Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler

second secretary, and a first and second chairman at the head of it. In addition to these there
was a representative of the members, the director of propaganda, and various assessors.
Comically enough, the committee embodied the very principle against which the movement
itself wanted to fight with all its energy, namely, the principle of parliamentarianism. Here
was a principle which personified everything that was being opposed by the movement, from
the smallest local groups to the district and regional groups, the state groups and finally the
national directorate itself. It was a system under which we all suffered and are still suffering.
It was imperative to change this state of affairs forthwith, if this bad foundation in the
internal organization was not to keep the movement insecure and render the fulfilment of its
high mission impossible.
The sessions of the committee, which were ruled by a protocol, and in which decisions were
made according to the vote of the majority, presented the picture of a miniature parliament.
Here also there was no such thing as personal responsibility. And here reigned the same
absurdities and illogical state of affairs as flourish in our great representative bodies of the
State. Names were presented to this committee for election as secretaries, treasurers,
representatives of the members of the organization, propaganda agents and God knows what
else. And then they all acted in common on every particular question and decided it by vote.
Accordingly, the director of propaganda voted on a question that concerned the man who had
to do with the finances and the latter in his turn voted on a question that concerned only the
organization as such, the organizer voting on a subject that had to do with the secretarial
department, and so on.
Why select a special man for propaganda if treasurers and scribes and commissaries, etc.,
had to deliver judgment on questions concerning it? To a person of commonsense that sort of
thing seemed as incomprehensible as it would be if in a great manufacturing concern the
board of directors were to decide on technical questions of production or if, inversely, the
engineers were to decide on questions of administration.
I refused to countenance that kind of folly and after a short time I ceased to appear at the
meetings of the committee. I did nothing else except attend to my own department of
propaganda and I did not permit any of the others to poke their heads into my activities.
Conversely, I did not interfere in the affairs of others.
When the new statute was approved and I was appointed as president, I had the necessary
authority in my hands and also the corresponding right to make short shrift of all that
nonsense. In the place of decisions by the majority vote of the committee, the principle of
absolute responsibility was introduced.
The chairman is responsible for the whole control of the movement. He apportions the work
among the members of the committee subordinate to him and for special work he selects
other individuals. Each of these gentlemen must bear sole responsibility for the task
assigned to him. He is subordinate only to the chairman, whose duty is to supervise the
general collaboration, selecting the personnel and giving general directions for the coordination
of the common work.
This principle of absolute responsibility is being adopted little by little throughout the
movement. In the small local groups and perhaps also in the regional and district groups it
will take yet a long time before the principle can be thoroughly imposed, because timid and
hesitant characters are naturally opposed to it. For them the idea of bearing absolute
responsibility for an act opens up an unpleasant prospect. They would like to hide behind
the shoulders of the majority in the so-called committee, having their acts covered by
decisions passed in that way. But it seems to me a matter of absolute necessity to take a
decisive stand against that view, to make no concessions whatsoever to this fear of
responsibility, even though it takes some time before we can put fully into effect this concept
of duty and ability in leadership, which will finally bring forward leaders who have the
requisite abilities to occupy the chief posts.