And they will crack again. The reference is, of course, to the Germans. It is no mere expression of a wish, but is the considered opinion of psychologists for which reasons are given. The Nazi system of government, one of repression and strict discipline even in times of peace, has the advantage of enabling the dictator to act with speed and force in time of war. It promotes enthusi-asin and even heroism in the face of death, but it carries with it enormous disadvantages which will prove its undoing, unless Hitler gains. another rapid success against those who are opposing him. And this, as things stand at the moment, he is unlikely to do. The Nazi experiment. has been followed with great interest and care by the class of psychologists known as sociologists, since its inception, and they all agree that it is a form of government which is suited to the basic instincts of the German people, who can be beaten by their superiors and profit from the beating, and can-be downtrodden by their leaders and welcome the treatment. Fundamentally, the position of the German people today is only a little worse than it was in 1914, under the heel of Prussian militarism and fierce class distinctions. Then the Prussian officer slashed his subordinate across the face with his whip, and his subordinate took it and benefited from it. Then, the Prussian officer pushed everyone else off the pavements, and everyone else took his behaviour as a matter of course. They were then just the herd, instinctively bowing to their masters.
Sociologists are generally agreed that herd or as some would prefer it, horde—organization has something to recommend it, provided the horde so organized is aggressive. Herd or horde psychology results in a repression of conscious individualism and reduces members of the herd or horde to an average mentality. There is a definite decline in intellectual ability, which does not matter over much when the intellectual
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