Hitler And DAP
The German Workers' Union was conceived by Anton Drexler on the seventh
of
March, 1918. Drexler's union consisted of about forty members, most of
whom were
railwaymen, that were banded together by shared sentiments of
fierce
nationalism, anti-Semitism, and support for the war effort. Previous
to the end
of World War I, this small union carried the rather verbose title
of the
"Free Labor Committee for a Good Peace." At this time the
organization
adhered to a rather straightforward program-"Strikers,
Bolsheviks, Jews,
malingerers, and war profiteers were the enemy, and it was
the duty of the
workers to unite behind the war effort." (Payne, 135)
However, after the
disastrous conclusion to the war, Drexler's union, having
changed its name to
the "German Worker's Party," lacked any coherent program
and was on
the brink of collapse when Hitler inadvertently stepped into the
picture.