Hitler's Decision to Adopt the Parliamentary Tactic (May 1924)
Hitler's Decision to Adopt the Parliamentary Tactic (May 1924)
Source: J. Noakes & G. Pridham, Documents on Nazism 1919-1945, (London, 1974), pp.66-67.
... I noticed that he barred in particular any reminder of the putsch and any question concerning his policy towards the Party schism. ... I gladly eschewed the subject as too delicate. But the lesson it taught was another matter, which Hitler himself took up. 'From now on,' he said, 'we must follow a new line of action. It is best to attempt no large reorganisation until I am freed, which may be a matter of months rather than of years.' I must have looked at him somewhat incredulously. 'Oh yes,' he continued, 'I am not going to stay here much longer. When I resume active work it will be necessary to pursue a new policy. Instead of working to achieve power by armed conspiracy, we shall have to hold our noses and enter the Reichstag against the Catholic and Marxist deputies. If outvoting them takes longer than out-shooting them, at least the results will be guaranteed by their own Constitution! Any lawful process is slow. But already, as you know, we have thirty-two Reichstag deputies under this new programme, and are the second largest party in the Bavarian Landtag diet. Sooner or later we shall have a majority and after that we shall have Germany. I am convinced that this is our best line of action now that conditions in the country have changed so radically. ...'
