Adolf Hitler explains why the Strong Man is Mightiest Alone

FROM MEIN KAMPF, SUMMARY OF CHAPTER EIGHT OF VOLUME TWO, pages 267 to 283 of the Thomas Dalton dual-translation. (See here for series introduction.)

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GERMAN PATRIOTIC ASSOCIATIONS, for the purpose of facilitating their work, [may] establish mutual relations … for carrying out common actions … clubs, associations, or parties whose goals and methods are not too far apart. … Here arises a general conviction that such a union is an immense gain in strength, and that previously weak, small groups have now suddenly become strong.

This, however, is mostly false! …

[I]t would be logical to expect that one goal should be fought for by only one association. … One man proclaimd a truth somewhere and, calling for the solution of a definite problem, fixed his goal and founded a movement to realize his view. That's how an association or a party is founded—the scope of its program is either the abolition of existing evils or the establishment of a certain state of affairs in the future.

8.1 A Movement's Right of Priority

Once such a movement has come to life, it possesses a certain practical right of priority. …

The reason why the solution of one definte task is usually not left to one association alone is as follows: In general, every action carried out on a grand style on this Earth is the expression of a longstanding desire in millions of people, a longing silently harbored by many. … [O]ne day, Fate bestows on them a man capable of liberating his people from some great oppression, or of wiping out some bitter distress, or of calming the national soul … thus bringing the long-yearned-for fulfillment.

8.2 The Struggle for Leadership

...[M]any feel themselves called to this task—yes, even that Fate itself has proposed many for the choice, so that, through the free play of forces, the stronger and bolder shall finally be victorious, and will be entrusted with the task of solving the problem. …

The people hold vague desires and have only general opinions, without having any precise notion of their own ideals and desires or how they will be fulfilled. … [M]any men struggle to reach the same objective by different roads, without knowing one another.

These movements, parties, and religious groups originate entirely independently of one another. … Nature herself … leaves these diverse groups to compete with one another … thus choosing the clearest, shortest, and surest way by which a movement attains its goal.

How could the correctness or incorrectness of a path be determined from without, if the forces at hand weren't given free play? [T[he final decision is … entrusted to [the] indisputable logic of visible success—which, in the end, always confirms the ultimate correctness of a course of action! …

This rivalry helps each individual fighter develop his faculties, and humanity frequently owes its progress to the lessons learned from the misfortunes of previous attempts.

8.4 Causes of Folkish Splintering

[A] second cause for the fact that movements of the same characteristics strive along different paths … arises from a sad mixture of envy, jealousy, ambition, and a thievish mentality, which are often found united in single specimens of humanity.

The moment a man arises who profoundly understands the distress of his people and … takes measures to cure it … small and petty minds take notice and eagerly follow [his] activity … A crowd of lazy loiterers will prick up their ears and begin to sniff around for whatever little morsel may lie at the end of that road. …

Certainly the founding of a multitude of new groups, parties, etc. in 1918-19, calling themselves folkish, was a natural development of things for which the founders were not at fault. By 1920 the NSDAP had slowly crystallized from all these parties and become victorious. There could be no better proof of the sterling honesty of certain individual founders than that many of them decided to sacrifice their less successful movements to the stronger—by joining it unconditionally or dissolving their own.

This is espeicially true in regard to Julius Streicher, who at that time was the chief fighter for the German Socialist Party (DSP) in Nuremberg. … As soon, however, as the superior strength and stronger growth of the NSDAP became clear and obvious to him, he gave up his work in the DSP and … called upon his followers to fall into line with the NSDAP. … The decision was as personally difficult as it was profoundly decent.

...What we now call 'folkish splintering' owes its existence exclusively to the second of the two causes that I mentioned: Ambitious men who at first had no ideas—much less any goals—of their own, and felt themselves 'called' exactly at that moment that they saw the undeniable success of the NSDAP. Suddenly programs appeared that were mere copies of ours … and all means were attempted to explain why ... it was necessary to establish these new parties. …

At that time, there wasn't a concept or idea of others that these political kleptomaniacs didn't quickly seize upon for their own new business. Those … were the same people who subsequently, with tears in their eyes, deplored the 'folkish splintering' and spoke inceasingly about the 'need for unity.'

8.5 'Working Federations'

At that time, everyone who couldn't stand on their own feet joined one such working federation, believing that eight cripples hanging on to each other could surely form one gladiator. …

Through the formation of a working federation, weak organizations can never be made strong, whereas a strong organization can and does often become weak. … [E]xperience shows that, under all forms and conditions, the majority represents stupidity and cowardice. … Also, through such a coalition, the free play of forces is paralyzed, the struggle for the selection of the best is abolished … and final victory of the healthier and stronger is always impeded. …

One must never forget that nothing really great in this world has ever been achieved through coalitions, but that it has always been due to the success of a single victor. Coalition successes, due to the very nature of their source, carry the germs of future disintegration—yes, even the loss of what has been achieved. Great, truly world-changing revolutions of a spiritual sort are inconceivable and impossible without titanic struggles between individual natures, but never as coalitional undertakings.