236 Chapter 10
biodynamic(organic)farming,HessandHimmlertriedto instituterestrictionson the
usageof this and othersyntheticfertilizers.^24 The two prioritizedtheirownenvironmen-
talistdogmaaboveany concernsaboutwhetherthe populationwas fed.
Accordingly,the GermanLaborFrontimplementedgovernmentregulationsto micro-
managethe termsof howandwhenan employeewouldsell his timeandlabor.“The
salariedworker,” commentsGeorgeMosse,“couldnot escapethe tentaclesof the Labor
Front,for it controlledhiringand firing,workmen’s compensationand insurance,as well
as carefor the elderlyand disabledworkers.” Despitethe allegedbenefitsprovidedby the
welfarestate,the ruleswereinsufferable.To elucidate,“Thewagesof salariedworkers
werefrozenandtheirabilityto movefromone job to anotherwasrigidlycontrolled.”^25
AaronWildavskyandCarolynWebberconcur,“Government-operatedlaborexchanges
in effectdictatedto workerswhere,for whom,and howlongtheycouldwork.”^26 Mosse
addsthat“therewereotherfinancialsacrifices,as the examinationof the Nazitaxation
systemshows.... The rise in the cost of livinghas to be consideredin relationto boththe
wagefreezefor salariedemployeesand the tax structure.”^27
In observanceof the data,RaymondFletcher—a BritishMemberof Parliamentwho
waseducatedin Germany—disputesthosewho“thinkof NaziGermanyas a modelof
efficiency.... TheThirdReichas an exampleof militaryor industrialefficiencyis a
ludicrousmyth.” For instance,in the Ruhr,“the Naziscontinuedto turnout tanksand
armoredpersonnelcarrierswellaftertheyno longercouldfindrail transportto takethem
away.Theyusedtheirscientistsverypoorly.Of 16,000inventionsof militarysignificance
madeduringthe war,feweveractuallygot intoproductionbecauseof the prevailing
inefficiency.”^28
Despitethe casuistryfromhis best-sellingtextbook—whichwe criticizedin BooksOne
and Two—governisteconomistPaulA. Samuelsonconfrontsthe dataconcerningthe Axis
Powers.ContradictingOrwell,Samuelsonsaysplainly,“Fascismturnsout in historynot
to deliverthe goods.”^29 It is the casethatthe Naziswereno moresuccessfulthanthe
Sovietsin achievingeconomicefficiencythroughthe eliminationof the free market.Recall
my pointfromBookOnethata nationachievesself-destructionto the extentthatits
governmentsteadfastlyassumesitselfto havestatutoryownershipoverits owncitizens.
Thatprincipleappliesjust as accuratelyto the NationalSocialistdictatorshipas it doesto
the UnitedSovietSocialistRepublics.
Herewe returnto the topicof whetherHitlerwasa stoogeof big business.Recallthat
WilliamShirer’sThe Riseand Fall of the ThirdReichhelpedgivecurrencyto the ideathat
industrialistslookedfavorablyuponthe NaziParty,supposedlyon accountof the Nazis
beingpro-capitalist.ThisverysameShirer,in the verysameRiseand Fall, reportsthat
onceHitlergainedpowerin 1933,businessmenbecame“merecogsin a war machine.. .”
Theirworkwas “circumscribedby... restrictions” and thereweretoo many“formsto fill
out.. .”^30 AaronWildavskyand CarolynWebberreport,“A businessreluctantto comply
withgovernmentpreferencescouldbe quicklybroughtin line throughcutsin imported
raw materialsand reducedlaborallocations.”^31
In 1939,NazieconomicsministerWalterFunkashamedlyconcededthat “officialcom-
munications” withthe nationalgovernment’s regulatoryagencies“nowmakeup more
thanone halfof a Germanmanufacturer’s entirecorrespondence.. .” He alsoreported
that“Germany’s exporttradeinvolves40,000separatetransactionsdaily;yet for a single
transactionas manyas fortydifferentformsmustbe filledout.”^32
ThusShirerreports,“Buriedundermountainsof red tape,directedby the Stateas to
whattheycouldproduce,howmuchand at whatprice,burdenedby increasingtaxation
and milkedby steepand neverending‘specialcontributions’” to the NaziParty,Germa-
ny’s industrialistsgrewfrustrated.^33