Hermann Goering
The Marxist-Democratic National Assembly of Weimar was nevertheless not ashamed to make the Versailles Treaty the foundation of the new German constitution. The Weimar state was born of treachery and cowardice, its corner-stones were misery and shame. The new Germany, however, received the full blessings of this democracy in the form of uncontrolled parliamentarianism. All ideas were turned upside down. The distinguishing mark of parliamentarianism, in contrast to the principle of leadership, is that authority is given from below upwards and responsibility from above downwards. That is to say, innumerable parties and their delegates impose their authority on the government and the government has to obey them. The government is therefore responsible to these parties and is the plaything of their interests. But the laws of Nature demand that authority should be exercised from above downwards and responsibility from below upwards. Each leader has authority and he issues his orders to officials and followers below him. But he is responsible only to his superiors, and the leader at the top is responsible to the people as a whole and to their future. In the past it has only been by virtue of this principle that anything has been achieved; only by this principle could nations arise and history be made. But in Germany, Parliament now ruled, the anonymous idea of the Majority ruled, the cowardice of mere members was the dominant factor.
In the midst of these divisions of class and party, countless groups sought their own advantage at the expense of the people. Marxism celebrated its greatest triumphs. The princes had been driven away and the red masters climbed into the vacant thrones, but did not on that account become rulers. Above them all the Golden Calf was enthroned and the parties continued their grotesque dance, In every walk of life we see decadence and decay, the break-up of the Nation grows yearly more apparent, and the Reich is, from now on, a shadow, a framework held together with difficulty, already brittle in many places and without any sense or purpose. Corruption, immorality and indecency were the outward signs of the 'proud' Republic. And the decline of culture begins with the loosening of morals.
And then came the terrible inflation. Since the attempt had been made, in proper Marxist fashion, to destroy all cultural, ideal and moral values, it was only logical that this campaign of destruction should now be directed against the economic life of the nation. Marxism can thrive only when there are people who are discontented, homeless, uprooted from the soil and therefore receptive to false doctrines. The attempt was made to create in every social stratum a proletariat. The German was to be made, morally and materially, a proletarian. Thus the inflation destroyed any prosperity that still remained.
Wherever there was inherited property it was destroyed. Thousands were plunged into poverty overnight. The last remnants of property were destroyed by the inflation and by a purely Bolshevist system of taxation. One has only to think of that Witches' Sabbath of soaring millions. Was this the economic programme of Marxism? Was this what they meant by complete socialization? Later they modestly called the inflation a natural phenomenon and forgot that it was only the result of their criminal doctrines. Here again we see the close connection which ultimately exists between Marxism and Liberalism. How could the Bourgeoisie be surprised when the poorest sections of the population now suddenly applied to the economic sphere the ideas of equality, freedom and fraternity preached in the name of Liberalism? One could see at once how the boundaries between Social Democracy and the Middle Class parties became ever less distinct. The Social Democrat leaders became more and more bourgeois and sought to defend and keep what they had gained, for their own personal profit. Their slogan was no longer 'To the Barricades!' They were suddenly for law and order. On the other hand, the Middle Class parties contributed to the general collapse by their lack of character.
Today we accuse Social Democracy - whether, as at the beginning, in its red Jacobite cap, or, as later, in top hat-of having cheated and robbed Germany; but we must not forget that the Bourgeois parties, and above all the eternally vacillating Centre Party, participated in this wherever it occurred. In spite of all philosophical differences between the Black and the Red parties, the Black never left the Red in the lurch. Parties ruled, unrestrained and unchecked, through parliament, but weary and heavy-laden the people had to bear their cross of suffering.
Together with this inner dissolution, Germany's prestige abroad suffered more and more. All love of country having been proscribed and all manly virtues derided, it was only logical that the German government should be condemned to complete impotence in its foreign policy. Germany had become the whipping-boy of international politics. Conflicting interests between the other Powers were settled at Germany's expense. The League of Nations seemed to be exclusively an instrument to keep Germany down and to protect the Treaty of Versailles. In accordance with the terms of that Treaty, Germany had completely disarmed and had thus become completely defenceless. With a zeal which was worthy of a nobler cause the German Governments had supervised and carried out this disarmament. But they went even further than the Treaty of Versailles required. They disarmed the German people morally and spiritually as well. They killed all will to live and to resist. In the insane desire for fulfilment of' all the provisions of the Treaty they became intoxicated with astronomical figures. Since they had robbed the people of their honour they were dishonourable themselves towards friend and foe. In place of a straightforward, honest and dignified policy which would be practicable even in times of the greatest disaster, they carried out a policy of trickery. They tried to get round the most difficult problems of foreign policy by appealing to international solidarity. It was altogether characteristic of German parliamentary policy not to solve problems but to escape from every vital question by means of some cowardly compromise.
And then came Communism. it developed inevitably from the false doctrines of Marxism. Communism raised its liead a- an inevitable result of a policy of cowardice and self-surrender, and, encouraged by a policy alternating between Marxist trickery and Middle Class cowardice, it was inevitably victorious. At the birth of the Republic there were only a few thousand followers of Communism; but after a few years the number had risen to six millions, and Communism was prepared to seize power and to destroy culture, morals, the church and industry. It was ready to plunge Germany into chaos. Poverty and despair had seized the German people and driven them -in their thousands into the arms of Communism. Millions of men, filled with hatred, wished to destroy, because everything in them had been destroyed, and there were leaders ready for these desperate, deluded people. These leaders came from the underworld and were the scum of the population. And here, too, the Jew was more strongly represented than elsewhere. With the sub-man's will to destroy he felt that his time had come. The flag was hoisted. Blood red it fluttered, with the star of the Soviets in the middle. If this symbol should conquer, then Germany must go under in a rising flood of Bolshevism.