myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (05/09/85)
Let's examine the statements of some authorities. First, some quotes from
the non-Marxist Karl Dietrich Bracher, from his book *The German Dictatorship*.
The blurb on the back of the book has the following quote from the *New York
Review of Books*: "The crowning achievement of a scholar whose contribution
to the subject has been greater than that of anyone else."
"At no time did National Socialism develop a consistent economic or social
theory. The catchwords of the party program were a disjointed conglomeration
of middle-class and semisocialist slogans; Hitler himself referred only to
the *Volksgemeinschaft* (people's community) and the end of the class struggle,
to war on both Marxism and liberalism; Gottfried Feder, his early mentor, and
Feder's ``war on finance capital'' receded into the background after 1933,
together with the ``socialist'' Strasser wing; and Alfred Rosenberg, the
party's chief ideologue, thought it below the dignity of a philosopher to
occupy himself with economic and social theories. By the summer of 1933, it
had become obvious that not only were the anticapitalist appeals being
sacrificed, but also the promises of a corporate order alleged to protect the
middle class against socialism as well as against heavy industry and big
business.
...
But these were theoretical problems. The practical problem lay in the
contradiction between economic and social theses of revolution and the
revisionist and later expansionist revolutionizing of a foreign policy
dependent on the mobilization of a political apparatus. As a consequence,
the economic and social structures were subject to profound political and
administrative encroachment, but they were neither destroyed nor basically
reorganized. They were a mixture of private and state capitalism, which
under conditions of rearmament and a war economy were increasingly directed
from above and outside, but which never became anticapitalistic or
antimonopolistic, let alone socialist.
...
The basic principle of National Socialist economic policy was to use the
traditional capitalist structure with its competent economic bureaucracy to
coordinate and move toward its prime objective: acceleration of rearmament
and safeguarding of the food supply. (This policy was modified, however,
with the founding in 1937 of far-flung Government enterprises designed to
expand and direct the arms potential like the Hermann Goering Works and
the Volkswagen Works.) But even during the war, despite a trend toward
vast monopolistic organizations, the private capitalist enterprises
continued to exist, except that more determined official efforts were made
to impose controls. The same spirit that bred profitable mutual interest
alliances with big business and the incidental enrichment of numerous Nazi
chieftains also brought the dissolution of medium-sized and small enterprises.
Their existence was made dependent on their contribution to the war effort;
moreover, they were not able to keep up with the mammoth orders and the
rationalization of modern giant plants and trusts. They were also at a
disadvantage in the network of connections and influence-peddling; contacts
with rival economic bigwigs were a vital part of the game. The Nazi
leadership had respect for the top managers who faithfully paid their Adolf
Hitler Fund contributions and gained entree into the circle of industrialists
around Himmler. Capital concentration continued to increase. The
confiscation of Jewish and captured economic holdings, which for reasons
of the war economy went mostly to large firms like Krupp, Mannesmann, IG
Farben, and Siemens, contributed considerably to this growing concentration."
That was from pages 330-333. Now let's move on to *The Collapse of the
Weimar Republic* by David Abraham. How would he deal with the argument
that German capitalists didn't want Hitler in power, but were forced to
deal with him once he had been installed? Pages 321-327.
"Some of industry's worries concerned the potential radicalism of some of
the Nazi Party's leaders and their mass following whereas other concerns
were prompted by the party's commitment to state intervention and activism
in matters of foreign trade, price setting, taxes, and industrial
administration. Nevertheless, in March 1932, Fritz Springorum, the
treasurer of heavy industry's political fund, notified Krupp, Silverberg,
Reusch, and Voegler that ``a rightist government is possible only with
the cooperation of the NSDAP. To obtain a social and state-responsible
NSDAP, as well as to exclude its radicals, we should extend our active
cooperation. One of the best ways to involve the NSDAP in practical
state responsibility is to offer it generous financial support.
General industrial support for the Nazis grew throughout the summer
and reached a crescendo in late autumn. The Langnamverein convention
of November 1932, for example, although initially planned to demonstrate
support for Papen and his program, instead produced overwhelming support
for the appointment of Hitler.
...
The extent of state control over the economy helped deprive German
capitalists of their ability to resist Nazi proposals. Many capitalists
became so dependent on state contracts that they could not afford to
withhold investments in order to express any opposition they might have
felt. Rigid control of foreign exchange rendered capital flight very
unlikely even if contemplated. Certainly, the dominant social classes
and their leaders knew how to make the best of this situation, but, for
these very reasons, it would appear that the New Deal represented the
historical interests of the dominant classes better than did National
Socialism. Having, however, chosen ``the road to serfdom'' [the golden
road to unlimited devotion], German capitalists proceeded to pave it --
with gold and blood.
--
Jeff Myers The views above may or may not
University of Wisconsin-Madison reflect the views of any other
Madison Academic Computing Center person or group at UW-Madison.
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