Chapter 1527: German Two-Party War
1932 was an extremely dangerous year for most capitalist countries in the world. The world economic crisis had lasted for three years since 1929.
During the same period, the unemployment rates in the United States and Germany soared to over 20 percent, with the rate in the United States reaching around 25 percent. This means that the poorest 30 to 40 million people in the United States have been struggling for nearly three years.
That is to say, the United States is vast and rich in resources, and the lower-class people can still rely on relief and begging to maintain their basic survival necessities. Otherwise, there is a high probability that a social crisis will break out in the United States.
In contrast, the situation in European countries is not so good, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. Since the beginning of winter last year, several large-scale conflicts have broken out in Germany and Austria-Hungary, and there have been countless small-scale protests and violent activities.
Berlin, Germany.
In 1932, Berlin, as the most populous and economically concentrated city in Germany, was also the city that suffered the most losses in this round of economic crisis.
Up to now, the official unemployment population in Berlin has exceeded 300,000. The large number of unemployed people and the activities of the Labor Party and the National Party have turned the entire Berlin into a "chaotic city."
Neukologne is a neighborhood in Berlin. In the 16th century, it was a village developed in the south of Berlin. With the development of Berlin's industry and the gathering of population, Neukologne continued to expand.
On the eve of World War I, New Cologne officially became one of the administrative districts of Berlin, Germany.
During the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, New Cologne attracted a large number of workers and Eastern European immigrants due to its cheap housing, becoming a famous gathering place for low-income groups in Berlin.
After the outbreak of the economic crisis, the crime rate in New Cologne soared, and there was turmoil every day, especially between the German Labor Party and the National Party. The struggle between the two parties turned New Cologne into a "battlefield".
Labor Party members are holding a rally at the Bohemian Brewery in Neu-Cologne.
Shell, the head of the Red Front Alliance, stood in front of the table and called out to the members of the organization.
"Comrades, recently the National Party's lackeys trained by the German Imperial Government have been attacking our strongholds like mad dogs and arresting our comrades. We cannot sit and wait for death. We should give these lackeys of imperialism and capitalists a taste of their own medicine."
The so-called Red Front League was a paramilitary organization organized by the German Labor Party to specifically fight against the stormtroopers under the National Party. It was led by the Berlin Labor Party and Scheer was the direct person in charge.
Schell continued, "We must let these lunatics, gamblers, drunkards, traitors... know how powerful we, the staunch workers and fighters, are."
"So, I have chosen my target this time. Tonight, our frontline alliance will wipe out the SA base in New Cologne and make these scum, hooligans, and social scum thoroughly understand the price of being running dogs for imperialism..."
As Schell announced his intention to take action against the SA, members of the Red Front Alliance in the Bohemian Brewery responded immediately.
"It's time to make those bastards pay."
"The stormtroopers are nothing more than a gang of scum, comrade Sher. You should have made up your mind long ago."
"They are in league with the police. They are a violent gang supported by the German government. The two sides are in cahoots with each other. I have long disliked them."
Schell waved his hands to signal everyone to be quiet. He said: "Comrade Thälmann has long been dissatisfied with the scum group of the SA, especially their various criminal acts against our fellow workers and the blatant favoritism of the Berlin police."
"This shows the corruption and hypocrisy of the current German government. They dare not openly provoke the anger of the broad masses of conscientious people, so they support the national party to compete with us."
"Moreover, under the coercion and inducement of the Nationalist Party's black glove stormtroopers, as well as various dirty tactics, the people dare not speak out for fear of retaliation."
"The purpose of our Red Front Alliance is to fight against this scum group and awaken the conscience and voices of our German compatriots."
“We must let the imperialists and their running dogs know that violence, intimidation and threats will not bring us to our knees.”
Thälmann is now the leader of the German Labor Party, and his name is also Ernst, and Schell is his loyal comrade-in-arms.
Therefore, the Red Front Alliance's action against the SA was obviously first approved by a meeting of the top leaders of the German Labor Party and then carried out by the Red Front Alliance, which was also Scheer's task.
Schell said: "In this action, we will fight violence with violence. The National Party has no moral principles, so we don't need to talk about peaceful competition with them as naively as in the past, because the National Party and the stormtroopers they trained have shown their true purpose of being against workers and fairness."
"They are the common enemy of all German workers. Moreover, their various criminal activities in New Cologne have long aroused the wrath of heaven and people. I believe that as long as we dare to take the lead and resist them, more people in Germany will join us in the future to save the whole of Germany."
"In addition, this operation must be completed with lightning speed before the police arrive to prevent them from shielding the social scums of the stormtroopers."
Of course, not everyone will blindly participate in this action just because of Shell's words or two.
A member of the Red Front Alliance asked: "Comrade Schell, we naturally support the attack on the SA headquarters in New Cologne, but the SA is not weaker than us, and they have the support of the Berlin military and police. To what extent should we do this? Should we take into account the German government's thoughts? If we anger the German government and they send out troops to suppress it, will it worsen the situation and cause us losses?"
Schell was prepared for some people's doubts. He said: "Comrades, you should give up your illusions. The German government has never been on the same side as us. They are the behind-the-scenes supporters of the National Party and the SA."
"And their goal in supporting the National Party and the SA has always been to destroy us and prevent Germany from becoming a workers' homeland like the Soviet Union."
"Therefore, even if we don't provoke the German government, they will not let us go. In the past few years, everyone should have a deep understanding of this. Why is it that every time the SA clashed with us, the German police would side with the SA."
"The SA members were even released two days after killing someone, while our people were either imprisoned or sentenced. This shows the collusion between the German government and the National Party and their attitude of putting us to death."
"In the past, we also wanted to compete fairly with them, trying to gain the support of the people and finally take back the rights that belong to the people, but the facts have proved that the enemy has never thought of competing fairly with us."
"They used violence first, so don't blame us, the Labour Party and the workers. We will retaliate in the same way!"
…
Like the Red Front Alliance, the secret meeting place of the New Cologne SA was also a factory, but due to the outbreak of the economic crisis, this factory has now gone bankrupt.
The original factory site was converted by the SA into their headquarters in New Cologne. As a minion of the National Party, the SA was actually a shady organization, just like the Red Front Alliance led by the Labor Party.
Although everyone knows that the Nationalist Party is behind them, there is nothing others can do if the Nationalist Party refuses to admit it.
Moreover, the German government turned a blind eye to the "private armies" organized by the nationalist parties, which made the SA semi-public in practice, while the Labour Party's Red Front Alliance did not receive such treatment.
Not to mention the SA who were their enemy, if it was before the economic crisis, the Berlin Police Department would have gone there to arrest people if they had known that the Bohemian Brewery was their gathering place.
As for after the economic crisis, Germany's social order was actually in a semi-collapsed state. Regardless of whether it was the violent organizations affiliated with the Labor Party or the National Party, the Berlin police were generally unwilling to provoke them easily.
Especially in slums like New Colon, the main daily task of the New Colon district police station is to clean up after conflicts between the two sides.
If someone runs away, they will not continue to pursue him. If someone from either side does not run away, they will capture all the people and then tacitly let the stormtroopers go.
It can be said that with the help of the New Colon District Police Department, the local stormtroopers became more unscrupulous. Usually, they showed off their power in the New Colon District in the name of maintaining social order and cracking down on social parasites and saboteurs.
Occasionally, after obtaining accurate intelligence, they would disrupt workers' rallies or protest marches in the New Cologne district.
Tonight, though, the Chargers flipped.
More than a thousand members of the Red Front Alliance, led by Schell, reached the SA headquarters in the New Cologne district and launched an attack.
As soon as the two sides met, they immediately became furious due to new and old grudges. With the advantage in numbers, hundreds of stormtroopers were soon knocked to the ground.
The two groups used knives, sticks, bricks and furniture to hack and throw at each other, and the abandoned factory was instantly turned into a river of blood.
The head of the New Cologne district stormtroopers, seeing that his side might be defeated, became furious and pulled out his pistol and started shooting at the crowd.
“Bang… bang… bang…”
Generally speaking, the Red Front Alliance and the SA fought in a restrained manner, but once the guns were drawn, the situation changed completely.
There were also people in the Red Front Alliance who carried guns. At this time, both sides no longer held back and joined the gunfight.
The sound of gunfire echoed throughout the New Colon district in the night. Many citizens were awakened by the gunfire, and the police in the New Colon district were even more terrified, thinking that a rebellion had broken out.
Germany has experienced many rebellions in recent years, most of which were organized by the Labor Party. In addition, the whole of Europe was in a state of panic during the economic crisis, so it is not surprising that the police in the New Cologne district made such a judgment.
Of course, it could also be a coup. After all, military coups have happened in Europe before.
However, no matter what the situation was, the police in the New Colon District had no intention of going out. Herbert, deputy chief of the New Colon District Police Department, said to his subordinates: "Before the gunfire stops, our people should not act rashly. If a rebellion really occurs, it is not something we can solve."
"For a gunfight of this scale, it would be safer to send in the army. We are only police officers after all."
So, with the police station, the only place that could possibly suppress the conflict, playing ostrich, the Red Front Alliance and the Stormtroopers fought bloody battles, and the "war" between the two sides spread from the abandoned factories to the neighborhoods.
The stormtroopers, who were outnumbered, retreated and fled while gathering forces from other areas to organize a counterattack.
The Red Front Alliance had some concerns at first, but as the police showed up for a long time, they became bolder and began to gather people to hunt down the roaming stormtroopers.
In the end, the number of people involved in the conflict on both sides exceeded 5,000, and the entire New Colon district was in chaos.
It was not until four o'clock in the morning of the next day that the 24th Infantry Regiment from Berlin finally arrived and ended the farce. Hundreds of people were arrested and dozens of bodies were counted.
This incident caused extremely bad effects in Berlin and even in the whole of Germany. The Labour Party and the National Party accused each other of killing innocent people.
However, unlike the Labour Party's anger, the National Party leader Adolf was somewhat delighted by the Labour Party's provocation.
"We can now declare war on these Labour elements with all our might," he told an emergency National Party meeting.
"I now declare that the Labor Party is the largest terrorist group in Germany and a threat to the lives and safety of the German people. In order to punish this evil organization, our National Party should fight back and hunt down all Labor Party members in Berlin."
"Assist the government in arresting these thugs and bringing these criminals to justice. At the same time, contact government officials who are friendly with us and ask them to endorse our action."
"By the way, we will also eliminate our opponents, including those Jews..."
Although Adolf had not yet become the leader of the empire, his actions became increasingly unscrupulous.
Since the outbreak of the economic crisis, many of his past actions have been condoned by the German government. Adolf was originally a gambler, just like he blackmailed Britain and France in his previous life. The inaction of the German government has further stimulated his ambition.
Even in the past year, the SA had developed into a nationwide paramilitary organization in Germany without being blocked by the government. It should be noted that the SA had many veterans and was equipped with a small number of weapons.
If this was an organization of the Labor Party, the German government would have been unable to sit still long ago, and it is not impossible that it would have sent out troops. However, they did not make things difficult for or try to stop the development of Adolf's private armed forces.
As Adolf's order was issued, the German National Party and the Labor Party completely broke off relations and fierce conflicts broke out across Germany. In addition, under the instructions of the National Party, the SA slandered and framed the Labor Party, including arson, looting, street fighting, etc.
Members of the SA disguised themselves as members of the Labor Party organization and carried out various criminal activities in Germany. The SA then cooperated with the police to act as "heroes" and stop the atrocities of the "Labor Party."
The German Labor Party was also forced to fight a fierce battle with the German National Party. The scale of the conflict between the two sides was so large that it even affected the normal operation of German society and large-scale bloodshed occurred.
This turmoil that affected the whole of Germany was later called the "Two-Party War". The result of the war was that Adolf's group purged opponents and the Labor Party.
The German government, police and army chose to stand idly by, which further encouraged Adolf's arrogance and dealt a heavy blow to the German Labor Party organization, laying the foundation for him to gain power in Germany in the future.
(End of this chapter)
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