Fascism had a complex relationship with
capitalism, both supporting and opposing different aspects of it at different times and in different countries. In general, fascists held an instrumental view of capitalism, regarding it as a tool that may be useful or not, depending on circumstances.
[9][10] Fascists aimed to promote what they considered the national interests of their countries; they supported the right to own
private property and the
profit motive because they believed that they were beneficial to the economic development of a nation,
[11] but they commonly sought to eliminate the autonomy of large-scale capitalism from the state
[12] and opposed the perceived
decadence,
hedonism, and
cosmopolitanism of the wealthy in contrast to the idealized
discipline, patriotism and
moral virtue of the members of the middle classes.
[13] They opposed
usury and criticized what they viewed as the resulting "enslavement to
interest."
[14]
While other Western capitalist countries strove for increased state ownership of industry during the same period,
Nazi Germany transferred
public ownership into the
private sector and handed over some
public services to private organizations, mostly those affiliated with the
Nazi Party.
[15] According to historian
Richard Overy, the Nazi
war economy was a
mixed economy that combined
free markets with
central planning and described the economy as being somewhere in between the
command economy of the Soviet Union and the
capitalist system of the United States.
[16] Others have described Nazi Germany as being
corporatist,
authoritarian capitalist, or totalitarian capitalist.
[15][17][18][19] Fascist Italy has been described as corporatist.
[20][21][22]