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

526 DER FUEHRERhe put his threat into effect. Schleicher had publicly and truthfullydeclared that Germany was freed from reparations. Thereupon AlfredRosenberg drew up a statement, which was submitted on January 20 tothe Reichstag's committee on foreign affairs, where it was passed by theunited majority of National Socialists and Communists: The committeeon foreign affairs declared that Germany was not free; that she wassubjected to excessive interest payments; that the Lausanne accord hadnot been ratified by the foreign powers; and 'for all these reasons thecommittee on foreign affairs [that is, the National Socialist-Communistmajority] is of the opinion that the Chancellor's above-mentionedremarks may give rise to false ideas at home and abroad, and havetherefore not benefited German interests.'The game which the National Socialists played with the Communistsin the last months of their fight for power will always be remembered asa masterpiece of political strategy. They systematically shattered thepolitical order of Germany by fighting in the streets with theCommunists and collaborating with them in parliament. In theReichstag they destroyed the basis of all government, on the streets theydestroyed the peace. After their electoral victory in Lippe, they dideverything in their power to arouse and provoke the Communistmenace. They sent the S.A. more systematically than before into theworkers' neighborhoods, the centers of Communist power; theyprovoked street brawls, ending the lull that had followed the murder ofPotempa, and publicly mourned their dead as victims of 'Communistmurder agitation.' And they did all this with a party machine whichconstantly was on the point of falling apart. Certainly they lackedneither courage nor resourcefulness.Goebbels tried to prove that the decline of the National Socialist Partywould be the greatest misfortune for middle-class Germany. 'We came,'he said at the beginning of January, 'with twelve million people. If welost these people, they would be lost to the nation; they would go overto Bolshevism.' Even Schleicher voiced these sentiments; through HansZehrer, one of his press spokesmen, he declared that the NationalSocialist Party must not be allowed to disintegrate, for if it did,Germany would have ten million Communists the next day.