Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-05T16:46:59.873Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Towards a Fourth Reich? The History of National Bolshevism in Germany

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 August 2009

Klemens von Klemperer
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

National Bolshevism represents a chapter in German-Russian relations since the First World War. As a policy advocating an Eastern orientation for Germany it is a most puzzling and at this day a very acute phenomenon. To those educated to observe the spectrum of political opinions in terms of Right and Left, with the extreme Right at the opposite end from the extreme Left, National Bolshevism seems a paradox. It suggests the meeting of extremes. More concretely the term stands for a rapprochement between German nationalism and Russian Communism. The story of National Bolshevism is the story of two “strange bedfellows.”

In the effort to comprehend this upsetting pattern it might be recalled that modern psychology has in many ways succeeded in breaking down our traditional thinking about human relations. Love, for example, has lost its meaning apart from hate, which has become its alter ego. We might be tempted to translate this finding into political terms, and National Bolshevism would appear as an example of a political love-hate relationship. It might also be suggested that the further we get from the origins and die more insight we gain into die workings of die two twentieth century extremes — Fascism and Communism — the more we are struck by dieir affinities. We grant diat Fascism is nodiing more dian “doctrineless dynamism,” whereas Communism goes back to die solid doctrinaire structure of Marxism. And even through European history since 1917 often threatened to lead up to an ultimate conflict between Fascism and Communism, die “transmutation” through which Marxism has gone in modern Russia has brought it ironically close to Fascism. It has become increasingly evident that die fight between die two was a mere sham battle.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Review of Politics , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 1951 , pp. 191 - 210
Copyright
Copyright © University of Notre Dame 1951

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Cf. on this subject Berlin, Isaiah, “Political Ideas in the Twentieth Century,” Foreign Affairs, vol. xxviii (04, 1950), 351 ff.Google Scholar

2 Rauschning, Hermann, The Revolution of Nihilism. Warning to the West (New York, 1939), 191.Google Scholar

3 “The Boston Meeting, 1949,” The American Historical Review, LV (1950), 738.Google Scholar

4 Memorandum of 9 September 1922 to Wirth, Chancellor, Seeckt. Aus seinem Leben, 1918–1936 (General Drvon Rabenau, Friedrich, ed., Leipzig, 1940), 317.Google Scholar

5 Cf. Brockdorff-Rantzau, Graf, Dokumente (Charlottenburg, 1920), 146 ff.Google Scholar

6 Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939 (First series, vol. III, 1919, Woodward, E. L. and Butler, Rohan, eds., London, 1949), 19Google Scholar; cf. ibid., 1.

8 Jünger, Ernst, “Die Geburt des Nationalismus aus dem Kriege,” Deutsche Volkstum, XXXI (1929), 578Google Scholar; cf. also Heinz, Friedrich Wilhelm, Die Nation greift an. Geschichte und Kritik des soldatischen Nationalismus (Berlin, 1933), 113Google Scholar and von Salomon, Ernst, Nahe Geschichte. Ein Überblick (Berlin, 1936), 24.Google Scholar

7 van den Bruck, Moeller, Das Recht der jungen Völker (Schwarz, Hans, ed., Berlin, 1932), 75–79.Google Scholar

9 Cf. Dwinger, Edwin Erich, Zwischen Weiss und Rot. Die Russische Tragödie (Jena, 1930).Google Scholar

10 Report by General Turner (Tilsit), Tilsit, , December 9, 1919Google Scholar, Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919–1939, 249.Google Scholar

11 Cf. ibid., 78, 164 and 228.

12 Ulmnis, MM. and Meierovicz, to MrGeorge, Lloyd, Riga, , September 21, 1919Google Scholar, ibid., 116.

13 von Salomon, Ernst, Die Geächteten (Berlin, 1930), 66Google Scholar, quoted in Fischer, Ruth, Stalin and German Communism. A Study in the Origins of the State Party (Cambridge, Mass., 1948), 284.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14 Jünger, “Die Geburt des Nationalismus aus dem Kriege,” Deutsches Volkstum, XXXI (1929), 580.Google Scholar

15 Stadtler was an Alsatian by birth and originally a member of the Center Party; he saw frontline duty on Germany's Eastern front until taken prisoner by the Russians in 1917. After Brest Litovsk he stayed in Russia in charge of the Press Bureau of the German Embassy in Moscow.

16 Stadtler, Eduard, Als Antibolschewist 1918–1919 (Düsseldorf, 1935), 19.Google Scholar

17 von Gleichen, Heinrich and Schmidt, Anneliese, Der Bolschewismus und die deutschen Intellektuellen. Äusserungen auf eine Umfrage des Bundes deutscher Gelehrter und Künstler (Leipzig, 1920), 75 f.Google Scholar

18 Cf. Gleichen, and Schmidt, , Op. cit.Google Scholar

19 Fischer, , Stalin, 207.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., 192.

21 Fischer, , Stalin, 196 ff.Google Scholar

22 Lenin, Nicolai, “Left” Communism. An Infantile Disorder (no loc., 1920?), 56.Google Scholar

23 Fischer, , Stalin, 96.Google Scholar

24 Cf. Müller, Erich, “Zur Geschichte des Nationalbolschewismus,” Deutsche Volkstum, XXXIV (1932), 785.Google Scholar

25 Cf. Radek, Karl, Die auswärtige Politik. des deutschen Kommurusmus und der Hamburger nationale Bolschewismus (Vienna, 1919?), 8.Google Scholar

26 “Nationalbolschewismus,” Der Reichswart, I (1920), no. 6, 8.Google Scholar

27 “Wir und Russland,” Der Reichswart, II (1921), no. 44, 4.Google Scholar

28 Cf. Radek, , Die auswärtige Politik, 8.Google Scholar

29 Cf. Reventlow, Graf Ernst, “‘Ein Stück Wegs?’,” Die Tat, XXIII (1931–1932), 989Google Scholar and Müller, Erich, Nationalbolschewismus (Hamburg, 1933), 11 f.Google Scholar

30 Cf. Reventlow, , “‘Ein Stück Wegs’,” Die Tat, XXIII (1931–1932), 990Google Scholar and Fischer, , Stalin, 197.Google Scholar

31 von Schlabrendorff, Fabian, Offiziere gegen Hitler (Zurich, 1946), 15.Google Scholar

32 Troeltsch, Ernst, Spektator–Briefe. Aufsätze über die deutsche Revolution und die Weltpolitik, 1918–1922 (Baron, Hans, ed., Tübingen, 1924), 50.Google Scholar

33 Cf. Fischer, , Stalin, 196 ff.Google Scholar

34 “‘Leo Schlageter, der Wanderer ins Nichts,’ Eine Rede Karl Radeks,” Moeller van den Brack, Das Recht der jungen Völker. Sammlung politischer Aufsätze (Schwartz, Hans, ed., Berlin, 1932), 75–79.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., 77 f.

36 Flechtheim, Ossip K., Die Kommunistiche Partei Deutschlands in der Weimarer Republik. (Offenbach a.M., 1948), 89Google Scholar; Ruth Fischer's attempts in her own work (Fischer, , Stalin, 283) to explain away this episode are unsubstantiated and unconvincing.Google Scholar

37 Reventlow later explained that he chose to publish his own point of view in the Rote Fahne because the edition of his own weekly was not large enough; Reventlow, , “‘Ein Stück Wegs?’,” Die Tat, XXIII (1931–1932), 989 ff.Google Scholar

38 His three answers to Radek, Karl (“Der Wanderer ins Nichts,” Gewissen, 2 July 1923;Google Scholar“Der dritte Standpunkt,” Gewissen, 16 July, 1923Google Scholar; “Wirklichkeit,” Gewissen, 30 July 1923Google Scholar) are reprinted in Moeller, , Das Recht der jungen Völker (1932), 81 ff.Google Scholar

39 Troeltsch, , Spehator-Briefe, 269.Google Scholar

40 The predecessor of the famous Gentlemen's Club (Herrenklub).

41 He also was active in the June Club.

42 van den Bruck, Moeller, Das dritte Reich (3rd ed., Hamburg, 1931), 26Google Scholar; cf. also ibid., 162.

43 van den Bruck, Moeller, Das Recht der jungen Völker (Munich, 1919).Google Scholar

44 Cf. Seeckt, . Aus seinem Leber,, 1918–1936, 309, 319.Google Scholar

45 Schwarz, Hans, “Von deutscher Revolution,” Der Nahe Osten, VI (1933), 246.Google Scholar

46 Cf. DrEhrt, Adolf, Totale Krise—totale Revolution? Die “Schwarze Front” des völkischen Nationalismus (Berlin, 1933), 41.Google Scholar

47 Cf. Hiller, Kurt, “Linke Leute von Rechts,” Wettbühne, XXVIII, 2 (1932), 154.Google Scholar

48 Quotation marks original; cf. Flechtheim, , Die K. P. D., 281 ff.Google Scholar

49 Jünger, Ernst, Der Arbeiter. Herrschaft und Gestalt (Hamburg, 1932).Google Scholar

50 Jünger, Erns, “Ein neuer Bericht aus dem Lande der Planwirtschaft,” Widerstand, VIII (1933), 280.Google Scholar

51 The founder of the original Freikorps Oberland Joseph Römer (called Beppo Römer), a colorful World War I captain, joined the Communists, was repeatedly imprisoned after the Nazi seizure of power and finally executed in September 1944 on the charge of having plotted the assassination of Hitler.

52 For a formulation of Scheringer's views see the article written by him while in captivity: Scheringer, Lt., “Revolutionäre Wehrpolitik,” Die Sozialistische Nation, I (1931), 69–72.Google Scholar

53 Lt. Wendt, one of Scheringer's co-defendants, left the Nazi Party for Otto Strasser's Black Front. Among the deserters of die N.S.D.A.P. for the K.P.D. we find Ernst von Salomon's brother Bruno who became prominent in the Communist peasants movement.

54 Berliner Tageblatt, August 30, 1930Google Scholar, referred to in Fraenkel, Ernst, “German Russian relations since 1918,” The Review of Politics, II (1940), 45.Google Scholar

55 Schwarzschild, Leopold, “Jugend in Chaos,” Montag Morgen, August 30, 1930, reprinted in Die Sozfalistische Nation, I (1931) 9/10, 2–4.Google Scholar

56 Lipiansky, , “Pour un Communism National,” Revue d'allemagne, VI (1932), 849.Google Scholar

57 Cf. in particular Ehrentreich, Alfred, “Bündische Jugend gegen den westlichen Imperialismus,” Die Tat, XXI (1929–1930), 382–386.Google Scholar

58 Widerstand; Entscheidung; Das dritte Reich.

59 Hanseatische Verlagsanstalt.

60 Zehrer, Hans, “Der Fall Lambach,” Die Tat, XX (1928–1929), 464.Google Scholar

61 Between 1929 and 1933 the subscriptions of the magazine had gone up from 1,000 to 20,000. The immediate political contacts of Zehrer with certain Reichswehr generals are generally mentioned in the meager literature about Die Tat; but in particular the role of Die Tat as a mouthpiece for General von Schleicher still awaits further elucidation.

62 For the accounts of the meeting cf. Boehm, Max Hildebert, “Moeller van den Bruck im Kreise seiner politischen Freunde,” Deutsche Volkstum, XXXIV (1932), 696Google Scholar; Fechter, Paul, Moeller ran den Bruck Ein politisches Schicksal (Berlin, 1934), 78Google Scholar; Fechter, Paul, “Das Leben Moellers van der Bruck,” Deutsche Rundschau, vol. CCXXXIX (1934), 20Google Scholar; Pechel, Rudolf, Deutscher Widerstand (Zurich, 1947), 279.Google Scholar

63 Cf. Heiden, Konrad, Der Führer. Hitler's Rise to Power (New York, Boston, 1941), 93 f.Google Scholar

64 In a letter to Mussolini written on the eve of the German invasion of Russia, Hitler stated frankly that the partnership with the Soviet Union had all along been “very irksome” to him; and that breaking it meant relieving him of “mental agonies”; Letter from Hitler to Mussolini dated 21 June 1941. Nazi-Soviet Relations 1939–1941 (Sontag, Raymond James and Beddie, James Stuart, eds., New York, 1948), 349 ff.Google Scholar

65 Heiden, , Den Führer, 284 ff.Google Scholar

66 Cf. Strasser's attempts to exploit for his purposes the Stennes secession of 1931 from the Party; Strasser, Otto and Stern, Michael, Flight from Terror (New York, 1943), 165 ff; Captain Stennes actually joined the Strasser movement temporarily in the name of the revolution of the “workers, peasants and soldiers.”Google Scholar

67 Cf. Ehrt, , Totale Krise, and Schapke, Richard, Die Schwarze Front (Leipzig, 1932).Google Scholar

68 Cf. the various issues of Die deutsche Revolution, X (1934).Google Scholar

69 Rosenberg, Alfred, “Gegen Tarnung,” Völkischer Beobachter, December 8, 1933Google Scholar, reprinted in Rosenberg, Alfred, Gestaltung der Idee (7th ed., Munich, 1938), 16 ff.Google Scholar

70 Seddin, Wilhelm, Preussentum gegen Sozialismus (Berlin, 1935Google Scholar) and Rödel, Helmut, Moeller van den Bruck (Berlin, 1939). None other than Reventlow, who himself got into trouble with the Nazi censorship, published Seddin's book and wrote a foreword for it.Google Scholar

71 Seddin, Wilhelm, “Nachwort zu Moeller van den Bruck,” Wille und Macht, III (1935), 1.Google Scholar

72 Kohlhaas, Michael, “Moeller van den Bruck und die deutsche Revolution,” Die deutsche Revolution, IX, 33 (23 12, 1934).Google Scholar

73 Neumann, Sigmund, The Future in Perspective (New York, 1946), 96.Google Scholar

74 Cf. Dulles, Allen W., Germany's Underground (New York, 1947), 170 fGoogle Scholar and Gisevius, Hans B., To the Bitter End (Boston, 1947), 513 f.Google Scholar

75 The High Commissioner's report stated that, in spite of their rejection of Marxism, a “number of Rightist leaders favor, for strategic reasons, an agreement with Russia.” New York Times, March 4, 1950. A resolution of eight U. S. Congressmen pointed to “repeated evidence” of German nationalists seeking a “totalitarian axis with Soviet Russia.” New York Times, April 18, 1950.

76 Zehrer, Hans, “Die Frühjahrsoffensive,” Die Tat, XXIV (1932–1933), 13.Google Scholar

77 Dostoievsky, F. M., The Diary of a Writer (New York, 1949), II, 913; cf. II, 727 ff.Google Scholar