ECONOMY AND THE WORLD SLUMP 1929-1932

The world economic depression of the 1930s, which began with the Wall St crash in the autumn of 1929, struck German capitalism with special severity. It plunged it into a social and political crisis which culminated in the defeat of the highiy-organized working-class movement and the coming to power of Hitler. This series of articles will deal with the economic aspects of the victory of Nazism, examine the connection between the Nazi regime and monopoly capitalism and conclude with an analysis of Hitler Germany's war economy.

German capitalism had only survived the shock of war and defeat because of the treachery of the Social-Democratic leaders and the inability of the young German Communist Party to provide an alternative which could take the working class to power. were not included in the statistics. Probably one worker in three was unemployed by 1932. Those in _ jobs could not bargain effectively when lines of hungry men were outside the factories waiting to take their place.

The country was hit by an unprecedented social catastrophe which provided the backdrop for series of short-lived crisis governments and the growing appeal of the National Socialist movement.

The overwhelming majority of the German working class remained solid behind its organizations.

The 'free' trade unions and a majority of the unemployed looked to the Communist Party for leadership.

The political developments have been dealt with in previous series to which the reader can be referred.

The main support : for Hitler and the National Socialists came from the middle classes. Already partly ruined by the inflation and fearful of another collapse of the mark, millions shifted their allegiance from the traditional conservative,parties to the Nazis.

Many middle-class people were by now affected by unemployment and falling trade. Businessmen went bankrupt: professional people found their practices diminish; peasants were crushed between falling prices and mortgages whose repayment burden had become intolerable. • The enraged middle class looked for a saviour wnO would restore their pride in he manld restore shattered by the 'humiliation' of Versailles, protecting the m against the threat of the big monopolies on the one hand and the organized working class on the other and provide them with a scapegoat.

The National Socialist programme did just that: it was opposed to the Versailles system, promised deal with monopolies and the trade unions and pointed to the Marxists and the lews as responsible for Germany's ills.

The depth of the social catastrophe enabled Hitler to reach new layers of people with his' propaganda, the enormous costs of which were now being met by big-business backers.

Before Hitler came to power in