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Salient. An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington N.Z. Vol. 3, No. 7

Editorial — The Economic Basis of German Fascism

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Editorial

The Economic Basis of German Fascism.

It is pertinent at the present time to ask such questions as What is the economic basis of national socialism? Is "national socialism", socialism? These questions are vital yet may be submerged or obliterated in an emotional crossfire of blind patriotism. Just as one should ask what is British democracy Is it as one American writer has described "Democracy to me is liberty plus economic security. To put it in plain language, we Americans want to talk, pray, think as we please—and eat regular I say this because there is a lot of nonsense in talk about liberty. You cannot fill the baby's bottle with liberty." Does British democracy in New Zealand, Great Britain, India, etc. measure up to these requirements. The academicians talk glibly of our priceless heritage. . does it fill the baby's bottle?' That is the real test.

So the leaders of the National Socialist party which now rules Germany put forward the following programme in February 1920.—"Abolition of unearned income, smashing of subjection to interest, the complete sequestration of all war, profits, nationalisation of all joint stock companies, participation in the profits of the big concerns, establishment of a sound middle class, immediate municipalisation of the big department stores, which shall be let to small tradesmen, the utmost regard for the latter in the allocation of Government orders, the death penalty for usurers and profiteers." Have the "National Socialists" carried out their promises? Has unearned income been abolished? etc.

Herr Schacht in an address to the Economic Council of the German Academy on November 29th, 1938, said.—"The less there is consumed, the more labour there is for armaments work. On the other hand, the higher consumption rises, the more labour must be allotted to the production of consumers goods. Thus the standard of living and degree of armament stand in adverse relation to each other. The less I need, the more I save, and the more I save, the more I can embody in armaments." Is this socialism? More armaments, eat less, dress more poorly, and work ten hours a day for a lower wage, with higher taxes. Labour conditions in Germany have [unclear: dateriorated] even below the crisis level of 1932. A comparison between the incomes of workers and salaried employees and incomes of employers and others reveals that the relative position of the working class to employers and others has fallen by 50 per cent (Workers Income 1932 Index 100. 1937 Index 124; Employers etc. Income 1932 Index 100, 1937 Index 248). Now is the Nazi party a Socialist organisation?

With a platform of pseudo socialism the Nazi party deluded many. Who were its backers behind the facade?

In 1931, the Coal-owners' Association, with Kerdorf, coal and steel magnate, as chairman, adopted a resolution in accordance with which each member pledged himself to pa[unclear: j] for every ton of coal sold, 50 pfennigs (about 10/6 at par) to Hitler's association. In 1925 Hugo Stinnes' sons (steel magnates) donated the money to convert the Nazi weekly paper, the Volk- [unclear: ische] Beobachter, into a daily. And in 1932, Thysson organised a famous meeting in the Dusseldorf Industrialists Club at which Hitler spoke to the assembled lords of coal and [unclear: steel]. His references to "usury,""profiteering," etc. received the enthusiastic applause of the millionaires. In the banking world Schacht and Finck, the former a director of one of Germany's page break greatest banks, the "Dresdner," the latter financial editor of a heavy industry newspaper, supported the rising Nazi party, gave the Nazis early support. Add the Junkers, Prince August Wilhelm, son of the ex-Kaiser, the Duke of Saxe- Coburg-Gotha, Prince Phillip of Hess., Prince von Waldeck, Prince zur Lippe, and the title "National Socialist" becomes peculiar and contradictory.

Hitler was brought to power by a conspiracy of great banks and Prussian landlord nobility, in co-oporation with the masters of heavy industry—heavy industry which desired to throw off its burden on indebtedness; heavy industry which sought to use to the full its great rationalised productive machinery, threatened by economic crisis, heavy industry which hoped, with Hitler's aid, to gain by armed aggression, or the threat of aggression, new markets and monopolist, control over now sources of raw materials.

"Germany is marching with Mein Kampf in one hand and in the other the sword, for her advance as the new World Power." Goebbels, Oct. 30 1938.

Between 1932 and 1937 the interests of the Steel trust grew from one quarter milliard marks to three quarters. It has a capital of 775 million marks. Between 1932 and 1937, net profits in the hard coal mining industry, in proportion to share capital, rose three and a half times; in iron and... steel production, it was multiplied 7½ times; and in metal plants and semi finished products, it rose nine times. And this does not allow for concealment by "reserve funds and depreciation."

Krupps declared that nett profits, during the years 1910-18, amounted to between 55 and 60 per cent of gross receipts. In 1937 the Deutsche Volkswirt proclaims "A record in reception for Krupps." And it must be remembered that all dividends are taken by the Krupp family only. The net profit on a ton of coal in the Ruhr has risen from 15 pfennigs in 1933 to 34 pfennigs in 1936. Hitler came into power in 1933. Socialism?

And so on. One could go on quoting fact after fact showing the development of capitalist monopolies in Germany. Exit the Jews (the wealthy Haniel concern absorbs Jewish-owned Rhenia Inland Navigation Co. Exit Austria. Exit Czechoslovakia and also the German industrialists' competitors;

This is the scene behind the screen of Hitler. What can the democracies offer the German people? Political and economic freedom for the working man?

M.L.B.