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45-649: In his political career, Otto Strasser led an ultranationalist faction within the Nazi Party, but resigned from the Party in 1930; he later established the Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists (the Black Front) to rival the Nazi Party. Consequent to his politics, Otto Strasser fled Germany in 1933 and returned to West Germany after the end of World War II in 1953. In the intramural politics of

90-503: A 1982 pamphlet Farewell to Hitler which included a strong endorsement of the idea. The People's Socialist Movement of Germany/Labour Party , a minor extremist movement that was outlawed in 1982, adopted the policy. Its successor movement, the Nationalist Front , did likewise, with its ten-point programme calling for an "anti-materialist cultural revolution" and an "anti-capitalist social revolution" to underline its support for

135-626: A behind-the-scenes role to help direct policy. This Political Soldier wing ultimately opted for the indigenous alternative of distributism , but their strong anti-capitalist rhetoric as well as that of their International Third Position successor demonstrated influences from Strasserism. From this background emerged Troy Southgate , whose own ideology and those of related groups such as the English Nationalist Movement and National Revolutionary Faction were influenced by Strasserism. Third Position groups, whose inspiration

180-416: A betrayal. The group reflected Strasser's political views, such as revolutionary nationalism , and its criticism of capitalism was expressed in economic antisemitic terms rather than socialism . The Black Front was composed of radical former Nazis who intended to cause a split in the party, and adopted the crossed hammer and sword symbol that is still used by several Strasserite groups. The group published

225-500: A construction company in 1908 that became particularly active in Bulgaria where it built a number of official buildings. Feder claimed that he studied financial politics and economics on his own from 1917 onward. But there is no evidence to back up this claim. He developed a hostility towards wealthy bankers during World War I and wrote a "manifesto on breaking the shackles of interest" (" Brechung der Zinsknechtschaft ") in 1919. This

270-611: A fairly Strasserite economic policy. Nonetheless, the NP was short-lived. Due in part to Read's lack of enthusiasm for Strasserism, the main exponents of the idea drifted away. The idea was reintroduced to the NF by Andrew Brons in the early 1980s when he decided to make the party's ideology clearer. However, Strasserism was soon to become the province of the radicals in the Official National Front , with Richard Lawson brought in

315-551: A mid-sized city was popularised by Uzō Nishiyama in Japan. It would later be applied in the era of Japanese New Town construction. However, despite its consistency with the blood and soil ideology of the Nazis, his concept of decentralized factories was successfully opposed by both generals and Junkers . Generals objected because it interfered with rearmament, and Junkers because it would prevent their exploiting their estates for

360-522: A newspaper entitled The German Revolution . The Black Front, which never had more than a couple of thousand members, was unable to effectively oppose the Nazis. Hitler's rise to power as Chancellor of Germany proved to be the final straw. The remaining anti-capitalist elements of the Nazis were eradicated in 1934 during the Night of the Long Knives , in which Gregor Strasser , Otto's older brother,

405-617: A possible alliance with the Soviet Union . His 1930 follow-up Ministersessel oder Revolution ( Cabinet Seat or Revolution ) attacked Hitler's betrayal of the socialist aspect of Nazism as well as criticizing the notion of the Führerprinzip . Whilst Gregor Strasser echoed many of the calls of his brother, his influence on the ideology was lower, owing to his remaining in the Nazi Party longer and to his early death. Meanwhile, Otto Strasser continued to expand his argument, calling for

450-735: A self-taught economist, and one of the early key members of the Nazi Party and its economic theoretician. One of his lectures, delivered on 12 September 1919, drew Adolf Hitler into the party. Feder was born in Würzburg on 27 January 1883, the son of civil servant Hans Feder and Mathilde Feder (née Luz). After being taught in a classical Gymnasium first in Ansbach and then in Munich , he studied engineering in Berlin and Zürich . He founded

495-643: A tendency within the National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) during the late 1960s. These Strasserites played a leading role in securing the removal of Adolf von Thadden from the leadership and after his departure the party became stronger in condemning Hitler for what it saw as his move away from socialism in order to court business and army leaders. Although initially adopted by the NPD, Strasserism soon became associated with more peripheral extremist figures, notably Michael Kühnen , who produced

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540-514: Is generally more Italian in derivation, have often looked to Strasserism, owing to their strong opposition to capitalism based on economic antisemitic grounds. This was noted in France, where the student group Groupe Union Défense and the more recent Renouveau français both extolled Strasserite economic platforms. Attempts to reinterpret Nazism as having a left-wing base have also been heavily influenced by this school of thought, notably through

585-549: The Black Front ( German : Schwarze Front ), was a political group formed by Otto Strasser in 1930 after he resigned from the Nazi Party (NSDAP) to avoid being expelled. Strasser formed the Black Front to continue what he saw as the original anti-capitalist stance of the Nazi Party, embodied in several items of its 25-point Program of 1920 that was in large part ignored by Adolf Hitler , which Strasser saw as

630-694: The German involvement in the Spanish Civil War . He even called on both the S.S. , S.A. and the Reichswehr to revolt against Hitler on the slogan of "No German blood for Spain, Hail Germany". It has been said Otto Strasser claimed that he was a dissenting Nazi regarding racial policies. Finnish politician Yrjö Ruutu founded the National Socialist Union of Finland in 1932, which was one of several Finnish Nazi parties at

675-485: The Nazi Party in 1921. Initially a loyal supporter of Hitler, as such, Strasser participated in the Beer Hall Putsch (8–9 November 1923) and held high-level offices in the Nazi Party; however, Strasser became a strong advocate of the radical wing of the Nazi Party, arguing that the nationalist revolution should act to resolve the poverty imposed upon post-war Germany and should seek the political support of

720-588: The Reich Ministry of Economics in July, an appointment that disappointed Feder, who had hoped for a much higher position. Feder continued to write papers, putting out " Kampf gegen die Hochfinanz " ("The Fight against high finance", 1933) and the antisemitic " Die Juden " ("The Jews," 1933). In 1939 he wrote Die Neue Stadt (the New City). This can be considered an attempt at Garden City building through

765-681: The conservatives , military and Hitlerite Nazis who preferred an ordered authoritarian régime for Germany to the politically disruptive programs proposed by the Strasserist radicals of the Nazi Party. Otto Strasser (1897–1974) had also been a member of the Freikorps , but he joined the Social Democratic Party of Germany and fought against the Kapp Putsch. Strasser joined the Nazi Party in 1925, where he kept promoting

810-681: The " 25 points " which summed up the party's views and introduced his own anti-capitalist views into the program. When the paper was announced on 24 February 1920, more than 2,000 people attended the rally. In an attempt to make the party more broadly appealing to larger segments of the population, the DAP was renamed in February 1920 to the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German Workers' Party, NSDAP), more commonly known as

855-596: The "25 Points." Around Christmas 1925, Feder obtained a copy of the proposed revision and informed Hitler of it. As a coauthor of the original 1920 program, Feder felt protective of it and was furious that an attempt to amend it was underway without his or Hitler's knowledge. At a meeting of the Working Association in Hanover on 24 January 1926, Feder attended, uninvited but as Hitler's representative. The meeting became contentious with Joseph Goebbels , one of

900-479: The 'Magic of Money' that "National Socialist agitiation under the leadership of Gottfried Feder" aimed to curtail "private banking" and "the entire currency system." He further explained that the goal of Feder and his pupils was to destroy their entire "banking and monetary economy" and concludes that he "had to try to steer Hitler away from these destruction conceptions." (p. 154) When Hitler became Reichskanzler in 1933, he appointed Feder as State Secretary at

945-527: The German working class . After Hitler became Chancellor , Ernst Röhm , who headed the Sturmabteilung (SA), the principal paramilitary wing of the Nazi Party, called for a second, national-socialist revolution to remove the business, social, and political elites from positions of power in the government, the economy, and the politics of Germany. Strasser and Röhm's proposed revolution was opposed by

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990-657: The NSDAP and its ideological foundations" 1927) and " Was will Adolf Hitler? " ("What does Adolf Hitler want?", 1931). In early 1926, Feder played a key role in assisting Hitler to overcome the challenge to his authority presented by the National Socialist Working Association . This was a short-lived group of northern and western German Gauleiter , organized in September 1925 and led by Gregor Strasser , which unsuccessfully sought to amend

1035-457: The Nazi Party's official views on financial politics, but after he became chairman of the party's economic council in 1931, his anti-capitalist views led to a great decline in financial support from Germany's major industrialists. Following pressure from Albert Vögler , Gustav Krupp , Friedrich Flick , Fritz Thyssen , Emil Kirdorf and especially Hjalmar Schacht , Hitler decided to move the party away from Feder's economic views. Schacht wrote in

1080-511: The Nazi Party, Strasserism had many supporters among the troops of the Sturmabteilung (SA), which led to Hitler's purging the Strasserist faction and killing their leader, Gregor Strasser , as well as Ernst Röhm , the head of the SA, during the Night of the Long Knives in July 1934. In the 1980s, the revolutionary nationalism and the economic anti-Semitism of Strasserism reappeared in

1125-698: The Nazi Party. Feder took part in the party's Beer Hall Putsch in November 1923. After Hitler's arrest, he remained one of the leaders of the now outlawed Party and was elected to the Reichstag in 1924 under the banner of the Nazi front organization , the National Socialist Freedom Movement . In 1928, after the ban on the Nazi Party was lifted, he was elected as one of the first 12 Nazi deputies. He served until 1936 representing

1170-660: The United Kingdom in the early 1970s and centred on the National Front (NF) publication Britain First , the main writers of which were David McCalden , Richard Lawson and Denis Pirie . Opposing the leadership of John Tyndall , they formed an alliance with John Kingsley Read and ultimately followed him into the National Party (NP). The NP called for British workers to seize the right to work and offered

1215-571: The Working Association leaders, demanding that Feder be ejected, shouting: "We don't want any stool pigeons!" However, a vote was taken and Feder was allowed to participate. The draft program was vigorously debated with Feder raising objections on various points. In the end, the Strasser draft was not approved. Shortly afterward, on 14 February, Hitler called a leadership meeting known as the Bamberg Conference where he forcefully opposed

1260-560: The army and organized by Major Karl Mayr —and Feder became his mentor in finance and economics. He helped to inspire Hitler's opposition to "Jewish finance capitalism." Delivering political courses alongside Feder was Karl Alexander von Müller (son of Bavaria's Culture Minister) who spotted Hitler's oratorical ability and forwarded his name as a political instructor for the army—an important step in Hitler's career. In February 1920, together with Adolf Hitler and Anton Drexler, Feder drafted

1305-526: The break-up of large estates and the development of something akin to a guild socialism , and the related establishment of a Reich cooperative chamber to take a leading role in economic planning . It is disputed whether Strasserism was a distinct form of Nazism. According to historian Ian Kershaw , "the leaders of the SA [which included Gregor Strasser] did not have another vision of the future of Germany or another politic to propose". The Strasserites advocated

1350-485: The electoral constituencies of Chemnitz - Zwickau (1924-1932), Leipzig (1932-1933) and East Prussia (1933-1936). As a Reichstag deputy, he demanded the freezing of interest rates and dispossession of Jewish citizens. He remained one of the leaders of the anti-capitalistic wing of the NSDAP, and published several papers, including "National and social bases of the German state" (1920), " Das Programm der NSDAP und seine weltanschaulichen Grundlagen " ("The programme of

1395-482: The idea. The Free German Workers' Party also moved towards these ideas under the leadership of Friedhelm Busse in the late 1980s. The flag of the Strasserite movement Black Front and its symbol of a crossed hammer and a sword has been used by German and other European neo-Nazis abroad as a substitute for the more infamous Nazi flag which is banned in some countries such as Germany. Strasserism emerged in

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1440-659: The ideology of the Academic Karelia Society and president Urho Kekkonen . In 1944, all Nazi parties in Finland were dissolved as contrary to Article 21 of the Moscow Armistice , which forbade fascist parties. Some former members of Ruutu's party, such as Yrjö Kilpeläinen and Unto Varjonen , became prominent figures in the right-wing faction of the post-war Social Democratic Party of Finland . Another prominent former member, Vietti Nykänen , became

1485-554: The importance of socialism in National Socialism . Considered more of a radical than his brother, Strasser was expelled by the Nazi Party in 1930 and set up the Black Front , his own dissident group which called for a specifically German nationalist form of socialist revolution. Strasser fled Germany in 1933 to live firstly in Czechoslovakia and then Canada before returning to West Germany in later life, all

1530-599: The politics of the National Front in the United Kingdom. Final solution Parties Gregor Strasser (1892–1934) began his career in ultranationalist German politics by joining the Freikorps after soldiering in the First World War (1914–1918). He participated in the Kapp Putsch (13 March 1920) and formed his own völkischer Wehrverband , a “popular defense union” that Strasser later merged into

1575-423: The positions advocated by the Working Association and insisted that the original program be retained intact. Strasser was made to retrieve all copies of the draft program that had been distributed. Hitler reasserted his authority as supreme Party leader and stamped out any potential threat from the Working Association, which faded into irrelevance and was formally dissolved later in the year. Feder briefly dominated

1620-451: The radicalization of the Nazi regime and the toppling of the German elites , calling Hitler's rise to power a half-revolution which needed to be completed. Otto Strasser was also strongly Pan-European , even going as far as to praise Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi for his efforts advocating Pan-European unity. Among the policies of Third Reich of which Otto Strasser was most critical was

1665-403: The time. Ruutu's ideas included the nationalization of large companies and other assets vital for national interests, a self-sufficient planned economy, a parliament controlled by trade unions and the appointment of technocrats as ministers. Ruutu's party remained on the fringes of Finnish politics and never gained any seats in parliament, but it is considered to have had a considerable influence on

1710-529: The use of Nazi architecture . Here he proposed creating agricultural cities of 20,000 people divided into nine autonomous units and surrounded by agricultural areas. Each city was to be fully autonomous and self-sufficient, with detailed plans for daily living and urban amenities provided. Unlike other garden city theorists, he believed that urban areas could be reformed by subdividing the existing built environment into self-sufficient neighborhoods. This idea of creating clusters of self-contained neighbourhoods forming

1755-675: The vice chairman of the Radical People's Party . Member of the board of the party Heikki Waris later became Minister of Social Affairs in the Von Fieandt Cabinet in 1957. During the 1970s, the ideas of Strasserism began to be mentioned more in European far-right groups as younger members with no ties to Hitler and a stronger sense of economic antisemitism came to the fore. Strasserite thought in Germany began to emerge as

1800-627: The while writing prolifically about Hitler and what he saw as his betrayal of Nazism 's ideals. The name Strasserism came to be applied to the form of Nazism associated with the Strasser brothers. Although they had been involved in the creation of the National Socialist Program of 1920, both men called on the party to commit to "breaking the shackles of finance capital". This opposition to what Nazis termed Finanzkapitalismus ( finance capitalism ) and raffendes Kapital (which translates roughly to "money-grubbing capitalism", and

1845-694: The work of Povl Riis-Knudsen , who produced the Strasser-influenced work National Socialism: A Left-Wing Movement in 1984. In the United States, Tom Metzger , a white supremacist, had some affiliation to Strasserism, having been influenced by Kühnen's pamphlet. Also in the United States, Matthew Heimbach of the former Traditionalist Worker Party identifies as a Strasserist. Heimbach often engages primarily in anti-capitalist rhetoric during public speeches instead of overt antisemitism , anti-Masonry or anti-communist rhetoric. Heimbach

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1890-573: Was expelled from the National Socialist Movement due to his economic views being seen by the group as too left-wing. Heimbach stated that the NSM "essentially want it to remain a politically impotent white supremacist gang". Final solution Parties Black Front The Combat League of Revolutionary National Socialists ( German : Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten , KGRNS ), more commonly known as

1935-483: Was implied to mean " Jewish capitalism "), which they contrasted to producerism or what was termed "productive capitalism", was shared by Adolf Hitler, who borrowed it from Gottfried Feder . This populist form of economic antisemitism was espoused by Otto Strasser in Nationalsozialistische Briefe , published in 1925, which discussed notions of class conflict , wealth redistribution and

1980-674: Was killed. Gregor Strasser had previously broken with his brother over Otto's proclivity to act on his own. Otto Strasser spent the years of the Third Reich in exile, first in Czechoslovakia (then the First Czechoslovak Republic ) and later in Canada , before returning to West Germany in 1953. Gottfried Feder Gottfried Feder (27 January 1883 – 24 September 1941) was a German civil engineer,

2025-536: Was soon followed by the founding of a "task force" dedicated to those goals that demanded a nationalisation of all banks and an abolition of interest. That year, Feder, together with Anton Drexler , Dietrich Eckart and Karl Harrer , were involved in the founding of the Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (German Workers' Party-DAP). Adolf Hitler met him in the summer of 1919 while he was in an anti-Bolshevik training course at Munich university—funded by

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