Quote: smashed with the utmost brutality the nucleus of our new movement

[Garson O'Toole]

Only one thing could have stopped our movement - if our adversaries
had understood its principle and from the first day smashed with the
utmost brutality the nucleus of our new movement.

I have been asked about the quotation above which is ascribed to Adolf
Hitler. Instances appear in various online political forums: mostly
anarchist and leftist it seems. An instance apparently was used in a
1976 drama by the British playwright David Edgar called "Destiny". The
play has multiple versions and I haven't verified the text on paper.

So the quote has moved into the English language war literature.
Hence, it is not completely off-topic. Maybe Jonathan Lighter has seen
it during his major project.

The best lead I have found is a 1973 cite given below that points to a
"speech to the Nuremberg Congress, September 3, 1933" by Hitler. But I
do not know how to verify this information. Any suggestions? A
friendly WWII scholar who speaks German and English would be helpful.

The 1973 book was translated from French. So the original German
quotation (if it exists) was translated to French and then to English
before it appeared in the book.

Cite: 1973, Fascism and Big Business by Daniel Guerin, [Translated
from French to English by Frances and Mason Merrill; Revisions in the
1965 French Edition translated by Dan Stewart and Francoise Collet],
Chapter 5, Quote Page 111-112, Footnote Page 296, A Monad Press Book
distributed by Pathfinder Press, New York. (Verified on paper)

[Begin excerpt]
Hitler confessed in retrospect: "Only one thing could have broken our
movement - if the adversary had understood its principle and from the
first day had smashed, with the most extreme brutality, the nucleus of
our new movement." 31 And Goebbels: "If the enemy had known how weak
we were, it would probably have reduced us to jelly. . . . It would
have crushed in blood the very beginning of our work." 32
[End excerpt]

[Begin excerpt in footnote section]
31.  Hitler, speech to the Nuremberg Congress, September 3, 1933.
32.  Goebbels,  op. cit.
[End excerpt]

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org