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Obviously, you're right about the SA. But the SA thugs p쑰primarily went to and broke up the opposition's rallies. Hitler HIMSELF obviously had his own rallies. In addition to attacking his rivals, he had to establish his own base - and the backbone of that base was working men. Hitler most certainly DID reach out to the working man who had been previously attracted to communism, arguing that under the Marxist class system "workingmen have no country." I'm looking at page 70 of Liberal Fascism, in which Goldberg interacts with Shirer. Shirer says the Nazis aimed first to "destroy the left" before they went after the traditional right. And Goldberg says the reason for the this was that "the Nazis could much more easily defeat opponents on the left because they appealed to the same social base, used the same langugage, and thought in the same categories." Goldberg says on page 72, "In short, the battle between the Nazis and the communists was a case of two dogs fighting for the same bone."

"In short, the battle between the Nazis and the communists was a case of two dogs fighting for the same bone."

Germany at that time was a wild mishmash of parties all fighting for votes. To ignore any large constituency was simply out of the question if the goal was victory. The workers were important, but they were merely a small piece of a much larger puzzle.

The pillars of Hitler's strength came from his alliances with the Military and Industrial establishment.