Chapter III: Subjects and
Citizens
The institution that is now erroneously called the State generally
classifies people only into two groups: citizens and aliens. Citizens are all
those who possess full civic rights, either by reason of their birth or by an
act of naturalization. Aliens are those who enjoy the same rights in some other
State. Between these two categories there are certain beings who resemble a
sort of meteoric phenomena. They are people who have no citizenship in any
State and consequently no civic rights anywhere.
In most cases nowadays a person acquires civic rights by
being born within the frontiers of a State. The race or nationality to
which he may belong plays no role whatsoever. The child of a Negro who once
lived in one of the German protectorates and now takes up his residence in
Germany automatically becomes a 'German Citizen' in the eyes of the world. In
the same way the child of any Jew, Pole, African or Asian may automatically
become a German Citizen.
Besides naturalization that is acquired through the fact
of having been born within the confines of a State there exists another kind of
naturalization which can be acquired later. This process is subject to various
preliminary requirements. For example one condition is that, if possible, the
applicant must not be a burglar or a common street thug. It is required of him
that his political attitude is not such as to give cause for uneasiness; in
other words he must be a harmless simpleton in politics. It is required that he
shall not be a burden to the State of which he wishes to become a citizen. In
this realistic epoch of ours this last condition naturally only means that he
must not be a financial burden. If the affairs of the candidate are such that
it appears likely he will turn out to be a good taxpayer, that is a very
important consideration and will help him to obtain civic rights all the more
rapidly.
The question of race plays no part at all.
The whole process of acquiring civic rights is not very
different from that of being admitted to membership of an automobile club, for
instance. A person files his application. It is examined. It is sanctioned. And
one day the man receives a card which informs him that he has become a citizen.
The information is given in an amusing way. An applicant who has hitherto been
a Zulu or Kaffir is told: "By these presents you are now become a German
Citizen."
The President of the State can perform this piece of
magic. What God Himself could not do is achieved by some Theophrastus
Paracelsus of a civil servant through a mere twirl of the hand. Nothing but a
stroke of the pen, and a Mongolian slave is forthwith turned into a real
German. Not only is no question asked regarding the race to which the new
citizen belongs; even the matter of his physical health is not inquired into.
His flesh may be corrupted with syphilis; but he will still be welcome in the
State as it exists today so long as he may not become a financial burden or a
political danger.
In this way, year after year, those organisms which we
call States take up poisonous matter which they can hardly ever overcome.
Another point of distinction between a citizen and an alien is that
the former is admitted to all public offices, that he may possibly have to do
military service and that in return he is permitted to take a passive or active
part at public elections. Those are his chief privileges. For in regard to
personal rights and personal liberty the alien enjoys the same amount of
protection as the citizen, and frequently even more. Anyhow that is how it
happens in our present German Republic.
I realize fully that nobody likes to hear these things.
But it would be difficult to find anything more illogical or more insane than
our contemporary laws in regard to State citizenship.
At present there exists one State which manifests at
least some modest attempts that show a better appreciation of how things ought
to be done in this matter. It is not, however, in our model German Republic but
in the U.S.A. that efforts are made to conform at least partly to the counsels
of commonsense. By refusing immigrants to enter there if they are in a bad
state of health, and by excluding certain races from the right to become
naturalized as citizens, they have begun to introduce principles similar to
those on which we wish to ground the People's State.
The People's State will classify its population in three
groups: Citizens, subjects of the State, and aliens.
The principle is that birth within the confines of the
State gives only the status of a subject. It does not carry with it the right
to fill any position under the State or to participate in political life, such
as taking an active or passive part in elections. Another principle is that the
race and nationality of every subject of the State will have to be proved. A
subject is at any time free to cease being a subject and to become a citizen of
that country to which he belongs in virtue of his nationality. The only
difference between an alien and a subject of the State is that the former is a
citizen of another country.
The young boy or girl who is of German nationality and is
a subject of the German State is bound to complete the period of school
education which is obligatory for every German. Thereby he submits to the
system of training which will make him conscious of his race and a member of
the folk-community. Then he has to fulfil all those requirements laid down by
the State in regard to physical training after he has left school; and finally
he enters the army. The training in the army is of a general kind. It must be
given to each individual German and will render him competent to fulfil the
physical and mental requirements of military service. The rights of citizenship
shall be conferred on every young man whose health and character have been
certified as good, after having completed his period of military service. This
act of inauguration in citizenship shall be a solemn ceremony. And the diploma
conferring the rights of citizenship will be preserved by the young man as the
most precious testimonial of his whole life. It entitles him to exercise all
the rights of a citizen and to enjoy all the privileges attached thereto. For
the State must draw a sharp line of distinction between those who, as members
of the nation, are the foundation and the support of its existence and
greatness, and those who are domiciled in the State simply as earners of their
livelihood there.
On the occasion of conferring a diploma of citizenship
the new citizen must take a solemn oath of loyalty to the national community
and the State. This diploma must be a bond which unites together all the
various classes and sections of the nation. It shall be a greater honour to be
a citizen of this Reich, even as a street-sweeper, than to be the King of a
foreign State.
The citizen has privileges which are not accorded to the
alien. He is the master in the Reich. But this high honour has also its
obligations. Those who show themselves without personal honour or character, or
common criminals, or traitors to the fatherland, can at any time be deprived of
the rights of citizenship. Therewith they become merely subjects of the State.
The German girl is a subject of the State but will become a citizen
when she marries. At the same time those women who earn their livelihood
independently have the right to acquire citizenship if they are German
subjects.
Citizens
The institution that is now erroneously called the State generally
classifies people only into two groups: citizens and aliens. Citizens are all
those who possess full civic rights, either by reason of their birth or by an
act of naturalization. Aliens are those who enjoy the same rights in some other
State. Between these two categories there are certain beings who resemble a
sort of meteoric phenomena. They are people who have no citizenship in any
State and consequently no civic rights anywhere.
In most cases nowadays a person acquires civic rights by
being born within the frontiers of a State. The race or nationality to
which he may belong plays no role whatsoever. The child of a Negro who once
lived in one of the German protectorates and now takes up his residence in
Germany automatically becomes a 'German Citizen' in the eyes of the world. In
the same way the child of any Jew, Pole, African or Asian may automatically
become a German Citizen.
Besides naturalization that is acquired through the fact
of having been born within the confines of a State there exists another kind of
naturalization which can be acquired later. This process is subject to various
preliminary requirements. For example one condition is that, if possible, the
applicant must not be a burglar or a common street thug. It is required of him
that his political attitude is not such as to give cause for uneasiness; in
other words he must be a harmless simpleton in politics. It is required that he
shall not be a burden to the State of which he wishes to become a citizen. In
this realistic epoch of ours this last condition naturally only means that he
must not be a financial burden. If the affairs of the candidate are such that
it appears likely he will turn out to be a good taxpayer, that is a very
important consideration and will help him to obtain civic rights all the more
rapidly.
The question of race plays no part at all.
The whole process of acquiring civic rights is not very
different from that of being admitted to membership of an automobile club, for
instance. A person files his application. It is examined. It is sanctioned. And
one day the man receives a card which informs him that he has become a citizen.
The information is given in an amusing way. An applicant who has hitherto been
a Zulu or Kaffir is told: "By these presents you are now become a German
Citizen."
The President of the State can perform this piece of
magic. What God Himself could not do is achieved by some Theophrastus
Paracelsus of a civil servant through a mere twirl of the hand. Nothing but a
stroke of the pen, and a Mongolian slave is forthwith turned into a real
German. Not only is no question asked regarding the race to which the new
citizen belongs; even the matter of his physical health is not inquired into.
His flesh may be corrupted with syphilis; but he will still be welcome in the
State as it exists today so long as he may not become a financial burden or a
political danger.
In this way, year after year, those organisms which we
call States take up poisonous matter which they can hardly ever overcome.
Another point of distinction between a citizen and an alien is that
the former is admitted to all public offices, that he may possibly have to do
military service and that in return he is permitted to take a passive or active
part at public elections. Those are his chief privileges. For in regard to
personal rights and personal liberty the alien enjoys the same amount of
protection as the citizen, and frequently even more. Anyhow that is how it
happens in our present German Republic.
I realize fully that nobody likes to hear these things.
But it would be difficult to find anything more illogical or more insane than
our contemporary laws in regard to State citizenship.
At present there exists one State which manifests at
least some modest attempts that show a better appreciation of how things ought
to be done in this matter. It is not, however, in our model German Republic but
in the U.S.A. that efforts are made to conform at least partly to the counsels
of commonsense. By refusing immigrants to enter there if they are in a bad
state of health, and by excluding certain races from the right to become
naturalized as citizens, they have begun to introduce principles similar to
those on which we wish to ground the People's State.
The People's State will classify its population in three
groups: Citizens, subjects of the State, and aliens.
The principle is that birth within the confines of the
State gives only the status of a subject. It does not carry with it the right
to fill any position under the State or to participate in political life, such
as taking an active or passive part in elections. Another principle is that the
race and nationality of every subject of the State will have to be proved. A
subject is at any time free to cease being a subject and to become a citizen of
that country to which he belongs in virtue of his nationality. The only
difference between an alien and a subject of the State is that the former is a
citizen of another country.
The young boy or girl who is of German nationality and is
a subject of the German State is bound to complete the period of school
education which is obligatory for every German. Thereby he submits to the
system of training which will make him conscious of his race and a member of
the folk-community. Then he has to fulfil all those requirements laid down by
the State in regard to physical training after he has left school; and finally
he enters the army. The training in the army is of a general kind. It must be
given to each individual German and will render him competent to fulfil the
physical and mental requirements of military service. The rights of citizenship
shall be conferred on every young man whose health and character have been
certified as good, after having completed his period of military service. This
act of inauguration in citizenship shall be a solemn ceremony. And the diploma
conferring the rights of citizenship will be preserved by the young man as the
most precious testimonial of his whole life. It entitles him to exercise all
the rights of a citizen and to enjoy all the privileges attached thereto. For
the State must draw a sharp line of distinction between those who, as members
of the nation, are the foundation and the support of its existence and
greatness, and those who are domiciled in the State simply as earners of their
livelihood there.
On the occasion of conferring a diploma of citizenship
the new citizen must take a solemn oath of loyalty to the national community
and the State. This diploma must be a bond which unites together all the
various classes and sections of the nation. It shall be a greater honour to be
a citizen of this Reich, even as a street-sweeper, than to be the King of a
foreign State.
The citizen has privileges which are not accorded to the
alien. He is the master in the Reich. But this high honour has also its
obligations. Those who show themselves without personal honour or character, or
common criminals, or traitors to the fatherland, can at any time be deprived of
the rights of citizenship. Therewith they become merely subjects of the State.
The German girl is a subject of the State but will become a citizen
when she marries. At the same time those women who earn their livelihood
independently have the right to acquire citizenship if they are German
subjects.
Chapter IV: Personality and the
Conception of the Folkish State
If the principal duty of the National Socialist People's State be to
educate and promote the existence of those who are the material out of which
the State is formed, it will not be sufficient to promote those racial elements
as such, educate them and finally train them for practical life, but the State
must also adapt its own organization to meet the demands of this task.
It
would be absurd to appraise a man's worth by the race to which he belongs and
at the same time to make war against the Marxist principle, that all men are
equal, without being determined to pursue our own principle to its ultimate
consequences. If we admit the significance of blood, that is to say, if we
recognize the race as the fundamental element on which all life is based, we
shall have to apply to the individual the logical consequences of this
principle. In general I must estimate the worth of nations differently, on the
basis of the different races from which they spring, and I must also
differentiate in estimating the worth of the individual within his own race.
The principle, that one people is not the same as another, applies also to the
individual members of a national community. No one brain, for instance, is
equal to another; because the constituent elements belonging to the same blood
vary in a thousand subtle details, though they are fundamentally of the same
quality.
The first consequence of this fact is comparatively simple. It
demands that those elements within the folk-community which show the best
racial qualities ought to be encouraged more than the others and especially
they should be encouraged to increase and multiply.
This task is comparatively simple because it can be
recognized and carried out almost mechanically. It is much more difficult to
select from among a whole multitude of people all those who actually possess
the highest intellectual and spiritual characteristics and assign them to that
sphere of influence which not only corresponds to their outstanding talents but
in which their activities will above all things be of benefit to the nation.
This selection according to capacity and efficiency cannot be effected in a
mechanical way. It is a work which can be accomplished only through the
permanent struggle of everyday life itself.
A philosophy of life which repudiates the democratic
principle of the rule of the masses and aims at giving this world to the best
people – that is, to the highest quality of mankind – must also apply that same
aristocratic postulate to the individuals within the folk-community. It must
take care that the positions of leadership and highest influence are given to
the best men. Hence it is not based on the idea of the majority, but on that of
personality.
Anyone who believes that the People's National Socialist
State should distinguish itself from the other States only mechanically, as it
were, through the better construction of its economic life – thanks to a better
equilibrium between poverty and riches, or to the extension to broader masses
of the power to determine the economic process, or to a fairer wage, or to the
elimination of vast differences in the scale of salaries – anyone who thinks
this understands only the superficial features of our movement and has not the
least idea of what we mean when we speak of our Weltanschhauung. All
these features just mentioned could not in the least guarantee us a lasting
existence and certainly would be no warranty of greatness. A nation that could
content itself with external reforms would not have the slightest chance of
success in the general struggle for life among the nations of the world. A
movement that would confine its mission to such adjustments, which are
certainly right and equitable, would effect no far-reaching or profound reform
in the existing order. The whole effect of such measures would be limited to
externals. They would not furnish the nation with that moral armament which
alone will enable it effectively to overcome the weaknesses from which we are
suffering today.
In order to elucidate this point of view it may be worth
while to glance once again at the real origins and causes of the cultural
evolution of mankind.
The first step which visibly brought mankind away from
the animal world was that which led to the first invention. The invention
itself owes its origin to the ruses and stratagems which man employed to assist
him in the struggle with other creatures for his existence and often to provide
him with the only means he could adopt to achieve success in the struggle.
Those first very crude inventions cannot be attributed to the individual; for
the subsequent observer, that is to say the modern observer, recognizes them
only as collective phenomena. Certain tricks and skilful tactics which can be
observed in use among the animals strike the eye of the observer as established
facts which may be seen everywhere; and man is no longer in a position to
discover or explain their primary cause and so he contents himself with calling
such phenomena 'instinctive.'
In our case this term has no meaning. Because everyone
who believes in the higher evolution of living organisms must admit that every
manifestation of the vital urge and struggle to live must have had a definite
beginning in time and that one subject alone must have manifested it for the
first time. It was then repeated again and again; and the practice of it spread
over a widening area, until finally it passed into the subconscience of every
member of the species, where it manifested itself as 'instinct.'
This is more easily understood and more easy to believe
in the case of man. His first skilled tactics in the struggle with the rest of
the animals undoubtedly originated in his management of creatures which
possessed special capabilities.
There can be no doubt that personality was then the sole
factor in all decisions and achievements, which were afterwards taken over by
the whole of humanity as a matter of course. An exact exemplification of this
may be found in those fundamental military principles which have now become the
basis of all strategy in war. Originally they sprang from the brain of a single
individual and in the course of many years, maybe even thousands of years, they
were accepted all round as a matter of course and this gained universal
validity.
Man completed his first discovery by making a second.
Among other things he learned how to master other living beings and make them
serve him in his struggle for existence. And thus began the real inventive
activity of mankind, as it is now visible before our eyes. Those material
inventions, beginning with the use of stones as weapons, which led to the
domestication of animals, the production of fire by artificial means, down to
the marvellous inventions of our own days, show clearly that an individual was
the originator in each case. The nearer we come to our own time and the more
important and revolutionary the inventions become, the more clearly do we
recognize the truth of that statement. All the material inventions which we see
around us have been produced by the creative powers and capabilities of
individuals. And all these inventions help man to raise himself higher and
higher above the animal world and to separate himself from that world in an
absolutely definite way. Hence they serve to elevate the human species and
continually to promote its progress. And what the most primitive artifice once
did for man in his struggle for existence, as he went hunting through the
primeval forest, that same sort of assistance is rendered him today in the form
of marvellous scientific inventions which help him in the present day struggle
for life and to forge weapons for future struggles. In their final consequences
all human thought and invention help man in his life-struggle on this planet,
even though the so-called practical utility of an invention, a discovery or a
profound scientific theory, may not be evident at first sight. Everything
contributes to raise man higher and higher above the level of all the other
creatures that surround him, thereby strengthening and consolidating his
position; so that he develops more and more in every direction as the ruling
being on this earth.
Hence all inventions are the result of the creative
faculty of the individual. And all such individuals, whether they have willed
it or not, are the benefactors of mankind, both great and small. Through their
work millions and indeed billions of human beings have been provided with means
and resources which facilitate their struggle for existence.
Thus at the origin of the material civilization which
flourishes today we always see individual persons. They supplement one another
and one of them bases his work on that of the other. The same is true in regard
to the practical application of those inventions and discoveries. For all the
various methods of production are in their turn inventions also and
consequently dependent on the creative faculty of the individual. Even the
purely theoretical work, which cannot be measured by a definite rule and is
preliminary to all subsequent technical discoveries, is exclusively the product
of the individual brain. The broad masses do not invent, nor does the majority
organize or think; but always and in every case the individual man, the person.
Accordingly a human community is well organized only when it
facilitates to the highest possible degree individual creative forces and
utilizes their work for the benefit of the community. The most valuable factor
of an invention, whether it be in the world of material realities or in the
world of abstract ideas, is the personality of the inventor himself. The first
and supreme duty of an organized folk community is to place the inventor in a
position where he can be of the greatest benefit to all. Indeed the very
purpose of the organization is to put this principle into practice. Only by so
doing can it ward off the curse of mechanization and remain a living thing. In
itself it must personify the effort to place men of brains above the multitude
and to make the latter obey the former.
Therefore not only does the organization possess no right
to prevent men of brains from rising above the multitude but, on the contrary,
it must use its organizing powers to enable and promote that ascension as far
as it possibly can. It must start out from the principle that the blessings of
mankind never came from the masses but from the creative brains of individuals,
who are therefore the real benefactors of humanity. It is in the interest of
all to assure men of creative brains a decisive influence and facilitate their
work. This common interest is surely not served by allowing the multitude to
rule, for they are not capable of thinking nor are they efficient and in no
case whatsoever can they be said to be gifted. Only those should rule who have
the natural temperament and gifts of leadership.
Such men of brains are selected mainly, as I have already
said, through the hard struggle for existence itself. In this struggle there
are many who break down and collapse and thereby show that they are not called
by Destiny to fill the highest positions; and only very few are left who can be
classed among the elect. In the realm of thought and of artistic creation, and
even in the economic field, this same process of selection takes place,
although – especially in the economic field – its operation is heavily
handicapped. This same principle of selection rules in the administration of
the State and in that department of power which personifies the organized
military defence of the nation. The idea of personality rules everywhere, the
authority of the individual over his subordinates and the responsibility of the
individual towards the persons who are placed over him. It is only in political
life that this very natural principle has been completely excluded. Though all
human civilization has resulted exclusively from the creative activity of the
individual, the principle that it is the mass which counts – through the
decision of the majority – makes its appearance only in the administration of
the national community especially in the higher grades; and from there
downwards the poison gradually filters into all branches of national life, thus
causing a veritable decomposition. The destructive workings of Judaism in
different parts of the national body can be ascribed fundamentally to the
persistent Jewish efforts at undermining the importance of personality among
the nations that are their hosts and, in place of personality, substituting the
domination of the masses. The constructive principle of Aryan humanity is thus
displaced by the destructive principle of the Jews, They become the 'ferment of
decomposition' among nations and races and, in a broad sense, the wreckers of
human civilization.
Marxism represents the most striking phase of the Jewish
endeavour to eliminate the dominant significance of personality in every sphere
of human life and replace it by the numerical power of the masses. In politics
the parliamentary form of government is the expression of this effort. We can
observe the fatal effects of it everywhere, from the smallest parish council
upwards to the highest governing circles of the nation. In the field of
economics we see the trade union movement, which does not serve the real
interests of the employees but the destructive aims of international Jewry.
Just to the same degree in which the principle of personality is excluded from
the economic life of the nation, and the influence and activities of the masses
substituted in its stead, national economy, which should be for the service and
benefit of the community as a whole, will gradually deteriorate in its creative
capacity. The shop committees which, instead of caring for the interests of the
employees, strive to influence the process of production, serve the same
destructive purpose. They damage the general productive system and consequently
injure the individual engaged in industry. For in the long run it is impossible
to satisfy popular demands merely by high-sounding theoretical phrases. These
can be satisfied only by supplying goods to meet the individual needs of daily
life and by so doing create the conviction that, through the productive
collaboration of its members, the folk community serves the interests of the
individual.
Even if, on the basis of its mass-theory, Marxism should
prove itself capable of taking over and developing the present economic system,
that would not signify anything. The question as to whether the Marxist
doctrine be right or wrong cannot be decided by any test which would show that
it can administer for the future what already exists today, but only by asking
whether it has the creative power to build up according to its own principles a
civilization which would be a counterpart of what already exists. Even if
Marxism were a thousandfold capable of taking over the economic life as we now
have it and maintaining it in operation under Marxist direction, such an
achievement would prove nothing; because, on the basis of its own principles,
Marxism would never be able to create something which could supplant what
exists today.
And Marxism itself has furnished the proof that it cannot
do this. Not only has it been unable anywhere to create a cultural or economic
system of its own; but it was not even able to develop, according to its own
principles, the civilization and economic system it found ready at hand. It has
had to make compromises, by way of a return to the principle of personality,
just as it cannot dispense with that principle in its own organization.
The folkish philosophy is fundamentally distinguished from the
Marxist by reason of the fact that the former recognizes the significance of
race and therefore also personal worth and has made these the pillars of its
structure. These are the most important factors of its view of life.
If
the National Socialist Movement should fail to understand the fundamental
importance of this essential principle, if it should merely varnish the
external appearance of the present State and adopt the majority principle, it
would really do nothing more than compete with Marxism on its own ground. For
that reason it would not have the right to call itself a philosophy of life. If
the social programme of the movement consisted in eliminating personality and
putting the multitude in its place, then National Socialism would be corrupted
with the poison of Marxism, just as our national-bourgeois parties are.
The People's State must assure the welfare of its citizens by
recognizing the importance of personal values under all circumstances and by
preparing the way for the maximum of productive efficiency in all the various
branches of economic life, thus securing to the individual the highest possible
share in the general output.
Hence the People's State must mercilessly expurgate from
all the leading circles in the government of the country the parliamentarian
principle, according to which decisive power through the majority vote is
invested in the multitude. Personal responsibility must be substituted in its
stead.
From this the following conclusion results:
The best
constitution and the best form of government is that which makes it quite
natural for the best brains to reach a position of dominant importance and
influence in the community.
Just as in the field of economics men of outstanding
ability cannot be designated from above but must come forward in virtue of
their own efforts, and just as there is an unceasing educative process that
leads from the smallest shop to the largest undertaking, and just as life
itself is the school in which those lessons are taught, so in the political
field it is not possible to 'discover' political talent all in a moment. Genius
of an extraordinary stamp is not to be judged by normal standards whereby we
judge other men.
In its organization the State must be established on the
principle of personality, starting from the smallest cell and ascending up to
the supreme government of the country.
There are no decisions made by the majority vote, but only
by responsible persons. And the word 'council' is once more restored to its
original meaning. Every man in a position of responsibility will have
councillors at his side, but the decision is made by that individual person
alone.
The principle which made the former Prussian Army an admirable
instrument of the German nation will have to become the basis of our statal
constitution, that is to say, full authority over his subordinates must be
invested in each leader and he must be responsible to those above him.
Even then we shall not be able to do without those corporations
which at present we call parliaments. But they will be real councils, in the
sense that they will have to give advice. The responsibility can and must be
borne by one individual, who alone will be vested with authority and the right
to command.
Parliaments as such are necessary because they alone
furnish the opportunity for leaders to rise gradually who will be entrusted
subsequently with positions of special responsibility.
The following is an outline of the picture which the
organization will present:
From the municipal administration up to the
government of the Reich, the People's State will not have any body of
representatives which makes its decisions through the majority vote. It will
have only advisory bodies to assist the chosen leader for the time being and he
will distribute among them the various duties they are to perform. In certain
fields they may, if necessary, have to assume full responsibility, such as the
leader or president of each corporation possesses on a larger scale.
In
principle the People's State must forbid the custom of taking advice on certain
political problems – economics, for instance – from persons who are entirely
incompetent because they lack special training and practical experience in such
matters. Consequently the State must divide its representative bodies into a
political chamber and a corporative chamber that represents the respective
trades and professions.
To assure an effective co-operation between those two
bodies, a selected body will be placed over them. This will be a special
senate.
No vote will be taken in the chambers or senate. They are to be
organizations for work and not voting machines. The individual members will
have consultive votes but no right of decision will be attached thereto. The
right of decision belongs exclusively to the president, who must be entirely
responsible for the matter under discussion.
This principle of combining absolute authority with
absolute responsibility will gradually cause a selected group of leaders to
emerge; which is not even thinkable in our present epoch of irresponsible
parliamentarianism.
The political construction of the nation will thereby be
brought into harmony with those laws to which the nation already owes its
greatness in the economic and cultural spheres.
Regarding the possibility of putting these principles into
practice, I should like to call attention to the fact that the principle of
parliamentarian democracy, whereby decisions are enacted through the majority
vote, has not always ruled the world. On the contrary, we find it prevalent
only during short periods of history, and those have always been periods of
decline in nations and States.
One must not believe, however, that such a radical change
could be effected by measures of a purely theoretical character, operating from
above downwards; for the change I have been describing could not be limited to
transforming the constitution of a State but would have to include the various
fields of legislation and civic existence as a whole. Such a revolution can be
brought about only by means of a movement which is itself organized under the
inspiration of these principles and thus bears the germ of the future State in
its own organism.
Therefore it is well for the National Socialist Movement
to make itself completely familiar with those principles today and actually to
put them into practice within its own organization, so that not only will it be
in a position to serve as a guide for the future State but will have its own
organization such that it can subsequently be placed at the disposal of the
State itself.
Conception of the Folkish State
If the principal duty of the National Socialist People's State be to
educate and promote the existence of those who are the material out of which
the State is formed, it will not be sufficient to promote those racial elements
as such, educate them and finally train them for practical life, but the State
must also adapt its own organization to meet the demands of this task.
It
would be absurd to appraise a man's worth by the race to which he belongs and
at the same time to make war against the Marxist principle, that all men are
equal, without being determined to pursue our own principle to its ultimate
consequences. If we admit the significance of blood, that is to say, if we
recognize the race as the fundamental element on which all life is based, we
shall have to apply to the individual the logical consequences of this
principle. In general I must estimate the worth of nations differently, on the
basis of the different races from which they spring, and I must also
differentiate in estimating the worth of the individual within his own race.
The principle, that one people is not the same as another, applies also to the
individual members of a national community. No one brain, for instance, is
equal to another; because the constituent elements belonging to the same blood
vary in a thousand subtle details, though they are fundamentally of the same
quality.
The first consequence of this fact is comparatively simple. It
demands that those elements within the folk-community which show the best
racial qualities ought to be encouraged more than the others and especially
they should be encouraged to increase and multiply.
This task is comparatively simple because it can be
recognized and carried out almost mechanically. It is much more difficult to
select from among a whole multitude of people all those who actually possess
the highest intellectual and spiritual characteristics and assign them to that
sphere of influence which not only corresponds to their outstanding talents but
in which their activities will above all things be of benefit to the nation.
This selection according to capacity and efficiency cannot be effected in a
mechanical way. It is a work which can be accomplished only through the
permanent struggle of everyday life itself.
A philosophy of life which repudiates the democratic
principle of the rule of the masses and aims at giving this world to the best
people – that is, to the highest quality of mankind – must also apply that same
aristocratic postulate to the individuals within the folk-community. It must
take care that the positions of leadership and highest influence are given to
the best men. Hence it is not based on the idea of the majority, but on that of
personality.
Anyone who believes that the People's National Socialist
State should distinguish itself from the other States only mechanically, as it
were, through the better construction of its economic life – thanks to a better
equilibrium between poverty and riches, or to the extension to broader masses
of the power to determine the economic process, or to a fairer wage, or to the
elimination of vast differences in the scale of salaries – anyone who thinks
this understands only the superficial features of our movement and has not the
least idea of what we mean when we speak of our Weltanschhauung. All
these features just mentioned could not in the least guarantee us a lasting
existence and certainly would be no warranty of greatness. A nation that could
content itself with external reforms would not have the slightest chance of
success in the general struggle for life among the nations of the world. A
movement that would confine its mission to such adjustments, which are
certainly right and equitable, would effect no far-reaching or profound reform
in the existing order. The whole effect of such measures would be limited to
externals. They would not furnish the nation with that moral armament which
alone will enable it effectively to overcome the weaknesses from which we are
suffering today.
In order to elucidate this point of view it may be worth
while to glance once again at the real origins and causes of the cultural
evolution of mankind.
The first step which visibly brought mankind away from
the animal world was that which led to the first invention. The invention
itself owes its origin to the ruses and stratagems which man employed to assist
him in the struggle with other creatures for his existence and often to provide
him with the only means he could adopt to achieve success in the struggle.
Those first very crude inventions cannot be attributed to the individual; for
the subsequent observer, that is to say the modern observer, recognizes them
only as collective phenomena. Certain tricks and skilful tactics which can be
observed in use among the animals strike the eye of the observer as established
facts which may be seen everywhere; and man is no longer in a position to
discover or explain their primary cause and so he contents himself with calling
such phenomena 'instinctive.'
In our case this term has no meaning. Because everyone
who believes in the higher evolution of living organisms must admit that every
manifestation of the vital urge and struggle to live must have had a definite
beginning in time and that one subject alone must have manifested it for the
first time. It was then repeated again and again; and the practice of it spread
over a widening area, until finally it passed into the subconscience of every
member of the species, where it manifested itself as 'instinct.'
This is more easily understood and more easy to believe
in the case of man. His first skilled tactics in the struggle with the rest of
the animals undoubtedly originated in his management of creatures which
possessed special capabilities.
There can be no doubt that personality was then the sole
factor in all decisions and achievements, which were afterwards taken over by
the whole of humanity as a matter of course. An exact exemplification of this
may be found in those fundamental military principles which have now become the
basis of all strategy in war. Originally they sprang from the brain of a single
individual and in the course of many years, maybe even thousands of years, they
were accepted all round as a matter of course and this gained universal
validity.
Man completed his first discovery by making a second.
Among other things he learned how to master other living beings and make them
serve him in his struggle for existence. And thus began the real inventive
activity of mankind, as it is now visible before our eyes. Those material
inventions, beginning with the use of stones as weapons, which led to the
domestication of animals, the production of fire by artificial means, down to
the marvellous inventions of our own days, show clearly that an individual was
the originator in each case. The nearer we come to our own time and the more
important and revolutionary the inventions become, the more clearly do we
recognize the truth of that statement. All the material inventions which we see
around us have been produced by the creative powers and capabilities of
individuals. And all these inventions help man to raise himself higher and
higher above the animal world and to separate himself from that world in an
absolutely definite way. Hence they serve to elevate the human species and
continually to promote its progress. And what the most primitive artifice once
did for man in his struggle for existence, as he went hunting through the
primeval forest, that same sort of assistance is rendered him today in the form
of marvellous scientific inventions which help him in the present day struggle
for life and to forge weapons for future struggles. In their final consequences
all human thought and invention help man in his life-struggle on this planet,
even though the so-called practical utility of an invention, a discovery or a
profound scientific theory, may not be evident at first sight. Everything
contributes to raise man higher and higher above the level of all the other
creatures that surround him, thereby strengthening and consolidating his
position; so that he develops more and more in every direction as the ruling
being on this earth.
Hence all inventions are the result of the creative
faculty of the individual. And all such individuals, whether they have willed
it or not, are the benefactors of mankind, both great and small. Through their
work millions and indeed billions of human beings have been provided with means
and resources which facilitate their struggle for existence.
Thus at the origin of the material civilization which
flourishes today we always see individual persons. They supplement one another
and one of them bases his work on that of the other. The same is true in regard
to the practical application of those inventions and discoveries. For all the
various methods of production are in their turn inventions also and
consequently dependent on the creative faculty of the individual. Even the
purely theoretical work, which cannot be measured by a definite rule and is
preliminary to all subsequent technical discoveries, is exclusively the product
of the individual brain. The broad masses do not invent, nor does the majority
organize or think; but always and in every case the individual man, the person.
Accordingly a human community is well organized only when it
facilitates to the highest possible degree individual creative forces and
utilizes their work for the benefit of the community. The most valuable factor
of an invention, whether it be in the world of material realities or in the
world of abstract ideas, is the personality of the inventor himself. The first
and supreme duty of an organized folk community is to place the inventor in a
position where he can be of the greatest benefit to all. Indeed the very
purpose of the organization is to put this principle into practice. Only by so
doing can it ward off the curse of mechanization and remain a living thing. In
itself it must personify the effort to place men of brains above the multitude
and to make the latter obey the former.
Therefore not only does the organization possess no right
to prevent men of brains from rising above the multitude but, on the contrary,
it must use its organizing powers to enable and promote that ascension as far
as it possibly can. It must start out from the principle that the blessings of
mankind never came from the masses but from the creative brains of individuals,
who are therefore the real benefactors of humanity. It is in the interest of
all to assure men of creative brains a decisive influence and facilitate their
work. This common interest is surely not served by allowing the multitude to
rule, for they are not capable of thinking nor are they efficient and in no
case whatsoever can they be said to be gifted. Only those should rule who have
the natural temperament and gifts of leadership.
Such men of brains are selected mainly, as I have already
said, through the hard struggle for existence itself. In this struggle there
are many who break down and collapse and thereby show that they are not called
by Destiny to fill the highest positions; and only very few are left who can be
classed among the elect. In the realm of thought and of artistic creation, and
even in the economic field, this same process of selection takes place,
although – especially in the economic field – its operation is heavily
handicapped. This same principle of selection rules in the administration of
the State and in that department of power which personifies the organized
military defence of the nation. The idea of personality rules everywhere, the
authority of the individual over his subordinates and the responsibility of the
individual towards the persons who are placed over him. It is only in political
life that this very natural principle has been completely excluded. Though all
human civilization has resulted exclusively from the creative activity of the
individual, the principle that it is the mass which counts – through the
decision of the majority – makes its appearance only in the administration of
the national community especially in the higher grades; and from there
downwards the poison gradually filters into all branches of national life, thus
causing a veritable decomposition. The destructive workings of Judaism in
different parts of the national body can be ascribed fundamentally to the
persistent Jewish efforts at undermining the importance of personality among
the nations that are their hosts and, in place of personality, substituting the
domination of the masses. The constructive principle of Aryan humanity is thus
displaced by the destructive principle of the Jews, They become the 'ferment of
decomposition' among nations and races and, in a broad sense, the wreckers of
human civilization.
Marxism represents the most striking phase of the Jewish
endeavour to eliminate the dominant significance of personality in every sphere
of human life and replace it by the numerical power of the masses. In politics
the parliamentary form of government is the expression of this effort. We can
observe the fatal effects of it everywhere, from the smallest parish council
upwards to the highest governing circles of the nation. In the field of
economics we see the trade union movement, which does not serve the real
interests of the employees but the destructive aims of international Jewry.
Just to the same degree in which the principle of personality is excluded from
the economic life of the nation, and the influence and activities of the masses
substituted in its stead, national economy, which should be for the service and
benefit of the community as a whole, will gradually deteriorate in its creative
capacity. The shop committees which, instead of caring for the interests of the
employees, strive to influence the process of production, serve the same
destructive purpose. They damage the general productive system and consequently
injure the individual engaged in industry. For in the long run it is impossible
to satisfy popular demands merely by high-sounding theoretical phrases. These
can be satisfied only by supplying goods to meet the individual needs of daily
life and by so doing create the conviction that, through the productive
collaboration of its members, the folk community serves the interests of the
individual.
Even if, on the basis of its mass-theory, Marxism should
prove itself capable of taking over and developing the present economic system,
that would not signify anything. The question as to whether the Marxist
doctrine be right or wrong cannot be decided by any test which would show that
it can administer for the future what already exists today, but only by asking
whether it has the creative power to build up according to its own principles a
civilization which would be a counterpart of what already exists. Even if
Marxism were a thousandfold capable of taking over the economic life as we now
have it and maintaining it in operation under Marxist direction, such an
achievement would prove nothing; because, on the basis of its own principles,
Marxism would never be able to create something which could supplant what
exists today.
And Marxism itself has furnished the proof that it cannot
do this. Not only has it been unable anywhere to create a cultural or economic
system of its own; but it was not even able to develop, according to its own
principles, the civilization and economic system it found ready at hand. It has
had to make compromises, by way of a return to the principle of personality,
just as it cannot dispense with that principle in its own organization.
The folkish philosophy is fundamentally distinguished from the
Marxist by reason of the fact that the former recognizes the significance of
race and therefore also personal worth and has made these the pillars of its
structure. These are the most important factors of its view of life.
If
the National Socialist Movement should fail to understand the fundamental
importance of this essential principle, if it should merely varnish the
external appearance of the present State and adopt the majority principle, it
would really do nothing more than compete with Marxism on its own ground. For
that reason it would not have the right to call itself a philosophy of life. If
the social programme of the movement consisted in eliminating personality and
putting the multitude in its place, then National Socialism would be corrupted
with the poison of Marxism, just as our national-bourgeois parties are.
The People's State must assure the welfare of its citizens by
recognizing the importance of personal values under all circumstances and by
preparing the way for the maximum of productive efficiency in all the various
branches of economic life, thus securing to the individual the highest possible
share in the general output.
Hence the People's State must mercilessly expurgate from
all the leading circles in the government of the country the parliamentarian
principle, according to which decisive power through the majority vote is
invested in the multitude. Personal responsibility must be substituted in its
stead.
From this the following conclusion results:
The best
constitution and the best form of government is that which makes it quite
natural for the best brains to reach a position of dominant importance and
influence in the community.
Just as in the field of economics men of outstanding
ability cannot be designated from above but must come forward in virtue of
their own efforts, and just as there is an unceasing educative process that
leads from the smallest shop to the largest undertaking, and just as life
itself is the school in which those lessons are taught, so in the political
field it is not possible to 'discover' political talent all in a moment. Genius
of an extraordinary stamp is not to be judged by normal standards whereby we
judge other men.
In its organization the State must be established on the
principle of personality, starting from the smallest cell and ascending up to
the supreme government of the country.
There are no decisions made by the majority vote, but only
by responsible persons. And the word 'council' is once more restored to its
original meaning. Every man in a position of responsibility will have
councillors at his side, but the decision is made by that individual person
alone.
The principle which made the former Prussian Army an admirable
instrument of the German nation will have to become the basis of our statal
constitution, that is to say, full authority over his subordinates must be
invested in each leader and he must be responsible to those above him.
Even then we shall not be able to do without those corporations
which at present we call parliaments. But they will be real councils, in the
sense that they will have to give advice. The responsibility can and must be
borne by one individual, who alone will be vested with authority and the right
to command.
Parliaments as such are necessary because they alone
furnish the opportunity for leaders to rise gradually who will be entrusted
subsequently with positions of special responsibility.
The following is an outline of the picture which the
organization will present:
From the municipal administration up to the
government of the Reich, the People's State will not have any body of
representatives which makes its decisions through the majority vote. It will
have only advisory bodies to assist the chosen leader for the time being and he
will distribute among them the various duties they are to perform. In certain
fields they may, if necessary, have to assume full responsibility, such as the
leader or president of each corporation possesses on a larger scale.
In
principle the People's State must forbid the custom of taking advice on certain
political problems – economics, for instance – from persons who are entirely
incompetent because they lack special training and practical experience in such
matters. Consequently the State must divide its representative bodies into a
political chamber and a corporative chamber that represents the respective
trades and professions.
To assure an effective co-operation between those two
bodies, a selected body will be placed over them. This will be a special
senate.
No vote will be taken in the chambers or senate. They are to be
organizations for work and not voting machines. The individual members will
have consultive votes but no right of decision will be attached thereto. The
right of decision belongs exclusively to the president, who must be entirely
responsible for the matter under discussion.
This principle of combining absolute authority with
absolute responsibility will gradually cause a selected group of leaders to
emerge; which is not even thinkable in our present epoch of irresponsible
parliamentarianism.
The political construction of the nation will thereby be
brought into harmony with those laws to which the nation already owes its
greatness in the economic and cultural spheres.
Regarding the possibility of putting these principles into
practice, I should like to call attention to the fact that the principle of
parliamentarian democracy, whereby decisions are enacted through the majority
vote, has not always ruled the world. On the contrary, we find it prevalent
only during short periods of history, and those have always been periods of
decline in nations and States.
One must not believe, however, that such a radical change
could be effected by measures of a purely theoretical character, operating from
above downwards; for the change I have been describing could not be limited to
transforming the constitution of a State but would have to include the various
fields of legislation and civic existence as a whole. Such a revolution can be
brought about only by means of a movement which is itself organized under the
inspiration of these principles and thus bears the germ of the future State in
its own organism.
Therefore it is well for the National Socialist Movement
to make itself completely familiar with those principles today and actually to
put them into practice within its own organization, so that not only will it be
in a position to serve as a guide for the future State but will have its own
organization such that it can subsequently be placed at the disposal of the
State itself.