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Social Democratic Party of Germany
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The Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands — SPD) is Germany's oldest political party. After World War II, under the leadership of Kurt Schumacher, the SPD reestablished itself as an ideological party, representing the interests of the working class and the trade unions. The party gradually evolved from a socialist working class party to a social democratic party. This shift reflected the differences between the Heidelberg Program of 1925, which "called for the transformation of the capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production to social ownership" , and the Godesberg Program of 1959, which aimed to broaden its voter base and move its political position toward the center.
Nowadays the SPD advocates social justice.
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Encyclopedia
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands — SPD) is Germany's oldest political party. After World War II, under the leadership of Kurt Schumacher, the SPD reestablished itself as an ideological party, representing the interests of the working class and the trade unions. The party gradually evolved from a socialist working class party to a social democratic party. This shift reflected the differences between the Heidelberg Program of 1925, which "called for the transformation of the capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production to social ownership" , and the Godesberg Program of 1959, which aimed to broaden its voter base and move its political position toward the center.
Nowadays the SPD advocates social justice. It endorses the modernization of the economy to meet the demands of globalization through a social market economy. The party sees such an economic system as necessary in order to ensure the affluence of the entire population. The SPD also tries to meet the needs of the society's disadvantaged with a welfare state. In addition, it advocates a sustainable fiscal policy that doesn't place a burden on future generations while minimizing budget deficits. However, the SPD also emphasises that each individual is self-responsible. In social policies, the SPD favors extensive civil rights and an open society. In foreign policy it sets on the course of compromise with efforts toward world peace. In European politics, it supports European unity in terms of the economy. It hopes that "globalization" is also "democratization."
Base of support
Social structure
Before World War II, as the main non-revolutionary left-wing party, the Social Democrats fared best among non-Catholic workers as well as intellectuals favoring socially progressive causes and increased economic equality. Led by Kurt Schumacher after the war, the SPD initially opposed both market economics and Konrad Adenauer's drive towards western integration fiercely, but after Schumacher's death, it became more centrist in an effort to appeal to a broader range of voters. It is however still connected with the economic causes of unionized employees and working class voters. In the 1990s, the left and mainstream wing of the party drifted apart, culminating in a secession of a significant number of party members, which later joined the socialist party The Left (Die Linke).
Geographic distribution
Geographically, much of their support nowadays comes from large cities, especially of northern and western Germany. The metropolitan area of the Ruhr Area, where coal mining and steel production were once the biggest sources of revenues, have in the past provided a significant base for the SPD, and in the state of Bremen, made up of the cities of Bremen and Bremerhaven, the SPD has governed without interruption since 1949. In southern Germany, the SPD typically has a hard time competing in all areas except in the largest cities. One Munich constituency is currently, and only by a narrow edge, the only SPD-held district in the entire state of Bavaria. Small town and rural support comes especially from traditionally Protestant areas of northern Germany (with notable exceptions such as Western Pomerania, from where Angela Merkel was handily re-elected in 2005) and a number of university towns. A striking example of the general pattern is the traditionally Catholic Emsland, where the Social Democrats are generally not competitive, whereas the Protestant region of East Frisia directly to the north is one of their strongest constituencies. Further south, the SPD also enjoys solid support in northern Hesse (Hans Eichel was mayor of Kassel, then Hesse's minister president, then finance minister in the Schröder administration, Brigitte Zypries serves as Justice Minister), parts of Palatinate (Kurt Beck was party leader until September 7, 2008), the Saarland (political home of one-time candidate for federal chancellor Oskar Lafontaine, who later defected), and southwestern Baden (Marion Caspers-Merk, Gernot Erler).
History
After beginnings in the 1860s, a milestone was the union of two previous organisations in 1875, under the name Sozialdemokratische Arbeiterpartei. From 1888 to 1890 the party was prohibited, but it still gained support in elections. In 1891 it got its modern name, SPD. In the years until World War I, the party remained ideologically radical, although many party officials tend to be moderate in everyday politics. The party became in 1912 the strongest by votes.
The war and the communist revolution in Russia caused members of the left wing to form alternative parties, most prominently first the USPD (Independent SPD) and later the KPD (communists). On the other hand, since 1918 SPD played an important role in the political system of the Weimar Republic, although it took part in coalition governments only in a couple of years (1918-1921, 1923, 1928-1930). Adolf Hitler prohibited the party in 1933, some party officials were imprisoned, killed or went into exile. In exile, it used the name SOPADE.
In 1945, the occupants allowed four parties, the christian democrats, the liberals, the communists and the social democrats. In the Soviet Zone of Occupation the social democrats were forced to form a common party with the communists (SED). In the western zones and (since 1949) the Federal Republic of Germany, SPD became one of two major parties. From 1969 to 1982 and 1998 to 2005 the chancellors were social democrats.
See also
Further reading
- Carl E. Schorske, German Social Democracy, 1905–1917: The Development of the Great Schism (Harvard University Press, 1955).
- Vernon L. Lidtke, The Outlawed Party: Social Democracy in Germany, 1878–1890 (Princeton University Press, 1966).
- Abraham J. Berlau The German Social Democratic Party, 1914–1921 (Columbia University Press, 1949).
- Erich Matthias, The Downfall of the Old Social Democratic Party in 1933 pages 51–105 from Republic to Reich The Making of the Nazi Revolution Ten Essays edited by Hajo Holborn, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1972).
External links
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- from Lassale to Kautsky, by Fractal-Vortex
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