Economy and Class Structure of German Fascism

by Alfred Sohn-Rethel, M.S-. Rethel (Translator)

‘It couldn’t happen here’, goes the complacent assurance that the horror of the Nazi state will not recur elsewhere, because surely it arose from unique circumstances. Within a long-standing debate over the real origins of Nazi Germany, this book offers a special contribution which integrates marxist theory with first-hand experience.

In the early 1930s Alfred Sohn-Rethel worked as editorial assistant at the Fuhrerbriefe, a current affairs newsletter circulated exclusively among the upper echelons of German big business; meanwhile he passed on information to the anti-Nazi underground, until fleeing to England in 1936. Sohn-Rethel’s book documents that inside information, as well as anecdotes about the lurid personalities of early 1930s Germany. He uses the material to characterize the Nazi state as a capitalist solution to economic crisis. Thus his argument provides a
timely intervention in to current debates among historians.

In her Afterword , Jane Caplan draws out the book’s relevance to controversies about the origins of fascism, both then and now. She emphasizes Sohn-Rethels account of Nazi rule as a means of disciplining labour, and discusses the implications for today’s economic crisis.

Alfred Sohn-Rethel has taught at Bremen University.

Jane Caplan teaches European history at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania.

Genres: History, Economics, Politics, Germany, Nonfiction, Theory, Sociology

159 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1941

About the author

Alfred Sohn-Rethel was a French-born German Marxian economist and philosopher especially interested in epistemology. He also wrote about the relationship between German industry and National Socialism.

Reviews

[Nathan Fisher]

Somewhat shocking that this isn't more widely read — not only because Sohn-Rethel is a famous intellectual whose only other English-language text is in canon — but because the conditions of its genesis and production are completely insane. Sohn-Rethel, while an underground communist, finds himself professionally ensconced in a German capitalist cabal at the exact period of the transition to Nazism. He writes from a literal front-row seat to the ruling classes' inner and outer negotiations with the fascist regime. The personal and theoretical are intertwined here in phenomenally suggestive and concrete ways. If the text remains incomplete and fragmented, that in no way detracts from the arguments it does contain, which I think remain forceful and compelling. Deserves to be on the shortlist for students of the topic, IMO.

[Jay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a very good book. Some of the economic parts got a little lost from me however that is probably due to my inadequacies rather than Alfred’s. Definitely an interesting read showing how conflicting capitalists’ interests worked within the Nazi economy as well as how the Nazi economy was structured and ran. Does suffer from being a first person account with no citations/footnotes, just a “this is my experience” and a bibliography at the end. As a result I had to take a star away for that, besides that a great read!

[Alexander B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Largely forgotten but nevertheless foundational account of German fascism by a peripheral member of the Frankfurt School who was on the inside of German industry in the 1930s. A great antidote to anti-economic theories of fascism such as that of James Burnham or even Friedrich Pollock. A little-known fact is that when Burnham quoted an article from a German industrial newspaper in the chapter “The German Way” of “Managerial Revolution”, he was actually unwittingly quoting Sohn-Rethel (who was deliberately couching a Marxist analysis in capitalist language for anonymity), and in the process completely misinterpreting the argument.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I dont really understand how this well written, packed with intel and coherent analysis book is so unpopular but I'm very happy that I read it. Anatomy of fascism compared to this is just a liberal nonsense and alfred sohn-retel is doing lapses around paxton,,analysis". Highly recommend it