The German Workers' Union was conceived by Anton Drexler on the seventh of
March, 1918. Drexler's union consisted of about forty members, most of whom were
railwaymen, that were banded together by shared sentiments of fierce
nationalism, anti-Semitism, and support for the war effort. Previous to the end
of World War I, this small union carried the rather verbose title of the
"Free Labor Committee for a Good Peace." At this time the organization
adhered to a rather straightforward program-"Strikers, Bolsheviks, Jews,
malingerers, and war profiteers were the enemy, and it was the duty of the
workers to unite behind the war effort." (Payne, 135) However, after the
disastrous conclusion to the war, Drexler's union, having changed its name to
the "German Worker's Party," lacked any coherent program and was on
the brink of collapse when Hitler inadvertently stepped into the picture.