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

350 DER FUEHRERup his own National Socialist Party. But the attempt failed, his partyremained a splinter group; Otto Strasser's daily degenerated into aweekly while Goebbels was able to develop his weekly Angriff (Attack)into a daily.More serious was a rebellion of the Berlin S.A. shortly before theelections. These faithful were primarily concerned about money; theycomplained that they had not been put forward as Reichstag candidates,with the prospect of a monthly salary amounting to six to eight hundredmarks. For the first time, Himmler's Black S.S. attacked the BrownS.A., but were so badly beaten that they had to phone the police forhelp. Hitler rushed to Berlin, drove from beer hall to beer hall, and evenburst into tears to melt the hardened hearts of his Brown Shirts. As aweightier argument he poured forth money, subjecting the whole partyto a 'special tax' for the S.A. He put the blame for the misunderstandingbetween himself and 'his' S.A. on bad leaders, who had forcedthemselves between him and his faithful. Never had there been soglowing an opportunity to win over the Brown Shirts. Pfeffer wasdeposed and Hitler personally assumed supreme command of his privatearmy, assuming Pfeffer's title: Oberster S.A. Fuhrer (Supreme S.A.leader), abbreviated as 'Osaf.'The new supreme S.A. leader now showed the shaken bourgeoisparties, especially the party of Hugenberg, what it meant to be alliedwith him. True, Hitler's propaganda seemed directed against theCommunists, against the Social Democrats, and finally againstBruning's Center Party. But even the most sensational, brutal, welldirectedpropaganda had astonishingly little effect against these solidpolitical institutions, and the figures show that the adherents of SocialDemocracy and the Center stood firmly by their parties. But in the crisisof 1930, the nationalist groups, especially Hugen-berg's GermanNationals, wedged in between democratic and National Socialist parties,became chaff, and this chaff flew to Hitler.The shift that occurred in 1930 was no hysterical crash as in 1923.The new crisis approached slowly like an inexorable doom, gripping thesouls of men almost before their outward circumstances. It is not hard tofind parallels between the rising economic distress and