In the case of the NSDAP, Gottfried Feder's Twenty-Five Points were already in existence when Hitler first joined the Party in 1919, and the same programme was declared official in Munich on February 25th, 1920 . These principles do contain a strong element of Socialism, or at the very least the NSDAP's own interpretation of it. However, despite the early rhetoric these socialistic elements were never put into practice, something which will be examined in due course.
Firstly, the Twenty-Five Points promised to involve German workers in a form of "profit-sharing for all", with Feder particularly keen to stress that the "[sharing of profits from a man's own work is a demand so natural and socially so just, that nothing can be advanced it against it as a principle."] This may well be so, but whilst his Party claimed to support the nationalisation of the great industries which it considered "ripe for socialisation"]in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the German electorate, economic decentralisation was "soon abandoned, and Hitler adopted more empirical policies." Noted for its great opportunism, the NSDAP had tried to take advantage of the public's support for autarkic economics, something which had its roots in Germany's characteristic opposition to foreign control. The Wall Street Crash had led to the withdrawal of American investment, and many Germans had become rather suspicious of the hidden forces which could dictate German financial policy from overseas. Furthermore, once the German proletariat had been conveniently persuaded to mobilise itself in "the general interest as a member of the national community", the main concern for their industrial masters was the accumulation of vast profit at their expense. The financial role of Big Business will be examined in due course but, needless to say, once the NSDAP had risen to power in 1933 nationalisation did not replace those companies and trusts which, according to Feder, had served "the greed of Capitalism." Hitler's own disregard for economics and the State's lack of initiative when faced with a dictator unwilling to make economic decisions, led inevitably to the growth of large private companies. By September 1936, Hermann Goering had replaced Hjalmar Schact as German Economic Minister and set up a 'total war' economy. His new Four-Year Plan was designed "to make Germany self-sufficient in four years, so that a wartime blockade would not stifle it." As a result, huge factories like the Hermann Goering Works began to make synthetic rubber, textiles, fuels and other products extracted from raw materials. Nationalisation and the economic self-determination of German workers had been sacrificed in the interests of a form of competitive diviseness not entirely unrelated to British or American Capitalism. But whilst the theoretical tenets of NSDAP ideology seemed to possess a rather unique economic stance, the industrial practicalities of what passed for National-Socialism certainly did not accord with a distinctive or sui generis economic system of its own
Firstly, the Twenty-Five Points promised to involve German workers in a form of "profit-sharing for all", with Feder particularly keen to stress that the "[sharing of profits from a man's own work is a demand so natural and socially so just, that nothing can be advanced it against it as a principle."] This may well be so, but whilst his Party claimed to support the nationalisation of the great industries which it considered "ripe for socialisation"]in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the German electorate, economic decentralisation was "soon abandoned, and Hitler adopted more empirical policies." Noted for its great opportunism, the NSDAP had tried to take advantage of the public's support for autarkic economics, something which had its roots in Germany's characteristic opposition to foreign control. The Wall Street Crash had led to the withdrawal of American investment, and many Germans had become rather suspicious of the hidden forces which could dictate German financial policy from overseas. Furthermore, once the German proletariat had been conveniently persuaded to mobilise itself in "the general interest as a member of the national community", the main concern for their industrial masters was the accumulation of vast profit at their expense. The financial role of Big Business will be examined in due course but, needless to say, once the NSDAP had risen to power in 1933 nationalisation did not replace those companies and trusts which, according to Feder, had served "the greed of Capitalism." Hitler's own disregard for economics and the State's lack of initiative when faced with a dictator unwilling to make economic decisions, led inevitably to the growth of large private companies. By September 1936, Hermann Goering had replaced Hjalmar Schact as German Economic Minister and set up a 'total war' economy. His new Four-Year Plan was designed "to make Germany self-sufficient in four years, so that a wartime blockade would not stifle it." As a result, huge factories like the Hermann Goering Works began to make synthetic rubber, textiles, fuels and other products extracted from raw materials. Nationalisation and the economic self-determination of German workers had been sacrificed in the interests of a form of competitive diviseness not entirely unrelated to British or American Capitalism. But whilst the theoretical tenets of NSDAP ideology seemed to possess a rather unique economic stance, the industrial practicalities of what passed for National-Socialism certainly did not accord with a distinctive or sui generis economic system of its own
