Since the German bourgeoisie was basically interested in the liquidation of the Weimar democracy, and this could be accomplished only with the help of the Nazis, our first question dealing with whether the bourgeoisie saw any other way out of the crisis may be answered in the negative. Because of this, the German bourgeoisie chose this way out more or less consciously and “voluntarily”. Consequently, our answer to the second question concerning whether the bourgeoisie consciously decided in favor of Nazism is in the affirmative. It does not follow, however, that everything which happened afterwards in the course of Nazi rule corresponded to the intentions of the German bourgeoisie. But once the bourgeoisie allowed Hitler to gain power, it no longer had any choice.
The problem, however, has by no means been exhausted yet. Why did the National Socialist movement evolve in the years of crisis with such a sweeping force so to become such a determining factor in German political life that the bourgeoisie could solve its problems only by relying on it?
This question cannot be dismissed by saying that the German bourgeoisie itself helped Fascism to evolve in order to help it to power, thereby extricating itself from the economic and political crisis. The German bourgeoisie assisted Hitler in two ways. First, some influential capitalist circles (though by no means all leading bourgeois power groups) provided financial support to the movement. Second, they never took a firm stand against the Nazi use of violence, whereas they took the most resolute steps against the Communists’ generally less significant and violent “unconstitutional actions”. But these often exaggerated factors do not provide a full explanation. If the bourgeoisie was so powerful that it was able to develop a very small movement (in 1928 the Nazis still had only 800,000 voters!) into the largest mass party in the country, then why did it not use its power to bring about a rule more in accord with its “taste” and objectives? The masses behind the Nazis (before the seizure of power they numbered thirteen million) were not created by the bourgeoisie which, incidentally, voted for the center and the non-Nazi right. In Germany there were considerable strata who were not big capitalists but who nevertheless favored the Nazi solution.
Mihály Vajda, “Crisis and the Way Out: The Rise of the Fascism in Italy and Germany” (my emphasis)
