True Left

Lol, about 2/3s of the "quotes about Goebbels" section on Wikiquotes are about people emphasizing his leftism.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels#Quotes_about_Goebbels

It was Strasser’s radicalism, his belief in the ‘socialism’ of National Socialism, which attracted the young Goebbels. Both wanted to build the party on the proletariat. The diary of Goebbels is full of expressions of sympathy for Communism at this time.

   -William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany, New York: NY Simon & Schuster (2011), first published 1960, pp. 126-127

(Shirer is a leading mainstream scholar on NS Germany. Even if we may not respect an anti-NS historian's narrative, even he acknowledges Goebbels's leftism.)

Goebbels and some other northern leaders thought of themselves as revolutionaries, with more in common with the Communists than with the hated bourgeoisie.

   -Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, W.W. Norton & Company, New York, (1999) p. 272

(Kershaw is another leading mainstream scholar on NS Germany and he agrees. You can find a lot of blogs and news articles attempting to claim that the idea of the Strassers/"northern wing" being leftist is just a 'myth'. But two of the leading mainstream historians on NS Germany both agree they were straight up Communist leaning. If that isn't "leftist", I don't know what is.)

The National Socialist-Labor Party, of which Adolf Hitler is patron and father, persists in believing Lenin and Hitler can be compared or contrasted in a party meeting. Two weeks ago an attempted discussion of this subject left to one death, sixty injuries and $5,000 damages to beer glasses, tables, chairs, windows and chandeliers in Chemnitz. Last night DR. Göebells tried the experiment in Berlin and only police intervention prevented a repetition of the Chemnitz affair. On the speaker's assertion that Lenin was the greatest man, second only to Hitler, and that the difference between communism and the Hitler faith was very slight, a faction war opened with whizzing beer glasses. When this sort of ammunition was exhausted a free fight in which fists and knives played important roles was indulged in. Later a gang marched to the offices of the Socialist paper Vorärts and smashed plate-glass windows. Police made nineteen arrest.

   -Anonymous, Hitlerite Riot in Berlin: Beer Glasses Fly When Speaker Compares Hitler to Lenin, New York Times (November 28, 1925)

Wikiquote tries to add a disclaimer that "New York Times's reporting on Communism was neither unbiased nor accurate" during this time period. But here's Goebbels's account:

On to Chemnitz. Speech to two thousand communists. Meeting quiet and factual. At the end devastating free-for-all fight. A thousand beer glasses smashed. Hundred and fifty wounded, thirty seriously, two dead.

   -23 November 1925, The Early Goebbels Diaries 1925-1926, Helmut Heiber, edit. Oliver Watson, trans. Frederick A. Praeger, New York, (1963)

If the Night of the Long Knives (1934) was intended as a purge of the left-wing elements of the party (as False Leftists often claim), it would make no sense to allow Joseph Goebbels to live, let alone continue serving in his prominent position in the party. In fact, Goebbels was one of the architects of the purge, and I believe Hitler even criticized him for the setbacks the party would face from it. (I was unable to find the quote regarding this.)

In 1924, the same year he joined the National Socialist party, Goebbels literally wrote in his diary that he was a Communist. Why would he join a far-right party? Why would a former Communist remain loyal to Hitler in the bunker in his final days, while a far-rightist like Himmler engaged in an act of treachery?


If the National Socialist party was far-right, why would Hitler make a point of speaking jointly with the Communist Goebbels, embracing him with tears in his eyes? (Again, note how Hitler even further empowered Strasser as part of his reconciliation. How would it make any sense for a far-rightist to do that? A far-rightist would have disempowered him.)

The dissent evaporated after this. Strasser made a short statement in which accepted the Führer's leadership and Hitler put his arm around Strasser in a show of comradeship.[15] Strasser agreed to have the recipients of the alternative program return their copies to him.
[...]
Hitler continued his efforts to conciliate with both Strasser and Goebbels. As to Strasser, Hitler approved the establishment of the new publishing house under Strasser's control. He allowed Strasser to merge two Gaue (Westphalia and Rhineland North) into one new and more powerful Gau called the Ruhr Gau, with Goebbels, Pfeffer and Kaufman as a ruling triumvirate. To placate Strasser, he even removed Esser from the party's leadership cadre in April 1926. When Strasser was injured in an automobile accident—his car was hit by a freight train—Hitler visited him in his Landshut home, bearing a large bouquet of flowers and expressions of sympathy.

Hitler wooed Goebbels as well. He invited Goebbels to speak, with Hitler on stage, at the Burgerbraukeller on 8 April 1926, and had the event widely publicized. Hitler's chauffeur, driving the supercharged Mercedes, picked up Goebbels (along with Pfeffer and Kaufman) at the train station and gave them a tour of Munich. Hitler greeted the trio at their hotel and Goebbels confessed to his diary that "his kindness in spite of Bamberg makes us feel ashamed." After Goebbels' speech at the beer hall, the audience responds wildly and Hitler embraces Goebbels, with "tears in his eyes."[citation needed]

The next day Hitler dressed down Goebbels, Pfeffer and Kaufman for their rebelliousness but forgave them, and Goebbels wrote in his journal that "unity follows. Hitler is great." Hitler continued his conversations with Goebbels and invited him to dine in Hitler's apartment, accompanied by Geli, who flirted with the young Goebbels, much to his delight. Later, Hitler took Goebbels on day-long sightseeing tours in Bavaria and when Hitler spoke in Stuttgart, Goebbels was on stage with him.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamberg_Conference#Aftermath


Meanwhile, in the USSR, Communists were busy murdering their own left-wing party members who had served with them in the early days.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge