Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler
Volume One: A Reckoning
Chapter VIII: The Beginning of My Political Activity
AT THE END of November, 1918, I returned to Munich. Again Iwent to the replacement battalion of my regiment, which was in the handsof 'soldiers' councils.' Their whole activity was so repellent to me thatI decided at once to leave again as soon as possible. With Schmiedt Ernst,a faithful war comrade, I went to Traunstein and remained there till thecamp was broken up.
In March, 1919, we went back to Munich.
The situation was untenable and moved inevitably toward a furthercontinuation of the revolution. Eisner's death only hastened the developmentand finally led to a dictatorship of the Councils, or, better expressed,to a passing rule of the Jews, as had been the original aim of the instigatorsof the whole revolution.
At this time endless plans chased one another through my head.For days I wondered what could be done, but the end of every meditationwas the sober realization that I, nameless as I was, did not possess theleast basis for any useful action. I shall come back to speak of the reasonswhy then, as before, I could not decide to join any of the existing parties.
In the course of the new revolution of the Councils I for the first timeacted in such a way as to arouse the disapproval of the Central Council.Early in the morning of April 27, 1919, I was to be arrested, but, facedwith my leveled carbine, the three scoundrels lacked the necessary courageand marched off as they had come.
A few days after the liberation of Munich, I was ordered toreport to the examining commission concerned with revolutionary occurrencesin the Second Infantry Regiment.
This was my first more or less purely political activity.
Only a few weeks afterward I received orders to attend a ' course' that was held for members of the armed forces. In it the soldier was supposedto learn certain fundamentals of civic thinking. For me the value of thewhole affair was that I now obtained an opportunity of fleeting a few like-mindedcomrades with whom I could thoroughly discuss the situation of the moment.All of us were more or less firmly convinced that Germany could no longerbe saved from the impending collapse by the parties of the November crime,the Center and the Social Democracy, and that the so-called 'bourgeois-national'formations, even with the best of intentions, could never repair what hadhappened. A whole series of preconditions were lacking, without which sucha task simply could not succeed. The following period confirmed the opinionwe then held. Thus, in our own circle we discussed the foundation of a newparty. The basic ideas which we had in mind were the same as those laterrealized in the ' German Workers' Party.' The name of the movement to befounded would from the very beginning have to offer the possibility of approachingthe broad masses; for without this quality the whole task seemed aimlessand superfluous. Thus we arrived at the name of ' Social Revolutionary Party';this because the social views of the new organization did indeed mean arevolution.
But the deeper ground for this lay in the following: howevermuch I had concerned myself with economic questions at an earlier day, myefforts had remained more or less within the limits resulting from the contemplationof social questions as such. Only later did this framework broaden throughexamination of the German alliance policy. This in very great part was theoutcome of a false estimation of economics as well as unclarity concerningthe possible basis for sustaining the German people in the future. But allthese ideas were based on the opinion that capital in any case was solelythe result of labor and, therefore, like itself was subject to the correctionof all those factors which can either advance or thwart human activity;and the national importance of capital was that it depended so completelyon the greatness, freedom, and power of the state, hence of the nation,that this bond in itself would inevitably cause capital to further the stateand the nation owing to its simple instinct of self-preservation or of reproduction.This dependence of capital on the independent free state would, therefore,force capital in turn to champion this freedom, power, strength, etc., ofthe nation.
Thus, the task of the state toward capital was comparativelysimple and clear: it only had to make certain that capital remain the handmaidenof the state and not fancy itself the mistress of the nation. This pointof view could then be defined between two restrictive limits: preservationof a solvent, national, and independent economy on the one hand, assuranceof the social rights of the workers on the other.
Previously I had been unable to recognize with the desired claritythe difference between this pure capital as the end result of productivelabor and a capital whose existence and essence rests exclusively on speculation.For this I lacked the initial inspiration, which had simply not come myway.
But now this was provided most amply by one of the various gentlemen lecturingin the above-mentioned course: Gottfried Feder.
For the first time in my life I heard a principled discussionof international stock exchange and loan capital.
Right after listening to Feder's first lecture, the thoughtran through my head that I had now found the way to one of the most essentialpremises for the foundation of a new party.
In my eyes Feder's merit consisted in having establishedwith ruthless brutality the speculative and economic character of stockexchange and loan capital, and in having exposed its eternal and age-oldpresupposition which is interest. His arguments were so sound in all fundamentalquestions that their critics from the start questioned the theoretical correctnessof the idea less than they doubted the practical possibility of its execution.But what in the eyes of others was a weakness of Feder's arguments, in myeyes constituted their strength.
It is not the task of a theoretician to determine the varyingdegrees in which a cause can be realized, but to establish the cause assuch: that is to say: he must concern himself less with the road than withthe goal. In this, however, the basic correctness of an idea is decisiveand not the difficulty of its execution. As soon as the theoretician attemptsto take account of so-called 'utility' and 'reality' instead of the absolutetruth, his work will cease to be a polar star of seeking humanity and insteadwill become a prescription for everyday life. The theoretician of a movementmust lay down its goal, the politician strive for its fulfillment. The thinkingof the one, therefore, will be determined by eternal truth, the actionsof the other more by the practical reality of the moment. The greatnessof the one lies in the absolute abstract soundness of his idea, that ofthe other in his correct attitude toward the given facts and their advantageousapplication; and in this the theoretician's aim must serve as his guidingstar. While the touchstone for the stature of a politician may be regardedas the success of his plans and acts-in other words, the degree to whichthey become reality-the realization of the theoretician's ultimate purposecan never be realized, since, though human thought can apprehend truthsand set up crystal-clear aims, complete fulfillment will fail due to thegeneral imperfection and inadequacy of man. The more abstractly correctand hence powerful the idea will be, the more impossible remains its completefulfillment as long as it continues to depend on human beings. Therefore,the stature of the theoretician must not be measured by the fulfillmentof his aims, but by their soundness and the influence they have had on thedevelopment of humanity. If this were not so, the founders of religion couldnot be counted among the greatest men of this earth, since the fulfillmentof their ethical purposes will never be even approximately complete. Inits workings, even the religion of love is only the weak reflection of thewill of its exalted founder; its significance, however, lies in the directionwhich it attempted to give to a universal human development of culture,ethics, and morality.
The enormous difference between the tasks of the theoreticianand the politician is also the reason why a union of both in one personis almost never found. This is especially true of the so-called 'successful'politician of small format, whose activity for the most part is only an'art of the possible,' as Bismarck rather modestly characterized politicsin general. The freer such a 'politician' keeps himself from great ideas,the easier and often the more visible, but always the more rapid, his successeswill be. To be sure, they are dedicated to earthly transitoriness and sometimesdo not survive the death of their fathers. The work of such politicians,by and large, is unimportant nor posterity, since their successes in thepresent are based solely on keeping at a distance all really great and profoundproblems and ideas, which as such would only have been of value for latergenerations.
The execution of such aims, which have value and significancefor the most distant times, usually brings little reward to the man whochampions them and rarely finds understanding among the great masses, whofor the moment have more understanding for beer and milk regulations thanfor farsighted plans for the future, whose realization can only occur farhence, and whose benefits will be reaped only by posterity.
Thus, from a certain vanity, which is always a cousin of stupidity,the great mass of politicians will keep far removed from all really weightyplans for the future, in order not to lose the momentary sympathy of thegreat mob. The success and significance of such a politician lie then exclusivelyin the present, and do not exist for posterity. But small minds are littletroubled by this; they are content.
With the theoretician conditions are different. His importancelies almost always solely in the future, for not seldom he is what is describedby the world as 'unworldly.' For if the art of the politician is reallythe art of the possible, the theoretician is one of those of whom it canbe said that they are pleasing to the gods only if they demand and wantthe impossible. He will almost always have to renounce the recognition ofthe present, but in return, provided his ideas are immortal, will harvestthe fame of posterity.
In long periods of humanity, it may happen once that the politicianis wedded to the theoretician. The more profound this fusion, however, thegreater are the obstacles opposing the work of the politician. He no longerworks for necessities which will be understood by the first best shopkeeper,but for aims which only the fewest comprehend. Therefore, his life is tornby love and hate. The protest of the present which does not understand theman, struggles with the recognition of posterity-for which he works.
For the greater a man's works for the future, the less the present can comprehendthem; the harder his fight, and the rarer success. If, however, once incenturies success does come to a man, perhaps in his latter days a faintbeam of his coming glory may shine upon him. To be sure, these great menare only the Marathon runners of history; the laurel wreath of the presenttouches only the brow of the dying hero.
Among them must be counted the great warriors in this worldwho, though not understood by the present, are nevertheless prepared tocarry the fight for their ideas and ideals to their end. They are the menwho some day will be closest to the heart of the people; it almost seemsas though every individual feels the duty of compensating in the past forthe sins which the present once committed against the great. Their lifeand work are followed with admiring gratitude and emotion, and especiallyin days of gloom they have the power to raise up broken hearts and despairingsouls.
To them belong, not only the truly great statesmen, but allother great reformers as well. Beside Frederick the Great stands MartinLuther as well as Richard Wagner.
As I listened to Gottfried Feder's first lecture about the 'breakingof interest slavery,' I knew at once that this was a theoretical truth whichwould inevitably be of immense importance for the future of the German people.The sharp separation of stock exchange capital from the national economyoffered the possibility of opposing the internationalization of the Germaneconomy without at the same time menacing the foundations of an independentnational self-maintenance by a struggle against all capital. The developmentof Germany was much too clear in my eyes for me not to know that the hardestbattle would have to be fought, not against hostile nations, but againstinternational capital. In Feder's lecture I sensed a powerful slogan forthis coming struggle.
And here again later developments proved how correct our sentimentof those days was. Today the know-it-alls among our
bourgeois politicians no longer laugh at us: today even they, in so faras they are not conscious liars, see that international stock exchange capitalwas not only the greatest agitator for the War, but that especially, nowthat the fight is over, it spares no effort to turn the peace into a hell.
The fight against international finance and loan capital becamethe most important point in the program of the German nation's strugglefor its economic independence and freedom.
As regards the objections of so-called practical men, they canbe answered as follows: All fears regarding the terrible economic consequencesof the ' breaking of interest slavery ' are superfluous; for, in the firstplace, the previous economic prescriptions have turned out very badly forthe German people, and your positions on the problems of national self-maintenanceremind us strongly of the reports of similar experts in former times, forexample, those of the Bavarian medical board on the question of introducingthe railroad. It is well known that none of the fears of this exalted corporationwere later realized: the travelers in the trains of the new 'steam horse' did not get dizzy, the onlookers did not get sick, and the board fencesto hide the new invention from sight were given up-only the board fencesaround the brains of all so-called 'experts' were preserved for posterity.
In the second place, the following should be noted: every idea,even the best, becomes a danger if it parades as a purpose in itself, beingin reality only a means to one. For me and all true National Socialiststhere is but one doctrine: people and fatherland.
What we must fight for is to safeguard the existence and reproductionof our race and our people, the sustenance of our children and the purityof our blood, the freedom and independence of the fatherland, so that ourpeople may mature for the fulfillment of the mission allotted it by thecreator of the universe.
Every thought and every idea, every doctrine and all knowledge,must serve this purpose. And everything must be examined from this pointof view and used or rejected according to its utility. Then no theory willstiffen into a dead doctrine, since it is life alone that all things mustserve.
Thus, it was the conclusions of Gottfried Feder that causedme to delve into the fundamentals of this field with which I had previouslynot been very familiar.
I began to study again, and now for the first time really achievedan understanding of the content of the Jew Karl Marx's life effort. Onlynow did his Capital become really intelligible to me, and also the struggleof the Social Democracy against the national economy, which aims only toprepare the ground for the domination of truly international finance andstock exchange capital.
But also in another respect these courses were of the greatestconsequence to me.
One day I asked for the floor. One of the participants feltobliged to break a lance for the Jews and began to defend them in lengthyarguments. This aroused me to an answer. The overwhelming majority of thestudents present took my standpoint The result was that a few days laterI was sent into a Munich regiment as a so-called 'educational officer.'
Discipline among the men was still comparatively weak at thattime. It suffered from the after-effects of the period of soldiers' councils.Only very slowly and cautiously was it possible to replace voluntary obedience-thepretty name that was given to the pig-sty under Kurt Eisner-by the old militarydiscipline and subordination. Accordingly, the men were now expected tolearn to feel and think in a national and patriotic way. In these two directionslay the field of my new activity.
I started out with the greatest enthusiasm and love. For allat once I was offered an opportunity of speaking before a larger audience;and the thing that I had always presumed from pure feeling without knowingit was now corroborated: I could 'speak.' My voice, too, had grown so muchbetter that I could be sufficiently understood at least in every cornerof the small squad rooms.
No task could make me happier than this, for now before beingdischarged I was able to perform useful services to the institution whichhad been so close to my heart: the army.
And I could boast of some success: in the course of my lecturesI led many hundreds, indeed thousands, of comrades back to their peopleand fatherland. I 'nationalized' the troops and was thus also able to helpstrengthen the general discipline.
Here again I became acquainted with a number of like-mindedcomrades, who later began to form the nucleus of the new movement.