Mein Kampf

Continuing with passages from Mein Kampf, 2017 Thomas Dalton translation. See here.

P 227, 3.23  EFFECT ON THE MASS

HE WHO IS INCAPABLE OF PASSIONATE FEELING and speech was never chosen by Providence to proclaim its will.

Therefore a mere writer should stick to his ink-bottle and busy himself with theoretical questions, if he has the requisite ability and knowledge. He has been neither born nor chosen to be a leader.

A movement that has great ends to achieve must carefully guard against the danger of losing contact with the masses of the people.

Every question encountered must be examined primarily from this viewpoint, and the decision to be made must always be accordingly.

More passages from Mein Kampf, Thomas Dalton translation (see here)

Page 199, 3.15 JEWISH DEMOCRACY

IT ISN'T THE AIM OF OUR MODERN DEMOCRATIC PARLIAMENTARY SYSTEM to bring together an assembly of intelligent and well-informed men. The aim rather is to bring together a group of non-entities who are dependent on others for their views, and who can be all the more easily led, the narrower their mental outlook. This is the only way that party policy—according to the evil meaning it has today—can be put into effect.

Only in this way is it possible for the wire-puller, who exercises real control, to remain in the dark, so that he personally can never be held accountable. Under such circumstances, none of the decisions taken, no matter how disastrous they may be, can be laid at the foot of the scoundrel who is truly to blame. All responsibility is shifted to the shoulders of the party as a whole.

Continuing with passages from Mein Kampf (see here). This one from page 193 - 3.13 THE MAJORITY PRINCIPLE

SEVERAL VOLUMES WOULD BE NEEDED IF ONE WERE TO GIVE an adequate account of all its hollow fallacies. But if we pass over the details and look at the product itself while in operation, I think this alone will sufffice to open the eyes of even the most innocent and naive person, so that he may recognize the absurdity of this institution by looking at it objectively.

This human aberration is as harmful as it is absurd. In order to see this, the best and easiest method is to compare democratic parliamentarianism with a genuine German democracy.

I'VE BEEN READING THOMAS DALTON'S GREAT TRANSLATION OF MEIN KAMPF and enjoying it so much. I had read the Murphy translation twice and was satisfied with it, and I haven't yet compared the two up close, but I can tell Dalton's has a different feel to it. A very natural feel to me … maybe because Dalton is an American academic. I have Volume One of the dual German-English version, so I also like that I can compare the German on the left-hand page with the English on the right hand page and see that the paragraphs on both sides match so closely, giving me confidence that I am reading just what Hitler actually dictated in 1925 when he was 36 years old.

Certain passages came across to me as so pertinent to us today that I was inspired to run a series of posts whereby I just copy them (and comment if I feel called to). I'm not starting at the beginning but in Chapter 3, because this is where I first felt that what Hitler was saying was so very relevant to us today.

Page 189 – 3.12 'PUBLIC OPINION'