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

400 DER FUEHRERat the time of the declaration of war, but to dispose of an industry whichcould quickly manufacture the most up-to-date arms in large quantities.This conception of the small, superior elite army far above the rest ofthe nation was anathema to Hitler's military advisers. In theWehrpolitische Vereinigung former Colonel Konstantin Hierl haddelivered vehement diatribes against Seeckt, and one day Hitler himself,to the astonishment of all present, had given a lecture full of militarywisdom; had denied that the next war would be decided by clouds ofgas, armored planes, or endless swarms of tanks; no, it would bedecided finally by the single man 'who was prepared to die for hiscause.' He had complained that the professional soldiers still did notrealize what this meant; and just this was why they were unable tounderstand what the S.A. was for: 'to inspire the men with an idea forwhich they could die'; and this single man was nothing but 'the wholemass of our people.'This was the double talk of propaganda adapted to circumstances; forwhen Hitler spoke to his inner circle he admonished them to considerthemselves as the elite, high above the masses; but when he talked withthe generals he himself spoke for the masses.Without a doubt the fight for men sharpened more and more to a fightfor the workers, for the mighty human mass which would have the finalsay about the destiny of the modern labor state. The Communists triedto build up a shock army in the big factories. On the day of the greatrevolutionary reckoning, this shock army would take over the factories,halt work, and seize the machines, electric plants, and waterworks asstrategic pledges; from the conquered factories they would send themasses into the streets, and occupy first the suburbs of the big cities,then the centers of political power. That is how civil war is waged. Thegreat factories are the heart of capitalist society, as Marx and Engelshave taught, and this heart lies in the open hand of the workers, who, inthe words of the Communist Manifesto of 1847, have a world to gain,but nothing to lose but their chains. The workers — this is the centralidea of this whole philosophy of the revolution — need only becomeconscious of their power. In this they were obstructed by only one force,of this the Communists were convinced, and this force was