How far do you agree that the Nazi Party was no more than a 'fringe irritant' in German politics in the years 1920-1929?

The Nazi Party only being on the fringe of German politics was certainly true when one looks at the start of the 1920s; but by 1929, their power had grown substantially. In 1920, Adolf Hitler joined a party with a very small membership. Far-right sentiments were on the rise in Germany at this time, however, and so was the membership of the Nazi Party. By 1921, they had 3,300 members and created their first newspaper, the 'People's Observer'. By 1922, Hitler was the leader of the Party and had secured the support of wealthy backers such as Julius Streicher and the influential aristocrat Hermann Goring. The SA was set up to violently intimidate other parties, and by 1923, the Party membership had risen to 20,000. It was becoming clearer, then, that the Nazi Party's influence was growing within German politics, and their status as a 'fringe irritant' was diminishing. 

The failure of the Muich Putsch, orchestrated by the Nazi Party, and the imprisonment of Hitler in 1923 illustrates that the Nazis were far from being influential enough to take power. The Party was in disarray without Hitler - in 1924, they only received 3% of the electorate's vote - until he refounded it in 1925. Hitler used his trial to gain publicity for the Party, publishing 'Mein Kampf'. From 1926 onwards, a period of recovery and growth led to the Nazi membership rising from 49,000 in 1926 to 108,000 in 1928. A Nazis' Teachers Association and Union of Nazi Lawyers was set up, with Hitler pushing the image of legality to gain power when the people of a fairly stable democratic republic turned to the Nazi Party as the answer out of the economic downturn propogated by the Wall Street Crash in 1929. While the Nazis were therefore only on the fringes of politics in 1920, by 1929 they were ready to take power in Germany.