The history of the twentieth century is a vast gallery of horrors born from socialist ideologies. Under multiple names and banners, both communist and national-socialist regimes imposed the same logic of tyranny: the absolute supremacy of the State over the individual, the systematic crushing of freedom, and the illusory promise of a radiant future that, in reality, cost millions of human lives.
Nazism, although frequently labeled as far-right, was in fact a particular expression of socialism — shaped through national and racial lenses, in contrast to the internationalist socialism rooted in Marxism. The very name of Adolf Hitler’s party, Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers’ Party), unequivocally reveals its socialist nature. Both shared identical foundations: centralized economic planning, the cult of the State, the nullification of the individual, and the violent persecution of dissenters.
It is therefore a cruel irony to compare national-socialism with conservatism. Authentic conservatism is rooted in the natural order, in historical continuity, in the intrinsic dignity of the human person, and in the limitation of political power. Nazism, on the contrary, represented the absolute negation of these values. It was totalitarian socialism, just like Soviet communism, differing only in rhetoric and ideological framing.
When we examine the experiences of the radical left, the scale of destruction becomes even more staggering. The Soviet Union inaugurated the Red Terror under Lenin, who in the early years of the regime ordered summary executions and sent millions to concentration camps. Under Stalin, this terror reached colossal proportions: the Holodomor in Ukraine exterminated millions through induced famine, the purges wiped out the intellectual and political elite, and the gulags turned Siberia into a cemetery without memory. In China, Mao Zedong took socialism to its most brutal expression. The Great Leap Forward, a delirious experiment in economic and social engineering, condemned tens of millions to death by starvation.
The Cultural Revolution destroyed families, millennia-old traditions, and human lives in the name of ideological purity. Maoism remains one of the greatest catastrophes in human history — not only in numerical terms but also for the cultural and spiritual barbarity inflicted upon an entire nation.
In Cambodia, Pol Pot built a living hell under the pretext of agrarian equality. In just a few years, a quarter of the population perished through forced labor, executions, and famine. In Vietnam, after the communist victory, hundreds of thousands were sent to re-education camps — many of whom never returned. In North Korea, the socialist Kim dynasty still holds millions of human beings in political slavery, subjected to cyclical famines and the degrading cult of the leader.
In Africa, the spread of Marxist ideology fueled endless civil wars, ethnic persecution, and social devastation. Angola, Mozambique, and Ethiopia became laboratories of an imported utopia that spread death and chaos. In Cuba, Fidel Castro’s revolution promised freedom and justice but delivered only prisons, firing squads, and the chronic misery of a people still deprived of their most basic rights.
It is profoundly dishonest, from an intellectual standpoint, to condemn national-socialism without simultaneously denouncing the crimes perpetrated by radical left-wing regimes.
All variants of radical socialism — whether based on race or class — have always led to the same outcome: concentration camps, artificial famines, extermination of innocents, religious and cultural persecution, and absolute tyranny.
The lesson is unmistakable: whenever socialism, in any of its forms, has triumphed, freedom has perished and human life has lost its intrinsic value.
Conservatism, on the other hand, reminds us of man’s imperfection, recognizes the importance of tradition, and affirms that the authority of the State must be limited so that human dignity is not sacrificed on the altar of utopia.
Only through moderation, ordered liberty, and respect for historical heritage can civilization truly prosper. Socialism, in all its radical expressions, has demonstrated — in blood — that it invariably leads to tragedy.
César DePaço
Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
Honorary Consul of Portugal (2014–2020)
Founder and CEO, Summit Nutritionals International Inc.
President, DePaço Foundation
Unwavering Defender of Law Enforcement and Conservative Principles
Source: Jornal LusoAmericano