1. Faced with the economic crisis, Hitler took a series of measures to restore economic development after coming to power.
1. Active fiscal policy, including increasing taxes, expanding national debt and implementing inflation
From 1932/1933 to 1938/1939, national tax revenue increased sharply from 6.56 billion marks To 17.7 billion marks, the actual taxes collected increased by more than 60 billion marks in six years. From 1932 to September 1939, the German national debt increased from 11.5 billion marks to 37.1 billion marks. The Reichsbank and several of the largest private banks are major holders of government bonds. The small savings of working people were also forced into public debt. The Reichsbank issued a large number of bank bonds with national debt as guarantee. From 1933 to September 1939, the number of bank bonds in circulation increased sharply from 2.6 billion marks to 11 billion marks. These proactive fiscal policies enabled the German state to make large-scale investments and military orders.
2. Large-scale military procurement and ordering
In 1932, Germany’s military expenditure was 670 million marks, accounting for about one-tenth of the total national expenditure or 10% of the national income that year. 1.5. During the six-year war preparation period from 1933 to the autumn of 1939, Germany's total war preparation expenditure was more than 40 billion marks, accounting for approximately two-fifths of the total national budget expenditure or 10.6 of the national income during the same period. Huge military orders enabled German monopoly capital groups to obtain high profits. Take the arms industry Concern Krupp as an example. From 1932/1933 to 1938/1939, the total value of military orders received by the company from the state soared from 9.3 million marks to 145 million marks, which was an increase of nearly 15 times. During the same period, the company's net profit increased from 6.5 million marks to 122 million marks, an increase of nearly 18 times.
3. Deprive the Jews of their capital
After Hitler and others came to power, they carried out a large-scale "anti-Semitic campaign" and helped the "Aryan" consortium deprive the Jews of their property. As a result of this "movement", German Jewish capital totaling approximately 6 to 8 billion marks was all transferred to the hands of the "Aryan" plutocrats and Nazi party leaders through forceful confiscation or forced change of ownership.
4. Forced cartelization
Forced cartelization was an important measure taken by the Hitler government to expand the rule of monopoly organizations and accelerate the concentration of production and capital, and was implemented more thoroughly than previous German governments. . In July 1933, Hitler's government promulgated the so-called "Cartel Regulations", which stipulated that the Reich Ministry of Economic Affairs had the power to establish new cartels, and all cartels had the power to order outside companies to merge. Any outside companies that object to such regulations may be refused recognition by the relevant cartel, thereby depriving them of rights such as access to raw materials and supplies of goods. This effectively declares them economically dead. Under this threat, a large number of small and medium-sized outsiders were forced to merge into monopoly organizations and came under the direct rule of monopoly capital. The number of cartels increased rapidly. From 1930 to 1936, the total number of registered cartels in Germany increased from 2,100 to 2,500.
5. Eliminate small and medium-sized enterprises and expand monopoly organizations
In 1937, Hitler promulgated the "Joint Stock Company Reform Law", which stipulated that all small joint stock companies with a capital of less than 100,000 marks should be be eliminated; and the capital of a newly established joint-stock company shall not be less than 500,000 marks. As a result, according to German official statistics, by the outbreak of World War II, most companies with capital of less than 100,000 marks were eliminated, companies with capital of 100,000 to 500,000 marks were reduced by half, and companies with capital of more than 5 million marks were eliminated. The proportion of large companies in the total capital of joint-stock companies increased from 74.5 in 1931 to 78.8 in 1939. The middle bourgeoisie was greatly weakened. In addition, Hitler's government also forced the closure of a large number of handicraft businesses and small retail stores.
Since 1937, due to the increasingly acute labor supply problem in the industrial sector, Hitler's government has issued a number of decrees on the pretext of "cleaning up" handicraft enterprises and small businesses, ordering a large number of so-called "overburdened" and "economically uneconomical" businesses to Handicraft enterprises and small businesses went out of business, tricking hundreds of thousands of handicraftsmen and small businessmen into serving hard labor in military factories. According to statistics, by the time the war broke out, nearly 200,000 handicraft enterprises and about 100,000 small shops had been forced to close down. In this way, the concentration process of production and capital in Germany has been greatly accelerated, and the power of monopoly capital has been strengthened as never before. On the eve of World War II, the monopolization of production in various sectors reached an alarming degree. The proportion of production controlled by monopoly organizations is 95-100 in the potash, iron-making, metal processing, artificial nitrogen, cement, sugar, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, electricity and other sectors, and in the machinery and transportation vehicle manufacturing, rayon, linen weaving industry, The paper industry and other sectors were 80-95%, and in high-quality steel production was 60-70%. Capital was further concentrated in the hands of various companies. By the end of the 1930s, they had controlled 85% of the country's total share capital, and a large number of small owners were reduced to Bankruptcy.
6. The government comprehensively intervened in the national economy and promoted militarization of the national economy
The Hitler government established a series of militarized economic regulation agencies. From the autumn of 1933 to 1936, the Reich Ministry of Economic Affairs was the highest Central regulating agency. There are various professional bureaus under it, which are in charge of various industrial sectors, agriculture, current affairs, foreign trade, prices, etc. At the same time, according to the "German Economic Organic Structure Ordinance" of 1934, on the basis of the original business owners' federations and various monopoly organizations, two new types of economic regulation agencies were established by department and by region, which were directly handed over to the monopolistic oligarchs and their cronies. master. The organizational form of the departmental regulatory agency is an economic group, with four levels. The highest level is the 6 highest groups of industry, commerce, banking, insurance, power and handicrafts; 44 subordinate economic groups; below them are divided into 350 departmental groups; the lowest level is 640 professional groups. Regional regulatory agencies take the form of provincial economic departments (subordinate municipal and district branches), and there are 18 in Germany. Both types of regulatory agencies have the power of government agencies. They are unified under the jurisdiction of the All-German Economic Academy under the Imperial Ministry of Economic Affairs. At the same time, the local grassroots organizations of the two are the same. Through the economic groups at all levels and the provincial economic department system, and with the coordination of the relevant central professional administrations, monopoly capital and the Hitler government attempted to achieve top-down dual cross-control of the national economy. In addition, in July 1933, the "German General Council of Economics" was established under the Reich Ministry of Economic Affairs. It was a war-preparing economic general staff directly controlled by the monopoly oligarchy. It had great power and was responsible for guiding the formulation of national economic policies and laws. Work. At this point, the economic regulation agency of Hitler's government has formed a huge system from the central to the local level, which intervenes and regulates the national economy in a militarized manner. In the autumn of 1936, Goering, the "four-year plan with full supervision", established another regulatory agency, the "four-year plan with full power", which caused duplication of functions of the two agencies. The planned economy enabled Germany's industrial development to exceed that of Britain, France, and the United States. From 1932 to 1938, pig iron production increased from 3.9 million tons to 18.6 million tons, and steel production increased from 5.6 million tons to 23.2 million tons. From 1933 to 1939, German arms production increased 11.5 times. But at the same time, Germany's sectoral economy has experienced imbalances. While arms factories were busy manufacturing weapons, half of the equipment in Germany's textile and shoemaking industries was idle. In terms of agriculture, the Reich Grain Bureau and its tens of thousands of grassroots agencies were the basic tools for Hitler's government to intervene in agricultural activities. However, all agricultural affairs include the sown area and crop types, the number of agricultural employees, the distribution of chemical fertilizers, the purchase of feed, the amount of agricultural products obligated to be handed over, the price of agricultural products, the utilization amount of agricultural products trade, the income of farmers, and even the fat retained by farmers themselves. The quantity of eggs and the number of eggs delivered to relatives and friends in the city are all controlled by the state. During the Hitler administration, German grain production basically stagnated at the level of the early 1930s. From 1937 to 1938, the average annual grain import volume was similar to that of the 1920s, around 4 million tons.
7. On the one hand, strengthen and expand state ownership, on the other hand, transfer state-owned property to the hands of private monopoly capital
During the Hitler government, the absolute and relative share capital controlled by the German state The amount is increased. From 1932 to 1939, the amount of "state-owned" share capital increased from 2.9 billion marks to 3.6 billion marks, and its proportion in the country's total share capital rose from 13.2 to 17. In 1939, the German state monopoly capital *** plan 24.8 billion marks, accounting for one-fifth of the country's total capital. While expanding nationalization, Hitler's government also implemented a policy of re-privatization of state-owned property. During the economic crisis of 1929-1933, in order to save a series of monopoly capital groups, the then German government acquired most of the stocks of major Berlin banks and some stocks of a series of large industrial companies at preferential prices. As these enterprises turned losses into profits, Hitler's government sold huge amounts of state-held stocks to relevant private monopoly capital groups at low prices. As state monopoly capitalism developed in Germany, the integration between monopoly enterprises and the government also strengthened. The functions of business owners and the functions of state bureaucracy have reached a high degree of integration.
8. Expand foreign trade
From 1932 to 1938, Germany’s proportion in the import and export trade of Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Romania and Yugoslavia increased by three points each It ranges from one to three times. From 1929 to 1938, Germany's foreign investment increased sharply, from US$1.2 billion to US$4 billion. In May 1933, the steel monopolies of Germany, France, Belgium, Luxembourg and other countries jointly established the International Crude Steel Export Association, thus reviving the international steel cartel. In the International Steel Cartel and the International Aluminum Cartel, the German monopoly also holds nearly one-fifth of the export share or shares respectively.
9. Construction of office *** projects
The expenditure on construction of office *** projects in the first two years of Hitler’s government (1933-1934) was about 5 billion marks . The largest one is the construction of roads, mainly expressways, at 1.61 billion marks, followed by the construction of public buildings and residences (many of which later became barracks) of about 700 million marks, and the reclamation of wasteland and soil improvement, about 700 million marks. Renovation of rivers, digging canals and erecting bridges amounted to 350 million marks, and repairing and updating railway equipment amounted to about 500 million marks; subsidies and tax exemptions of about 600-700 million marks were issued to private parties participating in public projects.
2. New Monetary Economic Policy
1. Refuse to accept foreign loans and use production as the basis of German currency instead of gold.
2. Use direct barter to conduct import and export trade.
3. Stop the so-called "foreign exchange freedom", which allows gambling on currency and the transfer of private property from one country to another according to political conditions.
4. When there are manpower and materials that can work, money will be created instead of borrowing from foreign countries.
3. Social Welfare Policy
1. Vigorously promote the social insurance system to increase and improve the social welfare of citizens.
2. Expand the paid leave system for employees and build a number of sanatoriums and hotels so that workers can enjoy vacation travel that only the bourgeoisie could enjoy in the past.
3. Improve workers’ working conditions and working environment through labor beautification activities.
The above measures have played a great role in kick-starting the German economy, which is at the lowest point of the crisis, and reducing the huge number of unemployed people. An objective evaluation of Hitler cannot deny his contribution to the German economy. In terms of economic development, from 1932 to 1937, Germany's national production increased by 102% and national income doubled. The Nazis created a miracle of German economic recovery. Hitler and his Nazi Party made Germany, which had been defeated miserably twenty years ago, rise again as a European power.