Chapter 1:
Philosophy and Party
On February 24th, 1920, the first great mass meeting under the
auspices of the new movement took place. In the Banquet Hall of
the Hofbräuhaus in Munich the twentyfive theses which
constituted the programme of our new party were expounded to
an audience of nearly two thousand people and each thesis was
enthusiastically received.
Thus we brought to the knowledge
of the public those first
principles and lines of action along which the new struggle was
to be conducted for the abolition of a confused mass of obsolete
ideas and opinions which had obscure and often pernicious
tendencies. A new force was to make its appearance among the
timid and feckless bourgeoisie.
This force was destined to
impede the triumphant advance of the Marxists and bring the
Chariot of Fate to a standstill just as it seemed about to reach its
goal.
It was evident that this new movement could gain the public
significance and support which are necessary prerequisites in
such a gigantic struggle only if it succeeded from the very outset
in awakening a sacrosanct conviction in the hearts of its
followers, that here it was not
a case of introducing a new
electoral slogan into the political field but that an entirely new
world view, which was of a radical significance, had to be
promoted.
One must try to recall the miserable jumble of opinions that used
to be arrayed side by side to form the usual Party Programme, as
it was called, and one must remember how these opinions used to
be brushed up or dressed in a new form from time to time. If we
would properly understand these programmatic monstrosities we
must carefully investigate the motives which inspired the average
bourgeois 'programme committee'.
Those people are always influenced by one and the same
preoccupation when they introduce something new into their
programme or modify something already contained in it. That
preoccupation is directed towards the results of the next election.
The moment these artists in parliamentary government have the
first glimmering of a suspicion that their darling public may be
ready to kick up its heels and escape from the harness of the old
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