Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

Chapter IX: Basic Ideas Regarding the Meaning and Organization of the SA
The strength of the old state rested on three pillars: the monarchical form of government, the
civil service, and the army. The Revolution of 1918 abolished the form of government,
dissolved the army and abandoned the civil service to the corruption of party politics. Thus
the essential supports of what is called the Authority of the State were shattered. This
authority nearly always depends on three elements, which are the essential foundations of all
authority.
Popular support is the first element which is necessary for the creation of authority. But an
authority resting on that foundation alone is still quite frail, uncertain and vacillating. Hence
everyone who finds himself vested with an authority that is based only on popular support
must take measures to improve and consolidate the foundations of that authority by the
creation of force. Accordingly we must look upon power, that is to say, the capacity to use
force, as the second foundation on which all authority is based. This foundation is more
stable and secure, but not always stronger, than the first. If popular support and power are
united together and can endure for a certain time, then an authority may arise which is
based on a still stronger foundation, namely, the authority of tradition. And, finally, if
popular support, power, and tradition are united together, then the authority based on them
may be looked upon as invincible.
In Germany the Revolution abolished this last foundation. There was no longer even a
traditional authority. With the collapse of the old Reich, the suppression of the monarchical
form of government, the destruction of all the old insignia of greatness and the imperial
symbols, tradition was shattered at a blow. The result was that the authority of the State was
shaken to its foundations.
The second pillar of statal authority, namely power, also ceased to exist. In order to carry
through the Revolution it was necessary to dissolve that body which had hitherto
incorporated the organized force and power of the State, namely, the Army. Indeed, some
detached fragments of the Army itself had to be employed as fighting elements in the
Revolution. The Armies at the front were not subjected in the same measure to this process
of disruption; but as they gradually left farther behind them the fields of glory on which they
had fought heroically for four-and-half years, they were attacked by the solvent acid that had
permeated the Fatherland; and when they arrived at the demobilizing centres they fell into
that state of confusion which was styled voluntary obedience in the time of the Soldiers'
Councils.
Of course it was out of the question to think of founding any kind of authority on this crowd
of mutineering soldiers, who looked upon military service as a work of eight hours per day.
Therefore the second element, that which guarantees the stability of authority, was also
abolished and the Revolution had only the original element, popular support, on which to
build up its authority. But this basis was extraordinarily insecure. By means of a few violent
thrusts the Revolution had shattered the old statal edifice to its deepest foundations, but
only because the normal equilibrium within the social structure of the nation had already
been destroyed by the war.
Every national body is made up of three main classes. At one extreme we have the best of the
people, taking the word 'best' here to indicate those who are highly endowed with the civic
virtues and are noted for their courage and their readiness to sacrifice their private interests.
At the other extreme are the worst dregs of humanity, in whom vice and egotistic interests
prevail. Between these two extremes stands the third class, which is made up of the broad
middle stratum, who do not represent radiant heroism or vulgar vice.
The stages of a nation's rise are accomplished exclusively under the leadership of the best
extreme.