Robert Ley: The Forgotten Anti-Capitalism of The NSDAP
By Judas
"Our leader has dared to unmask the Jews. To demonstrate to the people all the harshness of their bad faith... their arts of capitalist exploitation. As the vampires of humanity, the exploiters of humanity!"
National Socialism: Capitalism in Decay?
When people are confronted with the topic of National Socialism and its relation with Capitalism, we usually delve into a variety of views regarding the praxis and ideas of Hitler, given the fact most of his attacks were directed at Bolshevism, or as it was usually regarded by the NSDAP as “Jewish Bolshevism,” people go with the idea that given the supposed lack of anti-capitalism inside the movement, and the diverse agreements and concessions given to industry during Nazi rule, the entire movement could be categorized sympathetic to Capitalism, especially after the purge of the left-wing faction during the Night of the Long Knives.
Despite the usual consensus regarding this view, not only are we dealing with a misconception here, but it is very important to explain the fact that certain events such as the Night of the Long Knives, were not the only exception when something went out of control without Hitler’s awareness, as David Irving explains in the following excerpt from The War Path:
“Much had in fact happened that unsettled Hitler. Göring had wantonly liquidated Gregor Strasser, Hitler’s rival, and there had been a rash of killings in Bavaria... Hitler’s adjutant Brückner later described in private papers how Hitler vented his annoyance on Himmler when the Reichsführer SS appeared at the chancellery with a final list of the victims eighty-two all told. In later months, Viktor Lutze told anybody who would listen that the Führer had originally listed only seven men; he had offered Röhm suicide, and when Röhm declined this ‘offer’ Hitler had had him shot too. Hitler’s seven had become seventeen, and then eighty-two.”
Not to mention that A. James Gregor, a specialist on Fascism, as a tendency and ideological movement, specifically explains that every Fascist movement always had a more complicated relationship with Capitalism than what the public believes. Especially in Germany, a country in which a Fascist movement arose with a fully industrialized economy, differentiating itself from other countries where Fascism would in turn, (start to) industrialize, such as Italy, Argentina, Iraq, etc. Another expert on the topic, Stanley G. Payne, agrees with the thesis of Gregor and in his book, A History of Fascism, he details what the paper of Capitalism really meant, once Hitler rose to power:
“Hitler worked during 1931–32 to establish ties with influential sectors of society, cooperating part of the time with the right and trying to reassure businessmen that they had no reason to be apprehensive of Nazi “socialism.” Yet despite massive leftist propaganda that Hitler was the paid agent of capitalism, Hitler garnered only limited financial support from big business. While there was considerable support for Hitler among small industrialists, most sectors of big business consistently advised against permitting him to form a government. The Nazi Party was primarily financed by its own members."
Looking through several academic works repeatedly discussing the paper of Capitalism and regarding its relation with the uprising of the NSDAP, the definitive work to look up is German Big Business and the Rise of Hitler by Henry Ashby Turner, if one truly has interest in a more in-depth book on the full issue that exposes the way the Nazi party financed itself, and if one seeks to see a full rebuttal on the eternal myth of Fascism/Nazism being capitalism in decay, desperately trying to save itself.
After a quick overview on the rise of the Nazi party, we then can start questioning ourselves, if Big Industry did not finance the party, and indeed the usual left-wing purges of the party were not strictly caused because of their leanings, but because of power moves inside the movement. Why didn’t they go after Capitalism in their talking points? The answer is rather easy and in fact, shows that the questioner hasn’t really bothered to look into their proposals and views. In order to understand this, we must see that Hitler, despite always aiming for the so called “Jewish-Bolshevism,” saw it as none-other than the agent of Capitalism doctrine, which inherently contained a Judaic spirit to it and through the brutal butchery of Bolshevism, by which they could weaken nations and allow for finance to take over.
“Hitler violently objected to international capitalism even when it was not Jewish, but he assigned the Jews a particularly malevolent role within the global capitalist system; this remained the principal root of his anti- Semitism. In Mein Kampf, as in his earlier rhetoric, Jews were inseparably linked with money and the whole capitalist system as ‘traders’, as ‘middlemen’, who levied an ‘extortionate rate of interest’ for their ‘financial deals’. Jewry, he claimed, aimed at nothing less that the ‘financial domination of the entire economy’.”
—Hitler: A Global Biography by Brendan Simms
The amount of historical evidence regarding the turbulent relationship of the NSDAP with Capitalism and all its variants can’t be possibly summarized in one single article, thus, it is suggestible to read some of the sourced books in order to have a bigger understanding on the topic. After a brief summary of the issue, we can move on to the main focus of this article, which is Dr. Robert Ley, a figure that has been, either purposefully or not, forgotten by mainstream history of Nazi Germany, not for being irrelevant or that he never accomplished anything, that must be said; if anything, it could be theorized that he represents a side that not many want to know, and this is the majority of Anti-Capitalist figures inside the NSDAP.
Robert Ley: The Man
Born in the province of the Rhine during the German Empire on February 15, 1890, Robert Ley would grow up on an impoverished land sector under a family of 13 members, having to learn and understand the harsh conditions of the lower classes and eventually find a way to improve his life from ground zero until he would study for a doctorate in chemistry. Ley would stop his studies in order to volunteer for World War I, serving in artillery divisions until he became an aerial artillery spotter, a period in which his aircraft would be taken down by the French, making him a POW (prisoner of war) up until the end of the conflict.
Robert Ley Portrait
After the surrender of Germany, Ley would go back to university and obtain his Ph. D. in Chemistry, with which he would work for the renowned company IG Farbenindustrie. After the French occupation of the Ruhr, Ley would get closer to Nationalism and would eventually be convinced by the ideas of Adolf Hitler, who at the time was mostly known for the Beer Hall Putsch, this would eventually lead him to join the National Socialist Workers Party in 1925. Ley would become indisputably a prominent member of the party due to his raging support for the improvement of living standards in the working class, arguing against the validity of the untouchability of private property on multiple occasions:
“Today the owner can no longer tell us, 'my factory is my private affair.' That was before, that’s over now. The people inside of it depend on his factory for their contentment, and these people belong to us.... This is no longer a private affair, this is a public matter. And he must think and act accordingly and answer for it."
Eventually, he would become a well regarded member and play a very vital role in the National Socialist government of Germany, also being considered a theorist of their ideology. Through his work and prominence in the party, he would get to lead the famous syndicate of the german government, the German Labour Front (Deutsche Arbeitsfront) otherwise known as DAF. This is where not only would he start making his biggest contribution to the history of the Hitlerite government, strengthening the worker-state bond and the conversion of many workers to the National Socialist ideal.
Robert Ley: Ideas and Labour
“In April 1933 Hitler closed down the trade unions; he transferred their staff, members, and assets one year later to a monolithic German Labour Front, the DAF. It was the biggest trade union in the world, and one of the most successful. Dr. Robert Ley, the stuttering, thickset Party official who controlled the DAF for the next twelve years, certainly deserves a better appraisal from history. The DAF regularly received 90 percent of the subscriptions due – an unparalleled expression of the thirty million members’ confidence. With this vast wealth the DAF built for them holiday cruise liners, housing, shops, hotels, and convalescent homes; it financed the Volkswagen factory, the Vulkan shipyards, production centers in the food industry, and the Bank of German Labour… Labour leader Ley was to stand by Hitler beyond the end.”
—The War Path by David Irving
Robert Ley would be an open advocate of the working class during the National Socialist rule of Germany, after the prohibition of trade unions and strikes, the German Labour Front, an organization that was inspired by the Opera Nazionale Dopolavoro (a fascist Italian institution), would be installed in Germany as a way to ensure class collaboration and the full legislation of National Socialist ideology among workers and employers. This re-education aimed at the members of the productive sector of the nation, would be summarized by Hitler as a method to achieve “genuine socialism” through the creation of a communal feeling among the German people. Education was seen as a very important part in a revolution, thus, the task that Ley had, without a doubt, one of the biggest responsibilities any member of the party ever had, which, as history would show, he would prove to be the right man for.
German Labour Front logo
Before delving on the pure practice of what Ley did, we must understand what Ley stood for, that is, get inside its logical thinking and conclusions in regards to his ideological takes. What did Robert Ley support? Throughout many of his speeches, articles, and overall conclusions Ley showed to be a fervent supporter of Hitler’s ideas, while having his own takes on the matter. If we are to understand one thing from this, is that although Hitler always was reserved about industrialists, it doesn’t mean there wasn’t some underground to his anti-capitalist ideas. As we mentioned at the start of the article, Judeo-Bolshevism was a usual mantra of the NSDAP, but did this really mean they were ignoring Capitalism? The simple answer is: No
Whenever we see a talk about Bolshevism among members of the party, we start to notice a small but clear clue regarding the fact that Capitalism was always keeping Marxists on their side, given the fact that under National Socialist view, the go to tool to weaken nations after World War I was that of bolshevism. It was nothing else but a weapon used by Capitalism. In the case of Ley’s ideological overview, he exposes a more clear and raw take on the matter while not avoiding being direct about it like many other members, that is to say, he didn’t hide the fact he was indeed blaming Capitalism for being of an inherent Jewish spirit. Everyone at the end of the day was nothing but a backed capitalist product in order to divide and conquer the nation.
"Let us remember, National Socialists, the struggle in the interior against the plutocratic forces. In the moment that we understood what the power of money meant, the fight was already over. The plutocrat is not smart, and when he's exposed, neither he, nor his straw men, nor his satellites are something to fear. Soon the parties that were purely capitalists and the individuals and organizations that they financed such as the Marxist and centrist party, came to an end. From the very moment that you can show the people their tricky tactics, plutocracy loses all its power.”
—Socialism: The Envy of our Enemies, 1941 Article.
Ley would usually say that Germans that hated Jews, or were of an anti-Semitic line of thought that also supported Capitalism, were nothing but ignorant reactionaries that wouldn’t really understand that they were still falling for their “golden calf” as he would call it, that is, Capitalism being a Judaic ideology based on the exploitation of the nation, the division of the nation, and the weakening of the spirit of people based on nothing but living wage by wage and getting comforted by the fact they had enough to live with under a materialist hedonistic view of the world. For Ley, if the industrialists did not follow the desired path, he would be treaded on, whether he liked it or not:
“I always say that workers and managers belong together, and we will not leave you alone whether you want us to or not, whether you like it or not. If the manager says: “It is ridiculous that I always have to participate in employee meetings, I won’t do it,” we reply ‘You must do it! Ten thousand workers are marching. The best German blood! It should be an honor for you to march at their head. If you do not want to do that, we will have to put you back in the ranks where the man behind you can tread on your heels until you do it properly. We will teach you, believe me. We will not give up.’”
—Fate — I believe! 1937 Speech.
Dr. Ley certainly did not hold himself back in regards to how he approached and directed his words towards Capitalism, being one of the few members that would directly admit the intentions of the party in regards to their carelessness to private property. Given the fact he saw it as a communal property to a degree, the wellbeing of workers inside it had to be fulfilled and not only that, the worker had to feel that he belonged to something bigger than himself. This is where the concept of National Socialism comes into play, a philosophy based on responsibility towards society, seeking its improvement and the union of the nation in an organic national life. Academic Richard Tedor goes on in his book, Hitler’s Revolution, about the meaning of the so-called socialism that Hitler and his supporters followed:
“Hitler saw nationalism as a patriotic motive to place the good of one’s country before personal ambition. Socialism was a political, social and economic system that demanded the same subordination of self-interest for the benefit of the community. As Hitler said in 1927, ‘Socialism and nationalism are the great fighters for one’s own kind, are the hardest fighters in the struggle for survival on this earth. Therefore they are no longer battle cries against one another.’ Die SA summarized, ‘Marxism makes the distinction of haves and have-nots. It demands the destruction of the former in order to bring all property into possession of the public. National Socialism places the concept of the national community in the foreground.... The collective welfare of a people is not achieved through superficially equal distribution of all possessions, but by accepting the principle that before the interests of the individual stand those of the nation.’”
These ideas would have a deep influence on Ley, which would be the compass of not only his political ideas but also his life’s philosophy. He would take this meaning of socialism to the next level by constantly pushing for policies to the detriment of industrialists and conservative forces inside the party, gaining himself the usual accusation of being a Marxist. Ley would be one of those characters that would survive the different clashes that would happen inside the NSDAP throughout its history, especially during the times that people like the Strassers would be persecuted.
"One of the most important new social organizations was the German Labor Front (DAF). Under its director, Robert Ley, the DAF quickly swelled to more than 6 million members and by 1938 maintained a larger budget than the Nazi Party. The Law for the Ordering of German Labor of January 1934 created a structure of leaders and their “retinues” (workers) in each factory, with Courts of Social Honor for both. Though under strict hierarchical control, the DAF did not ignore worker interests and often acted to improve conditions. Unlike the situation in Fascist Italy, shop stewards did operate under the DAF, though the first elections to “councils of trust” in factories produced so few positive votes they were never tried again... Ley hoped to build the Labor Front into a major autonomous force, even conceiving the ambition of having it replace the party as the basis of National Socialism, though such aims were soon quashed."
—A History of Fascism 1914-1945 by Stanley G. Payne
To put it in contrast with other Fascist leaders, Ley would embark on similar talking points as the ones that Mussolini would engage in during the Italian Social Republic years before the war. Ideas such as the struggle of proletariat versus plutocrat nations, barely valuing the untouchability of private property, defending constant intervention of the state, and constant tirades against Capitalism and plutocrats. Although the values and reasons as to one was more open to the other explain why they both acted differently, this is merely an example as to how often people can say that Mussolini had been a fervent Anti-Capitalist, while they go on to say the NSDAP always went for a soft view on Capitalism. The mere existence of figures such as Robert Ley, whom managed to soak many workers and members into the belief that private property was nothing compared to the wellbeing of the nation, shows that perhaps there is a side of the German National Socialist government not many knew about.
Ley giving a speech to Factory Workers
In regards to foreign nations, Robert Ley would have a deep admiration for Mussolini and would constantly push for workers exchange between the Italian and German Nation given the fact they both shared the same enemy, the evil deeds of Capitalism and its Marxist tool, and thus, an alliance and collaboration between both proletariat nations, was necessary.
“I shall talk of a new innovation: the trains of exchange, the fruits of our agreement with Italy; the first proved how excellent this idea was. At the beginning of October, 425 Italian workers, members of Dopolavoro, came to Munich, Nuremberg & Berlin. Our biggest happiness was that of seeing the happiness of Italians, our guests and the enthusiasm with which they adopted the points of the program we offered. A little time later, a large express train, with first and second-class cars, carried 425 German workers from Berlin to Rome and Florence going through Brenner. Media from the entire world gave us the details of the trip of our comrades from the reception of the Duce until the presentation of the Florence Opera. Two organizations with the same end – Strength through Joy and Dopolavoro- joined the same Labour to consolidate the axis Berlin-Rome thanks to the practical work of the approach of these two countries…”
—A folk conquering joy. Fourth Anniversary of Strength through Joy. 1937 Speech.
“The Führer found in Italy’s Duce a revolutionary of like good sense and reasonableness. Only the friendship of these two men, their clarity and determination, gave Europe security through the Axis. Now it was necessary to see which worldview had the greater power and strength…
Jewish internationalism also had to be destroyed internationally. Fanatic National Socialism and pacifistic internationalism are like fire and water and can never exist alongside each other. They are like fire and water, and sooner or later there must be a battle between these two worlds. This battle would show whether Jewish democracy and Jewish internationalism would win and were the stronger, or whether National Socialism and Fascism, tied to nature and obedient to nature’s laws, would be victorious. There was only an either/or. If the National Socialist and Fascist Axis were to triumph, the Jewish democratic-parliamentarian system would have to be destroyed…This whole international institution, the International Labor Office in Geneva, was nothing but a way for the capitalists of the world to regulate their world capitalist goals. With the help of international slogans and international agreements, countries like Germany and Italy should limit their production, thereby reducing economic competition.”
—International Ethnic Mush or United National States of Europe? 1941 Pamphlet.
Robert Ley in Italy along with Labour Leader Tulio Cianetti
Robert Ley would make a joint effort along with Tulio Cianetti to allow the exchange of workers between both nations. The latter would become a glorified person inside the DAF, getting to the point of Volkswagen industries having a leisure spot dedicated to him under the name of “Cianetti Hall ''. This sympathy towards his figure is without a doubt due to the views and activism of Cianetti himself, who went along the line of thought of Ugo Spirito, and constantly struggled against Capitalism and Communism, seeing them both as the main enemy of Fascist struggle. Under these views along with Cianetti’s favorable view of German Racial policies, the bonding between both representatives allowed for a stronger collaboration of German and Italian Labour, facilitating the formation of the Pact of Steel that was soon to come.
“The exchange of workers that Italy and Germany have started acquires larger proportions each time bigger proportions. In this way, beauty, effort, and the Labour of each one of our two folks will be magnificently patent for the other. Nations will get to meet each other and understand themselves in the best way of the word”
—Rome Capitol Speech 1938.
Robert Ley with Benito Mussolini in Rome
After seeing the praise of Robert Ley for Labour, it makes the reader beg the question. What was the understanding of being a Worker and of Laboring for Dr. Ley? The answer was answered repeatedly in several of his speeches and articles, explaining it in the bluntest way in “To each German, their position!” in 1939:
“Work is Structure, knowledge of the regularity that rules the world. Working is discipline, this same formula discovered by National Socialism that convenes to know: vision of regularity, and the declaration that discretion cannot be given. Everything is sacrifice and an object of eternal regularity…
We consider Labour the genuine expression of our race. For every work that I start, the first that I must do, inside myself, is organize and create. I shall always consider my Labour as a start and an end. Thus, steadily, I shall arrive at the accomplishment of a system, in such a way, in which the product of the Labour, shall be the expression of self-discipline…
Working is Art; it is an aspiration for harmony. Every worker is an artist in its own way. A glass blower in Thuringia is an artist of great prestige; a watch mechanic is an artist. Examples like these can multiply at our pleasure. We see, then, that work in every man can be reduced to a common denominator. Culture consists, precisely, in the sum of Labour across time…
Man cannot be valued by their type of Labour, but through the quality of his performance in the sphere and place in which he is located. It’s indifferent if the worker is a manual worker or a teacher: both shall be valued the same; because one couldn’t exist without the other, and, to each their part, they cooperate in what we call Culture. Above all, we must take into account the extent to which, Labour as a whole, is useful for the community of the entire country…
What is, then, the end goal that Labour pursuits? What leads human effort into building, producing, inventing, and working in the soil of their nation? This cannot be explained by the needs of the stomach. It is, on the contrary, of the spiritual aspiration of the eternal, carried inside the heart of every men. Every men desires, and proposes that the work that lasts, the piece that he creates, survive –to him and time- until the deepest dimensions of the future.
Men has to find on itself the capacity for a vocation, for the call that he gets. This knowledge must be infiltrated in our people… That’s why we must attempt, through every way, of destroying unclassified Labour. We must elaborate the capacities of our people. We must end the empty spaces. Specialized Labour is our true Capital that doesn’t depend on foreign forces nor foreign exchange… A Capital that we have the obligation to take care of and spread. This is the true Capital of folk with little natural resources.
Thus, we shall put every man in their adequate position. We see here, a mental attitude that breaks entirely the habits and thesis of the past. When someone says that under this criteria we take away the liberty of men, I respond: we, in reality, make men internally more free. Men have to overcome the egoist impulse of individuality to substitute it for the thoughts of loyalty, camaraderie and community...”
Organization of the German Labor Front
The rise of Ley in the NSDAP would be nothing but a constant conquest of policies and new understandings of Labour. His views would make earn him an appreciation from the German Working Class, but a Man cannot be valued only by his ideas, but the way he practiced and enforced them, thus, after the understanding of Ley’s basic concepts and pursuits, we can now look into the Labour of his life, or, as he would consider it, his work of art. The German vertical syndicate, German Labour Front. The goal of this new entity established by the new National Socialist government would be established by Hitler as a reeducation seeking organization with the purpose of generating a communal feeling among Germans in the working place. Had the pursuit of reeducating citizens not been a big goal, according to the German Führer, this would have led to the failure of the National Socialist revolution, as he would explain in a speech regarding the success of revolutions across history in 1933:
“With very few exceptions, practically all revolutions failed because their supporters did not recognize that the most essential part of a revolution is not taking power, but educating the people."
Robert Ley would quickly join the scene by getting in front of the German Labour Front, leading this fresh organization that would divide the productive branches in sectors, and settle disputes among workers and employers. It must be said that terminology amongst the party’s interpretation of production would change from “employer and employee” to “leader and follower.” German law would describe the relationship in the following way:
“The leader of the facility makes decisions for the followers in all matters of production in so far as they fall under the law’s regulation. He is responsible for the welfare of the followers. They are to be dutiful to him, in accordance with the mutual trust expected in a cooperative working environment.”
Among many of the DAF’s tasks, settling disputes between workers and head of companies was one of its most important ones. Just like the Italian Fascist Corporations, the state would mediate between both parties in order to settle the dispute, several records as exposed by Richard Tedor in Hitler’s Revolution show that:
“The record of court proceedings for 1939 demonstrates that the labor law primarily safeguarded the well-being of employees rather than their overseers. During that year, the courts conducted 14 hearings against workers and 153 against plant managers, assistant managers and supervisors. In seven cases, the directors lost their jobs”.
Through this type of procedure, the DAF would also ensure that the working conditions were healthy and aesthetically fulfilling to prevent workers from having a lifeless work environment, putting a branch of the organization Beauty of Labour (Schönheit der Arbeit) to ensure hygiene, proper equipment and safe working conditions. In serious violations of these guidelines, the German government would involve the German Secret State police, otherwise known as Gestapo. This type of involvement would be applied by the DAF in order to correct improper attitudes that led to social-injustice. As Hitler would describe:
“The police should not be on people’s backs everywhere. Otherwise, life for people in the homeland will become just like living in prison. The job of the police is to spot asocial elements and ruthlessly stamp them out.”
One of the DAF’s most ambitious programs was the Strength through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) recreational division organized by Robert Ley. As it would be announced by Ley when the program was founded:
“We should not just ask what the person does on the job, but we also have the responsibility to be concerned about what the person does when off work. We have to be aware that boredom does not rejuvenate someone, but amusement in varied forms does. To organize this entertainment, this relaxation, will become our most important task”.
The KdF would endorse the travel of German workers to other countries, and support cultural activities in several manners, financing and seeking to give workers a way to relax and enjoy not only their country, but get to know other places in peace while working in a healthy environment.
“Few Germans could afford to travel prior to Hitler’s chancellorship. In 1933, just 18 percent of employed persons did so. All were people with above-average salaries. The KdF began sponsoring low-cost excursions the following year, partly subsidized by the DAF, that were affordable for lower income families. Package deals covered the cost of transportation, lodging, meals and tours. Options included outings to swimming or mountain resorts, health retreats, popular attractions in cities and provinces, hiking and camping trips. In 1934, 2,120,751 people took short vacation tours. The number grew annually, with 7,080,934 participating in 1938. KdF “Wanderings"-- backpacking excursions in scenic areas— drew 60,000 the first year. In 1938 there were 1,223,362 Germans on the trails. The influx of visitors boosted commerce in economically depressed resort towns…
In its endeavors to fully integrate labor into German society, the KdF introduced cultural activities as well. Its 70 music schools offered basic instruction in playing musical instruments for members of working class families. The KdF arranged theater productions and classical concerts for labor throughout the country. The 1938 Bayreuth Festspiel, the summer season of Richard Wagner operas, gave performances of Tristan und Isolde and Parsifal for laborers and their families. The KdF also established traveling theaters and concert tours to visit rural towns in Germany where cultural events seldom took place.”
—Hitler’s Revolution by Richard Tedor
The success of the DAF would ensure the conquest of the National Socialist government of the working class, giving access to otherwise inaccessible activities, not for the sake of material content of people, but to guarantee the strengthening of the Labour-Nation bond. Ley would not be satisfied with these new policies and would keep pushing for the implementation of harsher and harsher approaches against the Industrial complex in favor of the working class.
One thing must be explained about National Socialism, and that is, the existence of private property inside the regime does not contradict the existence of anti-capitalism and the dismantling of the capitalist system within the borders of Germany. This can be briefly explained with the fact that for Fascism, ideas are what set the bar, not the material conditions, that is, if you abstract the Capitalist project from Private Property, you get to impose your mythos and project in said matter. This basically means that beyond the material world, Men impose their ideas on their belongings given the fact everything we experience and see, is an idea, a qualia, etc. We are obviously delving into the Materialism against Idealism debate, but it is necessary to explain this, because the usual claims against the Hitlerite government is that since he privatized, then he must have been a Capitalist, but, funnily enough, he wasn’t.
As Mussolini once said, State intervention in the economy for Fascism can happen in two ways, both Direct Management and Control of how property acts, no matter which one the nation chooses, they can still arrive at the same outcome and establish their ideas in the country. Thus, we can see the existence of diverse economic systems in Fascism, most stemming from Corporatism as a philosophical basis, in the case of National Socialism, the Fichtean idea of Socialism explain in the closed commercial state, sets the basis for their nationally organic responsibility based socialism. The truth of the matter is that under Hitler’s Germany, it was the Nation ruling over property and giving directives to them, establishing several institutions for their regulation and overall control, without the need to nationalize them.
“Moreover, Nazi decrees of 1937 compelled further cartelization to streamline the chain of command and prepare for war, which had been the goal of the Four-Year Plan of 1936. The results of this massive interventionist policy were “complete consolidation of the entire economy, complete elimination of personal initiative and freedom of choice.”81 Even if a semblance of private ownership of business remained before the outbreak of World War II, with war raging on two fronts the National Socialists took the final step when they created the Amt für Zentrale Planung (Office for Central Planning) in 1942 which removed any remnants of private initiative."
—Anti-Semitic Anti-Capitalism in German Culture from 1850-1933 by Matthew Ryan Lange
“Even heavy industry, that had favored some degree of autarky and state aid in the early 1930s, found that the extent of state control exercised after 1936, and the rise of a state-owned industrial sector, threatened their interests too. The strains that such a relationship produced have already been demonstrated for the car industry, the aircraft industry and the iron and steel industry; but much more research is needed to arrive at a satisfactory historical judgement of the relationship between Nazism and German business. What is already clear is that the Third Reich was not simply a businessman's regime underpinning an authoritarian capitalism but, on the contrary, that it set about reducing the autonomy of the economic élite and subordinating it to the interests of the Nazi state…
As the state extended its role in supervising or regulating all the main economic variables, they developed a more coherent economic system. German economists christened the system 'die gelenkte Wirtschaft', the managed economy. Under such a system businessmen were regarded as economic functionaries serving the interests of the nation rather than as independent and enterprising creators of wealth. The concept of the 'managed economy’ suited the regime's ideological ambitions, but stifled enterprise.”
—The Nazi Economic Recovery, 1932-1938 by Richard Overy
“Both public works and rearmament required massive deficit financing, in effect the printing of money to pay workers and stimulate demand. Although fundamentally ‘socialist’ in outlook and politics when it came to the economy, however, Hitler did not nationalize industry. In fact, there were large-scale privatizations during the first five years or so of his regime, not for ideological reasons, but to raise cash quickly by flogging off distressed enterprises. What Hitler did very effectively was to nationalize German industrialists, by making them instruments of his political will. Control, not ownership, was the key. The major German economic institutions, especially industry, business and the banks, were completely sidelined from decision-making. Unlike the Reichswehr, they were not let into any secrets about Lebensraum, at least at the beginning. They were simply told what to do, and if they jibbed were threatened with imprisonment, expropriation or irrelevance.”
—Hitler: A Global Biography by Brendan Simms
Rightfully so, would Robert Ley push to be far more radical than the normal German policy of calmly controlling industrialists unless they need to tighten their grip through the usage of forces such as the Gestapo, which originally was used precisely for that. His constant campaigns throughout the regime kept appearing until the very end, regardless of what other NSDAP members said, he was consistent in his beliefs and sometimes even pushed for a policy until later on it would be accepted. Another well-known fact is that among the NSDAP members, although a loyal worshipper of Hitler as a leader, he would always raise his voice whenever he disagreed with him.
“The National Socialist government required that all working people be guaranteed a minimum of six days off after six months' tenure with a company. As seniority increased, the employee was to earn twelve paid vacation days per annum. The state extended the same benefits to Germany’s roughly half a million Heimarbeiter, people holding small contracts with industry who manufactured components at home. Contracting corporations financed their holidays as well. Ley fought the labor ministry for years before finally extending the work force has paid annual leave to four weeks.”
—Hitler’s Revolution by Richard Tedor
“Another proposal introduced by the DAF leader was that when workers have to stay home due to illness, the employer must continue to pay 70 percent of their salary. Employees absent from work to care for family members would receive the same compensation. Once again, Ley advocated tapping into the profits of industry to elevate the standard of living for labor. Ley and Conti eventually compromised, signing a national healthcare agreement at Bad Saarow in January 1941. It authorized the founding of free local clinics, annual physicals for all citizens, and state financed coverage for medical treatment of sick and injured persons. This negated the need for people to purchase medical insurance. To offset expenditures, the plan called for far-reaching “preventative medicine” measures. The DAF allotted funds to build more health spas, resorts, and other recreational facilities to serve as local weekend retreats for workers and their families. This was to improve public health through rest and relaxation.”
—Hitler’s Revolution by Richard Tedor
“During World War II, German women filled many positions in the armaments industry, on a lower wage scale, as more males entered military service. In April 1944, Ley, who had campaigned for equal pay for women for years, confronted Hitler on the subject. The Führer explained that Germany’s planned post-war social structure envisions women as the hub of the family, adding that this does not imply a negative opinion of their intelligence or occupational capability. Ley retorted that successful German women have a modern cognizance of their role in society and consider Hitler’s ideas archaic. In the course of the meeting, Ley tenaciously defended his stand against an avalanche of counter-arguments his leader presented. The Führer finally relented by offering a compromise, that women should receive less base pay, but be eligible for incentive awards and bonuses to compensate for the disparity. In general, Hitler’s personal view had little influence on developments: In the winter semester of 1943/44 for example, 49.5 percent of students enrolled in German universities were women”
—Hitler’s Revolution by Richard Tedor
Robert Ley had proven to be successful among the working class, earning reputation within the party and surviving the constant purges and inner struggles, he would remain loyal to the ideology until the very end of the regime. Ley’s policies and reputation had proven to serve everyone, and if anything, earned him a noticeable hate by industrialists against him. His constant struggle to have the German Labour Front be as total in Germany angered several members of the NSDAP such as Goebbels, but in the end, he had pushed enough to sustain his ideas despite the opposition against the more reactionary forces, earned his favor with Hitler, getting his support to expand the social welfare of workers in an effort to emulate the Italian Dopolavoro, which Ley always admitted that it was a direct inspiration for the German Labour Front. Needless to say, everything had to arrive to the point of no return with the start of WW2, in which the downfall of the National Socialist regime began.
Endkrieg
In the end, Robert Ley remained loyal and kept his support and defended any policy the regime could try to pursue to survive. Everything was to serve the war effort and the survival of German people, but even then and as quoted before, Ley kept pushing for reforms in the system to achieve his ideal society. In some cases he would go to extremes in certain situations, but would be opposed by other NSDAP members, for example, in David Irving’s Hitler’s War the following situation is exposed:
“Reichsmarschall Göring presented Korten to Hitler on August 20; on the same day Hitler discussed with Dr. Ley and leading architects how to provide for the bombed-out families. Ley offered to build 350,000 homes a year, but Speer interrupted: ‘I will not provide the materials, because I cannot.’ Hitler would not hear of that. ‘I need a million new homes,’ he said, ‘and fast.’”
The idea of helping the average German survive the definitive struggle was always in his mind, and this would earn even more conflicts with other important members in the NSDAP higher ranks.
The last years can be very much summarized with the fact that everything was about the War Effort and getting the Germans on board against the enemy. This is where very important and blunt texts and speeches by Ley come into play, but probably the most tasteless and raw one is without a doubt his 1944 book called The Pestilential Miasma of the World, text in which he calls out Jews for causing this war and making other people fight for them, as well as criticizing them for being the owners and directors of both Capitalism and Bolshevism. These are some relevant sections from the text:
“This war is a battle between worldviews, and the side that has the strongest faith will be victorious. Only he who is convinced of the justice of his cause, and who in fact has justice on his side, who acts reasonably and correctly, who recognizes and follows the laws of nature, can have the strongest faith…
Capitalism was born from fatalism. Calvin, one of the most important Jewish hirelings, says: “He who is poor must remain poor, and he who is rich must make more money. It is a sin to teach otherwise.” The Jew says: “All is determined in advance” (Pinke abot 111)…
This becomes evident only when others have power over the Jew and he can no longer escape his fate. As long as he thinks he can conceal things with some success behind the Jewish mask, he will do so. There is no stronger bond than that which joins criminals. One Jew protects the other, at least to the outside world, regardless of the distance between them, or whatever social differences may exist between them. The Jew in America protects the Jew in Poland, Moscow, or Berlin, the rich Jew protects the poor Jew, and the poor Jew protects the rich Jew…
We see this in the Congress of Vienna, in the Treaty of Versailles, in the Geneva League of Nations, as well as in international labor unions or the Bolshevist central in Moscow. It is always the same. Together with capitalism, money and usury, these organizations serve the purpose of uniting Judah across all peoples and national boundaries, and concealing their misdeeds…
The Jewish mentality and the Jewish spirit are the worldview of fatalism, of ghosts and spirits, of terror, of anxiety and fear, of the money bag and capitalism, of the denial of life and surrender, of begging and pity, of those who lack will, of the cowards — in a word, the bourgeois-Marxist world in which we who are older grew up. That is why it is so hard to free ourselves from it…
He who accepts the Jew’s money and earns his money through those exploitative methods will be ruined. He who holds work in contempt, who sees his German racial comrades as those to be exploited, who sees labor as a product like herring and cotton, is an enemy of the people, a traitor, and deserves no pity. The counterpart of this Jewish-capitalistic thinking is the twin of capitalism, the Jewish changeling and Jewish bastard, Bolshevism. Each resembles the other. I do not believe that they have many supporters in Germany…
There is thus in this struggle against Judah only a clear either/or. Any half measure leads to one’s own destruction. Judah and its world must die if humanity wants to live; there is no other choice than to fight a pitiless battle against the Jews in every form, and not to give up until the last Jewish thinking has been destroyed everywhere.
When the English and Americans finally realize that they are fighting in reality for the freedom of the Jews, they will become reluctant, and will be critical of the Jews; they will discover the Jews. That is enough to make an anti-Semite of any Aryan. That is what the “Jewish Chronicle” means when it complains: “Anti-Semitism has become a universal problem.” That is true! The Jew is being discovered in the entire world as a result of this war, he loses his concealment, and is thus already defeated. Anti-Semitism is “Hitler’s secret weapon,” which will lead us Germans to inevitable victory.”
“The Jew as Oppressor of Humanity”
As well as writing his last propaganda articles, he would give some of his most important speeches in which he would remark on the collaboration between the Fascist Italian Regime and the National Socialist government in a struggle against the same enemy:
In a sense and to a degree, we can properly call this the only time and moment in history where a Fascist Internationale existed in a technical way, hence the fact as to why WW2 is seen as the end of Fascism, since it was the ultimate struggle for its existence, for Italy it was the struggle of proletariat Nations against Capitalist Plutocracy and Bolshevism, for Germany, it was the struggle against the Jewish doctrines of Capitalism and Bolshevism, in the end, the overlap can be seen.
“Then a general conspiracy began against National Socialism. They walked side-by-side, right and left, both extremes, Capitalism with the so-called International Socialism. Stock runners on one side, and Marxists on the other. United against the much hated National Socialism.”
—Adolf Hitler Speech
“We are fighting to impose a higher social justice. The others are fighting to maintain the privileges of caste and class. We are proletarian nations that rise up against the plutocrats. It can not last the absurdity of artificially induced famines. They denounce the blatant failure of the system. I am more convinced than ever that the world can not get out of the dilemma: either Rome or Moscow.”
—Benito Mussolini in an Interview
The war would be cruel and merciless, the calls to violence of Robert Ley near the end of the conflict showcase the intensity and toll it had took among the members of the party, to the point of open calls to genocide. One of his most blunt statements regarding what the outcome of the war could go as follows:
The end of Fascism in Europe was near, and so was the end of Dr. Robert Ley no matter his war advocacy…
Robert Ley would be captured in 1945 by American troops, and would “commit suicide” before his trial at Nuremberg, his brain would be used for experiments and his legacy would be stained with constant slandering while being hidden from history books. The slandering campaign goes to the point of accusing him of rampant open corruption, promiscuity and exaggerated drunkenness, but in order to confront his post mortem slander, I shall quote the opinion of a fellow Robert Ley researcher regarding this issue that explained it the best:
“It’s too bad that this is the only book on Robert Ley in English (In regards to the book Robert Ley: Hitler’s Labor Leader), because it is full of misinformation and the usual sloppy research which is so typical of WWII historians. Most never bothered to do actual research and are happy to repeat previous works that didn’t do any real research either. No scandal is too small for this author to report and repeat, over and over again. It’s almost like he forgot what he just wrote in a previous chapter. Ley sustained a head injury in WWI after crash landing in a plane. He spoke with a lisp as a result of that (so they say, he could have had it all his life). This author is quoting Nuremberg American Psychiatrist Dr. Douglas Kelley work in detail to formulate his opinions. It appears to be his only source for Ley’s brain damage, which caused his “irrational decisions” and “heavy drinking”. Kelley was so convinced that Ley had brain damage he sent his brain off after his death to have it checked. It was first reported as having frontal lobe damage, which Kelley ran with in his own book, but 2 years later another examination revealed the brain was normal. There is no evidence that Ley was a drunk. Can you imagine for a moment that Hitler would have suffered a drunk in his inner circle? He was loyal to the old fighter for sure, but he got rid of people for a lot less. The allies were just as bad as Goebbels was during the war, calling each leader names like the limping dwarf (Goebbels) or Reich drunk leader (Ley) or carpet chewer (Hitler). These labels stuck, long after the war and on into history. Ley was a prolific public speaker, right up there with Goebbels and Hitler. He could work a crowd up and did so from the time he joined the party in 1924 until the very end. He traveled constantly promoting the party, and after they came to power, promoting the DAF and numerous other political events (he was the Reich’s Organizational Leader) or projects. This author is wrong on dates and events in Ley’s life (birth of his 2nd daughter, no mention of his first daughter). He provides no details or insight into the man himself, just quotes other authors and hearsay from people that didn’t even know Ley. Sensationalizing events that clearly never happened; after dinner one night he displayed a portrait of his 2nd wife nude or he ripped off her cloth at another event to show everyone how beautiful she was. Seriously ? Ley was the leader of the largest labor organization in the world and pioneered social security, better pay, better hours, mandated vacations, etc. Prior to the war, America sent specialists to study this and try to duplicate it, since FDR’s “New Deal'' was a miserable failure. For a more balanced view on Ley and information into his personal life, you have to read German. His first daughter Renate Wald wrote “Mein Vater Robert Ley '' and the more recent book by Karl Schröder entitled “Aufstieg und Fall des Robert Ley” is excellent. Smessler’s book is dated and not worth the time. The book should have been titled The History of the DAF. As most of the material is lifted from Orlow's "The Nazi Party 1919-1945: A Complete History."
In the end, Robert Ley will remain being that one NSDAP member that is both slandered and hidden from us in a very open manner. The Anti-Capitalist side of Hitler’s Germany will forever be a boogeyman given the fact that as Brendan Simms explains, those that fear talking about Hitler’s Anti-Capitalism should remain silent on his Anti-Semitism, and prolific leaders like Ley showcase how fearful are historians of properly dealing with the reasons as to why Germany was that Anti-Semitic, given the fact that if they were to expose that, then people would wonder why we are in a similar situation in the modern world. The struggle and socialism that Robert Ley supported is worthy of recognition and his labor for the working class within the German government exposes a true love and dedication. From humble origins, Ley would remain true to his values and would become the Labor representative that every Fascist nation requires.
Suggested Readings
A History of Fascism 1914-1945 by Stanley G. Payne
Adolf Hitler: A Global Biography by Brendan Simms
Anti-Semitic Anti-Capitalism in German Culture from 1850-1933 by Matthew Ryan Lange
Closed Commercial State by Johann Fichte
Hitler’s Revolution by Richard Tedor
Hitler’s War by David Irving
Mussolini’s Intellectuals by A. James Gregor
Robert Ley: Labour and Joy Selected Writings
The Nazi Economic Recovery, 1932-1938 by Richard Overy
The War Path by David Irving
Speeches and Writings of Ley
https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/index.htm
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