Washington, United States. Elon Musk posted on X that Adolf Hitler was a “far left socialist,” prompting criticism from other users and contrasting accounts from historical reference sources. Musk made the statement while responding to an X account on Saturday.
Musk’s post and wording
Musk wrote: “Hitler was a far left socialist. His party was called the national socialists [sic].” The post referred to the Nazi Party, formally known as the National Socialist German Workers’ Party.
How reference sources describe Nazism
The Holocaust Encyclopedia describes the Nazi Party as a “far-right racist and antisemitic political party” that “sought to woo German workers away from socialism and communism and commit them to its antisemitic and anti-Marxist ideology.” It adds that ‘National Socialism’ was a “racist and antisemitic political theory” and that the Nazi Party campaigned to eradicate ‘Marxism,’ which it used to mean “both communism and socialism.”
Britannica states that in April 1933, “communists, socialists, democrats and Jews were purged from the German civil service, and trade unions were outlawed the following month.” The Holocaust Encyclopedia also notes that “prominent members” of Germany’s communist and social democratic parties were arrested and imprisoned in concentration camps.
Reactions from other X users
Political commentator Brian Krassenstein replied that Adolf Hitler led Nazism, describing it as a “far-right, ultranationalist, authoritarian ideology.” An account named SP Historian described Musk’s tweet as “plain idiotic.” Another user sarcastically argued that “North Korea is a democracy” because it is called the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.”
How do you assess claims about political ideologies shared on social media before accepting them as accurate?
