Mein Kampf
We may perhaps let it pass that this is true of the great masses, but the fact that even in intelligent circles the German collapse is regarded primarily as an “economic catastrophe,” and the cure expected by economic means, is one of the reasons why no recovery has hitherto been possible. Only when we realize that here as elsewhere the economic structure occupies only the second or even the third place, while moral and racial factors occupy the first, can we arrive at an understanding of the causes of the present disaster, and thus be able to find ways and means of cure.
The search for the causes of the German collapse, therefore, is of prime importance, especially for a political movement whose goal it is to make good the defeat.
But even in searching the past we must take great care not to confuse the conspicuous effects with the less visible causes.
The easiest and hence the most popular explanation of the present disaster is that it results from the war just lost, which therefore is the cause of the whole trouble.
No doubt there are many people who really believe this nonsense, but there are more in whose mouths such an explanation can but be a lie and a deliberate untruth. The latter is true of all those now feeding at the government trough. For was it not the very heralds of the Revolution who used to keep urging upon the people that to the great masses it made no difference how the war ended? Did they not, on the contrary, declare solemnly that at most the “great capitalists” could have an interest in the victorious termination of the monstrous struggle among the peoples, but never the German people as such, let alone the German worker? Did not these apostles of world reconciliation declare quite to the contrary, that Germany’s defeat would destroy only “militarism,” while the German people would be magnificently resurrected? Were these not the men who praised the bounty of the Entente, and thrust the guilt for the whole bloody struggle upon Germany? But could they have done this without their declaration that even a military defeat would have no special consequences for the nation? Was not the whole Revolution garnished with the cant statement that it would prevent the victory
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