This is an historical and interesting blog on the use of power by the Nazis to control the means of production. Nazism as being saw and interpreted by Franz Neumann's Behemoth in 1941."It is the logical consequence of monopoly capitalism". The power of state were being used by the large industries, because the Nazis' government supported them as at that time, to control the production. There were no limitation on the acquisition and accumulation of capital and wealth compare to capitalism which imposed some limitation on the accumulation of wealth.
The passage i chose is "Probably what set Hitler apart from other dangerous was his ability to exert "charismatic authority" (the weberian concept) over his audiences, who saw in him some super natural quality. Hitler was an admirer of Nietsche and thought of himself as the superman creating a new order of values that disposed of the weak notions of human rights and substituted it for philosophy of power legitimated through violence. The combined with claims to speaking for the "real Germans" and promises to "restore German greatness" struck a chord with insecure Germans who felt lost and directionless in heir lives, and all too willing to find scapegoats for their problems. One of the most common claims made by early Hitler supporters was the feeling that "he made me feel like i was not alone anymore"
This passage analyze what we called charismatic authority, which is the authority based on the special personal qualities claimed by an individual, which make the individual attractive to and capable of influencing large number of people. Hitler was able to take advantage of the directionless and lost Germans through the use of the most powerful quality. I like this passage because, having the charismatic quality is very essential in order to speak and influence the large group of people. The Germans saw his quality as a super natural quality and i also like the claim made by one his supporters who said "he made me feel like i was not alone anymore". Hitler's charismatic really worked for him and was able to attract the insecure, lost and directionless Germans.
1. The Nazi's were able to take advantage of the economic disaster that happened in US in 1929 and later affected German in 1930. Nazi became the second largest party in Reichstag after SPD, and become impossible to form the majority in parliament without them. This is due to the German's voting system that allocated seats in parliament based on the overall percentage of the vote captured.
Hitler's government was granted full dictatorial powers due to fire decree act that was passed in March 1933
2. Nazis were able to control the prices of goods and wages of workers. The independent unions were subdued and replaced it with national union controlled by the Nazis (the German Labor Front).
It was an attractive model for the business executives because, they don't seem to offend the Nazi government because, they follow its instruction and were left in control. The government also became their biggest customer with an increase in demand for the war production.
3. The significance of the term "Arbeit Macht Frei" The Germans were able to take the advantage of the slaves by using them for the construction of roads and factories and promising them with the term meaning "work makes one free). that means, they are free, if they choose to work.
4. State capitalism is an economic system where the means of productions are privately owned business but government still has moderate control on it. Nazi Germany economic system is a monopolized capitalism; the state dictate and control every means of production through the use of coerce.
5. It was bad idea for them to isolated and confiscated the Jewish property. It finally affected them by having it mind that, they could control Hitler when he got to the power and that was why the old school aristocrats whom were also anti-semitic had to believe in democracy. It would have been better off for the Germans if they had never isolated anyone during their struggling because peace and unity matter most during the cause of struggling.
great ananlysis on the excerpt i was just thinking that since this was all new to that part of the world did Hitler himself inspire politics around the world? in the sense that if youre great at public speaking that people will do almost anything you tell them too and control entire populations. I myself think that these politicians capitalize from these "gifts" to get people to go for things that are just shells and lies used to elevate themselves.
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ReplyDeleteMost people outside of Germany in the 1930s just thought Hitler was crazy. A lot of people in Germany did too. There were people in Great Britain and America that tried to be the "British Hitler" or the "American Hitler" but they never really caught on--although Madison Square Garden did host a large Nazi rally in the 1930s. Mussolini in Italy was the originator of Fascism in the 1920s. Hitler says he was influenced by him, other leaders like Franco in Spain where influenced by him as well. Many other fascist leaders came to power in the early 30s also because of the chaos of the Great Depression. In Brazil, Getúlio Vargas who had reigned since 1930, created the fascist "Estado Novo" in 1937 trying to copy the "success" of Germany. Rafael Tujillo, who had risen to power through the U.S. occupation of the Dominican Republic in 1916, and had become president since 1930 became increasingly more authoritarian as the decade went on--and would continue to get worse until assassinated in 1961. Vargas committed suicide in 1954. Hitler committed suicide. Mussolini was killed by his own people. Franco lasted until the 1970s however. The communist leaders go peacefully it seems: Lenin, Mao, and Stalin all died relatively old and in their homes (although rumors are Stalin may have been poisoned).
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