Originally published in Nationalism Today, July 1984 
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A Revolution Betrayed
Part 2, by Derek Holland
June 30th was the fiftieth anniversary of the 'night of the long knives' in Hitler's Germany which left Gregor Strasser, amongst others, murdered. Derek Holland has written two articles to commemmorate this sombre anniversary, the first of which was published in the last issue. In this second article he discusses how Hitler's regime failed to implement the 'inalterable' 25 Points of National Socialism.
PART ONE of this article drew attention to the disreputable people who financed Hitler's seizure of power, an event that was sadly to confirm Otto Strasser's prediction that Hitlerism would lead to world war and the division of Germany. This concluding article deals briefly with what these financiers obtained in return for their money.
It is said that the proof of the pudding is in the eating and this is no less true of politicians, for it is not what a man says that counts, but whether or not he acts upon what he says. In 1920 the NSDAP's 25 Points were proclaimed to be National Socialism, a programme declared 'inalterable' by Hitler. The declaration of inalterability ought to have caused concern, for all political statements are, to one degree or another, creatures of their time, and, since times change, flexibility, not inalterability, must be paramount. This fact of political life crystallized in 1925 when the Hanover 'Leaders Meeting' called for the NSDAP to discard the outdated and extremely vague 25 Points and look in the future to the Strasser written N.S. Newsletters for its ideological direction. The significance of this demand lies in the fact that almost everyone who was to be anyone in the Third Reich was present. The conference favoured a programme that eventually took the form of Strasser's The Structure of German Socialism, but Hitler insisted the 25 Points be retained; it is fair, therefore, to assess his career by reference to the programme.
The strength of the programme lay in its blending of two traditions: the national and the social, a potency gauged by the millions of votes it attracted for the NSDAP. But it must be remembered that non-implementation of one of these traditions is an effective repudiation of the spirit of the programme. Working folk are the vast majority of any population, so if a policy denies them Social Justice, it is tantamount to national betrayal. Let's concentrate, therefore, upon points 11, 13, 14, 16 and 17 which outlined policies for Social Justice.
UNEARNED INCOME
Point 11 demanded the abolition of unearned income. An extremely important principle of any Nationalist platform is financial reform, for the current system is merely legalized usury that steals from the people every minute of the day; it thus follows that the manipulators of a debased currency system derive the most extensive unearned income possible in the Nation-State, for finance is to the economy what blood is to the human body. What did the Hitlerites do about the system inherited from Weimar?
Quite correctly, they rejected the Gold Standard perceiving that the prosperity of a nation is measured in terms of the real wealth, goods and services, produced by the people and not by the volume of gold bullion in bank vaults ― but financial reform went no further. The essence of capitalist usury is that money is spent into the economy bearing interest, thereby creating a debt system that necessarily transfers the nation's wealth into the hands of the bankers. The principle of this system is that money is a commodity to be bought and sold like cars or cookers, an ethic contradicting the radical Nationalist principle that money is a medium of exchange, a measure of value between one thing and another. This system of exploitation and robbery, producing millions upon millions of pounds of unearned income for the bankers, remained largely unchanged in the hands of Hitler's 'financial genius', Hjalmar Schact, the Wall Street connected freemason. Point 11, therefore, remained a dead letter.
Otto Strasser
Points 13 & 14 called for the nationalization/socialization of all jointly owned concerns ― that is, the destruction of the capitalist system and its replacement by an economy dominated by family businesses and workers' co-operatives. There was no effort to implement this proposal for the good reason that the bankers did not finance Hitler's rise to power only to be dispossessed afterwards ― those who claim "Hitler only used them to gain power" are woefully ignorant of the reality of power politics.
CLASS STRUCTURE
It was Hitler's peculiar views about the class structure of nations that made him a strong supporter of capitalist tyranny. From the Hitler-Strasser dialogues that led Otto Strasser to found the revolutionary Black Front, we learn that Hitler believed there were no revolutions other than racial ones ― that is political, economic, cultural and spiritual revolutions were non-existent ― and from this he concluded that people were part of the working class because they were racially inferior, whilst the rich constituted a superior race! Such stupidity takes some beating, but it readily explains why capitalists like Ford and Krupps supported Hitlerism, for this ludicrous theory justified the capitalist exploitation of the German people. Strasser asked: "What would you do, if you came to power in Germany tomorrow? Would everything remain unchanged in respect of shareholders and workers, ownership, profits and management?" Hitler replied: "Why, of course, do you think that I am mad enough to destroy the economic system". Strasser reminded Hitler that Pt. 13 was anti-capitalist and 'unalterable', yet here he was denying that very clause. The reply is an insight into a staggeringly dishonest mind: "The programme doesn't mean such concerns must be socialized, only that they could be socialized if they acted in a way contrary to the interests of the nation". Revolutionary Nationalists ask: since when has Capitalism been anything but an unmitigated disaster? Such pragmatism makes a mockery of Principles and Ideology.
CHAIN STORES
Central to Point 16 was the destruction of the chain stores and supermarkets and their replacement by small business. This demand stemmed from the belief that the bulk purchasing power and tendencies towards monopolization of these stores was hostile to "the little man" and to Germany. On the strength of this point the North German NSDAP led by the Strassers recruited large numbers of small businessmen equally worried by monopoly capitalism as by communism. Indeed Strasserite Stormtroopers began picketing such stores arguing they were hives of anti-German reaction ― they ended by physically smashing them up. Naturally, a call to Hitler from the ethnic German owners of these stores, who were donating to the South German NSDAP, was enough to cease this crude, but effective action.
Point 17 sought the destruction of the big landowners and the resettlement of an expanded peasantry. This was the most important point of the programme, for a vibrant agriculture is the very basis of a healthy society, a fact amply confirmed by European history. The fact that land monopolization was increasing and the fact that over 20% of Germany was owned by fewer than 19,000 people combined to make this point crucial in winning the support of the peasantry. The peasantry were to be disappointed.
It is true that Walter Darre, Agriculture Minister, passed the Hereditary Peasant Holdings Act which confirmed the peasantry's status, but it did nothing to redistribute the land of the East Elbian estates. Surely, though, the Hitlerites can be praised for this concession? Not quite, for the draft and implementation of the Act was the word of Darre's deputy, Ferdinand Fried, a secret leader of Otto Strasser's Black Front! There was some land redistribution during war, but the motivation for this was not ideological, but practical ― the war demanded greater food resources to maintain the Armed Forces, and in its turn the Hitler regime.
The betrayal of the 25 Points was assured from the days of the Harzburg Front, an alliance of capitalists, big landowners and Hitlerites, an alliance that sold German interests for Reichmarks. But the betrayal was not limited to the social tradition, it also extended to the national ― from the numerous Jewish 'honourary Aryans' (Point 4: "No Jew may be a member of the nation.") to Point 9: "All citizens of the state shall possess equal rights and duties." ― meaning ordinary Germans paid taxes whilst the Ope! Motors capitalists received tax exemption! - Hitlerism signified treachery.
BETRAYAL
The betrayal was even paraded before the German people. Prior to achieving power Hitler vehemently attacked alien cultural influences, yet pre-war Germany was wallpapered with posters depicting a Luftwaffe officer sipping Coca Cola with the caption: "Drink Coca Cola, it's good for you!" ― as clear a sign as any that Hitlerism was not "the real thing"!
The truth about Nazi Germany has long been hidden from patriots, a process positively encouraged by capitalist publishing houses which have been churning out, "I was Hitler's chiropodist" histories for 40 years, histories low oh facts but high in profits. Nazism in practise was not Nationalism, but Capitalism with jackboots; it is an historical episode which imparts two lessons.
First, the only guarantee Nationalists have against betrayal is the clear enunciation of National Revolutionary principles, self-styled 'Fuhrer's' being for the feeble-minded.
Secondly, power is not the objective, but a means of implementing National Revolution. This Revolution can only remain pure by rejecting all compromise with the Establishment. Alliances with Reaction are lethal to Revolutionary Nationalism, for between Truth and Falsehood, Nationalism and Inter-Nationalism there is no common ground.
Reaction is for reactionaries, Revolution for revolutionaries. Hitler cultism is a sign of chronic Reaction ― it has no place in the National Front now or ever!