Strassers successfully break up Nazi party 1932

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregor_Strasser

The programmatic and personal rivalry with Adolf Hitler worsened dramatically when Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher offered Strasser the offices of Vice-Chancellor and Prime Minister of Prussia in December 1932. Schleicher hoped to disunite the NSDAP with Strasser's help and to pull the left-wing of the Nazi Party over to his "national conservative" side, so as to prevent a revolution or takeover by Hitler. The plan failed because of Hitler's intervention, and resulted in Strasser's resignation from all party positions. According to William L. Shirer, this move upset the very foundations of the Nazi party, and could have put an end to their quest for power. Strasser was still a very powerful figure in the region in which he had built up power, and could have mobilized support in the region to turn people against the NSDAP. Instead, Strasser tired of the political struggle as well as the intense campaigning and took a restorative holiday in Italy. Hitler seized upon this opportunity to remove all Party officials loyal to Strasser. All new or continuing Party officials were required to swear an oath of loyalty to the Führer; this prevented any other influential Nazis from leading a break-away faction.

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What if Strasser had managed to pull off the deal with Schleicher and split the Nazi party, becoming Vice Chancellor and Prussian PM? Does the nation slip into civil war or does Strasser manage to pull in enough members to ensure that the Nazis are fatally weakened? William Shirer was convinced had Strasser managed to keep the deal secret the Nazis would have been finished, but he didn't have perspective over all that was going on.

Would a less racialist, left leaning NSDAP have formed as a result (Otto Strasser was openly working with Jews after his expulsion from the party and tried to assassinate Hitler even as late as 1937)? Would it have had legs without Hitler and potentially the SA?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strasserism

I think it may well have wound up as a street fight between the two Nazi Factions. After that happened I think the Communists and the Weimer Republic would be able to smash them both. Germany may well turn Communist at this point although a right wing military government is quite likely as well.

Johnrankins said:

I think it may well have wound up as a street fight between the two Nazi Factions. After that happened I think the Communists and the Weimer Republic would be able to smash them both. Germany may well turn Communist at this point although a right wing military government is quite likely as well.

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Why Communist? At the height of the KPD they only got ~17% of the vote. Plus ITTL the army would probably come down on the side of the Strassers, as their faction would be in the government, while the Nazis would be much easier pickings for the army/police due to being fatally weakened by the split. Plus a Nazi uprising would see them outlawed and smashed, save for the Strassers, while the KPD if they got in on the party would get outlawed too, maybe even regardless of their non-participation. A Strasser-Schleicher alliance would be a right wing military government in all but name.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_federal_election,_November_1932
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany
1932 membership: 360,000.

Plus the SPD and KPD hated each other going back to 1917.

wiking said:

Why Communist? At the height of the KPD they only got 15% of the vote. Plus ITTL the army would probably come down on the side of the Strassers, as their faction would be in the government, while the Nazis would be much easier pickings for the army/police due to being fatally weakened by the split. Plus a Nazi uprising would see them outlawed and smashed, save for the Strassers, while the KPD if they got in on the party would get outlawed too, maybe even regardless of their non-participation. A Strasser-Schleicher alliance would be a right wing military government in all but name.

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I stand corrected. On second thought you are probably right.

Johnrankins said:

I stand corrected. On second thought you are probably right.

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I'm not trying to stifle debate here, just interject some info that is relevant to the discussion. Any thoughts about how the rest of the world would react here? Supposedly the Poles were thinking about invading if the military faction of German politics got in power.

Schleicher intended to establish himself as the strongman of Germany in control of the government and effectively abolishing democracy. Then he would split up the NSDAP through its internal divisions and eventually destroy them so that he could rule without serious opposition.

Schleicher was friends with Ernst Roehm and hoped to incorporate the SA into the Reichswehr, Having gotten Strasser's National Bolsheviks onboard, his next step is to enduce Roehm to defect. Since Roehm controls the SA, Hitler's chance of taking over the country is minimal. The question is whether Roehm agrees - there is a lot of evidence that Roehm would not betray Hitler. So we're left with two scenarios.

Roehm betrays Hitler
What is interesting is that Schleicher now has the two most "revolutionary" elements of the NSDAP in his coalition. Roehm is likely only in coalition if he is given real power like Minister of Defense. However, Roehm is weak in the sense that most of the rank of file of the SA merely want a full belly and roof over the heads and a chance to beat up people now and then. They aren't personally loyal to him (unlike the SA's inner circle). This would give Schleicher an advantage long term.

Roehm does not betray Hitler
If Roehm does not defect, Schleicher needs to finds others to do so. I think there is prolonged political crisis until 1) NSDAP support continues to slip and someone else grabs the opportunity for power, or 2) NSDAP reconsolidates support with a population upset at continued politicking.

In Either Scenario
Schleciher's ability to remain in power is questionable. If he survives until 1934 though, he'll be able to rule as dictator for some time. He'll likely pursue same general foreign and defense policy as Hitler, but do so more cautiously. Domestically he'll continue the economic policies of the Weimar Republic, but probably introduce more social welfare to placate Strasser and Roehm but keep fiscally sane policies of Hjalmar Schacht. Germany will rearm, but there shouldn't be any war until the mid or late 1940s at minimum.

Blackfox5 said:

Schleicher intended to establish himself as the strongman of Germany in control of the government and effectively abolishing democracy. Then he would split up the NSDAP through its internal divisions and eventually destroy them so that he could rule without serious opposition.

Schleicher was friends with Ernst Roehm and hoped to incorporate the SA into the Reichswehr, Having gotten Strasser's National Bolsheviks onboard, his next step is to enduce Roehm to defect. Since Roehm controls the SA, Hitler's chance of taking over the country is minimal. The question is whether Roehm agrees - there is a lot of evidence that Roehm would not betray Hitler. So we're left with two scenarios.

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Where did you read Schleicher and Rohm were friends? I've never seen that, nor that Schleicher wanted anything to do with the SA.

wiking said:

Where did you read Schleicher and Rohm were friends? I've never seen that, nor that Schleicher wanted anything to do with the SA.

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I could be wrong on the friendship, or misremembering the exact nature of their relationship. They were in contact with each other during the early 1930s as Schleciher was trying to build a united pan-conservative front. I remember readomg several books mentioning Schleicher had a plan to win over Roehm and bring the SA into the Reichswehr. I can't say what they were offhand.

Blackfox5 said:

I could be wrong on the friendship, or misremembering the exact nature of their relationship. They were in contact with each other during the early 1930s as Schleciher was trying to build a united pan-conservative front. I remember readomg several books mentioning Schleicher had a plan to win over Roehm and bring the SA into the Reichswehr. I can't say what they were offhand.

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You were right; on Schleicher's wiki-page it mentions their friendship and plans to incorporate the SA under Reichswehr leadership in case of war with Poland. I don't think there were plans to merge the two permanently, rather it was a contingency thing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_von_Schleicher

From December 1930 onwards Schleicher was in regular secret contact with Ernst Röhm, the leader of the SA, who soon become one of Schleicher's best friends.[40] On 2 January 1931 Schleicher changed the Defense Ministry's rules to allow Nazis and Nazis alone to serve in military depots and arsenals, though not as officers, combat troops or sailors.[41] Before 1931 members of the military had been strictly forbidden to join any political parties. In March 1931 without the knowledge of either Hitler or Gröner, Schleicher and Röhm reached a secret arrangement that in event of a war with Poland and/or a Communist putsch that the SA would mobilise and come under the command of Reichswehr officers in order to deal with the national emergency.[41] In order to facilitate co-operation between the SA and the Reichswehr, Röhm organised the SA structure in a way that closely resembled that of the Reichswehr.[41] The close friendship between Schleicher and Röhm was later in 1934 to provide a seemingly factual basis to Hitler's claim that Schleicher and Röhm had been plotting to overthrow him, thus justifying the assassination of both.[42]

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If Strasser had jumped ship and Hitler was looking like a lost cause, Rohm, who was already partial to Strasserism, would have followed it seems. Strasser was the one that couldn't abandon Hitler, which gave Hitler time to react and basically purge Strasser. So if Strasser could get over his loyalty to Hitler, Hitler is toast. Schleicher would pretty much rule and have the SA in his pocket; if Poland went through with their threat to take down Schleicher then they will be met by the full force of whatever Germany has on hand (Reichswehr, secret militias, SA, militarized policy), plus potentionally Stalin's forces, as Schleicher and the Soviets were relatively sympatico thanks to the work they were doing together in the USSR. I doubt the West would be willing to work with Schleicher anywhere near as much as they did with Hitler, while the SA would piss off the public just like IOTL after whatever consequences erupt from Schleicher taking power. So things would be worse than IOTL for Germany probably in the short to medium term, as long as WW2 doesn't break out. Assuming Poland starts something in 1933-34 and Stalin gets involved, then the Polish issue is solved for Schliecher going forward, which AFAIK was his primary territorial ambition; otherwise he'd trade with Stalin as much as was beneficial, while Germany and the West have worse relations for a long time and Austria and the Sudetenland probably remain untouched.