Mein Kampf
this, the Pan-German movement would have been directed at one single adversary. Nothing is more dangerous for a political party than to let itself be led hither and yon in its decisions by vaporing fools who wish for everything without ever being able to accomplish anything whatever.
No matter how much may actually be wrong with a particular religious persuasion, a political party must never for an instant lose sight of the fact that, judging by all previous historical experience, no purely political party in a similar situation has ever succeeded in arriving at a religious reformation.
We do not study history to forget its teachings when they should be put to practical use, nor to think that things are different now, and that its eternal truths are no longer applicable; on the contrary, we learn from history its practical application for the present. Let no one who cannot accomplish this imagine himself a political leader; he is in actuality a shallow if usually very conceited simpleton, and all the good will in the world does not excuse his practical incapacity.
And in fact the art of truly great popular leaders in all ages has consisted chiefly in not distracting the attention of a people, but concentrating always on a single adversary. The more unified the object of the people’s will to fight, the greater will be the magnetic attraction of a movement, and the more tremendous its impact. It is part of a great leader’s genius to make even widely separated adversaries appear as if they belonged to but one category, because among weakly and undecided characters the recognition of various enemies all too easily marks the beginning of doubt of one’s own rightness.
When the wavering masses see themselves fighting against too many enemies, objectivity immediately appears, casting up the question whether all the others are really wrong, and only one’s own people or movement alone is in the right.
And just there is the first weakening of one’s own strength. Therefore a multiplicity of inwardly various opponents must always be lumped together so that in the eyes of the mass of one’s own followers the battle is fought against but one single enemy.
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