Germany Faces a New Year

The following article by a correspondent of the famed Manchester Guardian is of particular interest at this time in view of recent developments in Germany and the many rumors of a weakening in Nazi power.

In spite of appearances, the Nazi dictatorship is stronger than ever. It is true that there is widespread discontent in Germany—there is less enthusiasm, more grumbling, and far more indifference than there was at any time since Hitler became Chancellor. Dissatisfaction has even invaded the ranks of the Nazis themselves, although it is they alone who have, at the expense of all others, benefited by their counter-revolution. The general standard of living has dropped, wages and salaries have fallen, taxes have risen. Favoritism and corruption are far worse than under the Republic. There is a shortage of raw materials, and the winter promises to be the worst since the winter of 1923-4, the last “inflation winter.” Freedom has gone, the arts, letters, and learning have declined, and the Terror is as inhuman as ever.

DICTATORSHIP IS NOT WEAKENED

But the dictatorship is none the weaker. Nowhere is there a serious political opposition (the Protestant opposition is, of course, serious, but it has nothing to do with polities; the Catholic opposition is dormant, for it is not being roused and probably will not be roused until after the plebiscite in the Saar; then it will, no doubt, be serious). The S.A., or Brownshirts, who until the executions of June 30 were the foundation of the Third Realm, count for little now.

Thousands of Brownshirts have been converted into revolutionaries and are determined to avenge Roehm and their other murdered leaders. Some are trying to form terrorist groups —if there are any political assassinations in Germany they are most likely to be carried out by these groups,—but so far there is no sign of an organized Brownshirt revolutionary movement. As for the underground opposition of the Socialists and Communists, it is extraordinarily heroic, but it amounts to so little that it is not even a problem for the dictatorship.

EMIGRE PRESS IN WORLD OF ILLUSION

The entire “emigre” press— the Neue Vorwaerts, the Gegen-Angriff, and so on—is produced by people who either live in a world of illusion or are trying to create illusions amongst their readers when they talk, as they do in almost every issue, of the “weakening” of the dictatorship, of its “impending collapse,” of the “rising revolutionary wave,” and so on.

The dictatorship has power, and power, when skilfully and ruthlessly used, can grow indefinitely. The dictatorship has not even achieved the summit of its power—it is still gaining control over every nerve-centre of German life. There is, as yet no sign that this process of consolidation is coming to an end; nor is there any sign that the political opposition has finished disintegrating, even if there are certain embryonic movements that will, perhaps, be able to challenge the dictatorship in the remote future.

It is not true, as is being continually asserted, that Hitler is “in the hands of the Reichswehr.” The executions of June 30 were certainly a victory for the Reichswehr and a defeat for the S.A., but while that defeat was final the victory was not. The Third Realm destroyed its own foundation and simply shifted to another; but that other foundation was not the Reichswehr.

The Brownshirts were the embodiment of the National Socialist idea—that idea was massacred with Roehm and the other Brownshirt leaders—but the National Socialist party still exists and rules Germany more powerfully than ever. It has shed the Brownshirts, except for display, military training, and patriotic indoctrination, but it controls the bureaucracy, it controls the Secret State Police, and, in place of the Brownshirts, it has converted the S.S., or Blackshirts, into such an instrument of power and domination that they are rivals to the Reichswehr no less than the Brownshirts were.

THE GROWING POWER OF THE BLACKSHIRTS

Germany can hardly be said to possess a government in the normal sense. In any case, she is not governed by her cabinet, which seldom meets nowadays. Hitler himself is almost unapproachable, and is surrounded by nonentities. Goering and Goebbels have little influence and less power. Himmler, the commander of the S.S. and chief of the Secret State Police, is far more powerful than Goering and Goebbels put together. Hess, the leader of the National Socialist party, is also powerful. So is Dr. Schacht—to call him “economic dictator” is not far wrong.

The full strength of the Blackshirts is a secret. They probably number well over 300,000. They are picked men; they are free from the enthusiasm and idealism that characterised many of the more youthful Brownshirts. They are wellarmed and well-trained. They have the military value of the Reichswehr, but their principal purpose is not to make war In civil war they would probably be a match even for the Reichswehr (not that civil war is to be thought of in Germany.) In any case, all talk about a “Reichswehr putsch” or of the “Reichswehr arresting Hitler” has ceased. It is probable that by next spring the Blackshirts will be at least half a million strong.

NAZI PARTY BASE OF THIRD REALM

The Reichswehr are, of course, a power, too. But they are not directly concerned with home affairs—their one interest at home is to secure money and supplies for rearmament (considerable sums which would formerly have gone to the Reichswehr now go to the Blackshirts). In foreign affairs the Reichswehr naturally have a considerable, though perhaps not decisive influence. They impinge on German affairs, but do not direct them. The Third Realm is not a military dictatorship.

The Third Realm is thus founded on the National Socialist party (including the bureaucracy), the Secret State Police known as the “Gestapo,” the Blackshirts, and Dr. Schacht. If the Third Realm did not need the Reichswehr for the big decisions that are being prepared in foreign politics, it could do without it altogether.

In any case, the Nazi dictatorship has shown far greater skill and resolution in dealing with the military commanders than either the former Kaiser and the governments of Imperial Germany or the successive governments of the Weimar Republic showed.

FROM VICTORY TO EMPTY VICTORY

Hitler and his party have gone from victory to victory—and yet nothing is better than it was before, everything is worse. There is no reason why they should not win more victories—nor is there any reason to believe that things will not continue to get worse. It is known that Hitler himself is unhappy. Although he can look forward to further victories, he has become a pessimist. That is the paradox of the Third Realm—the greater the victories are, the emptier they are. The Nazi dictatorship has achieved everything—and nothing.