In the previous article, I said that through economic policy, it is better to see whether a politician is good or bad, and from Hitler's economic policy, it can be seen that he is a complete gambler and speculator. Today, when I compare him to another fascist dictator, Franco of Spain, it is easier to see the essence.
Franco's rule over Spain lasted from 1939 until 1975, creating a miracle of Spanish economic development. Compared with Western European countries in the same period, in 1950, Spain's per capita GDP was less than 40% of That of Western European countries, and by 1974, Spain's per capita GDP reached 80% of Western European countries. For a long time, Spain was the second fastest economic growth country in the world at that time, second only to Japan after the war, and moreover, the development of Japan after the war was completed with the full support of American capital and technology. And how could Franco, as a fascist dictator, create such an achievement?
A portrait of the Great Dictator Franco
Simply put, it is eight words - respect common sense, seek truth from facts. I will take the German Nazis as a negative example to make specific points, which can be divided into the following three points:
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" >, the Nazi Party was not worthy of the name and its behavior was reversed</h1>
Hitler's Nazi Party was the spokesman for the interests of the German monopoly capitalists. But its full name was the German National Socialist Workers' Party. As a "socialist workers' party", but doing the work of suppressing the working class, arresting the German Communist Party, and serving big capital, it can be said that it is a thief who shouts to catch a thief. Of course, Hitler may know how to seek truth from facts, but he will not stand at the level of the state and seek truth from facts for the people of the country, he will at most think about how to seek truth from facts for his own interests.
Franco's rule over Spain, on the other hand, did not focus on ideological foolishness, and in political science, there was a kind of name for his kind of rule - "developmental authoritarianism", and his purpose of maintaining the stability of the regime with dictatorship was still for economic development.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > two, oppose the global market, engage in autistic model</h1>
Germany's economic development before World War II was actually a relatively closed model, although there were many transactions with the Soviet Union in secret, but it was equivalent to the global market in Britain and the United States, which could only be regarded as an autistic model.
In 1936, due to the rise in global raw material prices, but the price of German exports could not go up, German companies obviously exported in large quantities, but they could not get any profits, making it increasingly difficult for the Nazi government to maintain a balance of payments. As a result, Hitler could only forcibly control the way in which individual market investments stopped flowing money into these industries, and cut electricity to these companies. It was a thirst-quenching therapy, and as a result, Germany's market share of unlisted negotiable securities in 1938 fell by 40 percent compared to five years earlier.
Germany's autistic development can solve temporary problems, but not from fundamental problems. Prolonged periods of time will only prevent capital flows from constituting a virtuous circle. If this problem is not solved, the German economy will fall into a "self-detonation", the consequences of which we have now seen.
Hitler and Franco
Franco's Spain, on the other hand, was a market-led economic model. Implement market-friendly policies conducive to investment at home; open up to the outside world and actively integrate into the global market.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" > three, do not protect private property rights, move is confiscated; do not maintain market stability, create war panic</h1>
We all know that in capitalist society, the premise of economic development is that property rights are effectively protected. Only by protecting property rights can we provide the basic impetus for innovation and development. Only when political power is constrained can property rights be effectively protected.
How did Hitler deal with private property? The following passage, I think everyone has heard -
At first, they hunted down communists, and I didn't speak because I wasn't communists;
Then they hunted down the Jews, and I didn't speak because I wasn't Jewish;
Later, they hunted down union members and I didn't speak because I wasn't a union member;
And then later, they hunted down Catholics, and I didn't speak because I was Protestant;
Finally, they came to me, but no one stood up and spoke for me again..."
This is the story of a priest who was nearly executed in a concentration camp under nazi Germany, who was also a German naval officer during his lifetime. Even the human rights of such people are not guaranteed, let alone property rights. In fact, the property of these captured people was naturally confiscated and turned into funds to solve the Nazi financial difficulties. In such a society, everyone is in danger, who dares to work hard to make money? How can the economy develop by leaps and bounds?
The Franco government, on the other hand, was committed to protecting the private property rights of citizens, first of all, developing a highly institutionalized administrative and legal system to limit the arbitrariness of the exercise of power by governments at all levels. As the powers of the executive apparatus are limited by the highest powers, the abuse of power at the grass-roots level is curbed, providing stable predictability for society, individuals and capital. Moreover, because the bureaucracy itself has become the beneficiary of the protection of private property, it also has the motivation to maintain private property rights, which also protects private property rights to a certain extent and provides the people with the motivation to work hard and get rich.
Finally, I am not exaggerating how awesome Franco is, and the economic take-off of Spain under his rule is certainly inseparable from the universal post-war economic recovery of the world, let alone the Western order maintained by the United States. But, at least before World War II, Franco wasn't as bad as Hitler. If Hitler could do this before 1939, could World War II have been avoided? This is a question worth pondering.