EIGHT
The FührerversusFreeEnterprise
Hitler’s Hatredfor the IndustrialRevolution
MeinKampffurtherestablishesthat AdolfHitlernot onlyscornsJewishbusinessmenin
particular,but entrepreneursof everyethnicityand creed.It goesas far as drubbing“the
bourgeoisworld” for having“pavedthe way” for the Manchesterite“doctrinewhich
deniesthe stateas such.” Hitler’s firstbooklamentsthat,as the InventivePeriodwenton,
the Germannationadopted“an industrializationas boundlessas it washarmful.... the
abruptalternationbetweenrichandpoorbecamereallyapparent.... Despiteall the
economicprosperity,dissatisfactionbecamegreateranddeeper.. .” As the richbecame
richer,“the godsof heavenwereput intothe corneras obsoleteandoutmoded,andin
theirsteadincensewasburnedto the idolMammon.” Thereis thatMammonagain.
Continuingon this topicMeinKampfrattleson, “Unfortunately,the dominationof money
wassanctionedevenby thatauthoritywhichshouldhavemostopposedit: His Majesty
the Kaiseractedmostunfortunatelyby drawingthe aristocracyintothe orbitof the new
financecapital.” The tomeadditionallyelicitsthe utmostcontemptfor the employerwho
“conductshis businessin an inhuman,exploitingway,misusesthe nationallaborforce
and makesmillionsout of its sweat.”
Hencethe Nazimanifestocursesentrepreneursfor their“narrow-mindedrejectionof
all attemptsto betterworkingconditions,to introducesafetydeviceson machines,to
prohibitchildlaborandprotectthe woman.. .” Thereafterthe bookwhinesthat“on
innumerableoccasionsthe bourgeoisiehas...opposeddemandswhichwerejustifiedfrom
the universalhumanpointof view.... Nevercan our politicalbourgeoisiemakegoodits
sinsin this direction.. .” In the passageswhereit vilifiesthe IndustrialRevolutionas an
age whencapitalistsexploitedmen,women,and childrenin factories,MeinKampf’s text is
almostindistinguishablefromthatof any historyvolumepennedby a progressive.The
masses“movedfrompeasantvillagesto the largercitiesto earntheirbreadas factory
workersin the newlyestablishedindustries.Theworkingandlivingconditionsof the
newclassweremorethandismal.... The formaltransferenceof the old workinghoursto
the industriallarge-scaleenterprisewaspositivelycatastrophic... the worker’s health
wasundermined.... To this finallywasaddedthe miserablewageson one handand the
employer’s correspondinglyandobviouslyso vastlysuperiorpositionon the other.”^1
Howmuchdoesthat resemblethe anti-Industrial-RevolutionremarksfromBertrandRus-
sell and PaulinaBorsookthat I quotedin BookTwo?In person,Hitlersoundedoff to Otto
Wagener—”Industrializationhas deprivedthe individualof all liberty,placedhimin
thrallto capitaland the machine.... Thisis mostcrudelyevidentin the Bolshevikstate,
177