Generally speaking, Nazi theorists and politicians blamed Germany’s previous economic failures on political causes like the influence of Marxism on the workforce, the sinister and exploitative machinations of what they called international Jewry, and the vindictiveness of the western political leaders' war reparation demands. Instead of traditional economic incentives, the Nazis offered solutions of a political nature, such as the elimination of organized labor groups, rearmament (in contravention of the Versailles Treaty), and biological politics. Various work programs designed to establish full-employment for the German population were instituted once the Nazis seized full national power. Hitler encouraged nationally supported projects like the construction of the Autobahn, the introduction of an affordable people’s car (Volkswagen) and later, the Nazis bolstered the economy through the business and employment generated by military rearmament. Not only did the Nazis benefit early in the regime's existence from the first post-Depression economic upswing, their public works projects, job-procurement program, and subsidized home repair program reduced unemployment by as much as 40 percent in one year, a development which tempered the unfavorable psychological climate caused by the earlier economic crisis and encouraged Germans to march in step with the regime.
To protect the German people and currency from volatile market forces, the Nazis also promised social policies like a national labor service, state-provided health care, guaranteed pensions, and an agrarian settlement program. Agrarian policies were particularly important to the Nazis since they corresponded not just to the economy but to their geopolitical conception of Lebensraum as well. For Hitler, the acquisition of land and soil was requisite in molding the German economy. To tie farmers to their land, selling agricultural land was prohibited. Farm ownership was nominally private, but business monopoly rights were granted to marketing boards to control production and prices with a quota system.
The Nazis sought to gain support of workers by declaring May Day, a day celebrated by organized labor, to be a paid holiday and held celebrations on 1 May 1933 to honor German workers. The Nazis stressed that Germany must honor its workers. The regime believed that the only way to avoid a repeat of the disaster of 1918 was to secure workers' support for the German government. The Nazis wanted all Germans take part in the May Day celebrations in the hope that this would help break down class hostility between workers and burghers. Songs in praise of labor and workers were played by state radio throughout May Day as well as fireworks and an air show in Berlin. Hitler spoke of workers as patriots who had built Germany's industrial strength, had honorably served in the war and claimed that they had been oppressed under economic liberalism. The Berliner Morgenpost, which had been strongly associated with the political left in the past, praised the regime's May Day celebrations.
The Nazis continued social welfare policies initiated by the governments of the Weimar Republic and mobilized volunteers to assist those impoverished, "racially-worthy" Germans through the National Socialist People's Welfare (NSV) chairman Erich Hilgenfeldt organization. This organization oversaw charitable activities, and became the largest civic organization in Nazi Germany. Successful efforts were made to get middle-class women involved in social work assisting large families. The Winter Relief campaigns acted as a ritual to generate public sympathy. Bonfires were made of school children's differently colored caps as symbolic of the abolition of class differences. Large celebrations and symbolism were used extensively to encourage those engaged in physical labor on behalf of Germany, with leading National Socialists often praising the "honor of labor", which fostered a sense of community (Gemeinschaft) for the German people and promoted solidarity towards the Nazi cause.
Hitler believed that private ownership was useful in that it encouraged creative competition and technical innovation, but insisted that it had to conform to national interests and be "productive" rather than "parasitical". Private property rights were conditional upon the economic mode of use; if it did not advance Nazi economic goals then the state could nationalize it. Although the Nazis privatized public properties and public services, they also increased economic state control. Under Nazi economics, free competition and self-regulating markets diminished; nevertheless, Hitler's social Darwinist beliefs made him reluctant to entirely disregard business competition and private property as economic engines.
