Nazi dictatorship was functionally necessary to preserve a fully monopolized economy

Evidence

If totalitarian political power had not abolished freedom of contract, the cartel system would have broken down. If the labor market were not controlled by authoritarian means, the monopolistic system would be endangered; if raw material, supply, price control, and rationalization agencies, credit and exchange-control offices were in the hands of forces hostile to monopolies, the profit system would break down. The system has become so fully monopolized that it must by nature be hypersensitive to cyclical changes, and such disturbances must be avoided. To achieve that, the monopoly of political power over money, credit, labor, and prices is necessary. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1185

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Neumann’s inversion of standard causation — totalitarian power as the necessary support of, rather than obstacle to, a ‘free market’ monopolistic system — is a dense, paradigm-shifting claim about the actual function of dictatorship under late capitalism.
• XREF: Directly builds on the earlier chapter’s discussion of Neumann’s Behemoth thesis and connects to the Frankfurt School’s theory that fascism is a form of capitalism’s self-defense; also speaks to contemporary debates about authoritarianism and market power. — connects to: Germany’s Supreme Court turned Weimar’s equality rights into capitalist defenses — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 957; Fully monopolized capitalism requires a state monopoly over political power to survive; Nazi rule affirmed capitalism rather than superseding it — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination: A History…, 510 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Nazi rule affirmed capitalism rather than superseding it #corroborates (0.85) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 510
• Command economy and monopoly capitalism coexisted under Nazi rule #corroborates (0.80) — Martin Jay, The Dialectical Imagination, 510
• Nazi economic policy massively favored large companies and cartels over smaller firms #corroborates (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 1184
• Nazi economy resists classification in Western capitalist or socialist terms #qualifies (0.80) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 2612