Mein Kampf
talked my tongue sore and my throat hoarse, and thought I must surely succeed in convincing them of the ruinousness of their Marxist madness; but I produced the very opposite result. Growing insight into the destructive effect of Social Democratic theories and their accomplishment seemed only to increase these people’s determination.
The more disputes I had with them, the better acquainted I became with their dialectics. First they would count on the stupidity of their adversaries, and then, if there was no way out, they pretended stupidity themselves. If all else failed, then they claimed they did not understand correctly, or, being challenged, instantly jumped to another subject, and talked truisms; but if these were agreed to they at once applied them to entirely different matters, and then in turn, being caught again, they would dodge and have no exact knowledge. No matter where you seized one of these apostles, your hand grasped slimy ooze, which poured in separate streams through the fingers, only to unite again the next moment. But if you really gave a man such a shattering defeat that, observed by others, he could do nothing but agree, and if you thought this at least one step forward, how great was your surprise the following day! The Jew had not the slightest memory of yesterday, and went on repeating his old mischievous nonsense as if nothing at all had happened. Being indignantly taxed with this he would pretend astonishment, and could remember nothing at all except the truth of his statements, which after all had been proved the day before.
I was often simply paralyzed. One did not know which to admire more—their fluency or their artistry in lying.
Gradually I began to hate them.
This all had one good result: my love for my own people was bound to grow in just the degree that I got sight of the real props or at least the propagators of Social Democracy. After all, considering the diabolical adroitness of these seducers, who could condemn the wretched victims? How great, indeed, was my own difficulty in mastering the dialectical mendacity of this race! And how futile was such a success with people who twisted the truth
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