Goebbels4: The Little AgitatorIN the May 1924 Parliamentary elections 1,918,329 people had voted for therightwing parties’ united front, giving them thirty-two of the 472 seats in theReichstag; but of these only ten, under Gregor Strasser, owed allegiance to Hitler. Inthe election of December 7 the right wing, now named the National Socialist Freedommovement, attracted only 907,242 votes: fourteen MPs, with only five representingHitler.Writing after this reverse Goebbels encouraged his readers on December 20: ‘Thereis no use denying it: we lost this battle, and the enemy triumphed all along the line.’He had intuitively perceived the correct propaganda tactic—ruthless depiction ofthe sombreness of the hour. ‘The Idea,’ he continued, ‘is worth any sacrifice, even thesacrifice of lives and property!’ And then, in a pale pre-echo of his famous proclamationsin the last days of his life, he hinted at the darkness that precedes each dawn:‘Every disaster at Jena is followed by a victory at Leipzig.’The first rays of the new dawn appeared that same afternoon. Hitler arrived backat his Munich apartment, a free man again. Goebbels acclaimed him in his weekly’sPolitical Diary, published on New Year’s Day 1925: ‘We greet thee, leader and hero,and there is an enormous joy and anticipation in us with the knowledge that thou artagain in our midst.’ ‘Germany’s youth once more has its leader,’ he concluded. ‘Weawait his command.’Hitler’s release from Landsberg threw his party into flux. Goebbels reassessed theconflict between the national and socialist elements of the party’s programme. HeGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 65found it impossible to swallow the internationalist aspects of Marxism. He hoped tosteer the nationalist movement towards socialism, rather than see its socialist aspectsdrenched in mindless nationalism. In the Ruhr and Rhineland, he found many activitieshe thought like him—particularly the former members of the paramilitary FreeCorps.Among these young activists was Karl Kaufmann. Kaufmann, three years his junior,had organised N.S.D.A.P. Ortsgruppen (local groups) in several Ruhr cities untilforced by the Prussian police to flee to Bavaria. Now he was back in Elberfeld, raisinga political force aligned against the bourgeois, comfortably-off Wiegershaus.Goebbels too was evidently disillusioned with the folkish movement. In the finalissue of his weekly, an anonymous advertisement appeared on January 17, 1925,announcing under Box R.26:Situation wanted. Editor, young, folkish, accustomed to work independently;good leader-writer, organizer, workaholic; unemployed because of political developments;seeks position, possibly in financial firm.Three days later Wiegershaus invited him to resign, and he cast his lot with Kaufmanninstead.His personal life now was overshadowed by a humiliating lack of funds.1 He wasoften unable to pay his rent or buy food, but when Kaufmann needed it desperatelyGoebbels proudly loaned him his last forty marks.2 They became firm friends;Kaufmann was one of the very few men he addressed as du.3 To forget his own povertyhe would crawl, his stomach aching for nourishment, into a church pew to hearSt. Matthew’s Passion with tears streaming down his cheeks at the beauty of themusic.4 He found it hard to make true friends. He found his Alsatian dog more likeablethan many a human being; indeed, he
