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Puritan Or Aryan? a Reassessment of the Nature of the Phenomenon of National Socialism

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Puritan Or Aryan? a Reassessment of the Nature of the Phenomenon of National Socialism University of Rhode Island DigitalCommons@URI Open Access Master's Theses 1978 NATIONALS SOCIALISM: PURITAN OR ARYAN? A REASSESSMENT OF THE NATURE OF THE PHENOMENON OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM William R. Matteson University of Rhode Island Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses Recommended Citation Matteson, William R., "NATIONALS SOCIALISM: PURITAN OR ARYAN? A REASSESSMENT OF THE NATURE OF THE PHENOMENON OF NATIONAL SOCIALISM" (1978). Open Access Master's Theses. Paper 1787. https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/theses/1787 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@URI. It has been accepted for inclusion in Open Access Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@URI. For more information, please contact [email protected]. NATIONALSOCIALISM: PURITAN OR ARYAN? A REASSESSMENTOF THE NATUREOF THE PHENOMENONOF NATIONALSOCIALISM BY WILLIAMR. MATTESON A THESIS SUBNIITTEDIN PARTIALFULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTSFOR THE DEGREEOF MASTEROF ARTS IN SOCIOLOGY UNIVERSITYOF RHODEISLAND 1978 Abstract . This study involves, as our title states, a reassessment of the nature of the phenomenon of National Socialism. Following an extensive survey of the literature on the subject, we found two conclusions that predominated, 1. The conclusion that National Socialism was an aberration that did (and does) not fit within our western tradition. 2, The conclusion that National Socialism was the inevitable outcome solely of material factors associated with the development of a capitalistic society. The central assumption of our argument was formulated to .. dispute these conclusions. That assumption is this, The phenomenon of National Socialism was an expression of both material and ideal traditions central to the development of modern western civilization, Specifically, we argue that it was an expression of a secularized version of the Puritan world-view, Max Weber, in The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, and David Noble, in Historians Against History, have traced the profound impact that Puritanism has had on the development of the modern west, In examining the intellectual movements and cultural developments in Germany from the time of the Reformation up to the Post-World War I period, we have uncovered (and pieced together) the evidence ANERKENNUNG Zu Herren Travisano und Sennett, fur die Zeit zu helfen gehaben. Verstehen sie mich? Vilen danke! Und zu Herr Cohen fur ein zufall an die Buhne. iii TABLEOF CONTENTS Page PROLOGUE• ......................................... , , • vi INTRODUCTION., .. , ..•..............•• ,.,,.,,., ••. ,,.. 1 The Puri tan World-View. • • • • • • . • . • . • . • • 4 Puri~anism in Germany •..•.........•..••.••.••• , 11 Chapter I, THE BREAKTHROUGHOF INDUSTRIALISMJ THE SPIRITUAL PRELUDE........................ 16 A Dash of History: Urbanization and the Rise of Industrialism in Germany in the Latter Half of the Nineteenth Century, 16 Reformation Germany: Luther's Revolutionary Protest, . , . , , . 25 Die Wegweiser, Leibniz, Kant and Hegel: Rationalism and the Unity of Nature Affirmed J6 II. THE RISE OF PRUSSIA, CRADLEOF THE PURITANW ORLD-VIEW. ~ • • • • • • . • • • • • • • • • • • • . • 44 Die Bahnbrecher: The Hohenzollerns,....... 44 The Great Elector....................... 47 Frederick III and Frederick William I... 50 Frederick the Great. • . • . • . • • 57 III. ROivlA.NTICISM, RATIONALISM, AND INDUSTRIALISM.. 69 Untangling the Tensions Associated With Germany's Transition From A Primarily Rural To An Urban-Industrialized Nation... 69 Progress and Primitivism: The Romantic Spirit Given Practical Application........ 78 The Revolt Against Civilization,.......... 92 IV. NATIONAL SOCIALIS M: THEORY AND PRACTICE •• ,... 102 Page Die Dolchs to ssle gende ••••...•.••..•••.•...• 102 Lebensraum: Von Den Bergen Zu Den Hugeln ••• 112 National Socialism and Weber's Theory of Action, .............................. , , 114 The Collapse of the Weimar Republic: The Triumph of National Socialism ••.•....••••.• 124 Progress Reaffirmed .••••••••.•.•• ., ........ 132 The Practice of National Socialism,,....... 135 Concluding Remarks .•••.•••••• , • • • • . • • • • . • • • 157 APPENDIX . ............• I • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 162 BIBLIOGRAPHY,•. , • , •••••••••.• , • , ••.••.. • • • • • • • • • • • • t • Prologue A distinction has often been drawn between the individualizing mode of historical thought and the generalizing mode of science ••• But even in historical thinking the particular fact is significant only by virtue of the relationship into which it enters ••• Its determination in time is the exact opposite of its temporal separateness; for historically it has meaning only if and as it refers back to a past and forward to a future.1 · The particular place that a social phenomenon occupies in history is determined, in good measure, by the treatment it receives in scholarly works attending it. Further, our understanding of that phenomenon depends in great measure on just how those works present it to us, Max Weber, in his investigation, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, analyzed the individual strands of thought that contributed to the development of "rational bourgeois capitalism". More recently, David W, Noble has traced the history of ideas associated with the world-view of the English Puritans (in Massachusetts) through a series of interpretations and reinterpretations by prominent American historians (Historians Against History, 1965). The impetus for our study follows from the works of these two scholars on the influence of Puritanism in the development of modern western civilization. The specific phenomenon that this study will investigate is National Socialism. This subject has been the topic of 1Ernst Cassirer, Language and Myth (New York, 1946), p, 27, vi a multitude of works by economists, historians, political scientists, psychologists, sociologists, theologians, and laymen as well. 1 In surveying a major portion of these studies (over two hundred and fifty books and articles on National Socialism) we have found that two conclusions predominates 1. The conclusion that National Socialism was an aberration, an anomaly that did (and does) not fit within the traditions of the modern west; 2. The conclusion that National Socialism was the inevitable outcome of capitalist development in Germany society (the Marxist interpretation which explains the phenomenon solely in material terms). The works that have portrayed National Socialism as an aberratiqn fall into two basic categoriess A. Aberration Theses,~ Is This category includes those works which by theoretical design (a) and/or historical focus (b) encapsulate the phenomenon of National Socialism within Germany from 1918 to 1945, and by so doing, treat it as an aberration unrelated to (or discontinuous with) the preceding social history of the modern west. An example of type A (a) is Theodor Abel's The Nazi Movement, a comprehensive study of the ' growth of National Socialism from a social movement 1The theoretical frameworks in which these analyses have been couched range from strict Marxist (conflict-coercion) interpretations to structural function (equilibrium-integration) ones. vii perspe ctive. It is an abl e study of the id eological and or ga ni zational aspects of Nati onal Socialism wi thin the co nte xt of Ger man socie ty from 1918 to 19 33, su ppo rt ed by a for midable array of personal intervi ews and election statistics. Within it s interpre tive frame work it succeeds at what it sets out to do, namely to ex amin e the elemen ts of a su cc es sful so cial movement. 1 The social movement framew ork, nonetheless (ipso fact o) casts National Socialism into a mold whi ch portrays it as dis­ continuous wi th preceding social history (facilit­ a ti ng specificity, impeding generali zability). 2 Examples of ty pe A ( b) include David Child's Ger many Since 1918; John Conway 's The Path to Dictatorship, 1918-lW; V✓ illiam All en's The Nazi Seizure of Power; Step hen Roberts ' The House Tha t Hi t le r Built; and Di etrich Orlo w•s The History of the Nazi Pa r ty: .!..21.2-lW, among a hos t of ot hers. 1Abe l focuses on four general factors: 1) Prevalence of dis content with the existing s ocial ord er; 2) The partic ular ideology and progr am for so cial tra ns fo rma tion adopted by t he Nazis; J) Nazi organizational and promotional t ech niq ue s; 4 ) Char is matic leadership. See page 166 of The Nazi r,iove rnent. 2see al s o Rudol f Hebe rle, Social Movement s (New Yor k, 1951); Neil Smel s er•s The ory of Collective Behavior (New York, 1962 ) ; Crane Br int on 's The Anat omy of Revolution (New York, 1952); and Anthony Oberschall's Social Conflicts and Social Movement s (New Je rsey , 1973). viii These works, while offering much factual information relating to the phenomenon of National Socialism (propaganda techniques, party membership statistics, party programs, Weimar history, and so forth), segregate it as a distinctly twentieth century phenomenon and so fail to provide any developmental social history leading up to its emergence, 1 B, Aberration Theses, Type ll,i This category includes works which have attempted to explain the pheno­ menon of National Socialism along the lines of German particularism (the peculiarities of German history, - the German people's penchant for militarism and idealism, German politics, German romanticism), 2 Here we find literary exorcisms 1There are quite a large number of works limited
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