Snt,—In your issue of September Toth Mr. Merion says that
" Hitler established his power ' legally' only after having created the excuse for banishing the about 8o Communists from the derisive [?misprint for 'decisive') Reichstag sess'..on—by the Reichstag fire. That trick made it possible for him to obtain the three-quarters majority necessary to establish, his dictatorship ' constitutionally '."
This is a widely current error. Because the Enabling Bill of March 23rd, 1933, involved a change of the Constitution, to become law it required the support of two-thirds of the deputies present, provided these were not less than two-thirds of the total memberhip of the Reichstag. These conditions were fulfilled, and would still have been fulfilled had there been a full House. Of 'he total -Membership of 647, 535 voted-44i for and 94 against, giving a majority of 82 per cent. Had the 81 Communist deputies (most of them in prison) and the 14 arrested Social Democratic deputies been present, and had the 112 missing votes all been opposed to the Bill,• the voting would have been 441 for and 206 against, giving a majority of 68 per cent. The support of all the moderate parties, conspicuously that of the Centrists, was decisive ; it was inspired by the desire for firm government in a country deeply divided on internal issues, and by a recovered faith in Germany's ability to re-establish her pre-1918 position in Europe.
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