Electoral support for nazism and communism up to july 1932 + apeal for nazism

electoral support for nazism and communism july 1932

• Nazi and KPD gained electoral support during depression years, nazis more successful

• before 1929, nazi core support came from lower middle class (mittelstand), support among this group, white collar workers, small shop keepers, independent craftsmen increased after wall street crash, main gains were among broader mc and farmers.

• nazi were very adept at exploitation widespread discontent among farmers by promising higher prices and protection against imports.

• sucess w farmers is shown by results in some rural constituencies in 1930, where he secured 68% of vote district in north-west G, Nazi also attracted more sup from mc who were worried. abt threat of communist rev, were disillusioned w estab mc parties like DVP and DNVP.

• nazi did well among yg voters n women, in geographical terms, nazi strongest in protestant north, east and centre of G less successful in catholic south and west

• 1928 election- KPD=10.6% NSDAP=2.6%

• July 1932 election- KPD= 14.3% NSDAP=37.3%

electoral support for nazism and communism up to july 1932 (2)

• Hindenburg been elected in 1925 seven year term ended 1932, 84 years old. reluctant to stand again but persuaded, in 1925 main opp on left= Thalmann KPD, Hitler reluctant stand vs such a conservative icon, did anyway.

• Another right-wing candidate= Duesterberg, in first ballot hindenburg fell off short of 50% needed for outright victory.

• Trigger second ballot, Duesterberg no longer candidate, Hitler rent aeroplane and flew all over G presenting self as national saviour, altho Hindenburg won in end w 53% Hitler received nearly 37% of vote in second, in some rural areas he won more than hindenburg, soon after presidential election there were state elections in many areas, confirmed nazi status as most popular party.

• wc made uo nearly half of electorate and votes were cruicial in electoral battle between nazi and communists

• since 1919 most wc voters in large industrial centres, esp trade union members had supported spd or communist, continue thru elections of early 1930s.

• communist made gains at expense of spd but support confined to large cities, communists stronger in poorest areas of cities like Berlin, esp among unemployed.

• does not mean nazi fail to attract any wc voters, in 1930 election abt 27% of nazi voters were manual labourers.

• over course of 3 elections between sep 1930 + july 1932, nazi more than doubled electoral support, communist also made gains but unable to appeal to voters beyond traditional core supporters,

• Nazi party became main party of protest by winning support among all classes and generations and across different regions of the country.

Appeal of Nazism

• as economic crisis in G deepened, society became more polarised and political system failed to provide gov equal to situation.

• nazi projected image of decisiveness and energy, offered prospect of change, appeal based on number of factors

Nazi ideology

• Hitler and nazis put forward wide-ranging but loose collection of ideas that when put tg can be described as ideology

• Nazi policy was first put forward in 25 point programme 1920, still officially statment of aims in 1933 even tho he didnt agree w many points

• While he was in prison after failed Beer hall Putsch 1923, started writing Mein Kampf, most complete statment of aims and ideas,

• ideas not original nor consistent, as he modified policy statements according to audience he was addressing, book not widely read before 1933.

The power of the will

• Hitler and nazi movement presented them as being force for change in G

• “if one has realised a truth, that truth is valueless so long as there is lacking the indomitable will to turn this into realisation into action” Hitler 1922

• Nazi propaganda claimed power, strength and determination to succeed were qualities personified by hitler

• nazi movement w parades of SA presented image of discipline and unity that would sweep all opponents aside

Struggle and war

• struggle, violence and war were heart of nazi thinking and actions

• hitler defined outlook in terms of struggle and claimed scientific justification for view that struggle and conflict between races were part of natural order of things

• war, he believed, would reconstruct g society and create new german reich thru conquest and subjugation of other races

• nazi propaganda glorified the military virtues of courage, loyalty and self-sacrifice, SA projected as organisation that gave G males chance to demonstrate manliness.

Racial community

• concept of ppls community “volksgemeinschaft” key element in nazi ideology, never defined clearly, Hitler advocated state based on racial community, only Aryans could be citizens of this state all others denied rights of citizenship and benifits, treated as mere “subjects” of state.

• within “real community of the people” there would be no social classes and all G have equal chances to find own level in society.

• All would work tg for good of nation demonstrating communities to common “german values” in return benefit from access to employment and welfare benefit

• Nazism aimed for cultural and social rev in G, objective was to create a new man and new woman, individuals who would have awareness of importance of race, strength of character to work unselfishly for common good and willingness to follow leadership in pursuit of their aims.

• this rev ideology essentially backward-looking when nazis talked of ppls community wanted to return romanticised mythical G past bfr race had become “polluted” w “alien” blood and before industrialisation had divided society among class lines.

National socialism

• Nazi adopted title Nationalist Socialist German Workers Party in attemp to gain working class support, and differentiate them from international socialism of communist party.

• points laid out in 25 point programme were economically radical and similar to anti-capitalist policies of communist and socialist.

• they called eg confiscation of war profits, nationalisation of large monopoly companies and confiscation of land from large estates without compensation to landowners.

• hitler never fully committed to these radical aims and modified his message according to audience he was addressing

• after 1929 hitler sought the support of wealthy businessmen like Hugenburg and Thyssen and was at pains to reassure them that a nazi gov wouldn’t threaten interests

• hitler used socialism loosely in way that might appeal to wc voters, in his view volksgemeinschafts were one and the same thing - “to be national means to act with a boundless all-embracing love for the people and if necessary, even to die for it and simmilarly to be social means to build up the state and community of the people so that every individual acts in the interest of the community of the ppl”

The Fuhrerprinzip

• Hitler set out to destroy the weimar as it was a parl democ, viewed weak ineffective and alien to G traditions of strong authotarian gov.

• believed parl democ encourage growth of communism, a greater evil.

• Speech april 1922- “democracy is fundamentally not german it is jewish. the jewish democ, w its maj decisions, has always been only a means towards destruction of any existing aryan leadership”

• weimar democ estab end of ww1 regarded by nazi as being based on a betrayal where “nov criminals” stab G in back thus should be destroyed and replaced by dictatorship a one-party state run on the basis of the fuhrerprinzip (principle of leadership)

• on basis on which nazi party has been run since 1925, in party Hitler had supreme control over policy and strategy and party members became subordinated to hitlers will.

Aggressive nationalism

• as a german nationalist hitler had three main aims

  • reserve humiliation of treaty, described as “unlimited blackmail and shameful humiliation” and restore lands taken from G

  • estab greater german reich, all g live in borders of state

  • secure for G “lebensraum” (living space) to settle its ppl and provide it w food and raw materials needed to sustain its great power.

• aggressive form of nationalism, didnt merely want to restore g borders of 1914 but wanted to expand territory of reich, would involve war of conquest to secure lebensraum in east, justified by Hitlers radical theories and belief in need of struggle.

Anti-semitism

• Hitler saw jews as responsible for all of G ills, rep in nazi propaganda as greedy, cunning and motivated by selfish motives.

• described as “parasite in the body of other nations having no state of own and working through a worldwide jew conspiracy to establish dominance over other races”

• jews to be held responsible for evils of capitalism and growth of communism

• held responsible for G defeat in ww1, hated treaty and G decline as great power and political weakness of demo system in weimar

• Hitler regarded communism as jewish creed that undermined political and social cohesion of G should be eradicated.