The Industry Club Speech by Adolf Hitler

If today the National Socialist movement is considered anti-business in broad circles of Germany, then I believe the reason is that we took a different position on the events which brought about the present situation than the other prominent organizations of public life. Even now, our view differs in many ways from that of our opponents.

We are convinced that the root cause of the present distress is not to be found in general world events, for this would also more or less preclude the possibility for an individual nation to correct its course from the outset. If it were true that German misery were only caused by a so-called global crisis [80] -a global crisis on which we as a people can naturally exert only a negligible influence-then the future of Germany would have to be described as bleak. How can a state of affairs change for which there is no direct culprit? In my opinion, the view that the global crisis is solely to blame will lead to dangerous pessimism. It is natural that the more the causes of a situation are removed from the individual's control, the more the individual will despair of ever being able to change his situation. The result will eventually be a certain lethargy, an indifference, perhaps even despair in the end. [. ]