Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

the aristocracy of the sword would in a short time inevitably be overshadowed by the
financial aristocracy. Financial operations succeed more easily than battles. It was no longer
inviting for the real hero or statesman to be brought into relations with some old bank Jew:
the man of true ment could no longer have an interest in the bestowal of cheap decorations;
he declined them with thanks. But regarded purely from the standpoint of blood, such a
development was profoundly unfortunate: more and more, the nobility lost the racial basis
for its existence, and in large measure the designation of 'ignobility' would have been more
suitable for it.
A grave economic symptom of decay was the slow disappearance of the right of private
property, and the gradual transference of the entire economy to the ownership of stock
companies.
Now for the first time labor had sunk to the level of an object of speculation for unscrupulous
Jewish business men; the alienation of property from the wage-worker was increased ad
infinitum. The stock exchange began to triumph and prepared slowly but surely to take the
life of the nation into its guardianship and control.
The internationalization of the German economic life had been begun even before the War
through the medium of stock issues To be sure, a part of German industry still attempted
with resolution to ward off this fate. At length, however, it, too, fell a victim to the united
attack of greedy finance capital which carried on this fight, with the special help of its most
faithful comrade, the Marxist movement.
The lasting war against German 'heavy industry' was the visible beginning of the
internationalization of German economy toward which Marxism was striving, though this
could not be carried to its ultimate end until the victory of Marxism and the revolution. While
I am writing these words, the general attack against the German state railways has finally
succeeded, and they are now being handed over to international finance capitals
'International' Social Democracy has thus realized one of its highest goals.
How far this 'economization' of the German people had succeeded is most visible in the fact
that after the War one of the leading heads of German industry, and above all of commerce,
was finally able to express the opinion that economic effort as such was alone in a position to
re-establish Germany. This nonsense was poured forth at a moment when France was
primarily bringing back the curriculum of her schools to humanistic foundations in order to
combat the error that the nation and the state owed their survival to economics and not to
eternal ideal values. These words pronounced by a Stinnes created the most incredible
confusion; they were picked up at once, and with amazing rapidity became the leitmotif of all
the quacks and big-mouths that since the revolution Fate has let loose on Germany in the
capacity of 'statesmen.'
One of the worst symptoms of decay in Germany of the pre-War era was the steadily
increasing habit of doing things by halves. This is always a consequence of uncertainty on
some matter and of the cowardice resulting from this and other grounds. This disease wasfurther
promoted by education.
German education before the War was afflicted with an extraordinary number of weaknesses.
It was extremely one-sided and adapted to breeding pure 'knowledge,' with less attention to
'ability.' Even less emphasis was laid on the development of the character of the individual-in
so far as this is possible; exceedingly little on the sense of joy in responsibility, and none at
all on the training of will and force of decision. Its results, you may be sure, were not strong
men, but compliant ' walking encyclopedias,' as we Germans were generally looked upon and
accordingly estimated before the War. People liked the German because he was easy to make
use of, but respected him little, precisely because of his weakness of will. It was not for