The fourteen theses of German Revolution

By Otto Strasser

(This article was taken from the booklet: Forgotten Ideals - National Socialism Before 1933.)

The past four years have been a revival of interest in the ideas of Otto Strasser, and he is no longer an obscure figure amongst Revolutionary Nationalists. The "Fourteen Theses" which follow were published n the the July 1929 edition of NS-Briefe, one year before Strasser finally broke with Hitler and formed the Black Front.

THE GERMAN REVOLUTION

The meaning of the Great War? German Revolution! That mighty revolution of the twentieth century, of which the "World War" was only the first act, of which all "putsches," "rebellions," "battles" are only parts, in which fate tests and discards different solutions in order to find the solution.On both levels of life - the spiritual, the intellectual - mighty changes are going on, confused in expression, fragmented in form, and yet filled with the same melody, advancing toward the same goal!

But this goal is the German Revolution, the revolution of conservatism, by which the great French Revolution, that victory of liberalism, will be overthrown, overcome, set aside! It is the revolution of the soul against the mind, of nationalism against individualism, of socialism against capitalism, and when we try to announce its overwhelming content in a schematic way, we set down:

THE FOURTEEN THESES OF THE GERMAN REVOLUTION

I. The German Revolution denies before God and the world and obligation toward the "peace treaties" of Versailles and Saint-Germain, treaties based on the lie of Germany;s guilt and instituted through brute force, The German Revolution wages ceaseless and fanatic war, with all means, until it brings about the complete abrogation of these dictated treaties and all agreements based on them.

II. The German Revolution proclaims the freedom of the German nation in a strong German state which embraces all the German peoples of central Europe, and which, from Memel to Strassburg, from Eupen to Vienna, embraces Germans of the motherland and of the unredeemed territories, and because of its greatness and ability, for,s the backbone and the heart of white Europe.

III. The German Revolution refuses to rule over and exploit foreign peoples and nations. It wants no more and no less than sufficient living space for the young nation of Germans, and insofar as the fulfillment of this deepest natural right of life conflicts with the same right of other peoples and nations, the German Revolution recognizes the decision of war as the will of fate.

IV. The German Revolution declares that it is the sole purpose of the state to gather together all the forces of the nation and to employ them uniformly in guaranteeing the life and the future of this nation. It accepts every means which furthers his purpose an denies every means which hinders it.

V. The German Revolution therefore demands the harshest use of a strong central authority against all disruptive or disturbing organizations, whether political, party, or religious. The centralized state of the German nation binds together in the most powerful unity those forces which grow out of regional and particularist traditions.

VI. As an appropriate extension of the high tasks of the state, the German Revolution gives free scope for the development to the forces of occupational self-government, which have been inhibited and suppressed by a lifeless liberal system. It values the living organization in professional and occupational chambers above an artificial parliamentarism, just as in anything and everything, it values the personal responsibility of leadership over the irresponsibility of an anonymous mass.

VII. The German Revolution proclaims that the German nation is a community of fate. But it is aware that a community of fate is not only a community of need but also a community of bread and therefore affirms all of the demands which follow from this recognition according to the fundamental principle: "The common good before the individual good."

VIII. The German Revolution therefore rejects the individualistic economic system of capitalism; and the overthrow of capitalism is the prerequisite to the success of the German Revolution. With the same decisiveness of the German Revolution affirms the corporative economic system of socialism, processing from and concluding with the knowledge that the purpose of any economic system is solely the satisfaction of the needs of the nation, not riches or gain.

IX. The German Revolution therefore declares its superior property right in all land and mineral rights. Landowners are only leaseholders of the nation, and are accountable to the nation and to the state, because the nation as a whole defends the property.

X. On the basis of the same right, the German Revolution proclaims the right of all workers to share in ownership, profit and management of the economy of the nation, which every folk comrade serves. His personal share in property, profit and management id either earned or limited by increased output, greater responsibility. The German Revolution knows ad recognizes the motive force of personal interest, but incorporates this force into a larger machinery for the good of the nation.

XI. The German Revolution sees this good of the nation neither in the accumulation of material goods, nor in a limitless improvement of the standard of living, but exclusively in the recovery and maintenance in the health of that God-given organism, the Nation. Only thus can this German nation fulfill the task entrusted to it by fate.

XII. The German Revolution sees this task as the full development of the unique folkish character and therefore fights with every means against racial degeneration or foreign influence in culture, and for folkish renewal and purity, for German culture. This fight applies particularly to the Jews, who, in combination with the international powers of freemasonry and ultra-Montanism, are destroying, partly compelled by their nature, partly internationally, the life of the German soul.

XIII. The German Revolution therefore also fights against the rule of Jewish Roman law and for a German law which has the German and his honor as its axis and consciously affirms and values the inequality of man. This German law recognizes as citizens only folk comrades and measures all according to the good of the whole.

XIV. The German Revolution overthrows the world view of the great French Revolution and shapes the face of the twentieth century. It is nationalistic - against the enslavement of the German people; it is socialist - against the tyranny if money; it is folkish - against the destruction of the German soul - but it is all of these only for the sake of the nation. And for the sake of those nation for the German Revolution recoils from no battle, finds no sacrifice too great, no war too bloody, for Germany must live!Thus we youths feel the heartbeat of the German Revolution pounding, thus we front soldiers see the face of the near future before us and experience, humble-proud, the role of the chosen ones, to fight, to win the battle of the twentieth century, satisfied to see the meaning of the war, the Third Reich.