The liberals sided with Hitler - Zentrum. The Social Democrats resisted until they were dissolved, after which they continued resistance activities underground and in exile, while the Communists vacillated between supporting and opposing Hitler as their marching orders from Moscow demanded. Nevertheless, “After Hitler, us!” is the attitude generally attributed to the German Communist Party, not the liberals or the SocDems.
Neoliberalism in a nutshell, basically
Well this lib will be in the gulag with you. A dude at work did a sighale(maybe ironically) yesterday and I pulled his hand down and scolded him
“Liberal” in this sense you might consider to be somewhat closer to the modern usage of the term “neoliberal” or “centrist” in a US framing. Liberalism, in this sense, is centered around support for capitalism and bourgeois democracy (ie democracy without decentralization of economic power). It’s the same sense that ‘liberal’ is used in various parties around the world - the Aussie Liberal Party, for example. They’re differentiated from outright conservatives and reactionaries (though many modern ‘liberal’ parties have been taken over by conservatives), as mentioned previously, by their ideological attachment to (usually regulated, though not severely) capitalism, not always shared by conservatives and reactionaries (see: bizarre modern rants by MAGA types against ‘Marxist Corporations’), and electoral democracy.
However, they tend to be extremely timid in terms of support for reforms, compromisers, and imaginationless believers in the invincibility and timelessness of extant institutions, all of which makes them extremely vulnerable to being bulldozed by fascist waves under the belief that fascists can be ‘reasoned with’ or ‘outlasted’ or that the law can protect them. Not only that, but their options in resisting fascism are necessarily restricted by their attachment to capitalism (as the wealthy then provide a non-neglible portion of their support, and the wealthy are generally not all that alarmed about fascism until about two years before fascism collapses the country entirely) and deep roots in formal government.
Even if that does describe you, there were individual liberals who resisted the Nazis. Just none amongst the actual elected officials of the liberal parties in the national legislature.
I just dont get “lefties” banging this drum. Are you trying to cause division? Trying to shame them into action? Why would you want to alienate people sympathetic to your cause? To me, liberalism has always been about human rights and freedom above all. That means it takes presedence over economic theory.
Edit: put air quotes on lefties
The core of it is that most leftists believe (and as left-leaning myself, I agree) that economic justice and justice in society are deeply connected and can’t be separated. A society with an economic system wherein 99.99% of economic power is centered in the elite will never be free, no matter how permissive the laws and regulations of the government are.
However, some, especially online, leftists take this to mean that one should never work with liberals except to exploit and undermine them, as they believe liberal action is ultimately fruitless or even counterproductive.
Those of us who are reconciled to living in the real world understand that, especially in societies where liberals are more common than leftists, working and supporting liberals against reactionaries is necessary, so long as the need of pushing the population towards more left-positions is not overshadowed by this support.
My original comment is just clarifying that it wasn’t the liberals of the Weimar Republic who were generally associated with the “After Hitler, us!” mindset.
the liberals
Zentrum
How?
It was literally THE conservative catholic party. That was its entire thing.
Well that and the OG culture war.
Zentrum was strongly Catholic, but not conservative in the German tradition. It was not militarist and believed strongly in a restricted economic role for the state, as well as nominal democracy and minority rights, and relied on the support of the middle class. You could maybe argue that Zentrum wasn’t a liberal party in the German Empire, but in the Weimar Republic it very much was a liberal party, in the literal and abstract classical sense.
Even before that, Italian Liberals stayed neutral, leaving a Left Coalition to fight both the fascists and the royalists alone.
Until it became clear who would win, at which point they joined the fascists.
