THE STATE OF GERMANY SOME CONCLUSIONS
By H. POWYS GREENWOOD
THE difficulty of giving an exhaustive description of National Socialism and its results within the limits of space available for this series of articles is that it is so extraordinarily all-embracing. It means some- thing in every department of the national life, but what it means is still difficult to determine. An old friend, one of those rare figures who are as prominent in Nazi Germany as they were under the Republic, said that the sad thing for men of his generation—he is under sixty—was that they would long be dead before anybody could realize what had been happening in the year of grace 1933.
The debit side of the balance-sheet is immense. Liberty and toleration are gone ; individual suffering has been great (though incomparably less than in Russia) ; talent has been crushed or forced to emigrate ; a racial associa- tion lasting for more than a thousand years ruthlessly severed. A terrible conflict has arisen between religion and patriotism, and many sincere and noble men are in a state of despair. In the world Germany stands more isolated than ever since the War.
Of practical achievements to their credit the Nazis can point first and foremost to the unemployment situation. The latest figures show an effective reduction of about 2,500,000, or 40 per cent. of the numbers a year ago. This is coupled with an equally important factor—mitiga- tiOn of the terrible moral effects through the provision of unpaid occupation in Storm Troops, party organizations and the like. Good work is undoubtedly being done towards eliminating corruption in public and business life, and administration is being reorganized on more efficient and economical lines. This will be greatly assisted by the reform of the Reich, an insoluble problem for every Republican government. The principle of leader- ohip has at any rate resulted in action, and many excellent schemes long held up owing to political controversy or inertia are being carried out.
The Nazis could scarcely claim a balance on the credit side, however, were it not for a completely intangible factor. Bismarck created political unity of a sort ; he gave order and military discipline. But Hitler's aims are far more fundamental. He is creating a national tradition running through all sections and classes of a people bitterly divided by religion, culture, history and economic interests. And in so doing he has completely changed the psychological atmosphere.
The soul of the new Germany, the renaissance of values towards which she is striving, centres round the folk movement. Large though the part played by the Gobineau-Chamberlain race theories certainly is, it does not seem to me essential. As I have explained, un- orthodoxy about " Nordics " and " Aryans " is very prevalent. But the unorthodox believe almost as pro- foundly in the German people, in their duty to think in terms of racial future, as do the fanatics. Here is the super-individual ideal for which the individual is bidden, and is in fact, prepared to sacrifice himself. " Gemeinnutz geht ror Eigennutz"—the community before the indi- vidual—is no mere catchword. The ideals of service and self-sacrifice go very deep. However many absurdities— such as the banning of black-faced golliwogs or the Nazi newspaper's claim that the increased births a few months after Hitler's advent were due to his policy—may surround the thought of future generations, a substantial rise in the birth-rate is certain, and, in view of the conscious effort and scientific planning which may be expected, it will be surprising if a considerable reduction in the number of C. 3's does not ensue.
Cannon-fodder ! Perhaps ; and yet I believe the movement goes deeper. If you talk Malthus to a German lie will point out that other races, yellow and brown and black, are continually increasing ; • that the Catholic Southern elements among the white races arc doing the same ; and that throughout history a decline in the quality and numbers of a race has always preceded its downfall. And he will add that the Gerinan people arc determined to live for hundreds and indeed thousands of years. They are profoundly conscious of their mission.
That may be a dangerous attitude. But, as I pointed out in an earlier article, it is rather different from the imperialism of the past. The new Germany is not likely to fight in order to impose a ruling class over subject populations, though she may fight, as Hitler indicated in Mein Kampf, if the population presses too severely on the means of subsistence. However, she does not want to fight at all if it can be helped ; and the racial idea itself leads her to be thoroughly alive to the terrible threat of modern warfare to women and children, the bearers of the race, and to the dangers which would threaten the white races in the event of another inter- necine struggle. Moreover, if the tremendous efforts which the Germans are making to throw off the stigma of " War-guilt " mean anything, they must be tho- roughly alive to the moral issues involved in aggression. Their fundamental rejection of pacifism and emphasis on military values is not only due to the desire to strengthen national morale for the event of hostilities : even more important perhaps is the fact that the whole socialist spirit of the new Germany was born in the War. Mr. Delisle Burns, writing in the Contemporary Review for December, suggested that one of the reasons for the sur- vival of war was that it was felt to be morally preferable to peace. regarded as " a general scramble for scraps." That was Ruskin's view, and I was reminded of it when a Storm Troop leader explained to me that National Socialism was above all an attempt to bring into daily life the spirit which inspired the men in the mud of Flanders and the snows of Russia. It regarded, he said, the workman at his bench or the peasant on his land, provided that each gave of his best, in the same light as the soldier who died for his country.
There is, of course, the element typified by Professor Banse. Similar lucubrations were poured out by those Pan-Germans whose ideas played such a large Part in creating the psychological atmosphere which led to the War. Banse does not stand, for much in Germany, but he stands for something. Oswald Spengler, however, who has sold 200,000 copies of his latest book, Decisive Years, stands for a great deal.
The violent controversy now raging round Spengler, who, as a scathing opponent of National Socialism, has been bitterly attacked by the Nazis and nar- rowly escaped a concentration camp, seems to me to illustrate a vital question for the new Germany, a ques- tion which, perhaps, has yet to be decided. The inclusion of Conservative values in National Socialism, its re- luctance to destroy elements which have contributed to German greatness, has enabled reactionary forces to gain, a certain foothold within the Third Reich and in lesser degree within the Nazi Party. The Junkers are to some extent holding up Dane's great programme of peasant settlement, and Big Business, as I have shown, is still on trial. The Prussian faction round Goring, rein- forced, it is said, by President von Hindenburg, seems to be responsible for delaying the break-up of Prussia which must accompany a radical Reich reform. In view of the fate of Hugenberg and of the distribution of real power, it is ridiculous .to regard the Nazis as the hired lackeys of the capitalists ; at any moment a word from Hitler can break any reactionary resistance. But Mr. Wickham Steed, for example, holds that Hitler is funda- Mentally reactionary, and reaction in the Third Reich might spell a victory for Spenglerian Prussianism.
Personally, I cannot believe it. Even Hitler could scarcely falsify this great movement of the people in the interests of privileged classes, and the days when war could be waged to divert attention from social unrest are long past. But there is one possibility which should be squarely faced. • If the German people are hemmed in and surrounded by an iron ring, whether camouflaged as a collective system or not ; if their legitimate aspirations are thwarted and their tentative moves towards recon- ciliation with former enemies rejected ; if their attempts to get into touch with other peoples—the British people aboVe all—and evoke sympathetic understanding at least of some of their aims, are met by a persistent barrage of uncomprehending criticism : the chance of influencing the still' young plant of National Socialisin will be throWn away and Germany may turn to the blatant gospel of force in her despair. A preventive war, which always seems to me the acme of defeatism, the action of men or nations who haVe no confidence in their 'future, Would at any rate be more logical. -
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