Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

FIRST TRIUMPH 349with the help of the German people could subdue the Reichswehr. Thishe proved to himself and his audience with impressive, though none tooaccurate figures:'Herr Groener can do what he likes. We do not need a putsch. HerrGroener need only reckon: In 1919 we were seven men; in 1920, sixtyfour;in 1921, three thousand; in 1922, seven thousand; in 1923, thirtythousand.' Then came the moment when he could joyfully announce: 'In1925 we were again one man. In 1926, seventeen thousand; in 1927,over forty thousand; in 1928, over sixty thousand; in 1929, over ahundred and twenty thousand; today (March, 1930), we are over twohundred thousand. Herr Groener, in two years we will be five hundredand six hundred thousand. And a time will come when a radiant Brownmajority will enter the Reichstag, and then, Herr Groener: at Philippi weshall meet again!'For years Hitler himself had not understood that democracy must beconquered by democracy; small wonder that some of his more or lessfaithful never understood it. They grumbled, demanded continuation ofthe revolutionary course. Hitler threw the chief complainants summarilyout of the party, Otto Strasser at their head. Strasser and his supportershad long opposed the party's 'legal' course; when the conflict grewserious, most of his friends, as usually happens in such cases, left him inthe lurch, including his elder brother Gregor, who felt himself exposedand drawn into undesired adventures by the undisciplined Otto. 'I havesold my drugstore,' said Gregor; 'and put all my money into the party. Iam now dependent on my Reichstag mandate; if Hitler takes away mymandate, it's all over.' In an open letter Hitler called Otto Strasser a'parlor Bolshevik'; his adherents were 'doctrinaire fools, uprootedliterati, political boy scouts.' 'We founded the party,' he went on, 'andanyone who doesn't like the essential content of the movement as laiddown by me should not enter the movement or should get out of it.'Then he commanded his faithful Goebbels to throw Otto Strasser andhis supporters 'ruthlessly and without exception out of the party' (July 4,1930), which Goebbels did with the greatest pleasure. Otto Strasser'ssupporters were but few; he claimed, to be sure, that he was the trueNational Socialist, that Hitler had betrayed National Socialism, and heattempted to set