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Exactly. They hated each other because they both were totalitarian rivals--only one of them, in the end, could control the machinery of the state. Mussolini for Pete's sake was one of the leading lights *in the Socialist party* and only left in disgust because he found them insufficiently Nationalist. As for Hitler, check out this interview he gave to George Viereck in 1923. I'll print the relevant quote in its entirety so it's clear this is not out of context:

I met Hitler not in his headquarters, the Brown House in Munich, but in a private home - the dwelling of a former admiral of the German Navy. We discussed the fate of Germany over the teacups.
"Why," I asked Hitler, "do you call yourself a National Socialist, since your party programme is the very antithesis of that commonly accredited to socialism?"
"Socialism," he retorted, putting down his cup of tea, pugnaciously, "is the science of dealing with the common weal. Communism is not Socialism. Marxism is not Socialism. The Marxians have stolen the term and confused its meaning. I shall take Socialism away from the Socialists.
"Socialism is an ancient Aryan, Germanic institution. Our German ancestors held certain lands in common. They cultivated the idea of the common weal. Marxism has no right to disguise itself as socialism. Socialism, unlike Marxism, does not repudiate private property. Unlike Marxism, it involves no negation of personality, and unlike Marxism, it is patriotic.
"We might have called ourselves the Liberal Party. We chose to call ourselves the National Socialists. We are not internationalists. Our socialism is national. We demand the fulfilment of the just claims of the productive classes by the state on the basis of race solidarity. To us state and race are one."

So it's abundantly clear that while he loathed Communism, it was because that movement in his eyes corrupted the original, true socialism of the German race.

National. Socialists. The name fits their politics precisely.

I recall a lengthy transcript of a speech by Goering in the Propaganda Archive of Calvin College, he ranted on and on “We are SOCIALISTS!!” painting National Socialism as the better, purer form of it. Yes they hated communists, but in the sense of being political and military rivals, it did not extend to a revulsion at basic principles. They thought they were better at it, and were implementing it the right way as compared to German communists or Russian Bolsheviks, with whom they were initially allied, let’s not forget. It’s one of those lethal internal squabbles, like Trotskyites and Leninists.

Thanks for the very useful abstract, much appreciated.

Both sets of Socialists had their eyes on your property. But Hitler felt the need to put a gloss on it.

The Communists took your property from you.

The Nazis took it from you if you were Jewish or some other form of hated untermenchsen - but if you were a company they just fined you a million marks unless you did what they wanted.

See Obama vs Gibson’s Guitars, or Obama vs the shareholders of GM for modern versions of Socialist theft. Which is Obama closer to - early Hitler or early Lenin/Stalin/Mao?

It’s an academic question, because there’s so little difference. They were all Left Wing, crushing the individual in the name of the people.