ABSTRACT
A political party may be broadly defined as 'an organization oriented towards achieving legitimate control of government through an electoral process'. A party is defined by its platform, its general statement of principles, policies and issues, and the programme which it promises to enact once in office. It has certain unifying themes, although in its manifestos these may be couched in such generalized – even ambiguous – terms, that the 'message' will have a wider appeal. German National Socialism was essentially a revolutionary movement based largely on the charismatic qualities of the leader. As such, it presents us with the age-old problem of explanation versus description. A sociological study of the Nazi movement provides further evidence of the inverse relationship between education and power. This shows that the movement was dominated by poorly-educated Party veterans who rose to control much of the Party machinery and retained that control throughout its history.
