But if one wishes to take up the struggle, one must be clear about one thing: no half-measures, no weakness, no sentimentality – a complete job with a firm, hard will. [ . . . ]
No matter how hard it will be to German justice: we must generally restrict the rights of the resident Jewry, no matter how regretful it will be to each of us individually when the good person is affected along with the bad; in cases like these, one must look only at necessity and one must close one’s heart to compassion; every concession to those suffering undeservedly would loosen the rings of the armor that we must create for ourselves. [ . . . ]
The motto is: a resolute policy of struggle against the Poles through the application of expropriation and the introduction of the prohibition against division into small plots, whereby the influence exercised by the Foreign Ministry must be eliminated out of consideration for the position of power that the Poles of Galicia hold in Austria.
[ . . . ] One thing, however, should become the common possession of the public opinion of our Fatherland – namely, the despicableness of the attitude that sees our army on land and at sea merely as a means of defense against foreign attacks. That would mean depriving it of the best parts of its worth, degrading it into a tool of Philistine politics. Earlier I have argued against the notion that we are “satiated” – if public opinion takes the same position, it will also state unambiguously: The Army and the Navy are also weapons of attack when the safeguarding of our existence demands it. [ . . . ]
After what was said earlier about the falseness of the slogan about the “satiated state” of the German Reich, it will come as no surprise if it is stated here unambiguously that the portion of the surface of the world that is today under German dominion is not adequate for the needs of the German people. Whether the other states approve or disapprove of this must leave us cold; let them know it and make their decision in good time whether they prefer to provide us in good or ill with what we need: land. [ . . . ]
As the educated among our people, the people with a somewhat political eye, have slowly come to recognize that the policy of “satiety” no longer corresponds to our true situation, it is imperative that all those interested in public life learn to change their thinking and demand that we engage in active foreign politics; let us go ahead and say aggressive politics. [ . . . ]
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