Yes and no. They were indeed socialists, so by definition they were leftist. But they were also nationalists, and that is a conservative principle. Most modern leftists are internationalists.
I would instead propose to you that the cross we do bear is that the horrors of Nazism put a negative connotation on all forms of nationalism. There is a task in front of us: to free nationalism from this connotation. It is possible and even a duty to serve your country and love your country, recognizing its national cultural treasure. It is a part of being a defender of property rights and individual rights. Nationalism is incompatible with racial hatred and military aggression. It is socialism that defined the Nazis, not their love for Germany.
Sprading the over simplification of nationalism yet again. Obama is a nationalist. Not a US nationalist but a nationalist who is building a national hegemony through demographic warfare against America, to establish a nation of alleged post colonial racial minorities, supported by illegal aliens. That’s nationalism, and Obama is not a conservative.
Gee whiz! How did that come about?
No way that nationalism is the strict purview of conservatives.
Secondly, nationalism is not all bad.It never was. Patriotism is a sub set of nationalism, and it has built a wonderful nation in the USA.
When nationalism is 1) race based, when it is joined with the concepts of 2) historic justice and the 3)redistribution of wealth you achieve fascism. That’s what Obama is about.Not all nationalism leads to fascism. It needs these three ingredients bent on a false Utopia unreachable but for totalitarian control ( in Obama’s case..executive orders and extortion).
Good Read:
Barrack Obama, The Quintessential Fascist:
http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/05/barack_obama_the_quintessentia_1.html