Forum: history.stackexchange.com
Tags: <nazi-germany><political-history><political-party>
Title: If the nazi is a far-right party, why is it socialist?
Question: The Nazi Party stands for the  National Socialist German Workers' Party  ( Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei ), which sounds like a name for a communist party, why is it considered a far-right party? Isn't it a far-left party, or was socialism considered to be far-right at the time?

Answers:
sents: text: The Nazi Party destroyed the political apparatus of the working class, broke the trade union movement, and handed the economy over to German capitalist monopolies.
text: "Socialism" in the mind of the NSDAP involved either the SA's street fighting fantasy of a German nation recast in the image of the right wing worker; or, the NSDAP's central apparatus' conception of a pliant breeding nation.
text: "Socialism" was for the NSDAP the forced mobilisation of the ethnic nation.
text: Many Germans at the time, particularly right wing Germans, associated these values with a Bismarkian right wing policy that had been called "Socialism," in the sense of state provided goods and services.
text: To take political advantage of this feeling, the NSDAP named itself "National Socialist."
text: The NSDAP did not hope for the abolition of capitalism, nor for workers' control.
text: In addition to this economic position, the NSDAP wished to reunify their imaginary German nation by force; impose a German order on Europe through war; and to eliminate their imaginary racial "other."
text: These combination of policies are considered "right wing."
text: Ordinary socialism, in the sense of workers' control of production, was considered left wing at the time.
answer_details: author: history.stackexchange.com/users/876/Samuel Russell
score: 16
sents: text: The same reason the "Democratic People's Republic of (North) Korea" is a democratic republic...
text: It wasn't.
text: There was a time when socialism really seemed like the way forward, tempering free enterprise with thoughtful regulation and investing workers in the means of production.
text: So non-socialists like the Nazis and Communists called themselves socialist to appeal to the political moderates of the interwar period.
text: In the modern day, anyone who equates socialism with either Nazi-brand Fascism or Soviet-brand Communism is a political propagandist, usually affiliated with right-wing US interests.
answer_details: author: history.stackexchange.com/users/892/RI Swamp Yankee
score: 11
sents: text: It wasn't socialist, and in fact was vehenmently opposed to actual socialists/communists.
text: The Reichstag Fire was one of the causes for Nazi party to grab power and was sold as the beginnings of a communist uprising.
text: Socialism was not considered right wing in 1930s Europe.
text: (Remember in the USA "Socialist" is used as a dirty word.
text: In Europe this is not the case ('Socialist Party' is 2nd largest in European Parliament, etc.).
text: That can colour a debate about the word).
text: Pleanty of countries call themselves things, it doesn't mean they are those things.
text: Like "Democratic Republic of Korea", etc.
answer_details: author: history.stackexchange.com/users/13/Rory
score: 6
sents: text: The "Nazi" Party STARTED OUT as the National Socialist German Workers Party, with a left-leaning, socialist bent.
text: That is, until it enrolled "Member Number 7,
text: " aka Adolf Hitler, who had other ideas.
text: A World War
text: I veteran, Hitler figured out the the "Dolchstoss" legend, the idea that Germany had been winning World War I until it was "stabbed in the back" by Hitler's enemies, plus re-armament/revanche, was more appealing to most German people than the idea of a "worker's paradise.
text: This was particularly true of the right wing, where Hitler drew most of his financial support.
text: In fact, the Nazi party at one time had two wings, a nationalist wing under Hitler and a socialist wing under Gregor Strasser, who considered himself a personal friend of Hitler's.
text: That is, until Hitler took over the party, and later murdered his "friend" Strasser during the "Night of the Long Knives."
answer_details: author: history.stackexchange.com/users/120/Tom Au
score: 4
sents: text: It sounded good for marketing purposes, for engaging the average industrial worker without the revolutionary baggage of Communism.
text: It is important to understand that when it comes to statism , right and left don't matter that much.
text: While they will give different reasons why they're chaining you down, enslaving you or murdering you and there may be different people wielding the bludgeon or the gun, the end result is the same.
text: In other words, meet the new boss, same as the old boss .
answer_details: author: history.stackexchange.com/users/588/jfrankcarr
score: 3
sents: text: I think that Nazi regime was unique in world history in that it unlike any other regime before and after had two faces: it externally pretended to be a left-center force, a left-centrist socialist pro-workers, progressive, industrialist, anti-monarchist, anti-religious, pro-women rights, pro-animal rights, anti-capitalist, anti-monarchist, anti-colonialist party.
text: But in reality it turned out that Nazism was actually far more right than any monarchists, Russian "black-hundreds" and conservatives were before.
text: It was hiding its ultra-right face for a while to achieve popular support.
text: This duality led to many mistakes by individuals and politicians who made deals with Nazi party and Nazi Germany.
text: German Cristians thought they are dealing with a centrist patriotic party when voting for enabling act.
text: Vatican thought Hitler is quite like Mussolini: a moderately conservative centrist.
text: Stalin thought he was dealing with a left-center party of small bourgeoisie.
text: Ethnic minorities also thought Nazis are pro-national self-determination and cultural autonomy.
text: Many Jews saw that Nazis for a first time in 2000 years allowed Jews to have their own police, ambulance service, postal service, orphanages, and even telephone stations.
text: They did not knew the orphanages and hospitals were designed to quickly separate those unable to work.
text: Nobody could imagine Nazis will kill people in new shining uniforms they just designed for Jewish police (no other regime gives a forage cap with a badge to a condemned enemy).
text: Many Russians and Ukrainians believed Germans will build a moderate form of Socialism without collectivization and other excesses of Soviet Union.
text: Many Germans believed that Nazis really protect animal rights for ethical reasons, not just to make a ban on Jewish meat.
text: In reality it turned out that even conservative clergymen looked like Bolshevicks compared to Nazis.
text: This masquerade became possible because Hitler departed from earlier tradition typical for ultra-right, volkishe movements.
text: Initially he was even criticized from the far-right positions for even use of the word "party" instead of traditional for the right-wing "league" "movement" or "union".
text: But Hitler was smarter.
text: He abandoned monarchism in favor of unrestricted ultimate dictatorship.
text: He pursued clergy because they were too left for him and Christian principles were too egalitarian and not enough anti-Semitic, although historically religious Christians were the most anti-Semitic group.
text: He denounced aristocracy and social estates in favor of eugenics.
text: He denounced right-wing to promote ultra-right instead.
answer_details: author: history.stackexchange.com/users/466/Anixx
score: 2

Summary of the answers:
The Nazi party presented itself as a socialist party but was in fact vehemently opposed to its ideals. It was a good way to attract industrial workers in the beginning.
The actual answer to this question is that the Nazi party was not socialist. Socialism was considered to be left-wing at the time and the party used the term 'socialist' as a marketing tool.