I recognized the infamous mental terrorism carried out against
the bourgeoisie, who are neither morally nor spiritually equipped
to withstand such attacks. The tactics of Social Democracy
consisted in opening, at a given signal, a veritable onslaught of
lies and slanders against the man whom they viewed as their
strongest adversary–until his nerves gave way and they sacrificed
the man who was attacked, simply in the hope of being allowed to
live in peace.
But the fools never attained peace.
The same tactics are repeated again and again, until the fear of
these mad dogs paralyzes their victims.
Thus did Social Democracy learn the value of strength, and for
that reason it attacks mostly those who are of a stronger nature,
which is rare indeed. On the other hand, it praises every weakling
among its opponents, more or less cautiously, according to the
measure of his mental qualities.
They have less fear of a man of genius who lacks will-power
than of a vigorous character with mediocre intelligence. At the
same time, they highly commend those who are devoid of
intelligence and will-power.
The Social Democrats know how to create the impression that
they alone are the protectors of peace. In this way, acting very
circumspectly but never losing sight of their ultimate goal, they
conquer one position after another–now by methods of quiet
intimidation and now by sheer daylight robbery. They employ
these tactics at those moments when public attention is turned
towards other matters, or when the public considers an incident
too trivial to raise a fuss about and thus provoke the anger of a
vicious opponent.
These tactics are based on an accurate estimation of human
weaknesses; they will lead to success, with almost mathematical
certainty, unless the other side also learns how to fight poison gas
with poison gas.
The weaker natures must be told that this is a case of ‘to be or
not to be.’
I also came to understand that physical terror has its
significance for both the masses and the individual.
Here again the Socialists accurately calculated the
psychological effect.
