National Socialist Program
Encyclopedia
The National Socialist Programme (aka the 25-point Programme and the 25-point Plan), was first, the political program of the German National Socialist Party (DNSAP — Deutsche Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei) in 1918, and later, in the 1920s, of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP — Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) headed by Adolf Hitler
. The National Socialist Program originated at a DAP congress in Vienna, then was taken to Munich
, by the civil engineer and theoretician Rudolf Jung
, who, having explicitly supported Hitler, had been expelled from Czechoslovakia
, because of his political agitation. The politician Josef Pfitzner
, a Sudetenland
German Nazi, wrote that “the synthesis of the two, great dynamic powers of the century, of the national
and social
ideas, had been perfected in the German borderlands [i.e. the Sudetenland], which thus were far ahead of their motherland.” Moreover, despite the political syncretism
of National Socialism, the 25-point Program advocated democracy and greater popular rights, although only for "racially pure" Germans.
and Austria
were sub-ordinate states integral to the Austro-Hungarian Empire
(1867–1918), not sovereign nations. Hence, the political programs of the Sudetenland and the Austrian national socialist parties addressed their particular discontents with the Habsburg
monarchic society; thus the development of ideologically discrete German Worker parties in Vienna, Aussig, and Eger. In the event, Adolf Hitler
and cohort, the government of Nazi Germany
(1933–45), did not participate in originating such national socialist programs; thus the politics and ideology of the NSDAP were specifically German adaptations of such.
(German National Socialist Worker's Party), proclaimed a similar program:
(NSDAP) in April 1920, and it remained the Party’s official program. The 25-point Program was a German adaptation — by Anton Drexler
, Adolf Hitler
, Gottfried Feder
, and Dietrich Eckart
— of Rudolf Jung’s Austro–Bohemian program; unlike the Austrians, the Germans did not claim to being either liberal or democratic, and opposed neither political reaction
nor the aristocracy
, yet advocated democratic institutions (i.e. the German central parliament) and voting rights solely for Germans — implying that a Nazi Government would retain popular suffrage
.
The Austrian monarchist Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
proposed that the 25-point Program was pro-labour: “the program championed the right to employment
, and called for the institution of profit sharing
, confiscation of war profits, prosecution of userers and profiteers, nationalization of trusts
, communalization of department stores, extension of the old-age pension
system, creation of a national education
program of all classes, prohibition of child labour, and an end to the dominance of investment capital
.” Whereas historian William Brustein proposes that said program points, and party founder Anton Drexler
’s statements, indicate that the Nazi Party (NSDAP) originated as a working-class political party.
In the course of pursuing public office, the agrarian failures of the 1920s prompted Hitler to further explain the “true” meaning of Point 17 (land reform
, legal land expropriation
for public utility, abolishment of the land value tax
, and proscription of land speculation
), in the hope of winning the farmers’ votes in the May 1928 elections. Hitler disguised the implicit contradictions of Point 17 of the National Socialist Program, by explaining that “gratuitous expropriation concerns only the creation of legal opportunities, to expropriate, if necessary, land which has been illegally acquired, or is not administered from the view-point of the national welfare. This is directed primarily against the Jewish land-speculation companies”.
Moreover, throughout the 1920s, other members of the NSDAP, seeking ideologic consistency, sought either to change or to replace the National Socialist Program. In 1924, the economist Gottfried Feder
proposed a 39-point program retaining some original policies and introducing new policies. Hitler suppressed every instance of programatic change, by refusing to broach the matters after 1925, because the National Socialist Program was “inviolable”, hence immutable. Simultaneously, however, he did not publicly support it; in his political biography, Mein Kampf
(1925, 1926), Hitler only mentions it as “the so-called program of the movement”.
The historian Henry A. Turner
proposes that many of the Program’s policies for economic reform, pro-labour legislation, and popular democratic politics, contradicted Adolf Hitler’s basis of his dictatorial ambition. That the land reform and anti-trust legislation especially threatened the financial interests of the businessmen whom Hitler courted for political campaign money. Because he could not safely discard the National Socialist Program of the Nazi Party — without provoking voter mutinies — Adolf Hitler, by force of personality, definitively closed all such ideologic discussion.
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
. The National Socialist Program originated at a DAP congress in Vienna, then was taken to Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
, by the civil engineer and theoretician Rudolf Jung
Rudolf Jung
Rudolf Jung was an instrumental force and agitator of German-Czech National Socialism and, later on, became a member of the German Nazi Party....
, who, having explicitly supported Hitler, had been expelled from Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
, because of his political agitation. The politician Josef Pfitzner
Josef Pfitzner
Josef Pfitzner was a politician of Nazi Germany and a writer.- Bio :Josef Pfitzner was born in Petrovice , Austrian Silesia. He was a German historian and politician and was Professor at the German University of Prague. Early on, he was attracted to Nazism and belonged to the branch of Austrian...
, a Sudetenland
Sudetenland
Sudetenland is the German name used in English in the first half of the 20th century for the northern, southwest and western regions of Czechoslovakia inhabited mostly by ethnic Germans, specifically the border areas of Bohemia, Moravia, and those parts of Silesia being within Czechoslovakia.The...
German Nazi, wrote that “the synthesis of the two, great dynamic powers of the century, of the national
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
and social
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
ideas, had been perfected in the German borderlands [i.e. the Sudetenland], which thus were far ahead of their motherland.” Moreover, despite the political syncretism
Syncretic politics
Syncretic politics or spectral-syncretic refers to a form of politics outside of the conventional left-right political spectrum, this term is especially used by some scholars to describe the political nature of fascism...
of National Socialism, the 25-point Program advocated democracy and greater popular rights, although only for "racially pure" Germans.
History
When the national socialists redacted their 25-point Programme, CzechoslovakiaCzechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...
and Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
were sub-ordinate states integral to the Austro-Hungarian Empire
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
(1867–1918), not sovereign nations. Hence, the political programs of the Sudetenland and the Austrian national socialist parties addressed their particular discontents with the Habsburg
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg , also found as Hapsburg, and also known as House of Austria is one of the most important royal houses of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1438 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian Empire and...
monarchic society; thus the development of ideologically discrete German Worker parties in Vienna, Aussig, and Eger. In the event, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
and cohort, the government of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
(1933–45), did not participate in originating such national socialist programs; thus the politics and ideology of the NSDAP were specifically German adaptations of such.
Austrian Party program
In May 1918, before Austria became a republic, the Austrian DNSAPAustrian National Socialism
Austrian National Socialism was a Pan-German movement that was formed at the beginning of the 20th century. The movement took a concrete form on November 15, 1903 when the German Worker's Party was established in Austria with its secretariat stationed in the town of Aussig...
(German National Socialist Worker's Party), proclaimed a similar program:
- . . . the German National Socialist Workers’ Party is not a party exclusively for labourers; it stands for the interests of every decent and honest enterprise. It is a liberal (freiheitlich) and strictly folkic (volkisch) party fighting against all reactionaryReactionaryThe term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
efforts, clerical, feudal, and capitalistic privileges; but, before all, against the increasing influence of the Jewish commercial mentalityAnti-SemitismAntisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
which encroaches on public life. . . .
- . . . it demands the amalgamationPan-GermanismPan-Germanism is a pan-nationalist political idea. Pan-Germanists originally sought to unify the German-speaking populations of Europe in a single nation-state known as Großdeutschland , where "German-speaking" was taken to include the Low German, Frisian and Dutch-speaking populations of the Low...
of all European regions inhabited by Germans, into a democratic and socialized Germany. . . .
- . . . it demands the introduction of plebiscites for all important laws in the country. . . .
- . . . it demands the elimination of the rule of Jewish banks over our economic life, and the establishment of People’s Banks under democratic control. . . .
German Party program
In Munich, on 24 February 1920, Adolf Hitler publicly proclaimed the 25-point Program of the NSDAP (National Socialist German Workers’ Party), when the Nazis were still known as the DAP (German Workers Party). They retained the National Socialist Program upon renaming themselves as the National Socialist German Workers PartyNational Socialist German Workers Party
The National Socialist German Workers' Party , commonly known in English as the Nazi Party, was a political party in Germany between 1920 and 1945. Its predecessor, the German Workers' Party , existed from 1919 to 1920...
(NSDAP) in April 1920, and it remained the Party’s official program. The 25-point Program was a German adaptation — by Anton Drexler
Anton Drexler
Anton Drexler was a German right-wing political leader of the 1920s, known for being Adolf Hitler's mentor during his early days in politics.-Biography:...
, Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
, Gottfried Feder
Gottfried Feder
Gottfried Feder was an economist and one of the early key members of the Nazi party. He was their economic theoretician. Initially, it was his lecture in 1919 that drew Hitler into the party.- Biography :...
, and Dietrich Eckart
Dietrich Eckart
Dietrich Eckart was a German journalist and politician, together with Adolf Hitler one of the early key members of the Nazi Party and a participant of the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.-Biography:...
— of Rudolf Jung’s Austro–Bohemian program; unlike the Austrians, the Germans did not claim to being either liberal or democratic, and opposed neither political reaction
Reactionary
The term reactionary refers to viewpoints that seek to return to a previous state in a society. The term is meant to describe one end of a political spectrum whose opposite pole is "radical". While it has not been generally considered a term of praise it has been adopted as a self-description by...
nor the aristocracy
Junker
A Junker was a member of the landed nobility of Prussia and eastern Germany. These families were mostly part of the German Uradel and carried on the colonization and Christianization of the northeastern European territories during the medieval Ostsiedlung. The abbreviation of Junker is Jkr...
, yet advocated democratic institutions (i.e. the German central parliament) and voting rights solely for Germans — implying that a Nazi Government would retain popular suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
.
The Austrian monarchist Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn
Erik Maria Ritter von Kuehnelt-Leddihn was an Austrian Catholic nobleman and socio-political theorist...
proposed that the 25-point Program was pro-labour: “the program championed the right to employment
Right to work
The right to work is the concept that people have a human right to work, or engage in productive employment, and may not be prevented from doing so...
, and called for the institution of profit sharing
Profit sharing
Profit sharing, when used as a special term, refers to various incentive plans introduced by businesses that provide direct or indirect payments to employees that depend on company's profitability in addition to employees' regular salary and bonuses...
, confiscation of war profits, prosecution of userers and profiteers, nationalization of trusts
Trust law
In common law legal systems, a trust is a relationship whereby property is held by one party for the benefit of another...
, communalization of department stores, extension of the old-age pension
Pension
In general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
system, creation of a national education
Public education
State schools, also known in the United States and Canada as public schools,In much of the Commonwealth, including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, the terms 'public education', 'public school' and 'independent school' are used for private schools, that is, schools...
program of all classes, prohibition of child labour, and an end to the dominance of investment capital
Financial capital
Financial capital can refer to money used by entrepreneurs and businesses to buy what they need to make their products or provide their services or to that sector of the economy based on its operation, i.e. retail, corporate, investment banking, etc....
.” Whereas historian William Brustein proposes that said program points, and party founder Anton Drexler
Anton Drexler
Anton Drexler was a German right-wing political leader of the 1920s, known for being Adolf Hitler's mentor during his early days in politics.-Biography:...
’s statements, indicate that the Nazi Party (NSDAP) originated as a working-class political party.
In the course of pursuing public office, the agrarian failures of the 1920s prompted Hitler to further explain the “true” meaning of Point 17 (land reform
Land reform
[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
, legal land expropriation
Nationalization
Nationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
for public utility, abolishment of the land value tax
Land value tax
A land value tax is a levy on the unimproved value of land. It is an ad valorem tax on land that disregards the value of buildings, personal property and other improvements...
, and proscription of land speculation
Speculation
In finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
), in the hope of winning the farmers’ votes in the May 1928 elections. Hitler disguised the implicit contradictions of Point 17 of the National Socialist Program, by explaining that “gratuitous expropriation concerns only the creation of legal opportunities, to expropriate, if necessary, land which has been illegally acquired, or is not administered from the view-point of the national welfare. This is directed primarily against the Jewish land-speculation companies”.
Moreover, throughout the 1920s, other members of the NSDAP, seeking ideologic consistency, sought either to change or to replace the National Socialist Program. In 1924, the economist Gottfried Feder
Gottfried Feder
Gottfried Feder was an economist and one of the early key members of the Nazi party. He was their economic theoretician. Initially, it was his lecture in 1919 that drew Hitler into the party.- Biography :...
proposed a 39-point program retaining some original policies and introducing new policies. Hitler suppressed every instance of programatic change, by refusing to broach the matters after 1925, because the National Socialist Program was “inviolable”, hence immutable. Simultaneously, however, he did not publicly support it; in his political biography, Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
(1925, 1926), Hitler only mentions it as “the so-called program of the movement”.
The historian Henry A. Turner
Henry Ashby Turner
Henry Ashby Turner, Jr. was an American historian of Germany who was a professor at Yale University for over forty years...
proposes that many of the Program’s policies for economic reform, pro-labour legislation, and popular democratic politics, contradicted Adolf Hitler’s basis of his dictatorial ambition. That the land reform and anti-trust legislation especially threatened the financial interests of the businessmen whom Hitler courted for political campaign money. Because he could not safely discard the National Socialist Program of the Nazi Party — without provoking voter mutinies — Adolf Hitler, by force of personality, definitively closed all such ideologic discussion.
The 25-point Program of the NSDAP
- We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the people's rightRightRights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people, according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical theory...
to self-determinationSelf-determinationSelf-determination is the principle in international law that nations have the right to freely choose their sovereignty and international political status with no external compulsion or external interference...
. - We demand equality of rights for the German people in respect to the other nations; abrogation of the peace treaties of VersaillesTreaty of VersaillesThe Treaty of Versailles was one of the peace treaties at the end of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1919, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The other Central Powers on the German side of...
and St. Germain. - We demand land and territory (colonies) for the sustenance of our people, and colonization for our surplus population.
- Only a member of the raceAryan raceThe Aryan race is a concept historically influential in Western culture in the period of the late 19th century and early 20th century. It derives from the idea that the original speakers of the Indo-European languages and their descendants up to the present day constitute a distinctive race or...
can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creedCreedA creed is a statement of belief—usually a statement of faith that describes the beliefs shared by a religious community—and is often recited as part of a religious service. When the statement of faith is longer and polemical, as well as didactic, it is not called a creed but a Confession of faith...
. Consequently no Jew can be a member of the race. - Whoever has no citizenship is to be able to live in Germany only as a guest, and must be under the authority of legislationLegislationLegislation is law which has been promulgated by a legislature or other governing body, or the process of making it...
for foreignersAlien (law)In law, an alien is a person in a country who is not a citizen of that country.-Categorization:Types of "alien" persons are:*An alien who is legally permitted to remain in a country which is foreign to him or her. On specified terms, this kind of alien may be called a legal alien of that country...
. - The right to determine matters concerning administration and lawLawLaw is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
belongs only to the citizen. Therefore we demand that every public office, of any sort whatsoever, whether in the ReichReichReich is a German word cognate with the English rich, but also used to designate an empire, realm, or nation. The qualitative connotation from the German is " sovereign state." It is the word traditionally used for a variety of sovereign entities, including Germany in many periods of its history...
, the countyCountyA county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain modern nations. Historically in mainland Europe, the original French term, comté, and its equivalents in other languages denoted a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count A county is a jurisdiction of local government in certain...
or municipalityMunicipalityA municipality is essentially an urban administrative division having corporate status and usually powers of self-government. It can also be used to mean the governing body of a municipality. A municipality is a general-purpose administrative subdivision, as opposed to a special-purpose district...
, be filled only by citizens. We combat the corrupting parliamentary economy, office-holding only according to party inclinations without consideration of character or abilities. - We demand that the stateState (polity)A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihoodLivelihoodA person's livelihood referers to "means of securing the necessities of life". For instance a fisherman's livelihood depends on the availability and accessibility of fish.- In social sciences :...
and way of life for the citizens. If it is impossible to sustain the total population of the State, then the members of foreign nations (non-citizens) are to be expelled from the Reich. - Any further immigrationImmigrationImmigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
of non-citizens is to be prevented. We demand that all non-Germans, who have immigrated to Germany since 2 August 1914, be forced immediately to leave the Reich. - All citizens must have equal rights and obligations.
- The first obligationObligationAn obligation is a requirement to take some course of action, whether legal or moral. There are also obligations in other normative contexts, such as obligations of etiquette, social obligations, and possibly...
of every citizen must be to work both spiritually and physically. The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all. Consequently we demand: - Abolition of unearned (work and labour) incomesUnearned incomeUnearned income is a term in economics that has different meanings and implications depending on the theoretical frame. To classical economists, with their emphasis on dynamic competition, income not subject to competition are “rents” or unearned income, such as incomes attributable to...
. Breaking of debt (interest)-slavery. - In consideration of the monstrous sacrifice in property and blood that each warWarWar is a state of organized, armed, and often prolonged conflict carried on between states, nations, or other parties typified by extreme aggression, social disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political...
demands of the people, personal enrichment through a war must be designated as a crimeCrimeCrime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
against the people. Therefore we demand the total confiscationConfiscationConfiscation, from the Latin confiscatio 'joining to the fiscus, i.e. transfer to the treasury' is a legal seizure without compensation by a government or other public authority...
of all war profitsWar profiteeringA war profiteer is any person or organization that profits from warfare or by selling weapons and other goods to parties at war. The term has strong negative connotations. General profiteering may also occur in peace time.-International arms dealers:...
. - We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts).
- We demand a division of profitsProfit (economics)In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total opportunity costs of a venture to an entrepreneur or investor, whilst economic profit In economics, the term profit has two related but distinct meanings. Normal profit represents the total...
of all heavy industries. - We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfarePensionIn general, a pension is an arrangement to provide people with an income when they are no longer earning a regular income from employment. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.The terms retirement...
. - We demand the creation of a healthy middle classMiddle classThe middle class is any class of people in the middle of a societal hierarchy. In Weberian socio-economic terms, the middle class is the broad group of people in contemporary society who fall socio-economically between the working class and upper class....
and its conservation, immediate communalization of the great warehouses and their being leased at low cost to small firms, the utmost consideration of all small firms in contracts with the State, county or municipality. - We demand a land reformLand reform[Image:Jakarta farmers protest23.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Farmers protesting for Land Reform in Indonesia]Land reform involves the changing of laws, regulations or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution,...
suitable to our needs, provision of a law for the free expropriationNationalizationNationalisation, also spelled nationalization, is the process of taking an industry or assets into government ownership by a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to private assets, but may also mean assets owned by lower levels of government, such as municipalities, being...
of land for the purposes of public utility, abolition of taxes on landLand value taxA land value tax is a levy on the unimproved value of land. It is an ad valorem tax on land that disregards the value of buildings, personal property and other improvements...
and prevention of all speculationSpeculationIn finance, speculation is a financial action that does not promise safety of the initial investment along with the return on the principal sum...
in land. - We demand struggle without consideration against those whose activity is injurious to the general interest. Common national criminals, usurersUsuryUsury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...
, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with deathCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
, without consideration of confession or race. - We demand substitution of a German common lawCommon lawCommon law is law developed by judges through decisions of courts and similar tribunals rather than through legislative statutes or executive branch action...
in place of the Roman LawRoman lawRoman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, and the legal developments which occurred before the 7th century AD — when the Roman–Byzantine state adopted Greek as the language of government. The development of Roman law comprises more than a thousand years of jurisprudence — from the Twelve...
serving a materialistic world-order. - The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national educationEducationEducation in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher educationHigher educationHigher, post-secondary, tertiary, or third level education refers to the stage of learning that occurs at universities, academies, colleges, seminaries, and institutes of technology...
and subsequently introduction into leading positions. The plans of instruction of all educational institutions are to conform with the experiences of practical life. The comprehension of the concept of the State must be striven for by the school [Staatsbuergerkunde] as early as the beginning of understanding. We demand the education at the expense of the State of outstanding intellectually gifted children of poor parents without consideration of position or profession. - The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness, by means of the legal establishment of a gymnastic and sport obligation, by the utmost support of all organizations concerned with the physical instruction of the young.
- We demand abolition of the mercenaryMercenaryA mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
troops and formation of a national army. - We demand legal opposition to known lies and their promulgation through the pressNews mediaThe news media are those elements of the mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public.These include print media , broadcast news , and more recently the Internet .-Etymology:A medium is a carrier of something...
. In order to enable the provision of a German press, we demand, that: a. All writers and employees of the newspapers appearing in the German language be members of the race: b. Non-German newspapers be required to have the express permission of the State to be published. They may not be printed in the German language: c. Non-Germans are forbidden by law any financial interest in German publications, or any influence on them, and as punishment for violations the closing of such a publication as well as the immediate expulsion from the Reich of the non-German concerned. Publications which are counter to the general good are to be forbidden. We demand legal prosecution of artistic and literary forms which exert a destructive influence on our national life, and the closure of organizations opposing the above made demands. - We demand freedom of religionFreedom of religionFreedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...
for all religious denominations within the state so long as they do not endanger its existence or oppose the moralMoralA moral is a message conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim...
senses of the Germanic race. The Party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive ChristianityPositive ChristianityPositive Christianity was a slogan of Nazi propaganda adopted at the NSDAP congress 1920 to express a worldview which is Christian, non-confessional, vigorously opposed to the spirit of "Jewish Materialism", and oriented to the principle of voluntary association of those with a common...
without binding itself confessionally to any one denomination. It combats the Jewish-materialistic spirit within and around us, and is convinced that a lasting recovery of our nation can only succeed from within on the framework: The good of the state before the good of the individual. - For the execution of all of this we demand the formation of a strong central power in the Reich. Unlimited authority of the central parliament over the whole Reich and its organizations in general. The forming of state and profession chambers for the execution of the laws made by the Reich within the various states of the confederation. The leaders of the Party promise, if necessary by sacrificing their own lives, to support by the execution of the points set forth above without consideration.
See also
- Twelve ThesesTwelve ThesesThe Twelve Theses were issued in early April 1933 by Press and Propaganda Section of the German Student Association and called for German university students to purge German language and literature of Jewish influence and to restore those aspects of German culture to their "pure" volkische traditions...
- National Socialism
- The Manifesto of the Fascist Struggle
- Manifesto of the Fascist IntellectualsManifesto of the Fascist IntellectualsThe Manifesto of Fascist Intellectuals , by the actualist philosopher Giovanni Gentile, formally establishes the political and ideologic foundations of Italian Fascism...
- Strasserism