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ratifying their claim to being the strongest party in the nation. Unemployment stood at six million,
and street battles between the private armies of the extremists had become almost a daily
occurrence. Papen, like Brning before him, found the ground slipping from under his feet. The
Reichstag was completely unruly, and Hindenburg was losing confidence in the chancellor of his
own choice. Bewildered and senile, the field marshal had only a few lucid hours a day, and in
these was governed by those who were close at hand. Among them was General Kurt von
Schleicher, still more of an intriguer than Papen and at least as confident of his ability to outwit
Hitler. In early December, Schleicher became the German Republic's last chancellor.
Papen had behaved in office as a frank reactionary; his successor embarked on a more
subtle policy. Schleicher decided to try demagogy, hoping to break the power of both the
Communists and the Nazis through a pseudo-leftist appeal. And he felt that he had reason for
optimism because Hitler, for the first time since the onset of the depression, had lost ground in
the second Reichstag election of the year, and the economic situation was slightly improved.
More particularly, Schleicher decided to investigate the illegal profits that some of the great
landowners had made through the agrarian relief measures enacted by his predecessor. At this
point conservatives took alarman alarm that put within Hitler's grasp the power that had very
nearly eluded him (see Chapter 9, II).