Against the Reaction
by Joseph Goebbels
Never before in the past five years has the political constellation been so favorable and promising for us as it is at the present moment. The idols and illusions of bourgeois-republican Germany have crumbled and scattered, and now the great lamentation begins everywhere. Both domestically and in foreign policy, this system is facing decisive catastrophes. If the pace of decline continues as it has over the past four months, the collapse may be closer than we all want to believe today. As terrible as the effects of this collapse on the entirety of the German people will be, we welcome it because we see in it the only possibility of bringing Germany to its senses. Only in the final, greatest need will the German people rise up and shake off a system that, by its very existence, guarantees the eternal enslavement of the German people. What we National Socialists have been predicting for ten years, in a time when it was still unpopular and made one unpopular because official Germany believed in the silver lining, is now beginning to come true. The awakening German people increasingly recognize in us the movement that foresaw this development, undeterred and without regard for temporary successes, and that is therefore the only one capable of being considered for the coming great decisions.
What could be more natural than that the seasoned routine politicians of the bourgeois camp are now sensing opportunity? They swiftly and with the ape-like speed that has always characterized them, adapt to the new conditions, and are now ready to worship today what they still burned yesterday. The opportunist knight rides again. Once again, as so often in the past, we come across that type in the public sphere who "always said so," who is "entirely of our opinion," who loudly proclaims his revolutionary views and makes opposition. Already, the slogans of the rebellious bourgeois are ringing through the parliaments, the columns of the black-white-red money-bag conviction press are becoming rebellious, and unanimously and unerringly demand that now, finally, an end must be put to the scandal. Indeed, agreed! That scandal must come to an end, the scandal that, with the help of so-called national bourgeoisie, has turned Germany into a field of ruins. The only ones entitled to protest against the current chaotic conditions are those who never had any part in them, and only those who have consistently said no to the tribute system can demonstrate against it.
Do not talk to us about national unity and that we all want the same thing. We certainly do not want the same thing, neither in method nor in goal. We feel ourselves separated by a world from that kind of bourgeois patriotism, which was always and everywhere, wherever it appeared, merely the facade of a cowardly money mentality, and which therefore became the cause and beginning of our national decline. Whoever wants the same as us should join at the back. There's still plenty of room. Those who do not, we do not believe they want the same thing as us, but only pretend to, in order to steal the well-deserved harvest of our sowing. We are not stupid enough for that. It is pointless to attempt to divert us from the straight path with the promise of some fantastical utopia of unity. Being national is a broad concept. For us, this determination has a very specific, clearly defined content. We are not super-patriots. We are National Socialists.
This could suit those gentlemen: we have sown the seed through toil, sacrifice, and blood, and now they want to reap the harvest. We were the drummers, and they are the politicians. We form the vanguard, and they the rearguard. No, thank you! But we are no longer as foolish today as we were in 1919/20. We too have not gone through the developments of the past ten years with our eyes closed. How often have we in this decade had to experience the truth of the saying, "God protect us from our friends, for we will deal with our enemies on our own."
A revolutionary idea — and National Socialism is such an idea — tolerates no compromises. It is right on its own, but wrong with foreign additives. Only one can be right. Then all others are wrong.
We National Socialists have instinctively recognized that the great misfortune of the German people does not lie solely in the betrayal of Marxism against socialism, but just as much in the betrayal of bourgeois patriotism against nationalism. Therefore, our stance against both forces of decline is equally sharp and equally unconditional. The very consistency with which we enforce this stance provides the guarantee for an ultimate victory. There will be no peace until the enemy is forced to his knees. It does not matter whether he intends good, if he does evil. Even stupidity is punished in politics. We have no desire whatsoever to allow ourselves to be bound to a living corpse, so that it gradually infects us with death. Recognize your true enemies to the right and left! And be all the more conscious and consistent National Socialists!
May 13, 1929.