Strasserism
 | This article's lead section may need to be rewritten. (August 2026) |
| Part of a series on |
| Far-right politics in Germany |
|---|
|
[A] Some of today's far-right in Germany support these factors, but they are relatively less prominent. |
Strasserism (German: Strasserismus or Straßerismus, see ß) is a dissident, far-right ideology based on Nazism, named after brothers Gregor and Otto Strasser, who were associated with the early Nazi movement. It shares Nazism's core rhetoric of revolutionary nationalism, racialism, anti-capitalism, antisemitism, and anti-communism, along with aspects of its populism. It is a type of "Third Position" that postures as revolutionary in order to advance an ultranationalist agenda,[1] similar to the foundational fascist movements of Hitler and Mussolini.
The ideology is primarily the creation of Otto Strasser, who promoted what he claimed was a more "authentic" and revolutionary "German Socialism"[S 1] in opposition to Hitler. His vision called for a radical restructuring of society based on a rejection of urban industrialism, aiming for a "de-proletarianized" agrarian society governed by "state feudalism."[2] Under this system, society would be organized into hierarchical estates ruled by a cultivated elite, with private property replaced by medieval-style fiefs (Erblehen) and trade guilds.[S 2] To achieve this vision, he advocated for relocating urban populations to the countryside (de-urbanization), abolishing heavy industry by dismantling it into small decentralized structures, and replacing international finance with a barter economy,[3] while advocating for the revival of domestic private bankers and unsecured interest-bearing loans.[S 2]
Gregor Strasser remained within the Nazi leadership until his resignation in 1932 and is characterized by historians as a pragmatic party organizer rather than a committed ideologue. He sought to gain power by convincing Hitler to accept pragmatic coalitions and compromises with the existing state.[4] He never joined Otto's dissident movement[5] and was murdered during the 1934 Night of the Long Knives.[6]
Scholars have largely debated narratives about the Strasserist ideology. Otto Strasser's accounts of his conflict with Hitler are considered unreliable by historians.[7][8] The 1932 Sofortprogramm promoted by Gregor, was largely plagiarized from the ideas of bourgeois reformers at the time.[9] Politically, Otto's 1930 split from the Nazi party is noted as having had minimal impact,[10] despite the fact that he at times received material support from institutions like British intelligence[11][2] and, according to contemporary reports and his own claims, certain German industrialists.[S 3][12]
In the post-war era, where overt Nazism was proscribed, the "Strasserist" label itself was repurposed as a guise for various far-right groups, including both Strasser's own followers and figures with direct continuities to Hitlerite Nazism. According to historian Christoph Hendrik Müller, this allowed them to use its nominally "anti-capitalist" and anti-liberal rhetoric as a legal vehicle for coded antisemitism, while distancing themselves from the Hitler regime.[13]
In parallel, Otto Strasser modified his doctrine into "Solidarism" (Solidarismus) and attempted to frame it as aligned with Catholic social teaching, avocating for a tripartite co-ownership structure involving the state, employees, and private enterprise within the capitalist mode of production, and calling for three "White and Christian federations."[13]
Principles and characteristics
[edit]Self-positioning
[edit]Otto Strasser's unique self-positioning predated his entry into the Nazi Party. In his own accounts of his service in the Freikorps—where he participated in the suppression of the Bavarian Soviet Republic—he portrayed himself as "the Red Lieutenant". According to this narrative, Strasser urged the old Imperial officer corps not to simply repress the workers' longing for social justice, but to "give guidance and leadership" to it, arguing that the traditional "governing classes" should adopt the socialist cause themselves and offer a national alternative to the Communist leadership he was taking up arms against.[14]
Like mainstream Nazism, Strasserism saw the nation and its "nature", rather than class, as the central organizing principle of society.[13] Strasserism's main difference from mainstream Nazism lies in a detailed and unique ideological framework for a radical, total reconstruction of society. Otto Strasser advocated for what he claimed was a more authentically socialistic alternative to what he condemned as Hitler's state-managed capitalism, and he labeled his own ideology "German Socialism."[S 1] He contrasted his vision with what he considered Hitler's deviation from the movement's original path, particularly the party's dealings with capitalist interests and Hitler's specific strategies for seizing power, which he saw as a betrayal of anti-materialism and the German labour.[2]
Otto Strasser made a consistent effort to portray his own faction as the genuine "left-wing" of the Nazi movement. In his 1943 memoir Flight from Terror, he claimed that the Nazi Party was only seen as the "Rightest" party due to Hitler's "pro-monarchist statements and industrial support," while asserting his own Prussian membership was "far more left than right". In the same passage, he presented General Erich Ludendorff as their own candidate, meant as an alternative to the mainstream conservative candidate,[S 4] whom he portrays as a heroic figure in the earlier parts of the work.