Why were Nazis called ‘fascists’ in the USSR?

Despite the similarity of the two ideologies, German National Socialism and Italian Fascism have a number of significant differences. However, in the Soviet Union, unlike the West, Hitler's followers were not not known as National Socialists or Nazis.

The main reason was the reluctance to use the word ‘socialist’ in relation to an ideological enemy. Joseph Stalin spoke about this in detail at the ceremonial meeting of the Moscow Council of Workers' Deputies on November 6, 1941:

"The German invaders… are usually called ‘fascists’. The Hitlerites… consider this wrong and stubbornly continue to call themselves ‘national socialists’… they want to assure us that the party of German invaders, plundering Europe and organizing a villainous attack on our socialist state, is a socialist party."

"Can the Hitlerites be considered socialists? No, they cannot. In reality, the Nazis are the sworn enemies of socialism, who have deprived the working class and the peoples of Europe of their basic democratic freedoms,” the Soviet leader asserted.

According to Stalin, these “rabid imperialists and most vicious reactionaries” dress up in the toga of “socialists” to hide “their bandit imperialist essence”: “No matter how much crows dress up in peacock feathers, they will not cease to be crows.”