My Political Awakening

Anton Drexler’s My Political Awakening: From the Journal of a German Socialist Worker (1923) is written as a personal account of how a Munich metalworker moved from the shop floor into the turbulent political life of post–World War I Germany. He frames his story as a journey of disillusionment and re‑orientation. Before and during the war, Drexler says he shared the convictions of many socialist‑minded workers: belief in equality, suspicion of unearned wealth, and hope for a just economic order. He recalls supporting the war effort enthusiastically, convinced it was tied to the greatness and freedom of the German nation. The turning point, in his telling, came when he perceived a shift in the socialist press and leadership—from wartime nationalism back toward pacifist, internationalist positions. Drexler describes this as a betrayal of the national cause, and he began to see the workers’ movement as, in part, an instrument for interests he believed were foreign to Germany’s well‑being. He writes of his conviction that a small, interconnected group of powerful financiers and political actors exerted undue influence over both economic life and political parties, and that this influence harmed ordinary Germans. From this perspective, he argues for a synthesis of national and social principles: a movement that would defend German sovereignty while also addressing the needs of workers. The pamphlet closes with an appeal to fellow workers to “see through” what he viewed as false friends, and to join in building a political path that combined patriotism with social reform. The tone is that of a shop‑floor colleague speaking directly to his peers, mixing autobiography with polemic. As such, My Political Awakening serves both as Drexler’s personal origin story and as a recruiting document for the nationalist‑socialist politics he would help to organize in the early 1920s.