I have often seen the National Socialist Workers Party of the 1920 to 1945 era in Germany described as “right wing”. But, with socialist right there in the name it is obviously deserves the “left wing” label. Correct?
Well… perhaps not. I asked Copilot and Grok about this. They agreed with each other, but Grok described it best:
The National Socialist German Workers’ Party (NSDAP, or Nazi Party) included “socialist” and “workers'” in its name as a deliberate propaganda tactic to appeal to disaffected working-class Germans during the economic turmoil of the Weimar Republic in the 1920s. The party’s precursor, the German Workers’ Party (DAP), was renamed in 1920 to attract voters away from actual left-wing parties like the Social Democrats (SPD) or Communists (KPD). Early party programs, such as the 1920 25-Point Program, included some anti-capitalist rhetoric—like calls for profit-sharing in large industries or nationalization of trusts—to sound revolutionary and worker-friendly.
However, this “socialism” was redefined in nationalist terms, rejecting core Marxist elements like class struggle, international worker solidarity, and the abolition of private property. Adolf Hitler explicitly distinguished it from Marxism, stating in 1930 that “Our adopted term ‘Socialist’ has nothing to do with Marxist Socialism. Marxism is anti-property; true Socialism is not.” Instead, Nazi “socialism” meant subordinating economic activity to the state’s national goals, preserving private enterprise as long as it served the “Aryan” race and the regime’s militaristic aims. The economy under Nazism was a mixed system with heavy state direction (e.g., for rearmament and public works like the Autobahn), but it involved privatization of public services, alliances with big business (such as IG Farben and Krupp), and suppression of independent trade unions in favor of the state-controlled German Labor Front. This corporatist approach aligned more with fascist economics than left-wing collectivism.
Personally, I reject the left/right labels as far too simple. While probably still too simplistic I find the Political Quiz | Political Typology Test a big improvement over “left vs. right” labeling.
Your mileage may vary.
The key similarity is that both communism and naziism aim for an all-powerful state with the people mere pawns, to live or die at the whim of those holding the power. In that they are similar to the systems of most of the world, just a bit more consistent and extreme than, say, France or the UK.
Libertarians have long pointed out the fallacy of left vs. right, and instead created the diamond diagram with the two dimensions of liberty: https://www.theadvocates.org
Compare to CCP. Same partial privatization enforcing nationalist goals. Same private property rights. Same government controlled labor unions.
Nazism is not Marxism, but it is essentially the same as Xi-Jinping-thought.
True. The most important point is that in all its variants (Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Xi, Putin, Saddam, Sadat) mass murder is a normal and expected way for the state to operate.