No, Hitler and the Nazis Weren't Socialists

Hitler wasn’t a socialist. The Nazis weren’t socialists.

The fact that they called themselves the National Socialist Party of Germany was designed to fool people 80 years ago. The reason why they pretended to be socialists was because of the failures of capitalism in the previous election [which caused a majority of people] to vote for the communists and socialists. Adolf Hitler himself wrote about this, basically saying we’re pretending to be socialists.

The fact that [there are people] 80 years later still falling for this propaganda and who actually think that the most fascist people in modern history we’re socialists says a lot about the lack of education in the United States of America.

If you actually believe that the Nazis were socialist in practice then you have to believe that the Democratic Republic of North Korea is actually a democracy.

– Stephanie Ann Diaz
via social media
October 25, 2025

Related Off-site Links:
The Nazis Weren’t Socialists – They Were Hypercapitalists: An Interview with Ishay Landa – Nils Schniederjann (Jacobin, August 26, 2022).
Adolf Hitler Was Not a Socialist – Jane Coaston (Vox, March 27, 2019).
The Nazis Were Not Socialists – Full Fact (September 25, 2019).
Nazism, Socialism and the Falsification of History – Matthew Fitzpatrick and A. Dirk Moses (Australian Broadcasting Corporation, January 30, 2025).
No, the Nazis Were Not Socialists – Scott Sehon (Jacobin, October 9, 2020).
Hitler Was Not a Socialist: Here’s the Evidence – Explaining History (February 28, 2025).
No, The Nazis Were Not “Left Wing” – Flashback History (August 2, 2025).
Were the Nazis Socialists? Historians Debunk and Explain – Dr. Eric Kurlander, et al (YouTube, May 2, 2021).
Putting The “Nazis Were Socialist” Nonsense To Rest – Nathan J. Robinson (Current Affairs, January 24, 2020).


See also the following chronologically-ordered Wild Reed posts on actual socialism:
• The Film United 93 – A Socialist Perspective (2006)
• Capitalism on Trial
• A Socialist Response to the Financial Crisis (2008)
• Obama, Ayers, the “S” Word, and the “Most Politically Backward Layers in America” (2010)
• Obama, a Socialist? Hardly
• A Socialist Perspective on the "Democratic Debacle" in Massachusetts
• Jonty Langley: Quote of the Day – August 17, 2011
• Something to Think About – December 14, 2011
• Martin Luther King, Jr. and Democratic Socialism
• Hope, History, and Bernie Sanders (2016)
• Jesse A. Myerson: Quote of the Day – July 31, 2016
• Jonah Walters: Quote of the Day – September 5, 2016
• John Wight: Quote of the Day – June 8, 2017
• Progressive Perspectives on Jeremy Corbyn’s Achievement in the U.K. Election
• A Timely Reminder
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – June 12, 2019
• Bernie Sanders’ “Revolution” Is Ultimately One of Values – the Values of Justice, Hope, and Love
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Origin of the American Obsession with “Socialism”
• The Biblical Roots of “From Each According to Ability; To Each According to Need”
• Mark Harris: Quote of the Day – August 10, 2023
• “Hopeful and Grounded”: Omar Fateh’s Vision of Democratic Socialism (2025)

Image: Artist unknown.