alyesque:

In Kevin Passmore’s relatively interesting Fascism: A Very Short Introduction he sets an important scene.

The opening session of the last Reichstag took place in the Kroll Opera House, situated on the Tiergarten in central Berlin, for the Reichstag building had been destroyed by fire a few weeks previously. Inside the hall a huge swastika flag hung behind the platform occupied by the cabinet and president of the Reichstag. To get to the hall, deputies had to run the gauntlet of insolent swastikawearing youths massed on the wide square in front, who called them ‘Centrist pigs’ or ‘Marxist sows’. Communist deputies had been imprisoned because of the Party’s alleged involvement in burning down the Reichstag building. A few socialists were also incarcerated, and another was arrested on entering the building. Nazi stormtroopers lined up behind the socialists and blocked the exits.

this is his description of the context in which the enabling pass was act. The dissenters in the vote were told they would be hung later that day by this same crowd of stormtroopers. By the time the definitive moment was present, the paramilitary was already built and the vote was not a free vote at all. This is why violent opposition to far right paramilitaries and fascists like the traditional workers party is so crucial while they are in their infancy. If you wait, its too late.