It Cannot be Stormed

by Ernst von Salomon

  ‘Well, then, the System means something that no movement or idea has to its credit, however great in itself and however imposing a popular success it can claim—in short: an achievement. Moreover, it means an achievement which, according to all I have heard from you here, should be very acceptable to you, and should call for your applause, namely, the preservation of the Reich. That may surprise you, and possibly you have never heard of it before, but real achievement has a quality, which cannot be strange to you, who after all belong to many different professions, without it having been evident in the discussion, namely, the quality of anonymity. You know that Graf Schlieffen, the man who transformed Moltke’s heritage, the Prusso-German General Staff, into an instrument of military efficiency such as the world had never seen before, gave his officers a rule of personal conduct: “Be rather than appear.” And wherever it is a question of accomplishing real, essential work, detailed work, without which no task with a long end in view is possible, this principle must be observed. It is a Prussian principle, and it is a universal German principle, as soon as we consider the meaning of the State. Now this principle still applies today, or applies again, and it applies where you, and with you all those who know so well how to keep the German public occupied with their claims and problems, would never suspect it to apply, in the System, which does not stand in the public eye at all, and by reason of its sphere of activity, cannot stand in the public eye. I said that the System was an achievement, an anonymous achievement. Maybe, but it is a visible achievement to which you gentlemen, who are gathered here for profitable discussions, are immensely indebted and in which, whether you wish it or not, in a great many of your activities, whether they be of a private or public nature, you co-operate. I do not mean, of course, lest you should misunderstand me, that you are indebted to it because it enables you to organise a protest against the System, although that has become a profitable occupation; what I mean is that it is only by the preservation of the Reich, even if you do not approve of the form it takes, that you are enabled to meet here for this animated discussion and, in spite of your different callings, unanimously to declare that everything must be changed. I tell you the System has preserved the Reich, and without the System it would be today the plaything of foreign Powers, a heap of coloured bricks, from which every political passer-by can take whatever he considers to be his share, but not a building as it actually is today. It is true it is a faulty building, with a leaking roof, and whose stairways and rooms are far too cramped, but in which none the less you can live, have a home, and which, if you want it, can give you an answer to the question of where you belong. As is natural, where people are one on top of another, you can become involved in disputes, fly at one another’s throats, in word or action, but if you attempt to knock down the walls of the house itself, your excuse that it had become too cramped for you will not prevent anyone from thinking that you have committed a crime, and surely it is for this contingency that the police exist. For the important thing, which comes before all private interests, is that we should preserve the little that has been left to us, and that from this foundation we should slowly win back, by hard and assiduous labour, what we have lost. And for this purpose it is no use bemoaning a happy past, however near or remote it may be; it is no use indulging in dreams of a glorious future; the one and only thing that is of any use is to realise what has to be done now—immediately—and in this way to provide a precisely calculated basis for what will have to be done in the future. I beg you, gentlemen, do not regard the men whom you consider representative of the System as idiots, do not regard them as self-seekers or party fanatics, do not weaken your own position by an error! And try not to excogitate a thraldom which has no connection with the real issue; in that way you will only be fathering a thraldom whose character, when it is too late, will mightily astonish you and will make you asseverate on your oath that you have no affection and no responsibility for the child.’

  ‘You can imagine that, having served as an officer of the old Imperial Prussian Army, I did not lightly decide to serve the Republic, especially when it bore a very different aspect from what it has become today; that I entered on my duties in a dispassionate and critical frame of mind; and the feeling I had for the men who had taken over the State Government could only be described as one of complete mistrust. What could have led me to take this step but the certainty that it was essential, that all energies should be directed to the performance of the duties which were urgently demanding fulfilment on every side? And I can tell you, gentlemen, if there are any men whom I salute and to whom I say, “All honour to you,” they are the men who have saved the Reich by their unflinching attitude, and who have displayed a statesmanship with which I myself would never have credited them. Let me tell you, you may search far and wide through Germany before you will find a statesman who unites such qualities as Otto Braun. . . And if I may venture to the sphere of analogies in which you are so much at home, then all I can say is that the wonderful relationship on which the foundations of the unity of the Reich were built, the relationship between Emperor William I and his Chancellor Bismarck, has its analogy today between the President of the Reich and Chancellor Brüning. Naturally I cannot fall into the error of thinking that everything that exists today is good and wonderful and beautiful; no one can do that, particularly not anyone in a position of responsibility. The important point is, not to hand out praise, or to paint things black, but to recognise the position for what it is, to consider how it arose and what possibilities for the future it affords. Surely it was not mere chance that out of the struggle between the opposing powers of Right and Left, of West and East, of North and South, of high and low, was developed the Reich in its present form, the System; and if you are searching for a mystic power, I can tell you where to find one. You will find it where out of the unspeakable chaos of endeavours and trends, of opinions and facts, of regulations and emancipations, of clatter of guns and signing of treaties, of hunger and oppression, and hopes and fears, the Reich re-fashioned itself, the Reich that could contain and accomplish all this without falling asunder, and in which today a further step could be taken to consolidate its form and to strengthen its position in foreign politics, if the whole witches’ brew had not begun to seethe again, paralysing the energies which had been liberated so laboriously for the great tasks of the future. I do not fail to recognise how serious are the reasons which led to this new revolt; but ask yourselves whether these reasons are of necessity rooted in the System, or whether they do not much rather come from regions where the System itself cannot exercise any direct influence and to reach which it would be necessary that all the interested Powers should act together with a confidence which is lacking at present. To establish the confidence for this task is a part of the foreign policy which is essential today—a task for which, however, the System requires the confidence of those who should have the most direct interest in removing the reasons that are at present leading to an attack against the System. No one should doubt the good faith of the men and the movements who feel that they cannot repose their confidence in the System, but to realise the real state of affairs and to change it for the better, more is needed than overpoweringly strong convictions and the most disinterested and energetic will; an objective knowledge of the material is necessary. But the fact is that it is only where the material is fused that it can be surveyed, and the whole body of public statistics and investigations, of professional and political detailed work, all the knowledge of the mind of the people, of the claims of home and foreign policy, of the technique of government and of economics, are not sufficient to remove the barrier between the study, the party headquarters, the editorial office on the one hand and responsible officialdom on the other. For it is in government offices that the fruit of study are available in essence, the daily changing aspect is automatically recorded, the comprehensive plan is being built up step by step, ratios are adjusted, the matters of first importance are sifted out and decisions made as to how and i
n what degree they are to be dealt with. This is so, and because it is so, and because it cannot be altered, without immediately making any responsible course of action impossible and destroying the security of the Reich—because this is so, no change of authority will bring about a change in the present state of affairs. What can it matter if one or other responsible leader in German politics goes and gives place to another; what can it matter even if the whole machinery of government is suddenly put into the hands of a completely new set of men, the System will remain because the necessity for perpetual and constant achievement remains, and, if it is perhaps going too far to say that the laws of this achievement are categorical and exist independently of human will, at any rate they possess the organic strength which represents the will of the people better than any parliament or any form of public opinion. Yes, gentlemen, you cannot escape the facts; however energetically you may advance against them, they remain and must be moulded and adjusted, and even supposing that a revolution were carried through unanimously supported by the whole people, if the System which has built itself up by laborious detailed work were gradually to disintegrate, the whole organisation to be reorganised, the same mechanical power would remain and, though the tempo may be increased at which this mechanical power must be developed and exploited, its magnitude can never be changed. And to attain this we do not need a revolution. What we need is that the confidence of all should be placed in the System, the elimination of all the ridiculous obstructive ideas based on violence, which set themselves against the System instead of fulfilling themselves in it in the most economical way by constructive co-operation, in union with life and for the attainment of the only possible results. For it is not true that the System is a rigid apparatus, a machine whose fly-wheel runs down when the driving belts cease working, it is not a motor fed with doctrinal oil, which stops short when no more of this particular mixture is available; it is a living entity and derives its life from the ideas of its era. What is the use of talking of rational political technique? Undoubtedly it was the System that made it possible for Germany to enter the League of Nations, and what else does that mean but to take the battle for German security into the very territory of the so-called Counter-Reich, a battle which could not be waged anywhere else, because, even with us actual political exigencies have proved themselves stronger than ideals, and because the League of Nations has now become the concentration field on which these political exigencies meet to do battle. Therefore to cut oneself off from the League of Nations meant from the outset to renounce the greatest opportunities of foreign policy, opportunities which it is true can only be tackled with rational technique, but to what end and with what purpose in view? Why should it not be possible for us with our political technique to achieve the same national success in the gathering of the Counter-Reich, to use your term again, as Talleyrand achieved in his day for France in the organ of the Holy Alliance, the Congress of Vienna? The opportunity has been given to us to tackle the opponent with his idealism, and thus to force him to accept us as a partner, although he had hoped to keep us out for ever, and to fight out the battle for the Reich on his own field, where he is most vulnerable. I will gladly, and the System will gladly, give credit to those who are making themselves felt all over the Reich in a serious endeavour to comprehend the essence of politics, and most certainly an important and extensive objective point can be cut out of all this farrago; but, gentlemen, I maintain that there had long since been an objective point, and that it made itself evident, and even you cannot doubt it, at the moment when free economic enterprise, which was more or less necessary for progressive internal development, came to an end, when the State, which was just as much ruled by interests as society, as it were asserted its independence, assumed the initiative in economics and politics, the Chancellor freed the Government to an extent hitherto inconceivable from the Parliament to which you are opposed, in short created a concrete administration which with its tendency to emphasise the authority of the State should be particularly acceptable in nationalist circles. You may deplore, gentlemen, that the great act of reformation, for which the way has been cleared by this fact, is not being fulfilled according to an extensive, clearly expounded and generally illuminating plan; of course you can deplore this, but you should level your complaints at yourselves, at all those who through their opposition to the System are making serious and united action impossible, who stand on one side, armed with mistrust, instead of holding themselves ready to infuse life into the bare bones of the organisation and give it body by their vital and creative impetus. You are forcing the System to progress step by step, giving here and there a consideration to private interests which the generality find hardly tolerable, and only asserting its full power where the wisdom of others has failed. You may point out, gentlemen, that it was not until the hour of greatest need that the System began to intervene, compelled by this need, it is true, but who is to say that the possibility of intervention was not inherent in the System from the very beginning, in the purpose of the System, and that this purpose did not embrace the will to intervene when the time was ripe, no sooner and no later. The time is ripe now, and you may well be dissatisfied when you contemplate the present state of affairs, which is neither flesh nor fish, but who is to say that this state of affairs is not provisional, does not already embrace the will—by supporting the banks, by a far-reaching participation of the State in banking interests, in economics, in society, by the expansion of public economic activity, by intervention in conditions of production and sale, by assuming financial control—to bring about a fundamental reformation of the whole structure of economics, and thereby to attain an integrity of the State which certainly is in our time, and, if I may look back at Prussian history, not only in our time, the essential and only means to force the will to life of the nation to a mighty, overpowering, and in the last resort heroic effort. And you may gaze, my friends of the Left, with enthusiasm towards Russia, and you, my friends of the Right, with delight towards Italy, and you gentlemen, who have not yet decided whether you are Left or Right, towards a glorious kingdom of the future, but here, on every side of you a State is quietly growing which has no need to be looking to every point of the compass for examples; the German State is growing here to fulfil German needs, is being formed, under pressure it is true from the whole world, just as every real life is formed under the pressure of its environment. But it is being formed out of German material, out of the bitter distress of the German situation, and has within it all the objective points for which you are fishing with such praiseworthy zeal, lowering your rods into the fog. It is true that the stupendous process of German reorganisation is proceeding slowly; I can disclose to you that it is sure, that it contains all the germs of German hope, that it is the quiver for all the arrows of German desire, and you can rely on it, all of you, if you do not prefer to draw a bow at random now, that the bow-strings are humming.’

  Brodermann drew a deep breath. He continued: ‘I know the reproaches that are made against the System: some speak of cold socialisation, for others it is not socialistic enough. Well, you may call it what you like, but one thing is certain, it is seeking for the forms which show the greatest promise of being equal to the important tasks of the future. It was not by chance that the System’s will to reorganisation, as soon as it had the necessary freedom, turned first to establishing security in the East, and then to a revival of agriculture, to a revival, not a socialisation, and, if some methods give the impression of being socialistic, other methods give the impression of being far from socialistic, for a revival cannot be based on any one great political theory, to which everything has to give way, or be destroyed; it must be based on the needs of the community as a whole, and if the farmers, if agriculture, consider that their effective existence is essential for the community as a whole, then there is only one way of proving it, namely, by taking an essential part in the task of the System, from a point of view which it is not difficult to comply with when it is really honoura
ble and seriously directed to what is essential. It is said that the State is oppressive, but nothing is being oppressed unless it makes a stand against the security of the Reich, and if it does make such a stand, then there will be no mercy, I assure you. But to want to stir up the storm now, and to cry for “violence,” when you have been crying for “violence” all along, is a game I don’t understand. Gentlemen, what is it you actually want? Now that the System has at last got private interests and combines under the control of State authority and has put them in the places where they can be useful, do you want, by destroying the System, to let them break loose again and assume command? Do you want to embark once more on the pointless and planless battle, until the opponents are at each other’s throats again, without a single political purpose being fulfilled? Do you want a new System? There is no System in Germany, new or not, directed by no matter whom, which will not find itself faced with the same tasks, the same powerful forces, the same tendencies and objective points. Let us preserve what has been created, and work on, work more and more. The System has room for all. You will find all sorts of opportunities—not necessarily in the Reichstag, if that does not appeal to you—it does not appeal to me either and it does not seem to be a sign of outstanding political and revolutionary instinct, when great movements, which are setting about to destroy the System, in order to put themselves and their valuable intelligence in its place, deliberately turn all their strength against the position which is today least representative of the System, the Reichstag, and stare as though hypnotised at all the seats that have to be won there. It would be much better, to begin the work of developing Germany’s future in your own proper sphere; to find the best possible and potentially strongest form in your own associations, to bring your idealism into active co-operation with life and thus to contribute to what you and I desire, and with us the System. But to want to stand aside, with your heads perpetually in the clouds, your hearts full of intoxicating dreams, and on your tongues the proclamation of the one right and eternally marvellous salvation by the so-and-so many’th Reich, to agitate for the destruction of the System,’—Brodermann made a violent gesture with the invisible sword—‘that is political romanticism,’