Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Volume One: A Reckoning
Chapter V: The World War
As A YOUNG SCAMP in my wild years, nothing had so grieved meas having been born at a time which obviously erected its Halls of Fameonly to shopkeepers and government officials. The waves of historic eventsseemed to have grown so smooth that the future really seemed to belong onlyto the 'peaceful contest of nations'; in other words, a cozy mutual swindlingmatch with the exclusion of violent methods of defense. The various nationsbegan to be more and more like private citizens who cut the ground fromunder one another's feet, stealing each other's customers and orders, tryingin every way to get ahead of one another, and staging this whole act amida hue and cry as loud as it is harmless. This development seemed not onlyto endure but was expected in time (as was universally recommended) to remodelthe whole world into one big department store in whose vestibules the bustsof the shrewdest profiteers and the most lamblike administrative officialswould be garnered for all eternity. The English could supply the merchants,the Germans the administrative officials, and the Jews no doubt would haveto sacrifice themselves to being the owners, since by their own admissionthey never make any money, but always 'pay,' and, besides, speak the mostlanguages.
Why couldn't I have been born a hundred years earlier? Say atthe time of the Wars of Liberation when a man, even without a 'business,'was really worth something?!
Thus I had often indulged in angry thoughts concerning my earthlypilgrimage, which, as it seemed to me, had begun too late, and regardedthe period 'of law and order' ahead of me as a mean and undeserved trickof Fate. Even as a boy I was no 'pacifist,' and all attempts to educateme in this direction came to nothing.
The Boer War was like summer lightning to me.
Every day I waited impatiently for the newspapers and devoureddispatches and news reports, happy at the privilege of witnessing this heroicstruggle even at a distance.
The Russo-Japanese War found me considerably more mature, butalso more attentive. More for national reasons I had already taken sides,and in our little discussions at once sided with the Japanese. In a defeatof the Russians I saw the defeat of Austrian Slavdom.
Since then many years have passed, and what as a boy had seemedto me a lingering disease, I now felt to be the quiet before the storm.As early as my Vienna period, the Balkans were immersed in that livid sultrinesswhich customarily announces the hurricane, and from time to time a beamof brighter light flared up, only to vanish again in the spectral darkness.But then came the Balkan War and with it the first gust of wind swept acrossa Europe grown nervous. The time which now followed lay on the chests ofmen like a heavy nightmare, sultry as feverish tropic heat, so that dueto constant anxiety the sense of approaching catastrophe turned at lastto longing: let Heaven at last give free rein to the fate which could nolonger be thwarted. And then the first mighty lightning flash struck theearth; the storm was unleashed and with the thunder of Heaven there mingledthe roar of the World War batteries.
When the news of the murder of Archduke Francis Ferdinand arrivedin Munich (I happened to be sitting at home and heard of it only- vaguely),I was at first seized with worry that the bullets may have been shot fromthe pistols of German students, who, out of indignation at the heir apparent'scontinuous work of Slavization, wanted to free the German people from thisinternal enemy. What the consequence of this would have been was easy toimagine: a new wave of persecutions which would now have been 'justified'and 'explained' in the eyes of the whole world. But when, soon afterward,I heard the names of the supposed assassins, and moreover read that theyhad been identified as Serbs, a light shudder began to run through me atthis vengeance of inscrutable Destiny.
The greatest friend of the Slavs had fallen beneath the bulletsof Slavic fanatics.
Anyone with constant occasion in the last years to observe therelation of Austria to Serbia could not for a moment be in doubt that astone had been set rolling whose course could no longer be arrested.
Those who today shower the Viennese government with reproacheson the form and content of the ultimatum it issued, do it an injustice.No other power in the world could have acted differently in the same situationand the same position. At her southeastern border Austria possessed an inexorableand mortal enemy who at shorter and shorter intervals kept challenging themonarchy and would never have left off until the moment favorable for theshattering of the Empire had arrived. There was reason to fear that thiswould occur at the latest with the death of the old Emperor; by then perhapsthe old monarchy would no longer be in a position to offer any serious resistance.In the last few years the state had been so bound up with the person ofFrancis Joseph that the death of this old embodiment of the Empire was feltby the broad masses to be tantamount to the death of the Empire itself.Indeed, it was one of the craftiest artifices, particularly of the Slavicpolicy, to create the appearance that the Austrian state no longer owedits existence to anything but the miraculous and unique skill of this monarch;this flattery was all the more welcome in the Hofburg, since it correspondednot at all to the real merits of the Emperor. The thorn hidden in thesepaeans of praise remained undiscovered The rulers did not see, or perhapsno longer wanted to see, that the more the monarchy depended on the outstandingstatecraft, as they put it, of this 'wisest monarch' of all times, the morecatastrophic the situation was bound to become if one day Fate were to knockat his door, too, demanding its tribute.
Was old Austria even conceivable without the Emperor?!
Wouldn't the tragedy which had once stricken Maria Theresa havebeen repeated?
No, it is really doing the Vienna circles an injustice to reproachthem with rushing into a war which might otherwise have been avoided. Itno longer could be avoided, but at most could have been postponed for oneor two years. But this was the curse of German as well as Austrian diplomacy,that it had always striven to postpone the inevitable reckoning, until atlength it was forced to strike at the most unfavorable hour. We can be convincedthat a further attempt to save peace would have brought war at an even moreunfavorable time.
No, those who did not want this war had to have the courageto face the consequences, which could have consisted only in the sacrificeof Austria. Even then the war would have come, but no longer as a struggleof all against ourselves, but in the form of a partition of the Habsburgmonarchy. And then they had to make up their minds to join in, or to lookon with empty hands and let Fate run its course.
Those very people, however, who today are loudest in cursingthe beginning of the war and offer the sagest opinions were those who contributedmost fatally to steering us into it.
For decades the Social Democrats had carried on the most scoundrellywar agitation against Russia, and the Center for religious reasons had beenmost active in making the Austrian state the hinge and pivot of Germanypolicy. Now we had to suffer the consequences of this lunacy. What camehad to come, and could no longer under any circumstances be avoided. Theguilt of the German government was that in order to preserve peace it alwaysmissed the favorable hours for striking, became entangled in the alliancefor the preservation of world peace, and thus finally became the victimof a world coalition which countered the idea of preserving world peacewith nothing less than determination for world war.
If the Vienna government had given the ultimatum another milderform, this would have changed nothing in the situation except at most onething, that this government would itself have been swept away by the indignationof the people. For in the eyes of the broad masses the tone of the ultimatumwas far too gentle and by no means too brutal, let alone too far-reachingAnyone who today attempts to argue this away is either a forgetful blockheador a perfectly conscious swindler and liar
The struggle of the year 1914 was not forced on the masses-no, by the living God-it was desired by the whole people.
People wanted at length to put an end to the general uncertainty.Only thus can it be understood that more than two million German men andboys thronged to the colors for this hardest of all struggles, preparedto defend the flag with the last drop of their blood.
To me those hours seemed like a release from the painfulfeelings of my youth. Even today I am not ashamed to say that, overpoweredby stormy enthusiasm, I fell down on my knees and thanked Heaven from anoverflowing heart for granting me the good fortune of being permitted tolive at this time.
A fight for freedom had begun, mightier than the earth had everseen; for once Destiny had begun its course, the conviction dawned on eventhe broad masses that this time not the fate of Serbia or Austria was involved,but whether the German nation was to be or not to be.
For the last time in many years the people had a prophetic visionof its own future. Thus, right at the beginning of the gigantic strugglethe necessary grave undertone entered into the ecstasy- of an overflowingenthusiasm; for this knowledge alone made the national uprising more thana mere blaze of straw The earnestness was only too necessary; for in thosedays people in general had not the faintest conception of the possible lengthand duration of the struggle that was now beginning. They dreamed of beinghome again that winter to continue and renew their peaceful labors.
What a man wants is what he hopes and believes. The overwhelmingmajority of the nation had long been weary of the eternally uncertain stateof affairs; thus it was only too understandable that they no longer believedin a peaceful conclusion of the Austro-Serbian convict, but hoped for thefinal settlement.
I, too, was one of these millions.
Hardly had the news of the assassination become known in Munichthan at once two thoughts quivered through my brain: first, that at lastwar would be inevitable; and, furthermore, that now the Habsburg state wouldbe compelled to keep its pact; for what I had always most feared was thepossibility that Germany herself would some day, perhaps in consequenceof this very alliance, find herself in a conflict not directly caused byAustria, so that the Austrian state for reasons of domestic policy wouldnot muster the force of decision to stand behind her ally. The Slavic majorityof the Empire would at once have begun to sabotage any such intention onthe part of the state, and would always have preferred to smash the entirestate to smithereens than grant its ally the help it demanded. This dangerwas now eliminated. The old state had to fight whether it wanted to or not.
My own position on the conflict was likewise very simple andclear; for me it was not that Austria was fighting for some Serbian satisfaction,but that Germany was fighting for her existence, the German nation for lifeor death, freedom and future. The time had come for Bismarck's work to fight;what the fathers had once won in the battles from Weissenburg to Sedan andParis, young Germany now had to earn once more. If the struggle were carriedthrough to victory, our nation would enter the circle of great nations fromthe standpoint of external power, and only then could the German Reich maintainitself as a mighty haven of peace without having, for the sake of peace,to cut down on the daily bread of her children.
As a boy and young man I had so often felt the desire to proveat least once by deeds that for me national enthusiasm was no empty whim.It often seemed to me almost a sin to shout hurrah perhaps without havingthe inner right to do so; for who had the right to use this word withouthaving proved it in the place where all playing is at an end and the inexorablehand of the Goddess of Destiny begins to weigh peoples and men accordingto the truth and steadfastness of their convictions? Thus my heart, likethat of a million others, overflowed with proud joy that at last I wouldbe able to redeem myself from this paralyzing feeling. I had so often sung'Deutschland uber Aloes' and shouted Neil ' at the top of my lungs, thatit seemed to me almost a belated act of grace to be allowed to stand asa witness in the divine court of the eternal judge and proclaim the sincerityof this conviction. For from the first hour r was convinced that in caseof a war- which seemed to me inevitable-in one way or another I would atonce leave my books. Likewise I knew that my place would then be where myinner voice directed me.
I had left Austria primarily for political reasons; what wasmore natural than that, now the struggle had begun, I should really beginto take account of this conviction. I did not want to fight for the Habsburgstate, but was ready at any time to die for my people and for the Reichwhich embodied it
On the third of August, I submitted a personal petition to HisMajesty, lying Ludwig III, with a request for permission to enter a Bavarianregiment. The cabinet office certainly had plenty to do in those days; somuch the greater was my joy to receive an answer to my request the verynext day. With trembling hands I opened the document; my request had beenapproved and I was summoned to report to a Bavarian regiment. My joy andgratitude knew no bounds. A few days later I was wearing the tunic whichI was not to doff until nearly six years later.
For me, as for every German, there now began the greatest andmost unforgettable time of my earthly existence. Compared to the eventsof this gigantic struggle, everything past receded to shallow nothingness.Precisely in these days, with the tenth anniversary of the mighty eventapproaching, I think back with proud sadness on those first weeks of ourpeople's heroic struggle, in which Fate graciously allowed me to take part.
As though it were yesterday, image after image passes beforemy eyes. I see myself donning the uniform in the circle of my dear comrades,turning out for the first time, drilling, etc., until the day came for usto march off.
A single worry tormented me at that time, me, as so many others:would we not reach the front too late? Time and time again this alone banishedall my calm. Thus, in every cause for rejoicing at a new, heroic victory,a slight drop of bitterness was hidden, for every new victory seemed toincrease the danger of our coming too late.
At last the day came when we left Munich to begin the fulfillmentof our duty. For the first time I saw the Rhine as we rode westward alongits quiet waters to defend it, the German stream of streams, from the greedof the old enemy. When through the tender veil of the early morning mistthe Niederwald Monument gleamed down upon us in the gentle first rays ofthe sun, the old Watch on the Rhine roared out of the endless transporttrain into the morning sky, and I felt as though my heart would burst.
And then came a damp, cold night in Flanders, through whichwe marched in silence, and when the day began to emerge from the mists,suddenly an iron greeting came whizzing at us over our heads, and with asharp report sent the little pellets flying between our ranks, ripping upthe wet ground; but even before the little cloud had passed, from two hundredthroats the first hurrah rose to meet the first messenger of death. Thena crackling and a roaring, a singing and a howling began, and with feverisheyes each one of us was drawn forward, faster and faster, until suddenlypast turnip fields and hedges the fight began, the fight of man againstman. And from the distance the strains of a song reached our ears, comingcloser and closer, leaping from company to company, and just as Death plungeda busy hand into our ranks, the song reached us too and we passed it along:'Deutschland, Deutschland uber Alles, uber Alles in der Welt!'
Four days later we came back. Even our step had changed. Seventeen-year-oldboys now looked like men.
The volunteers of the List Regiment may not have learned tofight properly, but they knew how to die like old soldiers
This was the beginning.
Thus it went on year after year; but the romance of battle hadbeen replaced by horror. The enthusiasm gradually cooled and the exuberantjoy was stifled by mortal fear. The time came when every man had to strugglebetween the instinct of self-preservation and the admonitions of duty. I,too, was not spared by this struggle. Always when Death was on the hunt,a vague something tried to revolt, strove to represent itself to the weakbody as reason, yet it was only cowardice, which in such disguises triedto ensnare the individual. A grave tugging and warning set in, and oftenit was only the last remnant of conscience which decided the issue. Yetthe more this voice admonished one to caution, the louder and more insistentits lures, the sharper resistance grew until at last, after a long innerstruggle, consciousness of duty emerged victorious. By the winter of 1915-16this struggle had for me been decided. At last my will was undisputed master.If in the first days I went over the top with rejoicing and laughter, Iwas now calm and determined. And this was enduring. Now Fate could bringon the ultimate tests without my nerves shattering or my reason failing.
The young volunteer had become an old soldier.
And this transformation had occurred in the whole army. It hadissued old and hard from the eternal battles, and as for those who couldnot stand up under the storm-well, they were broken.
Now was the time to judge this army. Now, after two or threeyears, during which it was hurled from one battle into another, foreverfighting against superiority in numbers and weapons, suffering hunger andbearing privations, now was the time to test the quality of this uniquearmy.
Thousands of years may pass, but never will it be possible tospeak of heroism without mentioning the German army and the World War. Thenfrom the veil of the past the iron front of the gray steel helmet will emerge,unwavering and unflinching, an immortal monument. As long as there are Germansalive, they will remember that these men were sons of their nation.
I was a soldier then, and I didn't want to talk about politics.And really it was not the time for it. Even today I harbor the convictionthat the humblest wagon-driver performed more valuable services for thefatherland than the foremost among, let us say, 'parliamentarians.' I hadnever hated these bigmouths more than now when every red-blooded man withsomething to say yelled it into the enemy's face or appropriately left histongue at home and silently did his duty somewhere. Yes, in those days Ihated all those politicians. And if it had been up to me, a parliamentarypick-and-shovel battalion would have been formed at once; then they couldhave chewed the fat to their hearts' content without annoying, let aloneharming, honest, decent people.
Thus, at that time I wanted to hear nothing of politics, butI could not help taking a position on certain manifestations which afterall did affect the whole nations and particularly concerned us soldiers.
There were two things which then profoundly angered me and whichI regarded as harmful.
After the very first news of victories, a certain section ofthe press, slowly, and in a way which at first was perhaps unrecognizableto many, began to pour a few drops of wormwood into the general enthusiasm.This was done beneath the mask of a certain benevolence and well-meaning,even of a certain solicitude. They had misgivings about an excess of exuberancein the celebration of the victories. They feared that in this form it wasunworthy of so great a nation and hence inappropriate. The bravery and heroiccourage of the German soldier were something self-evident, they said, andpeople should not be carried away too much by thoughtless outbursts of joy,if only for the sake of foreign countries to whom a silent and dignifiedform of joy appealed more than unbridled exultation, etc. Finally, we Germanseven now should not forget that the war was none of our intention and thereforewe should not be ashamed to confess in an open and manly fashion that atany time we would contribute our part to a reconciliation of mankind. Forthat reason it would not be prudent to besmirch the purity of our army'sdeeds by too much shouting, since the rest of the world would have littleunderstanding for such behavior. The world admired nothing more than themodesty with which a true hero silently and calmly forgets his deeds, forthis was the gist of the whole argument.
Instead of taking one of these creatures by his long ears, tyinghim to a long pole and pulling him up on a long cord, thus making it impossiblefor the cheering nation to insult the aesthetic sentiment of this knightof the inkpot, the authorities actually began to issue remonstrances against' unseemly ' rejoicing over victories.
It didn't occur to them in the least that enthusiasm once scotchedcannot be reawakened at need. It is an intoxication and must be preservedin this state. And how, without this power of enthusiasm, should a countrywithstand a struggle which in all likelihood would make the most enormousdemands on the spiritual qualities of the nation?
I knew the psyche of the broad masses too well not to be awarethat a high 'aesthetic' tone would not stir up the fire that was necessaryto keep the iron hot. In my eyes it was madness on the part of the authoritiesto be doing nothing to intensify the glowing heat of passion; and when theycurtailed what passion was fortunately present, that was absolutely beyondme.
The second thing that angered me was the attitude which theythought fit to take toward Marxism. In my eyes, this only proved that theyhadn't so much as the faintest idea concerning this pestilence. In all seriousnessthey seemed to believe that, by the assurance that parties were no longerrecognized, they had brought Marxism to understanding and restraint.
They failed to understand that here no party was involved, buta doctrine that must lead to the destruction of all humanity, especiallysince this cannot be learned in the Jewified universities and, besides,so many, particularly among our higher officials, due to the idiotic conceitthat is cultivated in them, don't think it worth the trouble to pick upa book and learn something which was not in their university curriculum.The most gigantic upheaval passes these 'minds' by without leaving the slightesttrace, which is why state institutions for the most part lag behind privateones. It is to them, by God, that the popular proverb best applies: 'Whatthe peasant doesn't know, he won't eat.' Here, too, a few exceptions onlyconfirm the rule.
It was an unequaled absurdity to identify the German workerwith Marxism in the days of August, 1914. In those hours the German workerhad made himself free from the embrace of this venomous plague, for otherwisehe would never have been able to enter the struggle. The authorities, however,were stupid enough to believe that Marxism had now become national; a flashof genius which only shows that in these long years none of these officialguides of the state had even taken the trouble to study the essence of thisdoctrine, for if they had, such an absurdity could scarcely have crept in.
Marxism, whose goal is and remains the destruction of all non-Jewishnational states, was forced to look on in horror as, in the July days of1914, the German working class it had ensnared, awakened and from hour tohour began to enter the service of the fatherland with ever-increasing rapidity.In a few days the whole mist and swindle of this infamous betrayal of thepeople had scattered away, and suddenly the gang of Jewish leaders stoodthere lonely and forsaken, as though not a trace remained of the nonsenseand madness which for sixty years they had been funneling into the masses.It was a bad moment for the betrayers of the German working class, but assoon as the leaders recognized the danger which menaced them, they rapidlypulled the tarn-cap ' of lies over their ears, and insolently mimicked thenational awakening.
But now the time had come to take steps against the whole treacherousbrotherhood of they Jewish poisoners of the people. Now was the time todeal with them summarily without the slightest consideration for any screamsand complaints that might arise. In August, 1914, the whole Jewish jabberabout international solidarity had vanished at one stroke from the headsof the German working class, and in its stead, only a few weeks later, Americanshrapnel began to pour down the blessings of brotherhood on the helmetsof our march columns. It would have been the duty of a serious government,now that the German worker had found his way back to his nation, to exterminatemercilessly the agitators who were misleading the nation.
If the best men were dying at the front, the least we coulddo was to wipe out the vermin.
Instead of this, His Majesty the Raiser himself stretched out his hand tothe old criminals, thus sparing the treacherous murderers of the nationand giving them a chance to retrieve themselves.
So nova the viper could continue his work, more cautiously thanbefore, but all the more dangerously. While the honest ones were dreamingof peace within their borders,l the perjuring criminals were organizingthe revolution.
That such terrible half-measures should then be decided uponmade me more and more dissatisfied at heart; but at that time I would nothave thought it possible that the end of it all would be so frightful.
What, then, should have been done? The leaders of the wholemovement should at once have been put behind bars, brought to trial, andthus taken off the nation's neck. All the implements of military power shouldhave been ruthlessly used for the extermination of this pestilence. Theparties should have been dissolved, the Reichstag brought to its senses,with bayonets if necessary, but, best of all, dissolved at once. Just asthe Republic today can dissolve parties, this method should have been usedat that time, with more reason. For the life and death of a whole nationwas at stake!
One question came to the fore, however: can spiritual ideasbe exterminated by the sword? Can 'philosophies' be combated by the useof brute force?
Even at that time I pondered this question more than once: Ifwe ponder analogous cases, particularly on a religious basis, which canbe found in history, the following fundamental principle emerges:
Conceptions and ideas, as well as movements with a definitespiritual foundation, regardless whether the latter is false or true, can,after a certain point in their development, only be broken with technicalinstruments of power if these physical weapons are at the same time thesupport of a new kindling thought, idea, or philosophy.
The application of force alone, without the impetus of a basicspiritual idea as a starting point, can never lead to the destruction ofan idea and its dissemination, except in the form of a complete exterminationof even the very last exponent of the idea and the destruction of the lasttradition. This, however, usually means the disappearance of such a statefrom the sphere of political importance, often for an indefinite time andsome-times forever; for experience shows that such a blood sacrifice strikesthe best part of the people, since every persecution which occurs withouta spiritual basis seems morally unjustified and whips up precisely the morevaluable parts of a people in protest, which results in an adoption of thespiritual content of the unjustly persecuted movement. In many this occurssimply through a feeling of opposition against the attempt to bludgeon downan idea by brute force.
As a result, the number of inward supporters grows in proportionas the persecution increases. Consequently, the complete annihilation ofthe new doctrine can be carried out only through a process of exterminationso great and constantly increasing that in the end all the truly valuableblood is drawn out of the people or state in question. The consequence isthat, though a so-called 'inner' purge can now take place, it will onlybe at the cost of total impotence. Such a method will always prove vainin advance if the doctrine to be combated has overstepped a certain smallcircle.
Consequently, here, too, as in all growth, the first periodof childhood is most readily susceptible to the possibility of extermination,while with the mounting years the power of resistance increases and onlywith the weakness of approaching old age cedes again to new youth, thoughin another form and for different reasons.
Indeed, nearly all attempts to exterminate a doctrine and itsorganizational expression, by force without spiritual foundation, are doomedto failure, and not seldom end with the exact opposite of the desired resultfor the following reason:
The very first requirement for a mode of struggle with the weaponsof naked force is and remains persistence. In other words: only the continuousand steady application of the methods for repressing a doctrine, etc., makesit possible for a plan to succeed. But as soon as force wavers and alternateswith forbearance, not only will the doctrine to be repressed recover againand again, but it will also be in a position to draw new benefit from everypersecution, since, after such a wave of pressure has ebbed away, indignationover the suffering induced leads new supporters to the old doctrine, whilethe old ones will cling to it with greater defiance and deeper hatred thanbefore, and even schismatic heretics, once the danger has subsided, willattempt to return to their old viewpoint. Only in the steady and constantapplication of force lies the very first prerequisite for success. Thispersistence, however, can always and only arise from a definite spiritualconviction. Any violence which does not spring from a firm, spiritual base,will be wavering and uncertain. It lacks the stability which can only restin a fanatical outlook. It emanates from the momentary energy and brutaldetermination of an individual, and is therefore subject to the change ofpersonalities and to their nature and strength.
Added to this there is something else:
Any philosophy, whether of a religious or political nature-and sometimes the dividing line is hard to determine-fights less for thenegative destruction of the opposing ideology than for the positive promotionof its own. Hence its struggle is less defensive than offensive. It thereforehas the advantage even in determining the goal, since this goal representsthe victory of its own idea, while, conversely, it is hard to determinewhen the negative aim of the destruction of a hostile doctrine may be regardedas achieved and assured. For this reason alone, the philosophy's offensivewill be more systematic and also more powerful than the defensive againsta philosophy, since here, too, as always, the attack and not the defensemakes the decision. The fight against a spiritual power with methods ofviolence remains defensive, however, until the sword becomes the support,the herald and disseminator, of a new spiritual doctrine.
Thus, in summing up, we can establish the following:
Any attempt to combat a philosophy with methods of violencewill fail in the end, unless the fight takes the form of attack for a newspiritual attitude. Only in the struggle between two philosophies can theweapon of brutal force, persistently and ruthlessly applied lead to a decisionfor the side it supports.
This remained the reason for the failure of the struggle againstMarxism.
This was why Bismarck's Socialist legislation finally failedand had to fail, in spite of everything. Lacking was the platform of a newphilosophy for whose rise the fight could have been waged. For only theproverbial wisdom of high government officials will succeed in believingthat drivel about so-called 'state authority' or 'law and order' could forma suitable basis for the spiritual impetus of a life-and-death struggle.
Since a real spiritual basis for this struggle was lacking,Bismarck had to entrust the execution of his Socialist legislation to thejudgment and desires of that institution which itself was a product of Marxistthinking. By entrusting the fate of his war on the Marxists to the well-wishingof bourgeois democracy, the Iron Chancellor set the wolf to mind the sheep.
All this was only the necessary consequence of the absence ofa basic new anti-Marxist philosophy endowed with a stormy will to conquer.
Hence the sole result of Bismarck's struggle was a grave disillusionment.
Were conditions different during the World War or at its beginning?Unfortunately not.
The more I occupied myself with the idea of a necessary changein the government's attitude toward Social Democracy as the momentary embodimentof Marxism, the more I recognized the lack of a serviceable substitute forthis doctrine. What would be given the masses if, just supposing, SocialDemocracy had been broken? There was not one movement in existence whichcould have been expected to succeed in drawing into its sphere of influencethe great multitudes of workers grown more or less leaderless. It is senselessand more than stupid to believe that the international fanatic who had leftthe class party would now at once join a bourgeois party, in other words,a new class organization. For, unpleasant as it may seem to various organizations,it cannot be denied that bourgeois politicians largely take class divisionquite for granted as long as it does not begin to work out to their politicaldisadvantage.
The denial of this fact only proves the effrontery, and alsothe stupidity, of the liars.
Altogether, care should be taken not to regard the masses asstupider than they are. In political matters feeling often decides morecorrectly than reason. The opinion that the stupid international attitudeof the masses is sufficient proof of the unsoundness of the masses' sentimentscan be thoroughly confuted by the simple reminder that pacifist democracyis no less insane, and that its exponents originate almost exclusively inthe bourgeois camp. As long as millions of the bourgeoisie still piouslyworship their Jewish democratic press every morning, it very ill becomesthese gentlemen to make jokes about the stupidity of the 'comrade' who,in the last analysis, only swallows down the same garbage, though in a differentform. In both cases the manufacturer is one and the same Jew.
Good care should be taken not to deny things that just happento be true. The fact that the class question is by no means exclusivelya matter of ideal problems, as, particularly before the elections, somepeople would like to pretend, cannot be denied. The class arrogance of alarge part of our people, and to an even greater extent, the underestimationof the manual worker, are phenomena which do not exist only in the imaginationof the moonstruck.
Quite aside from this, however, it shows the small capacityfor thought of our so-called 'intelligentsia' when, particularly in thesecircles, it is not understood that a state of affairs which could not preventthe growth of a plague, such as Marxism happens to be, will certainly notbe able to recover what has been lost.
The 'bourgeois' parties, as they designate themselves, willnever be able to attach the 'proletarian' masses to their camp, for heretwo worlds oppose each other, in part naturally and in part artificiallydivided, whose mutual relation 1 can only be struggle. The younger willbe victorious-and this is Marxism.
Indeed, a struggle against Social Democracy in the year 1914was conceivable, but how long this condition would be maintained, in viewof the absence of any substitute, remained doubtful.
Here there was a great gap.
I was of this opinion long before the War, and for this reasoncould not make up my mind to join one of the existing parties. In the courseof events of the World War, I was reinforced in this opinion by the obviousimpossibility of taking up a ruthless struggle against Social Democracy,owing to this very lack of a movement which would have had to be more thana 'parliamentary' party.
With my closer comrades I often expressed myself openly on thispoint.
And now the first ideas came to me of later engaging in politicalactivity.
Precisely this was what caused me often to assure the smallcircle of my friends that after the War, I meant to be a speaker in additionto my profession.
I believe that I was very serious about this.