Fascism (as practiced by the Nazis) and Communism are both collectivist ideologies. They’re two facets of the same gem. The biggest economic difference is that in Communism, the state actually owns and runs the means of production; in Fascism, private business still technically owns industry but the government regulates it so tightly that the end result is very similar. You still end up with a bunch of plutocratic Party members running the factories, but the Communist ones work for the government and the Fascist ones are allegedly private citizens.
Other than that, you’d be hard-pressed to tell them apart. Both restrict personal freedoms. Both preach “the Party” over everything. Both have extensive secret police and crush political dissent of any kind.
And yeah, in the 1930s after taking power, the NSDAP had a bit of a blue-on-blue war regarding socialism—basically, the sincere socialists vs. the Fascists. The Fascists won; Hitler shoved the socialists aside so he could milk the business barons for cash and support for his war aims.
}:-)4
The underlying reality is that Communism, Socialism and Fascism are essentially the same. Only the cover story changes.
Different groups of Communists and Fascists fight each other, just as different religious sects often fight (Sunnis and Shiites for example) even though their real differences are miniscule.
“They’re two facets of the same gem.”
I’d say they’re two ends of the same turd.