Omnipotent GovernmentLiberty is not, as the German precursors of Nazism asserted, a negative ideal. Whether a concept is presented in an affirmative or in a negative form is merely a question of idiom. Freedom from want is tantamount to the expression striving after a state of affairs under which people are better supplied with necessities. Freedom of speech is tantamount to a state of affairs under which everybody can say what he wants to say. At the bottom of all totalitarian doctrines lies the belief that the rulers are wiser and loftier than their subjects and that they therefore know better what benefits those ruled than they themselves. Werner Sombart, for many years a fanatical champion of Marxism and later a no less fanatical advocate of Nazism, was bold enough to assert frankly that the Führer gets his orders from God, the supreme Führer of the universe, and that Führertum is a permanent revelation.* Whoever admits this, must, of course, stop questioning the expediency of government omnipotence. Those disagreeing with this theocratical justification of dictatorship claim for themselves the right to discuss freely the problems involved. They do not write state with a capital S. They do not shrink from analyzing the metaphysical notions of Hegelianism and Marxism. They reduce all this high-sounding oratory to the simple question: are the means suggested suitable to attain the ends sought? In answering this question, they hope to render a service to the great majority of their fellow men. |
Contents
THE TRIUMPH OF MILITARISM | |
ETATISM | |
German Protectionism | |
ETATISM AND NATIONALISM | |
Socialism and | |
6 | |
Nazism and German Labor | |
The Foreign Critics of Nazism | |
NAZISM ASA WORLD PROBLEM 1 The Scope and Limitations of History | |
The Fallacy of the Concept of National Character | |
Germanys Rubicon | |
The Alternative | |
THE FUTURE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION | |
THE DELUSIONS OF WORLD PLANNING 1 The Term Planning | |
THE PECULIAR CHARACTERISTICS OF GERMAN NATIONALISM | |
THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATS IN IMPERIAL GERMANY | |
Marxism and the Labor Movement | |
The German Workers and the German State | |
The Social Democrats Within the German Caste System | |
The Social Democrats and | |
ANTISEMITISM AND RACISM 1 The Role of Racism | |
The Struggle against the Jewish Mind | |
Interventionism and Legal Discrimination against Jews | |
The Stab in the Back | |
AntiSemitism as a Factor in International Politics | |
THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC AND ITS COLLAPSE 1 The Weimar Constitution | |
The Abortive Socialization | |
The Armed Parties | |
The Treaty of Versailles | |
The Economic Depression | |
The Dictatorship Complex | |
A World Government | |
Planned Production | |
Foreign Trade Agreements | |
Monetary Planning | |
Planning International Capital Transactions | |
PEACE SCHEMES 1 Armament Control | |
A Critique of Some Other Schemes Proposed | |
The Union of the Western Democracies | |
Peace in Eastern Europe | |
The Problems of Asia | |
The Role of the League of Nations | |
CONCLUSION | |
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achievement Adolf Wagner advocated aggression American antiSemitism army Austria autarky Britain British capitalism capitalists citizens civilization colonial communists conflict conquest considered consumers coöperation countries Czechs democracy discrimination doctrines domestic eager economic nationalism endeavors entrepreneurs establishment etatism etatist Europe European export fact favor fight forces foreign France free trade freedom French German nation German nationalists Germanspeaking Germany’s government interference Hitler ideas important industrial interests interventionism investments Italian Jewish Jews King language liberalism linguistic linguistic groups Marxian Marxism masses means methods military nationalists Nazis Nazism outcome PanGermanism Parliament party peace plans political polylogism presentday princes principle of nationality problem production proletarians protectionism Prussian race raw materials realize Reich Reichstag result rule Russia selfdetermination Social Democrats socialist standard of living territory tradeunions treaty Treaty of Versailles union victorious wage rates wars Weimar Republic wellbeing West Prussia Western workers