THE COMMUNISTS AND THE NAZIS
you permit me to state, although somewhat belatedly, that Mr. Edward Crankshaw, who so ably reviewed the recently published book, The Dark Side of the Moon, is mistaken when assuming that there exists a difference in kind between the Nazi and Bolshevik philo- sophies? In my opinion the nature of both philosophies is essentially the same and likewise the methods of achieving their aims identical, whereas the difference is lurely formal. The basis of both philosophies is the belief that struggle is the most essential function of life and that no serious issue can be settled without fighting it out and destroying the opponent. The difference lies merely in the criterion as to who is to be regarded as friend and who as an enemy, but from a moral point of view it appears to be of no consequence. The Nazis believed that one race only should rule the world, while all the others should be subjugated and eventually exterminated.- The Communist doctrine proclaims the same principle, with the only difference
that the conception of master race is replaced by the conception of the proletariat. Neither Nazis nor Communists displayed any scruples in the selection of means to achieve their ends. And both promised their respective followers that as soon as their aims are fulfilled a paradise would descend upon the earth—in the first case for the members of the Nordic race, in the second for the proletariat. What, then, is the difference?—
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