In the early stages of social life they submitted to brute and blind force; afterwards—to the Law, which is the same force but disguised. I deduce from this that according to the laws of nature, right lies in might.
Political freedom is not a fact but an idea. One must know how to employ this idea when it becomes necessary to attract popular forces to one’s party by mental allurement if it plans to crush the party in power. The task is made easier if the opponent himself has contradicted the idea of freedom, the so-called liberalism, and for the sake of the idea yields his power. It is precisely here that the triumph of our theory becomes apparent: the relinquished reins of power are, according to the laws of nature, immediately seized by a new hand because the blind force of the people cannot remain without a leader even for one day, and the new power merely replaces the old, weakened by liberalism.
In our day the power of gold has replaced liberal rulers. There was a time when faith ruled. The idea of freedom cannot be realized because no one knows how to make reasonable use of it. Give the people self-government for a short time and it will become corrupted. From that very moment strife begins and soon develops into social struggles, as a result of which states are set aflame and their authority is reduced to ashes.
Whether the state is exhausted by internal convulsions, or whether civil wars deliver it into the hands of external enemies, in either case it can be regarded as hopelessly lost: it is in our power. The despotism of capital, which is entirely in our hands, holds out to it a straw which the state must grasp, although against its will, or otherwise fall into the abyss.
To him who, because of his liberal inclinations, would contend that arguments of this kind are immoral, I would propound the question: If a state has two enemies, and if against the external enemy it is permitted and it is not considered immoral to use all methods of warfare, and as a protective measure not to acquaint the enemy with the plans of attack, such as night attacks or attacks with superior forces, then why should the same methods be regarded as immoral when applied to a worse foe, a transgressor against social order and prosperity?
How can a sound and logical mind hope successfully to guide the masses by means of reasonable persuasion or by arguments if there is a possibility of contradiction, even though unreasonable, but which may appear more attractive to the superficially thinking masses? Guided entirely by shallow passions, superstitions, customs, traditions, and sentimental theories, the people in and of the mob become embroiled in party dissensions which prevent all possibility of an agreement, even though it be on a basis of perfectly sound reasoning. Every decision of the mob depends upon the accidental or prearranged majority, which, owing to its ignorance of political secrets, pronounces absurd decisions, thus introducing the seeds of anarchy into the government.
Politics have nothing in common with morals. The ruler guided by morality is not a skilled politician, and consequently he is not firm on his throne. He who desires to rule must resort to cunning and hypocrisy. The great popular qualities—honesty and frankness—become vices in politics, as they dethrone more surely and more certainly than the most powerful enemy. These qualities must be the attributes of Goy countries; but we by no means should be guided by them.
Our right lies in might. The word “right” is an abstract idea, unsusceptible of proof. This word means nothing more than: Give me what I desire so that I may have evidence that I am stronger than you.
Where does right begin? Where does it end?