{"id":1076,"date":"2019-03-11T16:43:14","date_gmt":"2019-03-11T16:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsm.prolerat.org\/?page_id=1076"},"modified":"2019-10-21T14:13:25","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T13:13:25","slug":"how-can-hitlerism-be-destroyed","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/how-can-hitlerism-be-destroyed\/","title":{"rendered":"How can Hitlerism be destroyed?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
February 1940, U.K.<\/a><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
That the Nazi Government, or what has come to be known as Hitlerism, is a\nmenace to the peace of the world, is a fact as much recognised by Socialists as\nby all those who support the war. No Socialist will deny that all the Hitler\nregime stands for is repugnant and revolting to every ideal<\/em> which he\nstrives to establish.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suppression of free expression of opinion, the concentration camp,\nthe racial<\/em> persecution and exiling of all people arbitrarily deemed out\nof sympathy with Nazi-ism, the public and private burning of a vast literature\non Socialist and scientific subjects, the untold number of outrages committed by\nthe Gestapo, are things indicative of a form of social life (pardon the phrase)\nwhich must befoul the finer feelings of all those worthy to be classed as really\nhuman.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Intellectual development cannot be where such conditions are prevalent.\nAnd where intellectual forces are stifled, real social material well-being is\nimpossible of attainment. There must be no mistake that Socialists hate\nHitlerism in a manner beyond question. It stands out to us calling aloud for\ndestruction. But when we have said all this we have but touched the fringe of\nthe problem presented by the existence of the present German Government. That\nGovernment, like that of any other throughout the world, owes its origin and\nmaintenance to definite historical and social causes, in which we include such\nmass ideology as that upon which all governments largely depend for their\nexistence.\n\n \n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Let us begin at the beginning.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The basic condition for the rivalry between modern states is the quest\nfor profit on the part of those who own the means of living, the land, mines,\nrailways and all such resources of the earth as the whole of mankind needs in\norder to live. The people who own these vital forces of human life are, in broad\noutline, represented by those who are in control of the machinery of government.\nWhether such government be democratic<\/em> or dictatorship in form, the above\nstatement applies with equal force. It cannot be too often stated that the\nmethod of government in all capitalist countries is a sort of \nby-product of the same general mode of wealth production and\ndistribution. We leave aside for the moment whether the democratic<\/em> or\ndictatorship form of the state in capitalist countries is more favourable for\nworking-class expression and development. One point here is, that in democratic\nBritain, France and America, as in dictatorship Germany and Italy, wealth is\nproduced primarily for profit. Therein is to be found the secret of the world\nsituation in modern times. Profit represents–is in fact–the unpaid labour of\nthe workers. Every worker must realise that after he has spent his energy in\nproducing things for the capitalist, and after all materials and other items\nhave been provided for, there is a surplus above the amount he gets in wages.\nWhen this surplus fails to materialise, capitalist production normally ceases.\nWe describe the surplus wealth taken by the capitalist as surplus-value. The\nworker labours for the capitalist (when he is permitted to do so) for wages, and\nthe capitalist puts him to work to realise the difference between the wages paid\nand the value of the worker’s product of labour. “It is this sort of\nexchange”, says Marx, “between capital and labour upon which\ncapitalistic production, or the wages system, is founded, and which must\nconstantly result in reproducing the working man as working man and the\ncapitalist as capitalist.”\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The perpetuation and expansion of the capitalist’s pursuit of\nsurplus-value gave rise to the imperialism underlying modern war. For capital to\ngrow to maturity it must break down national boundaries and seek the world for\nits sphere of activity and gratification. Hence the conflicts between national\ngroups of capitalists represented by their respective governments backed by\narmed force.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The phrase, “the workshop of the world”, at one time so aptly\napplied to this country, indicates an ideological landmark, not merely in the\neconomic history and development of England, but also in that of the other\nleading capitalist powers. Those who were once the customers of “the\nworld’s workshop” became, in the very nature of the capitalist process, its\ncompetitors for markets, trade routes, spheres of influence, and the occupation\nof strategic positions, or the acquisition of raw materials.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Thus arose the intense rivalry of Britain and Germany, which culminated\nin the war of 1914-1918. The defeat of Germany in that conflict and the imposing\nof  the Treaty of Versailles upon\nher paved the way for the war in which we are once more engaged.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the chief architects of the Versailles Treaty, Mr Lloyd George,\nhas said of his own part-handiwork:-\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\nam one of the four upon whom devolved the onerous task of drafting the treaties\nof 1919 . . . The conditions that were imposed upon Germany were ruthlessly\napplied to the limit of her endurance. She paid \u00a32,000,000,000 in reparations.\nWe experienced insuperable difficulties in paying \u00a31,000,000,000 to\nAmerica–and we are a much richer country than Germany.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nstripped her of all her colonies, confiscating her equipment in those vast\nterritories.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\ndeprived her of part of her home provinces, some of which she had possessed for\nover 200 years.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\ntook her great fleet away from her.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\nreduced her army of millions to 100,000 men.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\ndismantled her fortresses and we deprived her of artillery, tanks, airplays,\nbroke up all the machinery she possessed for re-equipping herself\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is no part of our Socialist work to shed tears over the demilitarising\nof Germany or any other capitalist state. But as we look back from the time of\nthe termination of the last war, up to date, we are forced to observe the\neconomic and political consequences which called forth the author of Mein\nKampf<\/em> and his gang as the heads of a great state. Hardly had the Versailles\nTreaty been signed than the then German Government began to plot and scheme to\ndefeat it. Hemmed in as Germany was by strong powers like England and France,\nthere is little cause for surprise that, to quote Mr Lloyd George again:-\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“When\ncommunities are deprived of the protection of law by selfish and unscrupulous\ninterests they generally find refuge in taking the law into their own\nhands.”\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That the thrusting of the Versailles Treaty upon Germany was in principle\nno worse than the German or Prussian Treaty imposed upon France in 1871, than\nthat imposed upon Roumania at Bucharest, or that on Russia at Brest-Litovsk, is\nbut begging the question. The real point is that capitalist treaty-making is not\nonly no safeguard against wars, but as a sort of storehouse for their\nrecurrence. And so is Europe, perhaps the whole world, once more on the verge of\na gigantic slaughter, blinding and maiming; the approximate end to the whole\nbutchery and destruction being beyond reasonable forecast.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The British Government again drags the workers of this country and its\ncolonies into the battlefields on the plea of resisting aggression, as it did in\nthe last “war to end war”. This time we are to smash Hitlerism, as we\nwere in 1914 incited to destroy the Kaiser and his military caste.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But it is not the Nazi form of government as such that the British ruling\nclass seeks to end, but the policy of Hitler’s regime in aiming at the interests\nof those who own and control the British Empire. Hitler and his murderous thugs\nmight have raped and persecuted, imprisoned and tortured indefinitely, without\nas much as a stir from the “Mother of Parliaments”. The sacking and\nslaughter of Abyssinia, the overrunning of Austria and Czechoslovakia, were as\nmuch undisputed acts of aggression as that of Poland, but they evoked the\nBritish Government to acts of accommodation<\/em> rather than conflict. Not\nuntil it was certain that  Hitler had designs on the dismemberment of the British Empire\nwere the forces of slaughter released by Great Britain and her ally, France.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the present war is allowed to run its course until one or other of the\ncombatants is crushed, are we likely to witness, if we are still alive, the\ndownfall of the Nazi form of government in Germany, the restoration of some form\nof democratic social life in Germany, and the maintenance of what democratic<\/em>\nmeans of expression remain in Europe today? If Chamberlain, Daladier and Company\nare the spokesmen in setting the seal of defeat on Germany, will they invite the\n“leaders” of the working-class movement to secure that the German\nworkers be permitted to voice their political and social views, whatever they\nmay be? We know from experience they will do nothing of the kind; it is not a\nmatter in which they are the least bit interested. Therefore, the backing of the\n“Labour Movement” given to the British and French governments is\npreposterous.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The working-class movement of Europe, even that part of it which claims\nthe war to be one of Democracy versus<\/em> Nazi Dictatorship, is no more\nlikely to be consulted at the “funeral” of Hitler than they will be\ngranted their emancipation from wage-slavery by the international capitalist\nclass. The real issue before the working class of the world is one of ending its\nexploitation and all that such entails.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The present war is most likely to bring in its trail, unless it is\nstopped by working-class action meanwhile, greater misery than the last war,\ngreater and more intensified exploitation, less freedom<\/em> to achieve our\npurpose than we now possess, whichever side is triumphant in the struggle.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The German workers must, it seems, be the means of effecting the downfall\nof the Nazi system of government.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For ourselves we, as Socialists, would render them any service which\nwould assist in their accomplishing the overthrow of their despotic ruling gang,\nif only to gain for them the immediate means of being able to give expression to\ntheir social and political aspirations without fear of being murdered or placed\nin a concentration camp.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Until the working-class movement in Germany or anywhere else can gain the\nmeans of emerging from underground into the daylight, their chances of finally\nfreeing themselves from capitalism through Socialism are well-nigh hopeless. To\nassist in the war against Germany is not the way by which this can be\naccomplished, we should be slaughtering the very people we desire to liberate<\/em>\nfrom the Nazi yoke. Moreover, our action then would assist Hitler and Co. to\nbury still deeper the opposition to his rule. He would point to the unanimity of\nfeeling here to secure it in Germany. We find no valid reason for the support of\nthis war, as we found none for the last war, which left us, of the Socialist\nParty, more isolated in our opposition than we are today.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the war of 1914-1918 was at its worst, when the blood-bath was full\nto overflowing, we said then:\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Every\nSocialist must, therefore, wish to see peace established at once to save further\nmaiming and slaughter of our fellow-workers. All those who, on any pretext, or\nfor any supposed reason, wish the war to continue, at once stamp themselves as\nanti-Socialist, anti-working class, and pro-capitalist.” (Socialist\nStandard<\/em>, July 1917.)\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Quite frankly, facing the matter realistically, we see no immediate\nprospect of the workers becoming Socialists in sufficient numbers to come to\nreal grips with the capitalist class in a challenge to the latter’s political\npower. The talk of a Socialist peace, although supremely desirable and\nnecessary, would therefore seem to be Utopian at the moment. If the working\nclass becomes alive to the realities of  the\nwar issue they will see that their first task is to stop the blood-letting, and\nfinally to gain political power for themselves and establish Socialism\nthroughout the world and thus end all wars.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Back to the History Index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
February 1940, U.K. That the Nazi Government, or what has come to be known as Hitlerism, is a menace to the peace of the world, is a fact as much recognised by Socialists as by all those who support the war. No Socialist will deny that all the Hitler regime stands for is repugnant and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2650,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1076","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1076","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1076\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2651,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1076\/revisions\/2651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2650"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.worldsocialism.org\/wsm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}