His decision to convene the Bamberg Conference was something of a gamble—it could have provoked an express revolt by the northern faction or otherwise exacerbated the north-south conflict, leading to a rupture—but Hitler chose to nip a possible nascent rebellion in the bud.
He correctly believed that the dissidents lacked both the heart and the stomach to press their dissent, and that their true intent was not to challenge his leadership but to "rescue" him from the "reactionary" forces of the Munich clique, who had by default come to dominate the party whilst Hitler served his 30-month jail term in Landsberg Prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch (during which he also completed Mein Kampf).
Strasser, a hard-working and gregarious pharmacist of forceful personality who read Homer in the original for relaxation,[8] was an effective public speaker, had exceptional organizational talents[9] and dramatically increased the number of Nazi cells in the north from 71 after the putsch to 262 by the end of 1925.
Nevertheless, the delegates unanimously rejected the strategy of electoral participation, formed the National Socialist Working Association (Full name: Working Association of the Northern and Western German Gaue of the NSDAP), enacted statutes to govern the organization, established a fortnightly publication called the National Socialist Letters (Nationalsozialistische Briefe) with Goebbels as editor, and respectfully notified Hitler in writing of these developments.
The underlying premise of the Working Association was, in effect, democratic: neither Munich headquarters nor the Führer could have all the answers and the best solution was a comradely, communal and cooperative effort by concerned Party members, who would combine their skills and intelligence to formulate a winning programme.
[13] It basically proposed a corporate state, with peasants tied to their land in a quasi-feudalistic manner and with the means of production under government control, while private property rights were nevertheless respected.
[13] On 24 January 1926 a meeting of the dissidents in Hanover became extraordinarily heated when Gottfried Feder appeared (uninvited but as Hitler's representative) and objected strenuously to the proposed programme in any form.
[15] The dissidents also passed a resolution to start a new publishing house, the Kampfverlag, which would operate a new party newspaper for the north, Der Nationale Sozialist.
Some Gauleiter were even so bold as to criticize Hitler, although the resolution that was adopted expressly stated that the northerners did not intend to displace the leadership decisions of Munich and that, in any case, the expropriation issue was "not one which touches on the fundamental interests of the party.
"[15] Feder, fuming at the audacity of the northerners, reported back to Hitler, who in due course called for a leadership conference in Bamberg, to be held on 14 February 1926.
He allowed Strasser to merge two Gaue (Westphalia and Rhineland-North) into one new and more powerful entity named the Großgau Ruhr, with Goebbels, Pfeffer and Kaufmann as a ruling triumvirate.
When Strasser was injured in an automobile accident—his car was hit by a freight train—Hitler visited him in his Landshut home, bearing a large bouquet of flowers and expressions of sympathy.
Hitler's chauffeur, driving the supercharged Mercedes, picked up Goebbels (along with Pfeffer and Kaufmann) at the train station and gave them a tour of Munich.