Strasserism (German: Strasserismus or Straßerismus) was the strand of Nazism that called for a more radical, mass-action and worker-based form of Nazism, hostile to Jews not from a racial, ethnic, cultural, or religious perspective, but from an anti-capitalist basis, to achieve a national rebirth. It derives its name from Gregor and Otto Strasser, the two Nazi brothers initially associated with this position.
Opposed on strategic views to Adolf Hitler, Otto Strasser was expelled from the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in 1930 and went into exile in Czechoslovakia, while Gregor Strasser was murdered in Germany on June 30, 1934 during the Night of the Long Knives. Strasserism remains an active position within strands of neo-Nazism.
Gregor Strasser (1892–1934) began his career in ultranationalist politics by joining Freikorps after serving in World War I. Involved in the Kapp Putsch he formed his own völkischer Wehrverband ("popular defense union") which he merged into the NSDAP in 1921. Initially a loyal supporter of Adolf Hitler, he took part in the Beer Hall Putsch and held a number of high positions in the Nazi Party. Soon however, Strasser became a strong advocate of the socialist wing of the party, arguing that the national revolution should also include strong action to tackle poverty and should seek to build working class support. After Hitler's rise to power, Ernst Röhm, who headed the SA, then the most important paramilitary wing of the Nazi party, called for a "second revolution," aimed at removing the elites from control. This was opposed by the conservative movement, as well as by some Nazis who preferred an ordered authoritarian regime to the radical and disruptive program proposed by the Party's left wing.