WI: Strasserism rises to power in Germany?

What if, instead of Hitler's branch of the Nazi party, Strasser's original National Socialist German Worker's Party rose to power? What would happen? What would the modern world be like?
 

NoMommsen

Donor
What Strasser do you mean ?
Gregor Strasser : rathenauian corporatist
and with some rather smaller PoDs well in the position do do as proposed
or
Otto Strasser : Nationalbolshevic
already in 1930/1931 almost completly sidelined not at least due to self-expulsion


... and what "original National Socialist German Worker's Party" do you talk of ??
 
You probably see civil war in Germany. The reactionary elites came close to launching putsch against Hitler in government several times in the early 1930’s because they feared the ‘socialist’ part of the Nazi Party. It was only when Hitler crushed that faction in the Night of Long Knives that they backed off. A Strasserist NSDP won’t be able to win the support of the elites or the Army.
 

NoMommsen

Donor
You probably see civil war in Germany. The reactionary elites came close to launching putsch against Hitler in government several times in the early 1930’s because they feared the ‘socialist’ part of the Nazi Party. It was only when Hitler crushed that faction in the Night of Long Knives that they backed off. A Strasserist NSDP won’t be able to win the support of the elites or the Army.
Uhmmm, and where did you get your knowledge from ?
  • What ominous "putsches" or attempts of (even in plurality ...) in the eartly 30s (aka between 1933 and ... 1935 max ?) do you talk of ?
  • during the 'Night of the Long Knives' - aside from the only possible NSDAP-internal threat (the 'Beef-Steak-Nazi SA of Röhm) of Hitlers almight - some 'older enemies' were killed/removed for revenge. But these didn't pose any threat anymore at this time
  • a Strasserist NSDAP was almost desperatly asked for by 'the' Reichswehr militaristic politician if there were any : von Schleicher, acting Reichswehrminister, comming Reichschancellor to actually participate in goverment with him

... but ... well, that ofc depends on which Strasser you choose and what PoD you develop. You might still choose some ASBish try to get Otto Strasser in power.
 
the question is what would German relations with USSR be like? (isn't that the bear in the room?)

at least some level of collaboration was desired by the military, in parallel with their dealings in China, and both might prove lucrative for the elites?

(so you could have the beef steak Nazis in Germany and Red General in China? both seen as too close to Stalin and USSR)
 

NoMommsen

Donor
But ... I shuldn't be always soo unconstructive.
What if, instead of Hitler's branch of the Nazi party, Strasser's original National Socialist German Worker's Party rose to power? What would happen? What would the modern world be like?
So here's a quick shot for the OPs question.

Let's assume - for whatever reasons - Gregor Strasser finds his balls and throws Adolf H. under the bus for saving the party and its - as he perceived them - goals to have a chance to become actual politics.

Then in November/December the by Schleicher wished for 'Quer-Front' ('oblique-front') goverment together with about 1/2 to 2/3 of the NSDAP RT-members as well as the remnants of other center-right parties and mybe some trade-union-SPD-RT-members (the Trade Unions were the other part of the 'Querfront' as mainly/also an extraparlamental 'support).

The DNVP with Hugenberg ... Not sure but ... after some time the latter might be able to jump on the band-waggon in-time (he had a ... 'talent' for making the wrong decisions at the wrong point in time at least, like during the presidential election in spring 1932).

Next thing : ugly streetfights between different NSDAP-, SS- and SA-factions.
Ernst Röhm as Hitlers 'paladine' might still control the majority of the SA, ... but ... many SA-men after the just ended anti-Röhm campaign - publically as well as within the NSDAP - not at least due to his being gay would switch sides and follow a 'Strasserist' SA lead most likely by Gregor Strassers 2nd in command Paul Schulz, the same man who pacified the SA already in spring 1931, the same man of which the 'traitor' Stennes said :

" If there was any Charisma, that brought the SA-men back under the party it was the Charisma of Paul Schulz instead of Adolf Hitler."​

But being part of the goverment I would see the Röhm-SA and the Hitlerist NSDAP being banned once again ... if not many members imprisoned for 'Breach of common peace' or Landfriedensbruch. ... possibly tiogetehr with some communist activist as well ... just if you are at it.

Then, in January 1933 the 'new' Schleicher goverment might be able to get its general policy statement as well as a ... longer (?) 'pause' of session passed by the Reichstag ... though perhaps only with 2 or 3 votes (together with some Trade-Unioners within the SPD as well as some 'real-politics' SPM members, not to forget the possibly for ... some reasons 'absent' members of the house of the KPD as well as the 'old'/hitlerist NSDAP enjoying state-hospitality [jail]).
Strasser would be - at first - Vice-Chancellor and another of 'his' NSDAP' become Minister for Work (as IOTL planned/proposed by Streicher), maybe some other minor cabinet post for the Strasserists as well ... or a leading post in the administration of Prussia ?

So far for the 'comming to power' - step 1
 
Uhmmm, and where did you get your knowledge from ?
  • What ominous "putsches" or attempts of (even in plurality ...) in the eartly 30s (aka between 1933 and ... 1935 max ?) do you talk of ?
  • during the 'Night of the Long Knives' - aside from the only possible NSDAP-internal threat (the 'Beef-Steak-Nazi SA of Röhm) of Hitlers almight - some 'older enemies' were killed/removed for revenge. But these didn't pose any threat anymore at this time
  • a Strasserist NSDAP was almost desperatly asked for by 'the' Reichswehr militaristic politician if there were any : von Schleicher, acting Reichswehrminister, comming Reichschancellor to actually participate in goverment with him

... but ... well, that ofc depends on which Strasser you choose and what PoD you develop. You might still choose some ASBish try to get Otto Strasser in power.
Hitler was warned by Hindenburg that if he didn’t crush the S.A. then the President would declare Marshal Law and turn government over to the Reichswehr. That’s assuming a Strasserist NSDAP even gets into government. Because the other possible putsch is where Schleicher almost has Hindenburg authorise the army to move against the Nazi’s at the end of his chancellorship. Certainly a Strasserist NSDAP would have more opposition from the conservative Hindenburg and if Schleicher couldn’t get the Strasserists on side then he’d likely push for the same use of violence as OTL.

The reason the Reichswehr would oppose a Strasserist NSDAP is the same reason they opposed the S.A. in OTL. They feared the influence and chaos of the SA, and rhetoric about the need to subsume the Reichswehr into a ‘National Militia’, to have a ‘Socialist Revolution following the National one’ and they hated the idea of Rohm, or any other S.A. leader, having authority over the military. The S.A was a base of Strasserist support in the NSDAP. I don’t think either Strasser would be willing to destroy it, and so Army would move against them.
 

NoMommsen

Donor
Let's continue 'comming to power' step 2:

However Streicher & Co. would most likely make with the Strasser the same error as with Hitler, that they render themself able to 'ride the tiger' the Nazis - even as Strasserists - were.
Not too short and Strasser would also wrench some new RT election from Hindenburg (who rather appreciated Strasser he once met) and Streicher. Strasser was IMO simply the better and in backroom-fights better trained administrator/organizer/politician than Streciher, Hugenberg and the lot.

Even without something like the Reichstags-Brand he and his NSDAP would score somewhere at 40%+.
Not at least due to the work-creation-programs started almost immediatly after the 'new' Schleicher-goverment comes to power ... not al least thanks to the finances already allocated to such use by the Schleicher administration in December 1932.

Enough to form a Strasser led coalition-goverment with a much larger portion of NSDAP ministries.
Strasser himself never believed, that under Weimar constitutional conditions any party would be able to gain an absolute majority.
Next there could/would be an Enabling act similar to OTL, with Gregor Strasser being the 'nice man' for the trade-Unioners and the Zentrists and Paul Schul as the pro-military-ian face for the military-industgrial complex probaly even easier to achieve than IOTL. Maybe he would be 'generous' enough to limit the act for 'only' 2 years instead of 4 as it was IOTL.
The take-over of the Trade-Unions would possibly be vene easier as IOTL, as Strasser might 'tease' them into a joint organisation for the workers as the DAF was - at least propagandistical - instead of forcing them as IOTL.

In summer/late summer 1933 Strasser would control the goverment and the Germany as all-embracing as Hitler did IOTL, even more, as he would have more 'approval' by the military and Hindenburg, as the SA isn't a 'power factor' as it was IOTL. Under Paul Schulz leadership it would be most likely reduced to the pre-military educational militia as wished for by the Reichswehr.
Neverthell will Strasser re-form the political landscape into a one-party state over the at leat 2 year time the enabling act gives him.


But from now on ... there's the land where dragons might dwell ...:biggrin:
 
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NoMommsen

Donor
Hitler was warned by Hindenburg that if he didn’t crush the S.A. then the President would declare Marshal Law and turn government over to the Reichswehr.
Any source for that ?
... esp. that it was Hindenburg telling Hitler and not i.e. Blomberg, Reichneau or other of the Reichswehr men ? ... also more likely not 'in clear' than through some ... friendly advice ?

Other than that Hitler was already 'fed up' with Röhm by himself. Any 'warnings' from the Reichswehr were only running through already open doors. It also gave Hitler the possibility to make the Reichwehr an accomplice and bind them more to him.
That’s assuming a Strasserist NSDAP even gets into government.
What's the Pod and reason of the OP of this thread.
Because the other possible putsch is where Schleicher almost has Hindenburg authorise the army to move against the Nazi’s at the end of his chancellorship.
That's BEFORE Hitler came to power. ... so no "putsch against Hitler in goverment" as you stated.

Anymore 'putsches' against Hitler in the first half of the thirties ?
Certainly a Strasserist NSDAP would have more opposition from the conservative Hindenburg
....
Who's your 'evangelist' for this believe ?
Hindenburg 'counted' less in party-programs but in the men he dealt with. And in that respect Strasser was much preferable for him than Hitler.
... and if Schleicher couldn’t get the Strasserists on side then he’d likely push for the same use of violence as OTL.
With the same result as IOTL : none.


The reason the Reichswehr would oppose a Strasserist NSDAP is the same reason they opposed the S.A. in OTL. They feared the influence and chaos of the SA, and rhetoric about the need to subsume the Reichswehr into a ‘National Militia’, ...
The Reichswehr from 1931 to 1934 actually engaged the SA in and for exactly this job : 'National Militia'.
Something that would have fitted very well into Paul Schulz' view on things as well as practise before his imprisonment.
... to have a ‘Socialist Revolution following the National one’ and they hated the idea of Rohm, or any other S.A. leader, having authority over the military. The S.A was a base of Strasserist support in the NSDAP. I don’t think either Strasser would be willing to destroy it, and so Army would move against them.
Sry, but ... the underlined ... bulls---, nonsense.
The Ernst Röhm SA was THE MAYOR inner-party opponent of Strasser since Röhms return from Bolivia !
Being in the goverment the SA would become for Strasser the same liability it became for Hitler ... if the SA in its 'Röhmist' form would have made it into an Strasserist reign at all. Actually Strasser and the Reichswehr would have found themself almost naturally in the same team against the Röhm-SA.
 
The Ernst Röhm SA was THE MAYOR inner-party opponent of Strasser since Röhms return from Bolivia !
Being in the goverment the SA would become for Strasser the same liability it became for Hitler ... if the SA in its 'Röhmist' form would have made it into an Strasserist reign at all. Actually Strasser and the Reichswehr would have found themself almost naturally in the same team against the Röhm-SA.

This is true. Strasser and Röhm were not buddies or allies. Far from it. They were both rivals and it seems Strasser personally disliked Röhm. Frankly, if Strasser had taken over the Party, he would have been in conflict with Röhm, who would not have the same personal loyalty to him as he had to Hitler. Assuming Strasser was able to take over the Party (and what's the POD? What happened to Hitler?) and it doesn't fracture, he would have probably tried to appoint Paul Schulz as the SA's Chief of Staff, since that was the man he wanted in the 1st place. How that works is out is another question.


I should note that in the early 30s, Strasser was actually seen by elements of German conservative right as more congenial than Hitler because, unlike the latter, he believed the NSDAP should be willing to enter a coalition government as a junior partner, whereas Hitler was adamant about becoming chancellor. Hence why Schleicher sought out Strasser.


It is true that he paid more attention to social affairs than Hitler - he wanted the Party to have a concrete economic programme and do more to attract workers in the 20s. But on the whole, Gregor Strasser's socialist beliefs have been overstated. This is partly the result of his more radical brother Otto. Quite understandably Otto Strasser did his best to depict himself and his brother as the 'true National Socialists', especially after his return to Germany post-WW2, when he founded a neo-Nazi party. If anything, Strasser's views have more in common with the corporate state ideas that were so popular in that time period.


As for the Night of the Long Knives, by the time that happened Strasser was out of the game. Killing him was the Nazi bigwigs settling an old score. After resigning as Reichsorganisationsleiter, he lost his influence in the Party. Otto continued to remain active in his fringe movement after leaving the Nazi Party, but it never got anywhere.
 
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NoMommsen

Donor
...
he wanted the Party to have a concrete economic programme and do more to attract workers in the 20s.
...
... and he had one truly elaborated one at hands for the July election of 1932.
Here's a link for english readers.
In essence it is the printed version of a Reichstags-speach of Gregor Strasser of 10.05.1932.
To a large (if not the most) part this program was/is made responsible for the rise in the July election.

(It would be a immense step forward, if in todays time political parties at least in germany would present such an elaborated and thought through program ... regardless its content and if it would fit your personal preferences.)
 
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