Chapter 538： Political changes in Germany

If Italy had a good form when Edel ordered Libyan oil, and it still had room to expand its armaments, then Germany in 1930 was wailing.

With the implementation of the Dawes Plan, American capital has been heavily invested in Germany. Between 1924 and 1929, the United Kingdom and the United States provided loans of up to 32.6 billion marks to Germany, 70% of which were provided by the United States. The outbreak of the economic crisis caused the United States to withdraw investment in Germany one after another, so the economy that had been improving was even more paralyzed with the withdrawal of the United States.

During the economic crisis, its industrial production plummeted. From 1929 to 1932, coal output fell by 32.7%, pig iron output fell by 70.3%, steel output fell by 64.9%, machine manufacturing output value fell by 62.1%, and power generation fell by 23.4%. The gross industrial output fell by about 40%, the production of means of production fell by 53%, the production of consumer goods fell by 25.3%, the total export fell by 69.1%, the total import fell by 70.8%, and the treasury gold reserves fell sharply by 4/5.

At the same time, working hours have been cut by an average of about 47%, and working hours in the construction industry have been reduced by about 66%. The number of employees in various industries has been greatly reduced. Among them, the number of employees in the steel, machinery and power industries has decreased by about 64%, and the employees in the hard coal mining industry have decreased by about 47%.

The economic crisis has a catastrophic impact on the lives of the working class. The number of unemployed is increasing rapidly. In September 1929, the number of unemployed was 1.3 million. One year later, it reached 3 million. In September 1931, it rose to 4.35 million.12 In February 1932, the number of unemployed reached 8 million, except for a few million people doing part-time jobs. Unemployment benefits fluctuate between 16.44 marks (large cities) and 13.14 marks (small cities) per week. Only 82% of registered unemployed persons can receive unemployment benefits, which is not enough to solve the problem of food and clothing.

The economic crisis has also dealt a heavy blow to the urban and rural petty bourgeoisie. During the economic crisis, the economic status of urban small businessmen, small business owners, and handicrafts was volatile. Many factories closed down, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises went bankrupt.

According to official German statistics, the total number of annual factory closures from 1928 to 1931 rose from 10,595 to 19,254, almost doubled. During the same period, the total number of annual consolidated factories rose from 3147 to 8,628, almost twice the number. Among them, the situation of individual traders was very embarrassing. In 1931, 6664 stores closed down and 3581 were forced to merge.

Millions of people lost their jobs and put the German economy into trouble. It was mainly because the Weimar government was helpless with the approaching economic collapse, which disappointed many people.

At this time, Hitler's Communist Workers Party took this opportunity to shout, "Let every family in Germany have milk and bread on the table." Such an inspiring slogan naturally allows it to have enough supporters.

In the 1930 parliamentary elections, Hitler's Democratic German Workers' Party won more than 6.4 million votes, occupying a quarter of the Democrats in the parliament. We must know that in the previous parliamentary elections in 1928, the Communist Party of Germany only received 810,000 votes. This rapid growth surprised everyone.

When the news about the results of the congressional elections reached the Brown Palace, the headquarters of the Democratic Party, which had only recently been built, almost everyone cheered for it. And the only person who did not cheer for it was its leader Hitler.

"Leader, what's wrong with you?"

His admirer Hess was the first to discover Hitler's anomaly, and he quickly walked over and asked. "Leader, what's wrong with you?"

"The result of this election is very unexpected. I didn't expect so many people to support us. It seems that we are not far from being in power."

Seeing Hitler, after hearing about such excellent election results, he still did not forget to think about the future. Hess was deeply impressed by this.

I saw Hitler continue to say. "However, the votes of the people alone cannot make our party in power. Then we need to win over the factory owners and Junkers to gain real power."

It can be seen that Hitler had a clear idea of ​​how to take control of Germany and knew what to do to pave the way for it. The abnormality of the two quickly attracted the attention of others, and the fat man Goering pulled up Hitler and said. "Leader, you can't miss today's carnival."

And Goring's words also aroused other approval, and Roma, Goebbels, Himmler and others also spoke.

"Yeah, leader. You can't be absent."

Hitler did not expect to get so many votes in this election because he underestimated the losses suffered by the petty bourgeoisie in this economic crisis. In the eyes of ordinary people, German industry is mainly composed of industrial monopoly Konzern enterprises. Yes, these companies play a huge role in heavy industry, and companies such as Mochi, Krupp, and Fabien Chemicals are among the best.

However, although it has a monopoly in heavy industry, it cannot do so in light industry. Although monopolistic organizations have also emerged in the light industry and food processing sectors, they are mainly cartels in the form of lower-level monopolies that maintain independence in production and are united by small and medium-sized enterprises.

In the textile, food processing, paper, leather and other sectors, there have always been a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, including early capitalist workshop handicrafts, traditional industries, and peasant household handicrafts.

According to statistics, between 1882 and 1895, the number of large enterprises (with more than 50 employees) in the German food processing industry increased from 1,125 to 1,826, and the number of employees increased from 148,512 to 246,490. Small and medium-sized enterprises (small enterprises with no more than 5 employees) increased from 244,161 to 268,145, and employees increased from 595,369 to 775,000.

In the German countryside, due to the German road, the development of agricultural capitalism was slow. While the large manor of the Junkers existed, there also existed a large number of small and medium peasant economies. According to statistics in 1925, there were 3,046,302 small farms operating under 20 hectares, accounting for 47.2% of the total agricultural area.

There are 199825 large farms operating 20-100 hectares of land. Uukanshu accounts for 26.4% of the total agricultural area. There are 18,671 Junkers landlord manors operating more than 100 hectares of land, accounting for 20.2% of the total agricultural area.

The arrival of the economic crisis has also dealt a heavy blow to the urban and rural petty bourgeoisie. During the economic crisis, the economic status of urban small businessmen, small business owners, and handicrafts was volatile. Many factories closed down, and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises went bankrupt.

According to official German statistics, the total number of annual factory closures from 1928 to 1930 rose from 10,595 to 17,254, an increase of seven floors. During the same period, the total number of annual consolidated factories rose from 3147 to 8,628, almost twice the number. Among them, the situation of individual traders is very embarrassing. In 1930, 5,172 stores closed down and 2,781 were forced to merge.

As the economic and social status of the petty bourgeoisie was severely threatened, it was disappointed with the republic and gradually separated from the traditional bourgeois party to find a way out. The propaganda slogan of the German Workers' Party just attracted these people.

Therefore, this election will allow Hitler's Workers' Party to become one of Germany's main political parties. Since there is such an obvious effect, it would be a crime for Hitler to not seize such an opportunity.