hitler demonstrated his confidence in the ss by his replacement of stennes with an ss man. stennes had a following among leftist oriented sa in berlin, pomerania, mecklenburg and silesia. when he left the sa and nsdap he founded the national socialist fighting league of germany ("nationalsozialistische kampfbewegung deutschlands", nskd) and made connection with otto strasser, as well as hermann ehrhardt, ex-leader of the defunct viking league ("bund wiking"). he recruited about 2000 sa men from berlin and elsewhere along with 2000 ehrhardt followers, and the leaders protested that the "nsdap has abandoned the revolutionary course of true national socialism" and will become "just another coalition party."