10 Similarities and Differences of National and Democratic Socialism

1. Both believe National and Societal interests replace market theories of supply and demand.

The Nazis believed that the state should not completely rule the economy, but should be a watchdog for compliance and national cooperation. They wanted the government to make sure that each company was running to better the country and not to make profit or personal gain. Any company that did not advance the agenda of the Third Reich or did not contribute to the community as a whole was not allowed to exist.

To quote from Justice 4 Germans:

“It required that people of all classes work together for their common and mutual benefit and interests. The role of the government was merely to facilitate this self-sustaining environment for all members of the nation in which all could live well and prosper, with demand and supply aimed primarily focused on the domestic market, on national, regional and local needs, while producing and consuming what was necessary at home.”

 

In comparison, Democratic Socialists also believe that the state should not maintain a monopoly on the marketplace, but rather facilitate a prosperous economic situation that benefits all members of society. They want corporations to be more democratically controlled by society as a whole, and distrust too much centralization in the hands of the any group. An excerpt from Democratic Socialists of America reads:

“Democratic socialists do not want to create an all-powerful government bureaucracy. But we do not want big corporate bureaucracies to control our society either. Rather, we believe that social and economic decisions should be made by those whom they most affect.”