CHAPTER VIII
THE BEGINNING OF MY POLITICAL ACTIVITIES
After another few weeks I received orders to
attend a course of lectures which were being given to members of the army. This
course was meant to inculcate certain fundamental principles on which the
soldier could base his political ideas. For me the advantage of this
organization was that it gave me a chance of meeting fellow soldiers who were
of the same way of thinking and with whom I could discuss the actual situation.
We were all more or less firmly convinced that Germany could not be saved from imminent
disaster by those who had participated in the November treachery--that is to
say, the Centre and the Social-Democrats; and also that the so-called
Bourgeois-National group could not make good the damage that had been done,
even if they had the best intentions. They lacked a number of requisites
without which such a task could never be successfully undertaken. The years
that followed have justified the opinions which we held at that time.
In our small circle we discussed the project
of forming a new party. The leading ideas which we then proposed were the same
as those which were carried into effect afterwards, when the German Labour
Party was founded. The name of the new movement which was to be founded should
be such that of itself, it would appeal to the mass of the people; for all our
efforts would turn out vain and useless if this condition were
lacking. And that was the reason why we chose
the name 'Social-Revolutionary Party', particularly because the social
principles of our new organization were indeed revolutionary.
But there was also a more fundamental reason.
The attention which I had given to economic problems during my earlier years
was more or less confined to considerations arising directly out of the social
problem. Subsequently this outlook broadened as I came to study the German policy
of the Triple Alliance. This policy was very largely the result of an erroneous
valuation of the economic situation, together with a confused notion as to the
basis on which the future subsistence of the German people could be guaranteed.
All these ideas were based on the principle that capital is exclusively the
product of labour and that, just like labour, it was subject to all the factors
which can hinder or promote human activity. Hence, from the national
standpoint, the significance of capital depended on the greatness and freedom
and power of the State, that is to say, of the nation, and that it is this
dependence alone which leads capital to promote the interests of the State and
the nation, from the instinct of self-preservation and for the sake of its own
development.
On such principles the attitude of the State
towards capital would be comparatively simple and clear. Its only object would
be to make sure that capital remained subservient to the State and did not
allocate to itself the right to dominate national interests. Thus it could
confine its activities within the two following limits: on the one side, to assure
a vital and independent system of national economy and, on the other, to safeguard
the social rights of the workers.
Previously I did not recognize with adequate
clearness the difference between capital which is purely the product of
creative labour and the existence and nature of capital which is exclusively
the result of financial speculation. Here I needed an impulse to set my mind
thinking in this direction; but that impulse had hitherto been lacking.
The requisite impulse now came from one of
the men who delivered lectures in the course I have already mentioned. This was
Gottfried Feder.
For the first time in my life I heard a
discussion which dealt with the principles of stock-exchange capital and
capital which was used for loan activities. After hearing the first lecture
delivered by Feder, the idea immediately came into my head that I had now found
a way to one of the most essential pre-requisites for the
founding of a new party.
To my mind, Feder's merit consisted in the
ruthless and trenchant way in which he described the double character of the
capital engaged in stock-exchange and loan transaction, laying bare the fact
that this capital is ever and always dependent on the payment of interest. In fundamental
questions his statements were so full of common sense that those who criticized
him did not deny that AU FOND his ideas were sound but they doubted whether it
be possible to put these ideas into practice. To me this seemed the strongest
point in Feder's teaching, though others considered it a weak point.
When I heard Gottfried Feder's first lecture
on 'The Abolition of the Interest-Servitude', I understood immediately that
here was a truth of transcendental importance for the future of the German
people. The absolute separation of stock-exchange capital from the economic life
of the nation would make it possible to oppose the process of internationalization
in German business without at the same time attacking capital as such, for to
do this would jeopardize the foundations of our national independence. I
clearly saw what was developing in Germany and I realized then that the
stiffest fight we would have to wage would not be against the enemy nations but
against international capital. In Feder's speech I found an effective rallying-cry
for our coming struggle.
Here, again, later events proved how correct
was the impression we then had. The fools among our bourgeois politicians do
not mock at us on this point any more; for even those politicians now see--if
they would speak the truth--that international stock-exchange capital was
not only the chief instigating factor in bringing on the War but that now when
the War is over it turns the peace into a hell.
The struggle against international finance
capital and loan-capital has become one of the most important points in the programme
on which the German nation has based its fight for economic freedom and independence.
Regarding the objections raised by so-called
practical people, the following answer must suffice: All apprehensions
concerning the fearful economic consequences that would follow the abolition of
the servitude that results from interest-capital are ill-timed; for, in the
first place, the economic principles hitherto followed have proved quite fatal to
the interests of the German people. The attitude adopted when the question of
maintaining our national existence arose vividly recalls similar advice once
given by experts--the Bavarian Medical College, for example--on the question of
introducing railroads. The fears expressed by that august body of experts were
not realized. Those who travelled in the coaches of the new 'Steam-horse' did
not suffer from vertigo. Those who looked on did not become ill.
In the second place, the following must be
borne in mind: Any idea may be a source of danger if it be looked upon as an
end in itself, when really it is only the means to an end. For me and for all
genuine National-Socialists there is only one doctrine. PEOPLE AND FATHERLAND. All
ideas and ideals, all teaching and all knowledge, must serve these ends.
I began to study again and thus it was that I
first came to understand perfectly what was the substance and purpose of the
life-work of the Jew, Karl Marx. His CAPITAL became intelligible to me now for
the first time. And in the light of it I now exactly understood the fight of
the Social-Democrats against national economics, a fight which was to prepare
the ground for the hegemony of a real international and stock-exchange capital.
One day I put my name down as wishing to take
part in the discussion. Another of the participants thought that he would break
a lance for the Jews and entered into a lengthy defence of them. This aroused
my opposition. An overwhelming number of those who attended the lecture course
supported my views. The consequence of it all was that, a few days later, I was
assigned to a regiment then stationed at Munich and given a position there as
'instruction officer'.
I took up my work with the greatest delight
and devotion. Here I was presented with an opportunity of speaking before quite
a large audience. I was now able to confirm what I had hitherto merely felt,
namely, that I had a talent for public speaking. My voice had become so much
better that I could be well understood, at least in all parts of the small hall
where the soldiers assembled.
I am able to state that my talks were
successful. During the course of my lectures I have led back hundreds and even
thousands of my fellow countrymen to their people and their fatherland. I
'nationalized' these troops and by so doing I helped to restore general
discipline.
Here again I made the acquaintance of several
comrades whose thought ran along the same lines as my own and who later became
members of the first group out of which the new movement developed.”
Excerpts
from Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf
Kaps
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