Evening Post

Evening Post, Volume CXIV, Issue 28, 2 August 1932, Page 6

Evening Post.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 2, 1932.

A SET-BACK FOR, HITLER

There are at least two grounds for relief, if not for satisfaction, in the German General Election. The first is that it has been held without the climax of civil war which had so often during the last few weeks appeared to be inevitable. The second is that the revolutionaries have not won, and that revolution seems at any rate no nearer than it did two months ago. The outlook was, indeed, almost desperate when President von • Hindenburg quarrelled with his best friend and hurried to his old allies in the aristocracy and I the army to replace the Bruenin" [Cabinet with one of "National Concentration" which dared not face the Reichstag. From the fact that the polling is described as "apparently/ the heaviest on record," without any mention even of the liberal amount of disorder which has been habitual on these occasions, especially since Herr Hitler took the field, it seems a reasonable inference that order was well maintained on election day, and thatthe result was not attributable to an intimidation which kept any minority away. In Berlin we are told that the quiet of the day was "in violent contrast"—a strange epithet to apply to a triumph of nonviolence—to the many clashes on the previous day, and the. fact that there were 20,000 police on duty in Berlin alone must certainly have had something to do with it That Cabinet of National Concentration, which was also called the "Monocle Cabinet," and was said to be unable to .concentrate on anything, showed by the clock-like ease and precision with which it ejected the Prussian Government that it knew" how to handle soldiers and police. An election which a fortnight ago threatened to out-Chicago Chicago may, at any rate in the capital, have approximated to the British standard.

vAt the first glance the immense poll of the most dangerous revolu-. tionaries. in the land may appear to sppll disaster. In 1928 Heirr Hitler's party, the National Socialists, or Nazis, polled 810,000 votes, and won 12 seats in the Reichstag. In 1930 they had 6,410,210 votes and 107 seats,and npw, with some returns still to cdme^ the nun^ers are 13,440,750 and 22&* Not only have ■ the Nazis more than doubled both their votes and their seats in two years, but they are now almost twice as strong in both as the next largest party, the Socialists, who were far ahead of them even in 1928. Yet we are told that Herr Hitler is said to be bitterly, disappointed at the result, and with good reason-,-for another basis of comparison has intervened which mars the climax. At the elections for the Prussian Diet on the 24th April, while the Centre-Socialist Coalition retained only 162 seats out of 230, the strength, of the Nazis sprang from nine to 162. This extraordinary success was considered to be far more,significant than Hitler's defeat by Hindenburg at the Presidential election a fortnight previously with a margin of 5,500,000 I votes, and was one of the main I causes of the confidence with which j the Nazis fought this campaign. But Herr Hitler's success in Prus- ! sia has been proved a more accurate forerunner of the result on Sunday than he had hoped. His 162 seats in the Prussian Diet left him, even with the help of the Nationalists, 10 short of a majority. In the Reichstag the Nazi-Nationalist total of 267, with possibly a few more still to, come, will leave him proportionately at least as far short. It is another case of success without victory, and the success is now less brilliant than bej fore. The Berlin correspondent of , "The Times" shows the true signifi- j cance of: the figures by -comparing j them on a proportional basis with i those of the Prussian and other State elections.

Comparison with the average results of the State elections shows that the .General Election 'brought the Communists notable gains and almost stopped tho Nazi advance. The Communists more than recouped their total losses at the 1930 and State elections. The Nazis, who advanced by leaps and bounds from 18.3 per cent, of the total votes in 1930 to 35.7.per cent, iu the State elections, gained only 2 per cent, further. The combined Right parties obtained only 45 per cent., compared with 48 per cent, in the Prussian elections. ( A 2 per cent, more or less would be a small matter in the inevitable fluctuations of any ordinary party, but a party so charged with electricity as the Nazis, and so completely dependent upon violent and spectacular appeals to the emotions, has a different psychology. To such a party the saying that "nothing succeeds like success" must apply with special force, and a success which is only a trifle better than the last one and results like it in stalemate instead of victory must have some of the chilling effect of failure. It is of special interest to learn that the favours which, since the ejection of Dr. Bruening, the Nazi leader has received from the Govlernment are considered to have contributed to his setback.

Well-informed people believe, ye are told, that Herr Hitler's compromising Connection with General von Schlcicher checked his triumphant career. Hitler's: announcement that lie will

refuse to join any coalition is perhaps an indication that he is of the same opinion himself. Schleicher was .credited with the,design of beating Hitler at his own game and taking over supreme ypower just when the.Nazis were getting ready to seize it, but if by his excessive kindness to the man he hoped to jockey he has spoiled the chances of both, the "Monocle Government" has not' laboured entirely in vain. But what the immediate prospects are with k Reichstag in which the fourteen parties and/groups are classed as Right 273, Centre 149, and Left 222 is a question on which no light is shed by our reports from Berlin. The Government has decreed a political truce till the ,10th August, which means that no political meetings will be allowed, but the Nazis 'can get along very well without meetings. Hitler tells themv that they "must continue to fight for Germany's freedom," and they are taking him at his word. An s orgy of bloodshed in Konigsberg has resulted in the murder of two Communists, the bombing of two Socialist newspaper offices, the shooting of the ex-Governor in both arms, and the similar treatment of two Socialist journalists. Germany is not yet free, but Hitler, is helping her along.