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?