Evening star., 1932-08-14
WORLD AWAITS STABILITY
In GERMAN GOVERNMENT
Results of Recent Elections Being Studied
By Nations to Determine
Outcome of Regime.

present cabinet, with no other backing
than some fifty Nationalists and Pop
ulists, will attempt to carry on backed
by the President. And, in effect, this
means that Germany will have cab
met ruling without regard to the
ReichStag.
The real test, at the moment, then,
is not between the Republican parties
end the Nationalists but between the
Nationalists of the two groups, those
of Hitler and those of the Papen-
Schleicher combination. Moreover, it
is quite cltar now what was the plan
of Hindenburg and Schleiche' when
they ousted Bruening few weeks ago.
They clearly foresaw the "NaZi" gains
which were coming and recognized that
these gains would inevitably lead to
the overthrow of Bruening. What they
sought, therefore, was to anticipate this
fall and lay hands upon the reins OF
government before the "Nazis" could
snatch them.
Differences Noted.
The essential difference between the
Nationalists and the "Nazis" is that
the former is reactionary and the
latter revolutionary. In purely inter-
national questions, that is, in respect
of demands for the revision of the
peace treaties and parity in armaments,
the Hitlerites and the Nationalists are
agreed, but in matter of domestic
policy and particularly in economic
matters the "Nazis' are almost Com
munistic in their purposes. Were they
to gain control, no one can foresee
what might happen.
Schleicher and his supporters desire
to take advantage of all the nationals
10 ,r,, 4f h. l,,k
on the other hand, they mean to
smash the sociaiistic and communistic
program. Their game would be, there
fore, to make a coalition with the
"NaziS" and gradually draw from it the
truly nationaHStic elements, thus max
ing a powerful nationalStic party. The
strategy is quite patent.
But will Hitler permit himself to be
outmaneuvered? All the play in Ger
man politics in the next weeks and
month"; will be there. If Hitler stands
out and refuses to make any bargain
with Schleicher which dos not give
him actual control of the new cabinet,
then the Schleicher regime must either
govern in the fashion of dictatorship
backed by the army and the President
or surrender to Reichstag in which it
can count hardly so votes of its own.
And dictatorship created to head off
the man who has for three years been
preparing to be dictator will be an in
teresting experiment.
Hitler, however, despite his recent
triumph, Is in difficult situation. He
has not broken the ranks of the Re-
publicans and Communists. He heads
the party having the largest number of
members in the Reichstag, but 1t is
nevertheless, minority party. And the
Nationalists, while nominally his allies,
are actually endeavoring under cover to
steal h1s party from him and transform
1t into the old-fashioned reactionary
organization of the pre-war days. In
this situation, If he attempts violence,
he will have the Nationalists, the Re-
publicans and the Communists all
against him, and the army as well.
Cards Against Hitler.
But If he bides his time for another
election, he may miss the train alto
gethc-, for his is movement which de-
pends almost completely upon hard
times and popular passion. Moreover,
he cannot continue indefinitely to
promise immediate victory and then
fail, even though he makes material
gains. He has this year promised his
followers to gain the presidency and to
control the ReichStag. and he has lost
in both ventures. Now to wait four
years for another election would plainly
be to wait far too long. He must act
and act within relatively brief time.
But the cards are stacked against
him So far he has swept along on the
food of popular discomfort and because
he has had no real opposition. Heavy
industry, the Junkers and the army
have secretly encouraged his campaign
because they hoped to see him destroy
the republic. But they never had any
intention of permitting him to replace
the Republican army by his own motley
horde Now they have intervened to
forestall his victory. He must fight those
who have hitherto supported him and
he must also continue to fight the Re
publican and Communist enemies.
We are, then, probably within brief
time to discover whether Hitler is an
other Mussolini or not Republican
Germany is, for the time being, thing
of the past. The Nationalists and the
"Nazis," either openly or secretly, will
struggle for control. But European re-
construction will still wait on the issue
of the battle, for nothing can happen
in Central Europe until there is Ger
man government able to rule at home
and ready to act abroad.
Copyright, 1922