THE POLITICS OF DESTRUCTION
Die Revolution des Nihilismus. By Hermann Rauschning. (Europa Verlag : Zurich. Fr. 9.)
DR. RAUSCHNING has written a book of almost inestimable interest and importance. Nor is this a book addressed solely to
specialised students of German and international affairs ; for Dr. Rauschning makes evident that the essence of the National Socialist movement in Germany is nihilistic, that its driving force is destructiveness, a destructiveness which knows no frontiers, and is therefore as much the concern of every Ameri- can or Australian as it is of every Frenchman or of every Englishman.
Die Revolution des Nihilismus is the more remarkable in that it comes from a Prussian Conservative brought up in mili-
tary circles. This cannot be brushed aside as the alien annoy- ance of some cosmopolitan writer or exiled Socialist ; it is a verdict pronounced by a man with the intensely nationalistic background of an officer's son who became a farmer in the teiritory around Danzig, and, indignant with the results of Versailles, and the policy of the Poles, gladly threw in his lot with National Socialism in 1931. He believed he had found in the movement a constructive patriotism which could bring a German regeneration about. In spite of his fine intellectual quality, he was chosen by the Danzig Nazis to be their leader for a time. This brought him into active collaboration with the Nazi chiefs of the Reich, and gave him direct administrative experience of National Socialism in operation, for he became the President of the Senate of Danzig, and as such the Free City's political head. He was rapidly shocked by the crude brutality of the Nazis' police methods, by their anti-Semitism, and by their veto on his efforts to extend the commerce of slump-stricken Danzig with the U.S.S.R. Driven into exile, Dr. Rauschning set to work to analyse the alarming phenomena he had been compelled to study so closely, and his book thus offers an unusually comprehensive and convincing interpreta- tion of the National Socialist movement.
There has been endless discussion as to whether the Nazis should be regarded as, in fact, nationalistic socialists or whether they rather represent the forces of pre-War Pan-Germanism. Many of us are aware of the futility of the ubiquitous question, "What will Hitler do next? Is he true to Mein Kampf or sincere in his colonial claims?" Dr. Rauschning makes it clear that such ruminations are irrelevant, for step by step he reveals to his readers that Hitlerism spells negative and planless destruction, and that it can only continue to exist by continuing to destroy in any accessible direction. This nihilism has ended the reign of law and banished the Christian ethic in Germany itself ; it has spread destruction across Austria and Czecho- Slovakia; until it is destroyed itself it will spread destruction beyond the frontiers of Greater Germany, and, indeed, beyond Europe itself. In a section called "The Aims of National Socialism," Dr. Rauschning shows that the Nazi leaders have one object alone, viz., to obtain and to keep power in their hands ; in order to maintain themselves they depend upon movement, and the only dynamics of which they are capable are those of destruction. As for the talk of nationalism and socialism, the race theories, &c., these slogans are used to conceal a ruthless opportunism from the masses at home and from public opinion abroad. "For conscious nihilists (i.e., the Party elite) there are no real ideas. But sham ideas can be found to be suggested to the masses." Indeed, "every- thing which National Socialism does only takes place in defence of a holy right and a moral mission," and an Austrian detention camp or an Austrian plebiscite could be attacked as terroristic, though they offered but a pale reflection of the methods employed lb the Reich.
Dr. Rauschning's analysis of Nazi foreign policy is perhaps the most brilliant portion of his book. The section entitled "The Class Struggle Between the Nations" emphasises the dexterity with which Hitler has identified Germany with all the poorer nations of the world in resenting the prosperity of its more civilised communities. In championing the have- nots and their claims to self-determination, the new Germany has seized upon a world mission for itself in order to legitimise its own determination to dominate the world and wipe out self- determination. "National Socialism," writes Dr. Rauschning, "is on its way to achieve this domination," and one wonders whether Mr. Chamberlain could refute this carefully justified assertion. "Only with the alliance between Germany and Italy did the sterile cry for (treaty) revision change into a realistic determination to achieve an entirely new order of things, a new partition of the world."
Dr. Rauschning's account of his conversations with Hitler and Pilsudski in 1933 and 1934 are particularly interesting, of
Hitler's plans then for annexing half Europe, of his exhilaration after staging Germany's exit from Geneva. "His leadership was bound to launch Germany upon a sea of endless revolu- tionary waves, in order that he should be able to assert himself. He deliberately led the nation into danger and difficulties in order to force it into a revolutionary course." Dr. Rauschning believes that this daemonic fury will of necessity destroy itself, but the question remains how much more it will sweep to destruction at the same time. He regards Hitler's policy last September, blind as it seemed to be to the potential coalition of enemies, as having illustrated these contentions; he believes that the Fiihrer invited destruc- tion, and was saved only by the "unintelligible indulgence of his opponents." For his part, Dr. Rauschning believes the only solution for the world to lie in the determined restoration of the rule of law in place of the licence of force. He regards domination as, in fact, demode, and, like the American writer, Mr. Clarence Streit, he cries out for international federation at the expense of the bloated dimensions of the power of the sovereign State of today.
The chief criticism provoked by Dr. Rauschning's book is relatively unimportant, the objection that he contrasts the Germany of Hitler too sharply with that of William II. It is certainly to be hoped that this book will be translated into English very soon; for the English public it might need to be
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