Nazis are far-right, so why were/are they called National Socialists?
Nazis are far-right, so why were/are they called National Socialists?
Socialism is leftism, Nazism is not, so why were they called, and some people still call them, the National Socialists?
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Its precursor, the German Workers' Party (Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; DAP), existed from 1919 to 1920. The Nazi Party emerged from the extremist German nationalist ("Völkisch nationalist"), racist, and populist Freikorps paramilitary culture, which fought against communist uprisings in post–World War I Germany.[13] The party was created to draw workers away from communism and into völkisch nationalism.[14] Initially, Nazi political strategy focused on anti-big business, anti-bourgeoisie, and anti-capitalism, disingenuously using socialist rhetoric to gain the support of the lower middle class;[15] it was later downplayed to gain the support of business leaders. By the 1930s, the party's main focus shifted to antisemitic and anti-Marxist themes.[16] The party had little popular support until the Great Depression, when worsening living standards and widespread unemployment drove Germans into political extremism.[12]
Just as I thought. Thank you for the answer!
Not an expert, but I find a good bit of context here is also that in the elections in 1932 and 1933, the three strongest parties were:
- NSDAP: National Socialist German Workers' Party
- SPD: Social Democratic Party of Germany
- KPD: Communist Party of Germany
So, it really was just popular at the time to say you were doing socialism, but they also weren't actually fooling anyone who really wanted these politics, since two other viable and more obvious choices existed.