed Hitler that he was much closer to Stalin than he was widely thought to be, and even if he could not be called a socialist, he was surely a revolutionary. any of the reviewers of Zittelmann's work besides resent that the author does not measure Hitler's views. They would surely anticipate full criticism of them. However, knowing the large amount of work about Hitler, it seems that a comparatively affirmative image of his activities in the socio-economic sphere cannot overturn the full negative assessment of this character. The words of appreciation besides belong to the translator, the not easy text of the German original, Mrs Maria Malinowska.
Jacek Marczyński
Rainer Zittelmann, “Socialism in Uniform. Adolf Hitler and his imagination of national socialism, the FREEDOM Publishing home Wrocław 2025 pp. 699
Think Poland, No. 29-30 (19-26.07.2026)
