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

642 DER FUEHRERmade framework for a future National Socialist economic order. Amongyounger men, it was almost a matter of course to call this futureeconomic order 'socialism.' The twenty-six-year-old Baldur vonSchirach, leader of the Hitler youth, who could boast of standing closeto Hitler, declared blundy in those revolutionary June weeks: 'Asocialist and anti-capitalist attitude is the most salient characteristic ofthe Young National Socialist Germany.'Despite the rhetoric, these words did express the sound sentiment thatsocialism, like every great political idea, demanded above all a mentalattitude on the part of the people, and that objective conditions wereonly secondary. But if this socialism were to be described in economicterms, it was clear that it could not mean an egalitarian elimination ofprivate property. On the contrary, private property was not to beeliminated, but restored; for in this view, capitalism was the real enemyof private property, while socialism meant that one man's propertywould be equal — in importance and dignity — to another's.For private property — in Hitler's view — belonged, along withsuperior strength, superior intelligence, and higher discipline, to thecharacteristics by which the higher race is distinguished. The unevendistribution of wealth came from the same causes as the organization ofnations; from the interaction between races of different Value'; from thesuperiority of the stronger race over the weaker. As soon as these tworacial types came together, or, in Hitler's words, 'as soon as this processof nation and state formation was initiated, the Communist age ofsociety was past. The primitive faculty of one race creates differentvalues from the more highly developed or divergent faculty of another.And consequently, the fruits of labor will be distributed with a view toachievement' — and with this ponderous and tiresome racial argumentHitler comes to the same result as the most common old-fashionedLiberals: 'The idea of private property is, therefore, inseparably boundup with the conviction that the production of men varies in essence andin value.'This means: the 'better race,' because the more creative one, deservesmore property. But only because it is the more creative one; property isjustified by nothing else. For 'common good' always dominates privateinterest; this is 'socialism,' and property could not continue to existwithout this socialism.