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Nazism, properly termed National Socialism, was the ideology of the German Nazi party, the Nationalsozialistischer Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (NSDAP, National Socialist German Workers’ Party). The term ‘Nazi’ (Nationalsozialist) was an insult coined by opponents, hence Nazism. Originally the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, founded in 1919 and led by Anton Drexler, the small Bavarian party ended up under Adolf Hitler who would come to define it under his dictatorial charismatic leadership.[1] The NSDAP emerged in the immediate aftermath of Germany’s defeat in WW1, and the development a new right-wing politics in Europe after the Russian Revolution of 1917, and ostensibly combined a worker-oriented politics with a rejection of conventional socialist internationalism. Instead, the NSDAP emerged directly from the German völkisch milieu – a scene of radical racist nationalism that originated in the Nineteenth Century.[2] The NSDAP also rejected core Marxist concepts like the class struggle, proclaiming the utopian Volksgemeinschaft (lit. national community), a cross-class racial community.
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The conservative elite were the old ruling class and new business class in Weimar Germany. Throughout the 1920s they became increasingly frustrated with the Weimar Republic’s continuing economic and political instability, their lack of real power and the rise of communism. They believed that a return to authoritarian rule was the only stable future for Germany which would protect their power and money.
The first move towards this desired authoritarian rule was Hindenburg’s increasing use of Article 48 . Between 1925-1931 Article 48 was used a total of 16 times. In 1931 alone this rose to 42 uses, in comparison to only 35 Reichstag laws being passed in the same year. In 1932, Article 48 was used 58 times.
The conservative elite’s second move towards authoritarian rule was helping the Nazi Party to gain power. The conservative elite and the Nazi Party had a common enemy – the political left .
