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[–] 44 points 20 hours ago (1 child)

The same thing happened with Germany. Everyone in the early 1900s was thinking that the Weimar Republic was going to birth the first socialist nation, and then they got the Nazi party instead.

Ends up that stagnation creates populist movements on both sides of the political divide, and often the centrist in government would rather throw in with the far right than cede power to socialist.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 hours ago (1 child)

    Man, that would be a heck of an alternative history...

    Just imagine if hitler was never appointed chancellor, weimar became socialist, and the ripple effect it could have had on the rest of the world...

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  • The Weimar Republic had to fight dirty to keep it from happening. They had to empower the Freikorps to violently break up leftist strikes and rebellions. Empowering the same extremist that would attempt to first overthrow them during the Kapp Putsch and then eventually successfully overthrowing them when they all joined the Nazi.

    Political assassination of leftist politicians were overlooked and ignored, while attempts against right winged politicians were demonized and harshly punished. It's very reminiscent of how the current US government treats right winged violence compared to the left.

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