On the Brink: Where Next for America | S 3 Ep 3

There are elections in Germany, And the Nazis are the strongest party, the NSDAP, with about 33.7 or 6% or something like that.

They have more seats in the House than anyone else.

But crucially, they don't have enough seats to rule on their own.

And equally crucially, the Communist Party and the Social Democrat Party have between them over one third of the seats in parliament, which renders constitutional changes very, very difficult if the NSDAP wanted to make constitutional changes.

So that's when we start, November 30, 32.

The Nazis are the most powerful party, but they have lost several seats.

percentage points about three percentage points since the previous election in 1930 so 1932 november tim take up the story

well you know this is the assumption is that hitler had this inevitable rise to power that was inexorable that there was no stopping the man in fact if you look at this November election where the National Socialist Hitler lost 2 million votes.

They had invested a huge amount of money in this election.

And the party was essentially on a downward slope.

They had, as I said, lost percentages in the election.

They were financially actually bankrupt and there were internal divisions so that by December, the Nazi party was bankrupt financially, politically, and economically.

And it was in a crisis.

And what happened, you know, our assumption is Hitler is on this inevitable rise to power.

You know, man becomes dictator on day one and things move forward.

In fact, if you look at the historical moment and the realities, much more complex, much more confusing than that.

And what happens is suddenly industry, which had shied away from him, because keep in mind it's a National Socialist Workers Party, but it's socialist and workers.

This is not a political movement that the business class is interested in.

But as Misha said, the Communist Party is there.

They see the Nazis as the one bulwark against a communist or a left-wing takeover of the government.

So suddenly, industry backs Hitler, Not because he's so powerful, but in fact, he's failing, and this is sort of the last bulwark they see for Stalin.

And

these are very powerful industries.

I mean, you haven't had a big anti-monopoly, anti-trust drive in Germany.

You've got vast companies with vast resources.

There are elections in Germany, And the Nazis are the strongest party, the NSDAP, with about 33.7 or 6% or something like that.

They have more seats in the House than anyone else.

But crucially, they don't have enough seats to rule on their own.

And equally crucially, the Communist Party and the Social Democrat Party have between them over one third of the seats in parliament, which renders constitutional changes very, very difficult if the NSDAP wanted to make constitutional changes.

So that's when we start, November 30, 32.

The Nazis are the most powerful party, but they have lost several seats.

percentage points about three percentage points since the previous election in 1930 so 1932 november tim take up the story

well you know this is the assumption is that hitler had this inevitable rise to power that was inexorable that there was no stopping the man in fact if you look at this November election where the National Socialist Hitler lost 2 million votes.

They had invested a huge amount of money in this election.

And the party was essentially on a downward slope.

They had, as I said, lost percentages in the election.

They were financially actually bankrupt and there were internal divisions so that by December, the Nazi party was bankrupt financially, politically, and economically.

And it was in a crisis.

And what happened, you know, our assumption is Hitler is on this inevitable rise to power.

You know, man becomes dictator on day one and things move forward.

In fact, if you look at the historical moment and the realities, much more complex, much more confusing than that.

And what happens is suddenly industry, which had shied away from him, because keep in mind it's a National Socialist Workers Party, but it's socialist and workers.

This is not a political movement that the business class is interested in.

But as Misha said, the Communist Party is there.

They see the Nazis as the one bulwark against a communist or a left-wing takeover of the government.

So suddenly, industry backs Hitler, Not because he's so powerful, but in fact, he's failing, and this is sort of the last bulwark they see for Stalin.

And

these are very powerful industries.

I mean, you haven't had a big anti-monopoly, anti-trust drive in Germany.

You've got vast companies with vast resources.