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Franz L. Neumann
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Behemoth: The Structure and Practice of National Socialism, 1933-1944 Paperback – January 1, 1966

by Franz Neumann (Author)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 45 ratings
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A book by the German lawyer and political scientist Franz Leopold Neumann. It was written from 1941 to 1944 during his exile in the United States and appeared for the first time in 1942, then in an expanded edition in 1944.
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  1. Print length
    649 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Harper Torchbooks
  4. Publication date
    January 1, 1966
  5. See all details
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Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B000E39JD2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Torchbooks (January 1, 1966)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 649 pages
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.3 pounds
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 45 ratings

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Franz L. Neumann

Franz L. Neumann

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Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
45 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Ernie Capwell
5.0 out of 5 stars Neumann covers a great deal of territory in the book
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2015
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This is a very IMPORTANT work on the nature of fascism, as it functioned in nazi germany. Neumann covers a great deal of territory in the book. This is not nor can it be a detailed review of the book due to the scope of the subject. Rather, it is a recommendation for reading the book. There are some other books on the subject, such as the work by Adam Tooze (highly recommenced as well) that curious readers should look into. But Behemoth should be the starting point, for an accurate account of the monopoly capitalism that was nazi germany.
13 people found this helpful
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Dave
5.0 out of 5 stars Unparalleled class analysis of the German Nazi state
Reviewed in the United States on May 30, 2020
Franz Neumann's Behemoth is the first book I read in a two-year-long study on the class basis and structure of 20th century fascism, both before and after taking power. Motivated by the entry and steady rise of Donald Trump in the GOP primary, I started seeking out books in autumn 2015 that examined fascism historically and materially - not the all-too-common pulp that tries to explain history through ideas.

I didn't know at the time when I picked up a copy at a used bookstore, but Behemoth was the book I'd sought. As an eye-witness to the rise of Nazism out of the failure of Weimer social democracy, Neumann wrote this exhaustive study in 1944 - after the Soviet Union had turned the tide of the war at Stalingrad - while living in exile. A member of the Social Democratic Party himself, Neumann unleashes insightful criticisms of his former party and its indisputable role in paving the way for Nazism. But the real value comes in later chapters, where Neumann examines the material roots of Nazism's well-known ideological planks and how Hitler's regime served the interests of monopoly capital, above all. He describes in great detail the ways Germany's various classes reacted and viewed fascism at its various stages of development, dispelling the baseless myth that German workers bought into the Nazi program.

What emerges is a terrifying portrait of Nazi Germany as it came into being and actually existed. Neumann draws his title from Thomas Hobbes, contrasting the titular 'Leviathan' state - an authoritarian monarchy bound by the rule of law - with the Nazi 'Behemoth' state, in which a terroristic, arbitrary, lawless state of anarchy predominated. It lends itself to a realization made by many about 'libertarianism' and 'anarcho-capitalism', which would actually exist as a terroristic dictatorship of the most rapacious, most reactionary sections of monopoly capital - not some imaginary small proprietors utopia. His chapters on the grafting of the Nazi Party and its paramilitary organizations onto the German state - allowing its downwardly mobile middle-class shock troops to accumulate wealth, by hook and by crook, and join the ranks of monopoly capital themselves. Anti-Semitism played a major role in this, particularly in the early pre-war days of Hitler's reign.

I can't recommend Behemoth enough. Socialists and radicals will find it deeply disturbing and insightful, especially if read with an eye towards today's events. 'Fascist' has become an inert political courseword from its over(mis)use, and Hitler comparisons are so often hackeyed that they seldom get any currency. Union members and activists in the U.S. today, year of our Lord 2020, will find Neumann's criticisms of the German trade union movement, its bureaucratization and its abandonment of the strike weapon both familiar and startling. His detailed descriptions of the failure of the 'democratic socialism' of Weimer Germany to put the working class in power - and how it inadvertently paved the way for Hitler's success and the form the Nazi state took - may serve as a useful warning to the new crop of democratic socialists. If you want to understand German fascism as it was - and more importantly, why it was that way - I can recommend no better book.
14 people found this helpful
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Sean Mulligan
5.0 out of 5 stars A Contemporaries View of Nazi Germany.
Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2013
Franz Neumann was a prominent German political scientist and activist. This book is an analysis of Nazi Germany, by someone who studied the politics of the Weimer Republic and the rise of the Nazis first hand.

He exposes several myths about the Nazis, such as the Nazi Government being above classes, that Nazi anti-Semitism had always had strong support among most Germans and that the Nazi regime was monolithic.

While, during their rise to power, the Nazi's claimed to support the rights of workers, small farmers, and small business owners, but under the Nazi government, unions were crushed, and the Labor Fronts that replaced them were dominated by employers. The government created a maximum as well as minimum wage, encouraged increased wage differentials between male and female workers and skilled and unskilled workers, and economic inequality increased under the Nazi Government. The Nazi government encouraged the growth of Cartels' which resulted in the elimination of many small businesses.

Although, Neumann admits that anti-Semitism has deep roots in German History, it only affected certain segments of the population such as parts of the Middle upper classes. Most of the working class rejected it. During the Bismark/Wilhemite erea, the largest party was the Social Democratic Party, which rejected anti-Semitism. One of its leaders, August Bebel, called Anti-Semitism the Socialism of fools. Anti-Semitic partied had only limited appeal before the dislocations of the war and the Great Depression.

The Ruling class in Nazi Germany, was made up of the Nazi Party hierarchy, top civil servants, top military leaders and the top industrialists. The industrialists and rural aristocrats supported the Nazi's because the Nazi's protected their class interests by preventing lower class rebellion and the resultant redistribution of their wealth. The military brass supported the Nazi's plans for rearmament and German expansion.

Neuman shows that the Nazi ideology had no rational philosophy behind it and concluded as early as 1941, when the book was first published and Nazi Germany was undefeated and seemed to be invincible, Neumann concluded that even if Germany won the war, the essential irrationality of the Nazi ideology would eventually cause the regime's downfall. The edition that I just read, included some appendixes' written in 1944, that provides updates for the information in the book.
17 people found this helpful
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David Johnson
4.0 out of 5 stars Behemoth
Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2012
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Good book --- Often over my head on matter I know little about --- Law for example. That's a plus however, being over my head, because I would rather struggle through something and haved learned something than to breeze through something and learn nothing. I'd say if you wish to know something of National Socialism --- this is it.
7 people found this helpful
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JEAN COSTA SANTANA
5.0 out of 5 stars Excelente compra
Reviewed in Brazil on April 26, 2022
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Muito bom!! Excelente vendendor!
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