24 AUGUST 1934, Page 7

AFTER THE PLEBISCITE

By H. POWYS GREENWOOD Munich, August 214. HOWEVER surprising it may appear to a liberal Englishman, the Nazis take their plebiscite very seriously. On Monday, in Munich, I found them totting up figures and generally endeavouring to persuade them- selves that Hitler and the Party had scored a victory. They were particularly interested in the comparisons of district results, which they regard as affording a valuable indication of the way opinion is moving among various sections of the community. It was noticeable, for example, that the heaviest adverse vote was in the big cities, particularly those which are suffering most, such as Hamburg, and that the upper-class residential areas, together with the formerly Communistic working-class districts, led the opposition. Presumably these results will be of value in determining the direction and character of the proposed new campaign to convert the No-men.

• The Fiihrer's declared intention is to make a similar plebiscite an annual feature of his regime, and he claims that he is therefore being " more democratic than the so- called democracies." No leader, so Herr Hitler told a friend of mine, can lead without the confidence of the people, and if the day should come when he no longer enjoys that confidence, someone else must take his place. Precisely how the substitution would take place he did not explain ; in present circumstances it is obviously in- conceivable, and I cannot imagine that the Fiffirer or any other Nazi has really thought out the implications of an adverse majority.

Not that there was any reason to fear one. The one- sided propaganda, with its emphasis on the patriotic necessity of combining against a hostile world and demon- strating the unity of Germany under the Fiihrer, may have been overdone, but it was well attuned to the mood of the people. One of the high lights was President von Hindenburg's political testament, produced at the exact psychological moment, which converted at least two waverers of my own acquaintance. Tremendous efforts were made to ensure everybody's hearing the Fiihrer's speech and to get as many as possible to one of the demonstrations personally addressed by a Nazi leader. Well over 100,000 were present at Goebbels's meeting in the Neukolln Stadium. I wandered about among the crowds and was particularly interested in the passages they applauded. The patriotic note was always successful, particularly the attacks on traitorous emigrants and lying foreign journalists, who were repre- sented as having rushed over to Germany at the-news of the President's death hoping for a Reichswehr revolt or a Bolshevist rising. This produced- shouts of laughter, and the further statement that Bolshevism had been destroyed for ever drew loud applause. Emphasis on the Fiihrer's simplicity and his origin among the people went down splendidly, as did digs at Conservatives, royalists and the Kaiser personally, and one obvious hit at General Goring for his love of orders and uniforms. One of the passages most enthusiastically received was to the effect that June 30th had strengthened the bond between the Fiihrer and his people, for he had shown that he was not afraid ruthlessly to punish the big traitors and thieves while allowing their misguided followers, the little men, to go free. The active Nazis in the audience seemed to me a small minority ; it seemed to me a representative working- and lower-middle-class crowd about half of whom had been marched to the arena by their Labour Front organilations, while the other half had paid for their tickets in the ordinary way. In view of the intensity of the Nazi campaign I was rather surprised at the number of people who openly admitted their opposition and said they were going to vote No. They ranged from the cook at a little village inn where I stayed a night to the managing director of a large concern. The innkeeper was an active Nazi, but his principles were distinctly egotistic with the result that the poor girl, who had to work about 14 hours a day for a pittance, thought National Socialism a swindle. The director disapproved of M. Schacht's economic policy and of what he described as the Bolshevistic tendencies of the Nazis. Only one of the men with whom I discussed the subject seemed to distrust the secrecy of the vote, although many said that the people were still doubtful about it, particularly in the country districts. Others told me that the figures would probably be "cooked," and I heard a circumstantial account of how an S.S. leader had admitted that the Nazis would really only total about 65 per cent., but that the published results would show at least 85 or 90 per cent.

I spent the week-end with some friends in a country village not far from Halle. We all went round to the poll in the morning. Three formidable-looking S.S. men stood at the door and saluted as we entered. It would have taken much more moral courage than I possess not to return that salute. On the other hand, once inside the polling station it seemed fairly obvious that the vote was secret. The urn, voting-papers, envelopes, screens, and other arrangements were precisely the same as in previous years, and my land-owning host, who confessed that he had often longed to find out how his men voted, quite convinced me that there was no possibility of doing so. I went on to a polling station in Halle, to which I obtained admittance without difficulty by saying that I was an interested foreigner. Here the secrecy of the vote was equally evident, but I was struck by the efficiency of the pressure put on individuals to go to the poll. The election committee, consisting exclusively of Nazi officials .in uniform, sat in state behind a table. On giving his or her name the voter was ticked off, firstly in an alphabetical index, and secondly in a residential list kept by a Block- wart, one of the Party officials responsible for each in- dividual block of houses or flats. I gathered that towards the end of the day, if anybody had not voted, either the Blockw•art in person or his representative would be sent to fetch the laggard. Thus each individual is made to . feel the eye of the Party upon him. In the evening I attended the counting in the village. It was public, and from the appearance and expression of some of the on- lookers I should have put them down as ex-Marxists very much on the look-out for hanky-panky. The counting seemed perfectly fair—I saw most of the papers myself. The final result, showing 15 per cent. Noes, was given out immediately on completion. Since all local results are published in detail and can thus be checked with the original announcement, falsification at the centre does not seem to be possible.

The final results show about 5 million Noes and invalid votes against some 3 million on the occasion of the plebiscite when Germany left the League and 8} million invalidated votes for the Reichstag list presented at the same time. Opposition and discontent in the Third Reich is increasing, as every observer of Germany has noted, and as was indeed to be expected. But 84 per cent. of the qualified electorate, consisting, in proportions difficult to estimate, of the enthusiastic, the luke-warm, the resigned, and the intimidated, are prepared to accept the Fiihrer's rule. The recent history of Austria shows that it is possible to govern in the face of revolutionary fanaticism with machine-guns and a small minority ; with machine-guns and a big majority Herr Hitler's position may for the present be regarded as absolutely unassailable.

True, the Revolution is not over. Many basic ques- tions, such as that of the economic syStem, are still undecided. The vital problem of producing a disciplined and able hierarchy of leadership out of the present orgy of fanaticism, jealousy and intrigue may yet lead to a repetition of June 30th, or even worse. But barring absolute catastrophe Hitler, now supported by one of the finest armies in the world, is likely to retain his authority. On this visit I talked much more with opponents than with supporters of the regime, and nothing could have done more to convince me that there was no practicable alternative to the present system. If this view is correct the great hope for Germany, and incidentally for Eurepe—since Europe cannot fail to be influenced by the great people at her heart—must lie in the evolution of the Third Reich. However unpleasant some of its aspects, it has good sides as well, and, above all, it is a method of government. If it falls it may well prove the Samson of European civilization.