Politischer Arbeiterzirkel
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Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel
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| Leader | Karl Harrer |
| Secretary | Michael Lotter |
| Most active member | Anton Drexler |
| Founded | March 1918 |
| Dissolved | January 5, 1919 |
| Succeeded by | German Workers' Party |
| Headquarters | Munich, Germany |
| Ideology |
German nationalism Anti-capitalism Anti-communism Anti-Semitism |
| Political position | Far-right |
Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel (Political Workers' Circle) was a political activist group founded by Karl Harrer, a known rightist, in hopes of gathering intellectuals to discuss the political future of Germany in March 1918. The organization eventually merged with the Workers' Committee for a Good Peace formed by Anton Drexler to become the German Workers' Party in January 1919. Ultimately these principles would develop into the National Socialist German Workers Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei; NSDAP), also known as the Nazi Party.
Germany’s defeat in World War I forced them to take complete responsibility for the war, completely humiliating the German people. Additionally, the stab-in-the-back myth or the idea that Germany was actually winning the war and was undermined by domestic revolutions, emerged and added anger to the equation. The Thule Society, an organization encompassing people from all classes centered around hopes for a counterrevolution, emerged as a result of German humiliation and anger and attempted to fill the gap felt by Germans that the Weimar Republic was “out of touch,” with lower classes.
The society approached Karl Harrer, a member and sports reporter for the right-wing publication Münchner-Augsburger Abendzeitung, to start a political activist group in Munich. The hope was to collect discuss critical German principles, namely nationalism and anti-Semitism.
Politischer Arbeiter-Zirkel met periodically for about a year, generally in a small group of three to seven consistent members. Members shared a similar and traditional outlook as highly nationalist, anti-Marxist and anti-Semitic. They also discussed emerging ideas of the time such as Jews as the enemy to Germany, various aspects of the defeat of World War I, and anti-English sentiment, generally thought to be brought on by the Treaty of Versailles. During the meetings Harrer lead the group in studying the Russian Revolution in hopes of finding an escape for Germany.
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