The use of communication and propaganda contributed to Hitler’s rise in the 1920s and 1930s. By the start of WWII, his persuasive capabilities had Europe trembling under his grip. Here’s a look at his rise to power through the lens of a persuasive theory pioneered at Yale.

The Binder Five-Stage Developmental Model

In 1971, Yale political scientist Leonard Binder developed the five-stage developmental model to describe the phases of political movements. Through these five stages, several political campaigns, from Donald Trump to John Turner in post-war Canada. Binder posits that political movements of all types go through five evolutionary stages: identification, legitimacy, participation, penetration, and distribution.

Identification

The year was 1919, and the allied armies of the Great War forced Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles. In the wake of this moment, German citizens felt what it meant to bear the blame for The Great War’s tragedies. The subsequent treatment of Germans would spawn a political ideology that still plagues our world today and arguably is getting worse. That ideology is Nazism.

We can evaluate the rise of the Nazism/Hyper-Nationalism political movement through the Binder Five Stage Developmental Model, historical contexts, and current events. First, we start with identification, which “is defined as establishing a position in the minds of consumers, voters, and potential converts” (Larson & Scudder, 2019). Anton Drexler founded The German Worker’s Party (NSDAP, the precursor to the Nazi Party) in that same fateful year of 1919.

A young former German soldier attended one of these meetings and became inspired by its message. That former soldier was Adolf Hitler. Before Hitler joined the NSDAP, the party exhibited extremist right-wing and racist ideology. Hitler identified these key points and started marketing them to the broader German public through beer hall speeches.

Legitimacy

By 1920, Hitler had outlined core positions. He changed the name to the Nationalistic Deutsches Arbeitpartie (NDAP or Nazi) and created a 25-point program, which almost caused his departure from the party. However, Hitler’s speaking skills made him indispensable, and he became the party chair in 1921.

The Nazis march on Munich 1923. [Wikimedia Commons]

Over the next two years, Hitler refined the political ideology of the Nazi party, organizing talking points, hierarchy, and public image. In 1923, the economic impacts of the Versailles Treaty were destroying the remnants of the German economy, and right-wing groups began their bid for legitimacy.

As defined in the Yale (Binder) model, legitimacy is “[being] considered a worthy, believable, and trustworthy candidate” (Larson & Scudder, 2019). In response, Hitler and the Nazi party organized the Munich Coup (Putsch), where armed party members attempted to take control of Bavaria by force.

Hitler and the Nazi movement were not legitimate, as judged by the police. Several party members, including Hitler himself, found themselves with prison terms.

Participation

Despite being behind bars, Hitler was still looking for legitimacy. It was during this period that he further refined the party's goals and took to writing his famous Mein Kampf. Upon his release in December 1924, it became clear that to obtain legitimate power, the Nazis would need to rebrand and vie for public opinion.

Between Hitler’s release in 1924 and 1929, the Nazi party grew to 130,000 members. Thus, this rapid growth contributes to the Participation stage of the BInder model, which is “the recruitment and involvement of previously uncommitted persons” (Larson & Scudder, 2019).

However, in 1929, another global event pushed the public to adopt the Nazis as a legitimate movement. That event was the stock market crash of October 1929, Black Friday. The economy in Germany hit such a low that citizens were using wheelbarrows filled with German Marks to buy single loaves of bread.

Nearly 6 million Germans were out of work by 1933. In 1930, the democratically elected government ceded defeat and gave President Hindenburg authoritarian executive control over the government, and the Nazis secured legitimate representation.

Penetration

The period between 1930 and 1933 was when the Nazi movement, hyper-nationalism, and extremism exhibited the penetration stage of the Binder model. Penetration is when “a person…or idea has earned a meaningful share of the market” (Larson & Scudder, 2019). Extremist ideals were gaining popularity as a response to hyperinflation, starvation, and unemployment, both on the far-right and far-left of the spectrum.

In 1932, the Nazi party was the largest in the Reichstag, effectively modeling the definition of penetration. Nevertheless, the combination of both right and left extremist views would be the downfall of the Weimar Republic and, ultimately, the death of democratic government in central Europe.

Distribution

Hindenburg appoints Hitler Chancellor in 1933. [National WW2 Museum]

Finally, we land on distribution. The “campaign or movement’s ultimate success” (Larson & Scudder, 2019) was in January 1933, when Hitler was appointed by Hindenburg to the Chancellorship of Germany. When Hindenburg died in August 1934, the Nazis consolidated Hitler’s power as the Führer, completing a 15-year struggle for power.

Modern Social Movements Approach

We can examine the Nazi movement further utilizing the modern social movements approach. Richard Jensen and his contemporaries outlined basic conditions for how organizations, like the Nazis, introduce agitation to the collective body of persuasive campaigns (Larson & Scudder, 2019).

They state that these organizations “[are] organized by people outside the normal decision-making establishment…advocate significant social change and encounters significant resistance from the establishment” (Larson & Scudder, 2019).

We can see that the Nazi movement satisfies all three of these conditions because it started as a grassroots campaign comprised of members outside of society's upper echelon. The Nazi platform of hypernationalism, Aryan ideology, and militarization introduced fundamental changes to the fabric of society.

Likewise, even after the Nazis secured power in 1933-1934, the party was not popular. Only about 37% of the population supported the movement, and frequently, throughout World War II, resistance movements sprouted up across occupied Europe. Hitler was even subject to several (failed) assassination attempts, revealing significant resistance from liberal-minded Germans.

Echoes of the Past

Echoes of Nazism reverberate today. [New York Times, Wikimedia Commons]

Unfortunately, these ideas penetrated the societal fabric enough to spawn neo-Nazi movements with direct relations to former Nazis who escaped post-war Europe. Additionally, Nazi ideology was not organic to Germany, with eugenics movements and isolationist nationalism having their roots in the 1920s United States. Prominent Americans during the pre-war years advocated for Nazi ideology, and American companies sold goods and materials to the Germans as late as 1940.

Today, we are experiencing the resurgence of Nazi ideology here at home, complete with consolidation of executive power, extremist viewpoints, and hyper-nationalism. We can only hope that the modern version of the Nazi campaign is unsuccessful this time around.

References

Larson, C. U., & Scudder, J. N. (2019). Persuasion & Influence: Reception and response-ability (14th ed.). Great River Learning.

History.com Editors. (2024, August 7). Nazi Party. History. https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/nazi-party

The Wiener Holocaust Library Editors. (n.d.). The Holocaust explained. The Wiener Holocaust Library. https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/the-nazi-rise-to-power/the-early-years-of-the-nazi-party/

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. (2024, November). Hitler comes to power. Holocaust Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hitler-comes-to-power

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How Nazism Developed: Applying the Binder Five-Stage Model to Hitler's Rise