This question has been steeping in my mind in the years since a conversation with an ex-friend of mine (libertarian baby-fascist) regarding his self-identification as a “Nationalist” and his point that he thinks “The ‘socialism’ of Scandinavian countries would be okay here (United States) if it were only for the American citizens”.
It didn’t occur to me then to ask him if that made him a National Socialist and if he had any familiarity with that term, but… Now I don’t talk to that baby-fasc at all.
So anyway, the question that I have now is “Why Did The Nazis Call Their Party ‘Socialist’?” I understand they definitely weren’t socialist, they were extremely capitalist with private interests using the power of the state to plunder the networth of “undesirables”.
So why did they call themselves socialist? Was there a pretense that the state would build a socialist support network after it established itself as an imperial entity? (But) The Night of Long Knives was them scouring the party of any left-leaning members, right?
Did they call themselves socialist just as branding?
i am pretty sure my understanding of this topic comes from Ishay Landa’s The Apprentice’s Sorcerer, a compelling read.
anyway…
yes. in the well-cited book above, Landa talks about the dangers of “taking fascists at their word” for their beliefs. the color red and use of the word “socialism” were specifically chosen and meant to disrupt and confound the emerging socialist movement by creating uncertainty and confusion among the frustrated, alienated working class gravitating towards mass action.
the fascists claimed to be socialist to angry workers in public, but were much more circumspect in their language when courting the elites and their capital formations, which they did extensively. these relationships and the fascists willingness to destroy trade unionists and suppress strikes made them the darlings of capital and they found eager partners in supplying slave labor to the capitalists.
there were probably some among the nazis that believed the movement was meant to elevate the common worker, but after the Night of the Long Knives the writing was on the wall and there would be no organizing among whatever was left of that faction after most vocal proponents had been liquidated.
by the time the nazis began their invasion, they enjoyed lots of support from aristocrats and business leaders all over the world and all the socialists were joining resistance groups, dead or in camps.