109-541: The Erfurt Program was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during the SPD Congress at Erfurt in 1891. Drafted by theorists Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein , the program set out a Marxist view and superseded the party's Gotha Program of 1875. The Erfurt Program identified private ownership of the means of production as the source of social ailments, and advocated a political struggle with
218-821: A Free Democratic Party was founded in May 1946. In the first post-war state elections in 1946, liberal parties performed well in Württemberg-Baden (16.8%), Bremen (18.3%), Hamburg (18.2%) and Greater Berlin (still undivided; 9.3%). The LDP was especially strong in the October 1946 state elections of the Soviet zone—the last free parliamentary election in East Germany—obtaining an average of 24.6% (highest in Saxony-Anhalt, 29.9%, and Thuringia, 28.5%), thwarting an absolute majority of
327-410: A big tent party of the centre-left. The SPD led the federal government from 1969 to 1982 (under Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt ), 1998 to 2005 (under Gerhard Schröder ) and again since 2021. It served as a junior partner to a CDU/CSU-led government from 1966 to 1969, 2005 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2021. During Scholz's chancellorship, the party has set out principles of a new German defence policy in
436-589: A 1952 Soviet suggestion for Germans to form a neutral state was ignored by the CDU/CSU–FDP government. After 17 years in opposition, the SPD became the junior partner in a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU which lasted from 1966 to 1969. After the 1969 federal election , the SPD's Willy Brandt became chancellor in a coalition with the liberal Free Democratic Party. His government sought to normalise relations with East Germany and
545-473: A CDU-FDP centre-right governing coalition in the Bundestag with a 53% majority of seats. On election night, party leader Westerwelle said his party would work to ensure that civil liberties were respected and that Germany got an "equitable tax system and better education opportunities". The party also made gains in the two state elections held at the same time, acquiring sufficient seats for a CDU-FDP coalition in
654-553: A European-oriented liberals, although it came from the national liberal camp, but with Willi Weyer and Hans-Dietrich Genscher led the new centre of the party. This center strove to make the FDP coalition support both major parties. Here, the Liberals approached to by their reorientation in East Germany and politics especially of the SPD. On 21 October 1969 began the period after the election of
763-682: A Social-Liberal coalition with the SPD and the German Chancellor Willy Brandt . Walter Scheel was he who initiated the foreign policy reversal. Despite a very small majority he and Willy Brandt sat by the controversial New Ostpolitik. This policy was within the FDP quite controversial, especially since after the entry into the Federal Government defeats in state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony and Saarland on 14 June 1970 followed. In Hanover and Saarbrücken,
872-486: A coalition between the FDP and CDU/CSU was impossible primarily because of the weak results of the FDP. The CDU/CSU parties had achieved the third-worst performance in German postwar history with only 35.2 percent of the votes. Therefore, the FDP was unable to form a coalition with its preferred partners, the CDU/CSU parties. As a result, the party was considered as a potential member of two other political coalitions , following
981-577: A key role in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 . On 9 November 1918, leading SPD member Friedrich Ebert was designated chancellor and fellow Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann , on his own authority, proclaimed Germany a republic . The government introduced a large number of reforms in the following months, introducing various civil liberties and labor rights . The SPD government, committed to parliamentary liberal democracy , used military force against more radical communist groups, leading to
1090-744: A liberal coalition party was founded in the state of Bremen under the name of Bremen Democratic People's Party. In January 1946, liberal state parties of the British occupation zone merged into the Free Democratic Party of the British Zone (FDP). A similar state party in Hesse , called the Liberal Democratic Party, was licensed by the U.S. military government in January 1946. In the state of Bavaria,
1199-405: A life without exploitation, suppression and violence, hence in social and human security", the realization of which is emphasized as a "permanent task". Social democracy serves as the "principle of our actions". The party platform of the SPD espouses the goal of democratic socialism, which it envisions as a societal arrangement in which freedom and social justice are paramount. According to
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#17328445943631308-668: A pan-German party of liberals from all four occupation zones. Its leaders were Theodor Heuss (representing the DVP of Württemberg-Baden in the American zone) and Wilhelm Külz (representing the LDP of the Soviet zone). However, the project failed in January 1948 as a result of disputes over Külz's pro-Soviet direction. The Free Democratic Party was established on 11–12 December 1948 in Heppenheim , in Hesse , as an association of all 13 liberal state parties in
1417-655: A permanent split between the SPD and the USPD , as well as the Spartacist League which would go on to form the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and integrate a majority of USPD members as well. The SPD was the largest party during the first 13 years of the new Weimar Republic . It decisively won the 1919 federal election with 37.9 per cent of votes, and Ebert became the first president in February. The position of chancellor
1526-527: A time JuLis and the Young Democrats operated side by side, until the JuLis became the sole official youth wing of the FDP in 1983. The Young Democrats split from the FDP and were left as a party-independent youth organization. At the time of reunification, the FDP's objective was a special economic zone in the former East Germany, but could not prevail against the CDU/CSU, as this would prevent any loss of votes in
1635-490: A week later, the FDP not only crossed the electoral threshold, but also increased its share of the votes to 2 percentage points higher than in the previous state election. This was attributed to the local leadership of Christian Lindner . The FDP last won a directly elected seat in 1990, in Halle —the only time it has won a directly elected seat since 1957. The party's inability to win directly elected seats came back to haunt it at
1744-645: Is a liberal political party in Germany. The FDP was founded in 1948 by members of former liberal political parties which existed in Germany before World War II, namely the German Democratic Party and the German People's Party . For most of the second half of the 20th century, particularly from 1961 to 1982, the FDP held the balance of power in the Bundestag . It has been a junior coalition partner to both
1853-453: Is a social democratic political party in Germany . It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together with Lars Klingbeil , who joined her in December 2021. After Olaf Scholz was elected chancellor in 2021, the SPD became the leading party of the federal government , which the SPD formed with
1962-582: Is aligned to the centre or centre-right of the political spectrum. The FDP is a member of the Liberal International , the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and Renew Europe . The history of liberal parties in Germany dates back to 1861, when the German Progress Party (DFP) was founded, being the first political party in the modern sense in Germany. From the establishment of
2071-459: Is believed that this was partly due to tactical voting by CDU and Christian Social Union of Bavaria (CSU) alliance supporters who hoped for stronger market-oriented economic reforms than the CDU/CSU alliance called for. However, because the CDU did worse than predicted, the FDP and the CDU/CSU alliance were unable to form a coalition government. At other times, for example after the 2002 federal election,
2180-472: The 1965 federal elections the FDP gained 9.5 percent. The coalition with the CDU in 1966 broke on the subject of tax increases and it was followed by a grand coalition between the CDU and the SPD. The opposition also pioneered a course change: the former foreign policy and the attitude to the eastern territories were discussed. The opposition leader for the FDP in the Bundestag was Knut von Kühlmann-Stumm . The new chairman elected delegates in 1968 Walter Scheel,
2289-430: The 2013 election , in which it came up just short of the 5% threshold. With no directly elected seats, the FDP was shut out of the Bundestag for the first time since 1949. After the previous chairman Philipp Rösler then resigned, Christian Lindner took over the leadership of the party. In the 2014 European parliament elections , the FDP received 3.4% of the national vote (986,253 votes in total) and returned 3 MEPs . In
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#17328445943632398-514: The 2014 Brandenburg state election the party experienced a 5.8% down-swing and lost all their representatives in the Brandenburg state parliament. In the 2014 Saxony state election , the party experienced a 5.2% down-swing, again losing all of its seats. In the 2014 Thuringian state election a similar phenomenon was repeated with the party falling below the 5% threshold following a 5.1% drop in popular vote. The party managed to enter parliament in
2507-593: The 2015 Bremen state election with the party receiving 6.5% of the vote and gaining 6 seats. However, it failed to get into government as a coalition between the Social Democrats and the Greens was created. In the 2016 Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state election the party failed to get into parliament despite increasing its vote share by 0.3%. The party did manage to get into parliament in Baden-Württemberg , gaining 3% of
2616-554: The British occupation authorities had arrested seven prominent members of the Naumann Circle, the FDP federal board installed a commission of inquiry, chaired by Thomas Dehler, which particularly sharply criticized the situation in the North Rhine-Westphalian FDP. In the following years, the right wing lost power, and the extreme right increasingly sought areas of activity outside the FDP. In the 1953 federal election ,
2725-473: The CDU/CSU (1949–1956, 1961–1966, 1982–1998 and 2009–2013) and Social Democratic Party (SPD) (1969–1982, 2021–present). In the 2013 federal election , the FDP failed to win any directly elected seats in the Bundestag and came up short of the 5 percent threshold to qualify for list representation, being left without representation in the Bundestag for the first time in its history. In the 2017 federal election ,
2834-667: The Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The SPD played a leading role in the German revolution of 1918–1919 and in the foundation of the Weimar Republic . The SPD politician Friedrich Ebert served as the first president of Germany from 1919 to 1925. After the rise of the Nazi Party to power, the SPD was the only party in the Reichstag which voted against the Enabling Act of 1933 ; the SPD
2943-586: The Eastern Bloc , a policy known as Ostpolitik . The party achieved its best ever result of 45.8 per cent in 1972 , one of only three occasions in which it formed the largest Bundestag faction. After Brandt's resignation in 1974, his successor Helmut Schmidt served as chancellor until 1982, when the SPD returned to opposition. During the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany, the East German SPD
3052-741: The Federal Republic of Germany . In his 1954 re-election , he received the best election result to date of a President with 871 of 1018 votes (85.6 percent) of the Federal Assembly . Adenauer was also elected on the proposal of the new German President with an extremely narrow majority as the first Chancellor. The FDP participated with the CDU/CSU and the DP in Adenauer's coalition cabinet; they had three ministers: Franz Blücher (Vice-Chancellor), Thomas Dehler (justice), and Eberhard Wildermuth (housing). On
3161-675: The GDR new liberal parties emerged, like the FDP East Germany or the German Forum Party. They formed the Liberal Democratic Party, who had previously acted as a bloc party on the side of the SED and with Manfred Gerlach also the last Council of State of the GDR presented, the Alliance of Free Democrats (BFD). Within the FDP came in the following years to considerable internal discussions about dealing with
3270-584: The National Liberal Party in 1867 until the demise of the Weimar Republic in 1933, the liberal-democratic camp was divided into a " national-liberal " and a "left-liberal" line of tradition. After 1918 the national-liberal strain was represented by the German People's Party (DVP), the left-liberal one by the German Democratic Party (DDP, which merged into the German State Party in 1930). Both parties played an important role in government during
3379-682: The Nazi government while others fled the country. The party-in-exile was called Sopade . After the end of World War II , the re-establishment of the SPD was permitted in the Western occupation zones in 1945. In the Soviet occupation zone , the SPD was forcibly merged with the KPD in 1946 to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The SED was the ruling party of East Germany until 1989. In West Germany ,
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3488-725: The Progressive Alliance and was joined by numerous other parties around the world. Previously, the SPD was a founding member of both the Second International and the Labour and Socialist International . The Social Democratic Party has its origins in the General German Workers' Association , founded in 1863, and the Social Democratic Workers' Party , founded in 1869. The two groups merged in 1875 to create
3597-569: The Reformed Protestant region of East Frisia directly to the north, with its strong traditional streak of anti-Catholicism , is one of their strongest constituencies. Further south, the SPD also enjoys solid support in northern Hesse , parts of Palatinate and the Saarland . The social democrats are weakest in the south-eastern states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia , where the party's percentage of votes dropped to single-digit figures in
3706-511: The Reichstag , except for the one of 1919 which was called the National Assembly and since 1949 the parliament is called Bundestag . Note that changes in borders (1871, 1919, 1920, 1949, 1957 and 1990) varied the number of eligible voters whereas electoral laws also changed the ballot system (only constituencies until 1912, only party lists until 1949 and a mixed system thereafter), the suffrage (women vote since 1919; minimum active voting age
3815-520: The Second International 's agreement to oppose militarism, the SPD supported the German war effort and adopted a policy, known as Burgfriedenspolitik , of refraining from calling strikes or criticising the government. Internal opposition to the policy grew throughout the war. Anti-war members were expelled in 1916 and 1917, leading to the formation of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). The SPD played
3924-586: The Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) that was favoured by the Soviet occupation power. This disappointment to the communists however led to a change of electoral laws in the Soviet zone, cutting the autonomy of non-socialist parties including the LDP and forcing it to join the SED-dominated National Front , making it a dependent " bloc party ". The Democratic Party of Germany (DPD) was established in Rothenburg ob der Tauber on 17 March 1947 as
4033-584: The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany [ de ] (German: Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands ). From 1878 to 1890, the Anti-Socialist Laws banned any group that aimed at spreading socialist principles, but the party still gained support in elections. In 1890, when the ban was lifted, the party adopted its current name. The SPD was the largest Marxist party in Europe and consistently
4142-459: The Spiegel affair , the FDP withdrew their ministers from the federal government. Although the coalition was renewed again under Adenauer in 1962, the FDP withdrew again on the condition in October 1963. This occurred even under the new Chancellor, Ludwig Erhard. This was for Erich Mende turn the occasion to go into the cabinet: he took the rather unimportant Federal Ministry for All-German Affairs. In
4251-469: The Weimar Republic . In the first elections to the Bundestag on 14 August 1949 , the FDP won a vote share of 11.9 percent (with 12 direct mandates, particularly in Baden-Württemberg and Hesse), and thus obtained 52 of 402 seats. It formed a common Bundestag group with the hard-right German Party (DP) . In September of the same year the FDP chairman Theodor Heuss was elected the first President of
4360-721: The Zeitenwende speech . The SPD holds pro-European stances and is a member of the Party of European Socialists and sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament . With 14 MEPs , it is the third largest party in the group. The SPD was a founding member of the Socialist International , but the party left in 2013 after criticising its acceptance of parties they consider to be violating human rights. The SPD subsequently founded
4469-508: The political centre . After World War II , the SPD was re-formed in West Germany after being banned by the Nazi regime ; in East Germany , it merged with the Communist Party of Germany to form the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany . Under the chairmanship of Kurt Schumacher , the SPD was a socialist party representing the interests of the working class and of trade unions. With
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4578-511: The " Heppenheim Assembly " was held at the Hotel Halber Mond on 10 October 1847, a meeting of moderate liberals who were preparing for what would be, within a few months, the German revolutions of 1848–1849 . The FDP was founded on 11 December 1948 through the merger of nine regional liberal parties formed in 1945 from the remnants of the pre-1933 German People's Party (DVP) and the German Democratic Party (DDP), which had been active in
4687-407: The 1950s, several of the FDP's regional organizations were to the right of the CDU/CSU, which initially had ideas of some sort of Christian socialism, and even former office-holders of the Third Reich were courted with nationalist values. The FDP voted in parliament at the end of 1950 against the CDU- and SPD-introduced de-nazification process. At their party conference in Munich in 1951 they demanded
4796-439: The 1959 Godesberg Program, the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social democratic party working within democratic capitalism . The SPD's Hamburg Programme, adopted in 2007, describes democratic socialism as "the vision of a free and fair society in solidarity", which requires "a structure in economy, state and society guaranteeing civil, political, social and economic basic rights for all people living
4905-502: The 1990s, the left and moderate wings of the party drifted apart, culminating in a secession of a significant number of party members which later joined the socialist party WASG , which later merged into The Left ( Die Linke ). Much of the SPD's current-day support comes from large cities, especially northern and western Germany and Berlin . As of 2019, 10 of the country's 15 biggest cities are led by SPD mayors. The metropolitan Ruhr Area , where coal mining and steel production were once
5014-453: The 2018 and 2019 elections. In 2021, it significantly increased its vote share in the states of the former east. The federal leader is supported by six Deputy Leaders and the party executive . As of 2021, the leaders are Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans . The previous leader was Andrea Nahles , who announced her pending resignation on 2 June 2019. As Germany is a federal republic , each of Germany's states have their own SPD party at
5123-439: The Ahlen Programme, which allowed a Third Way between capitalism and socialism . Ludwig Erhard , the "father" of the social market economy , had his followers in the early years of the Federal Republic in the CDU/CSU rather than in the FDP. The FDP won Hesse's 1950 state election with 31.8 percent, the best result in its history, through appealing to East Germans displaced by the war by including them on their ticket. Up to
5232-422: The CDU/CSU after the 2013 federal election . This arrangement was renewed after the 2017 federal election . SPD narrowly won against the CDU/CSU in the September 2021 federal election , becoming the biggest party in the federal parliament (Bundestag). Social Democrat Olaf Scholz became the new chancellor in December 2021, and formed a coalition government with the Green Party and the Free Democrats. The SPD
5341-422: The FDP achieved 12.8 percent nationwide, the best result until then, and the FDP entered a coalition with the CDU again. Although it was committed before the election to continuing to sit in any case in a government together with Adenauer, Chancellor Adenauer was again, however, to withdraw under the proviso, after two years. These events led to the FDP being nicknamed the Umfallerpartei ("pushover party"). In
5450-496: The FDP received 9.5 percent of the party votes, 10.8 percent of the primary vote (with 14 direct mandates, particularly in Hamburg , Lower Saxony, Hesse, Württemberg and Bavaria ) and 48 of 487 seats. In the second term of the Bundestag, the South German Liberal Democrats gained influence in the party. Thomas Dehler, a representative of a more social-liberal course took over as party and parliamentary leader. The former Minister of Justice Dehler, who in 1933 suffered persecution by
5559-431: The FDP regained its representation in the Bundestag, receiving 10.6% of the vote. After the 2021 federal election the FDP became part of governing Scholz cabinet in coalition with the Social Democratic Party and the Greens . Since the 1980s, the party, consistently with its ordoliberal tradition, has pushed economic liberalism and has aligned itself closely to the promotion of free markets and privatization , and
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#17328445943635668-466: The FDP's nearly three decade reign in government. In its 2002 campaign the FDP made an exception to its party policy of siding with the CDU/CSU when it adopted equidistance to the CDU and SPD. From 1998 until 2009 the FDP remained in the opposition until it became part of a new centre-right coalition government. In the 2005 general election the party won 9.8 percent of the vote and 61 federal deputies, an unpredicted improvement from prior opinion polls. It
5777-434: The FDP's position as the largest opposition party in the Bundestag. In the 2009 European election , the FDP received 11% of the national vote (2,888,084 votes in total) and returned 12 MEPs . In the September 2009 federal elections , the FDP increased its share of the vote by 4.8 percentage points to 14.6%, an all-time record. This percentage was enough to offset a decline in the CDU/CSU's vote compared to 2005, to create
5886-413: The Freiburg Thesis, which were as Rowohlt Paperback sold more than 100,000 times, on a theoretical basis, the FDP is committed to " social liberalism " and social reforms . Walter Scheel was first foreign minister and vice chancellor, 1974, he was then second-liberal President and paving the way for inner-party the previous interior minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher free. From 1969 to 1974 the FDP supported
5995-501: The Greens and the Free Democratic Party , after the 2021 federal election . The SPD is a member of 11 of the 16 German state governments and is a leading partner in seven of them. The SPD was founded in 1875 from a merger of smaller socialist parties, and grew rapidly after the lifting of Germany's repressive Anti-Socialist Laws in 1890 to become the largest socialist party in Western Europe until 1933. In 1891, it adopted its Marxist -influenced Erfurt Program , though in practice it
6104-438: The Nazi Sturmabteilung . The Nazis overtook the SPD as the largest party in July 1932 and Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933. Of the parties present in the Reichstag during the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 , the SPD was the only one to vote against; most of the communist deputies had been arrested ahead of the vote. The SPD was banned in June. Many members were subsequently imprisoned and killed by
6213-407: The Nazis, was known for his rhetorical focus. Generally the various regional associations were independent. After the FDP had left in early 1956, the coalition with the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia and made with SPD and centre a new state government, were a total of 16 members of parliament, including the four federal ministers from the FDP and founded the short-lived Free People's Party, which then up
6322-404: The SPD Chancellor Willy Brandt, who was succeeded by Helmut Schmidt . Already by the end of the 70s there did not seem to be enough similarities between the FDP and the SPD to form a new coalition, but the CDU/CSU chancellor candidate of Franz Josef Strauss in 1980 pushed the parties to run together again. The FDP's policies, however, began to drift apart from the SPD's, especially when it came to
6431-427: The SPD became one of two major parties, alongside the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) . In the inaugural 1949 federal election , it placed second with 29.2 per cent of votes and led the opposition to the CDU government. In its 1959 Godesberg Program , the party dropped its commitment to Marxism and sought to appeal to middle class voters, becoming a big tent party of the centre-left. Although strongly leftist ,
6540-400: The SPD initially opposed both the social market economy and Konrad Adenauer 's drive towards Western integration fiercely; after Schumacher's death, however, it accepted the social market economy and Germany's position in the Western alliance in order to appeal to a broader range of voters. It still remains associated with the economic causes of unionised employees and working class voters. In
6649-437: The SPD was willing to compromise. Only through its support did the governing CDU/CSU pass a denazification law that its coalition partner the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the far-right German Party voted against. At the same time, the SPD opposed the pro-West integration of West Germany because they believed that made a re-unification of Germany impossible. Austria could have become a sovereign neutral state in 1956, but
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#17328445943636758-419: The Union won an absolute majority. The FDP also called for a nuclear-free zone in Central Europe. Even before the election Dehler was assigned as party chairman. At the federal party in Berlin at the end January 1957 relieved him Reinhold Maier. Dehler's role as Group Chairman took over after the election of the national set very Erich Mende. Mende was also chairman of the party. In the 1961 federal election ,
6867-482: The Weimar Republic era, but successively lost votes during the rise of the Nazi Party beginning in the late-1920s. After the Nazi seizure of power , both liberal parties agreed to the Enabling Act of 1933 and subsequently dissolved themselves. During the 12 years of Hitler's rule, some former liberals collaborated with the Nazis (e.g. economy minister Hjalmar Schacht ), while others resisted actively against Nazism, with some Liberal leaning members and former members of
6976-448: The classical social democrats continue to defend classical left-wing policies and the welfare state. The Keynesian left-wing of the SPD claims that in recent years the welfare state has been curtailed through reform programs such as the Agenda 2010, Hartz IV , and the more economic liberal stance of the SPD which were endorsed by centrist social democrats. In reaction to Agenda 2010, an inner-party dissident movement developed, leading to
7085-420: The core documents of 'orthodox' Marxist theory before the October Revolution of 1917 caused a major split in the international socialist movement. Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( German : Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands , [zoˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkʁaːtɪʃə paʁˌtaɪ ˈdɔʏtʃlants] , SPD , German pronunciation: [ɛspeːˈdeː] )
7194-489: The debt crisis. Westerwelle stepped down as party leader following the 2011 state elections, in which the party was wiped out in Saxony-Anhalt and Rhineland-Palatinate and lost half its seats in Baden-Württemberg . Westerwelle was replaced in May 2011 by Philipp Rösler . The change in leadership failed to revive the FDP's fortunes, however, and in the next series of state elections, the party lost all its seats in Bremen , Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , and Berlin . In Berlin,
7303-462: The economy. Within the SPD, there was strong grassroots opposition to Chancellor Helmut Schmidt's policies on the NATO Double-Track Decision . However, within the FDP, the conflicts and contrasts were always greater. In the fall of 1982, the FDP reneged on its coalition agreement with the SPD and instead threw its support behind the CDU/CSU. On 1 October, the FDP and CDU/CSU were able to oust Schmidt and replace him with CDU party chairman Helmut Kohl as
7412-408: The election. One possibility was a partnership between the FDP, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) and the Alliance 90/The Greens , known as a " traffic light coalition ", named after the colors of the three parties. This coalition was ruled out, because the FDP considered the Social Democrats and the Greens insufficiently committed to market-oriented economic reform . The other possibility
7521-497: The end of 1950 in the Bundestag because the opposition SPD supported the motion along with the governing CDU/CSU; the governing FDP voted along with the hard-right DP and the openly neo-Nazi German Reich Party (DRP) against the law against Nazis. The 1953 Naumann Circle , named after Werner Naumann , consisted of a group of former Nazis who tried to infiltrate the party, which had many right-wing and nationalist members in Hesse , North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony . After
7630-474: The end of 2010, the party's support had dropped to as low as 5%. The FDP retained their seats in the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia , which was held six months after the federal election, but out of the seven state elections that have been held since 2009, the FDP have lost all their seats in five of them due to failing to cross the 5% threshold. Support for the party further eroded amid infighting and an internal rebellion over euro-area bailouts during
7739-429: The five new federal states in the general election in 1990. In all federal election campaigns since the 1980s, the party sided with the CDU and CSU, the main conservative parties in Germany. Following German reunification in 1990, the FDP merged with the Association of Free Democrats , a grouping of liberals from East Germany and the Liberal Democratic Party of Germany . During the political upheavals of 1989/1990 in
7848-571: The former bloc party. Even before the reunification of Germany united on a joint congress in Hanover, the West German FDP united with the other parties to form the first all-German party. Both party factions brought the FDP a great, albeit short-lived, increase in membership. In the first all-German Bundestag elections, the CDU/CSU/FDP centre-right coalition was confirmed, the FDP received 11.0 percent of
7957-643: The foundation of the new party Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative ( Arbeit & soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative , WASG) in 2005, which later merged into The Left ( Die Linke ) in 2007. The Parlamentarische Linke comprises left-wing SPD Members of the German Bundestag . Prior to World War II, as the main non-revolutionary left-wing party, the Social Democrats fared best among non- Catholic workers as well as intellectuals favouring social progressive causes and increased economic equality. Led by Kurt Schumacher after World War II,
8066-415: The goal of achieving a social revolution and an equal society without class divisions. Before this could be achieved, the program advocated reforms including universal suffrage , freedoms of speech and association , gender equality , separation of church and state , free education and medicine , and a progressive income tax . It also demanded labor protections including an eight-hour working day and
8175-455: The immediate task for socialists was to work for the improvement of workers' lives rather than for the revolution , which was inevitable. The draft program was criticised by Friedrich Engels for its opportunist, non-Marxist views on the state in a criticism he sent to Kautsky on 29 June 1891. Kautsky wrote the official SPD commentary on the program in 1892, which was called The Class Struggle . The Marxism exemplified by The Class Struggle
8284-467: The main industries, have provided a significant base for the SPD in the 20th century. In the city of Bremen , the SPD has continuously governed since 1949. In southern Germany, the SPD typically garners less support except in the largest cities. At the 2009 federal election , the party lost its only constituency in the entire state of Bavaria (in Munich ). Small town and rural support comes especially from
8393-521: The military joining up with Henning von Tresckow (e.g. the Solf Circle ). Soon after World War II, the Soviet Union pushed for the creation of licensed " anti-fascist " parties in its occupation zone in East Germany. In July 1945, former DDP politicians Wilhelm Külz , Eugen Schiffer and Waldemar Koch called for the establishment of a pan-German liberal party. Their Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP)
8502-416: The most important economic, social and German national issues, the FDP agreed with their coalition partners, the CDU/CSU. However, the FDP offered to middle-class voters a secular party that refused the religious schools and accused the opposition parties of clericalization. The FDP said they were known also as a consistent representative of the market economy, while the CDU was then dominated nominally from
8611-441: The most popular party in German federal elections from 1890 onward, although it was surpassed by other parties in terms of seats won in the Reichstag due to the electoral system. In the years leading up to World War I , the SPD remained radical in principle, but moderate in reality. According to Roger Eatwell and Anthony Wright, the SPD became a party of reform, with social democracy representing "a party that strives after
8720-480: The new Chancellor. The coalition change resulted in severe internal conflicts, and the FDP then lost about 20 percent of its 86,500 members, as reflected in the general election in 1983 by a drop from 10.6 percent to 7.0 percent. The members went mostly to the SPD, the Greens and newly formed splinter parties, such as the left-liberal party Liberal Democrats (LD). The exiting members included the former FDP General Secretary and later EU Commissioner Günter Verheugen . At
8829-511: The northernmost state, Schleswig-Holstein , and gaining enough votes in left-leaning Brandenburg to clear the 5% hurdle to enter that state's parliament. However, after reaching its best ever election result in 2009, the FDP's support collapsed. The party's policy pledges were put on hold by Merkel as the Great Recession unfolded and with the onset of the European debt crisis in 2010. By
8938-566: The party convention in November 1982, the Schleswig-Holstein state chairman Uwe Ronneburger challenged Hans-Dietrich Genscher as party chairman. Ronneburger received 186 of the votes—about 40 percent—and was just narrowly defeated by Genscher. in 1980, FDP members who did not agree with the politics of the FDP youth organization Young Democrats founded the Young Liberals (JuLis). For
9047-585: The party left the parliament. After the federal party congress in Bonn, just a week later supported the policy of the party leadership and Scheel had confirmed in office, founded by Siegfried party rights Zoglmann 11 July 1970 a "non-partisan" organization called the National-Liberal action on the Hohensyburgstraße—to fall with the goal of ending the social-liberal course of the party and Scheel. However, this
9156-470: The party lost nearly 75% of the support they had had in the previous election. In March 2012, the FDP lost all their state-level representation in the 2012 Saarland state election . However, this was offset by the Schleswig-Holstein state elections, when they achieved 8% of the vote, which was a severe loss of seats but still over the 5% threshold. In the snap elections in North Rhine-Westphalia
9265-597: The party platform, political freedom , justice and social solidarity form the basis of social democracy. The SPD is mostly composed of members belonging to either of the two main wings, namely the Keynesian social democrats and Third Way moderate social democrats belonging to the Seeheimer Kreis . While the more moderate Seeheimer Kreis generally support the Agenda 2010 programs introduced by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder ,
9374-541: The prohibition of child labor . The Erfurt Program was SPD's official program until 1921, when it was replaced by the Görlitz Program [ de ] . The program declared the imminent death of capitalism and the necessity of socialist ownership of the means of production . The Party intended to pursue these goals through legal political participation rather than by revolutionary activity. Kautsky argued that because capitalism, by its very nature, must collapse,
9483-618: The release of all "so-called war criminals " and welcomed the establishment of the "Association of German soldiers" of former Wehrmacht and SS members to advance the integration of the Nazi forces in democracy. The FDP members were seen as part of the " extremist " block along with the German Party in West Germany by the US intelligence officials. Similarly, a de-Nazification Act could only be passed at
9592-459: The socialist transformation of society by the means of democratic and economic reforms". They emphasise this development as central to understanding 20th-century social democracy, of which the SPD was a major influence. In the 1912 federal election , the SPD won 34.8 per cent of votes and became the largest party in the Reichstag with 110 seats, although it was still excluded from government. Despite
9701-399: The state level. From August until October 2010, senior Bundestag member Joachim Poß served as interim Bundestag leader in the absence of Frank-Walter Steinmeier , who was recovering from donating a kidney to his wife. The SPD, at times called SAPD, took part in general elections determining the composition of parliament. For elections up until 1933, the parliament was called
9810-483: The three Western zones of occupation. The proposed name, Liberal Democratic Party, was rejected by the delegates, who voted 64 to 25 in favour of the name Free Democratic Party (FDP). The party's first chairman was Theodor Heuss, a member of the Democratic People's Party in Württemberg-Baden; his deputy was Franz Blücher of the FDP in the British Zone. The place for the party's foundation was chosen deliberately:
9919-408: The traditionally Protestant areas of northern Germany and Brandenburg (with previous exceptions such as Western Pomerania where CDU leader Angela Merkel held her constituency, which the SPD gained in 2021) and a number of university towns. A striking example of the general pattern is the traditionally Catholic Emsland , where the Social Democrats generally gain a low percentage of votes, whereas
10028-531: The valid votes (79 seats) and won in Genschers city of birth Halle (Saale) the first direct mandate since 1957. During the 1990s, the FDP won between 6.2 and 11 percent of the vote in Bundestag elections. It last participated in the federal government by representing the junior partner in the government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the CDU. In 1998, the CDU/CSU-FDP coalition lost the federal election, which ended
10137-411: The vote and 7 seats. It also managed to enter government under a traffic light coalition . In 2016 Saxony-Anhalt state election the party narrowly missed the 5% threshold, receiving 4.9% of the vote and therefore receiving zero seats despite a 1% swing in their favour. The 2017 North Rhine-Westphalia state election was widely considered a test of the party's future as their chairman Christian Lindner
10246-416: The vote and a total of 12 seats. This represents a five-seat improvement over their previous results. In the 2016 Berlin state election the party gained 4.9% of the vote and 12 seats but still failed to get into government. A red-red-green coalition was instead formed relegating the FDP to the opposition. In the 2016 Rhineland-Palatinate state election , the party managed to enter parliament receiving 6.2% of
10355-478: Was 25 till 1918, 20 till 1946, 21 till 1972 and 18 since), the number of seats (fixed or flexible) and the length of the legislative period (three or four years). The list begins after the SPD was formed in 1875, when labour parties unified to form the SPD (then SAPD, current name since 1890). Free Democratic Party (Germany) The Free Democratic Party (German: Freie Demokratische Partei , FDP , German pronunciation: [ɛfdeːˈpeː] )
10464-411: Was a CDU-FDP-Green coalition, known as a " Jamaica coalition " because of the colours of the three parties. This coalition wasn't concluded either, since the Greens ruled out participation in any coalition with the CDU/CSU. Instead, the CDU formed a Grand coalition with the SPD, and the FDP entered the opposition . FDP leader Guido Westerwelle became the unofficial leader of the opposition by virtue of
10573-408: Was also leading the party in that state. The party experienced a 4% swing in its favour gaining 6 seats and entering into a coalition with the CDU with a bare majority. In the 2017 Saarland state election the party again failed to gain any seats despite a 1% swing in their favour. The party gained 3 seats and increased its vote share by 3.2% in the 2017 Schleswig-Holstein state election . This success
10682-529: Was established as a Marxist party in 1875. It underwent a major shift in policies, reflected in 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 the party's voter base and to move its political position toward
10791-457: Was held by Social Democrats until the 1920 federal election , when the SPD lost a substantial portion of its support, falling to 22 per cent of votes. After this, the SPD yielded the chancellery to other parties, although it remained part of the government until 1924. Ebert died in 1925 and was succeeded by conservative Paul von Hindenburg . After making gains in the 1928 federal election , the SPD's Hermann Müller became chancellor. As Germany
10900-428: Was involved to the end of the legislature instead of FDP in the Federal Government. The FDP first took it to the opposition. Only one of the smaller post-war parties, the FDP survived despite many problems. In 1957 federal elections they still reached 7.7 percent of the vote to 1990 and their last direct mandate with which they had held 41 of 497 seats in the Bundestag. However, they still remained in opposition because
11009-463: Was moderate and focused on building working-class organizations. In the 1912 federal election , the SPD won 34.8 percent of votes and became the largest party in the Reichstag , but was still excluded from government. After the start of the First World War in 1914, the party split between a pro-war mainstream and the anti-war Independent Social Democratic Party , some members of which later formed
11118-492: Was not done. Zoglmann supported in October 1970 a disapproval resolution of opposition to Treasury Secretary Alexander Möller, Erich Mende, Heinz Starke, and did the same. A little later all three declared their withdrawal from the FDP; Mende and Strong joined the CDU, Zoglmann later founded the German Union (Deutsche Union) , which remained a splinter party. The foreign policy and the socio-political changes were made in 1971 by
11227-418: Was often credited to their state chairman Wolfgang Kubicki . They also managed to re-enter the government under a Jamaica coalition . In the 2017 federal election the party scored 10.7% of votes and re-entered the Bundestag, winning 80 seats. After the election, a Jamaica coalition was considered between the CDU, Greens, and FDP. However, FDP chief Christian Lindner walked out of the coalition talks due to
11336-508: Was often referred to by later critics as " vulgar Marxism " or "the Marxism of the Second International ." The popular renderings of Marxism found in the works of Kautsky and Bebel were read and distributed more widely in Europe between the late 19th century and 1914 than Marx's own works. The Class Struggle was translated into 16 languages before 1914 and became the accepted popular summation of Marxist theory. This document came to represent one of
11445-499: Was refounded. It merged with the West German party in 1990, shortly before German reunification . The SPD returned to government under Gerhard Schröder after the 1998 federal election in a coalition with The Greens . This government was re-elected in 2002 but defeated in 2005 . The SPD then became junior partner of a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU until 2009 . After a term in opposition, they again served as junior partner to
11554-527: Was revived in some states of the Western occupation zones (in the Southwestern states of Württemberg-Baden and Württemberg-Hohenzollern under the name of Democratic People's Party ). Many former members of DDP and DVP however agreed to finally overcome the traditional split of German liberalism into a national-liberal and a left-liberal branch, aiming for the creation of a united liberal party. In October 1945
11663-554: Was soon licensed by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany , under the condition that the new party joined the pro-Soviet " Democratic Bloc ". In September 1945, citizens in Hamburg —including the anti-Nazi resistance circle "Association Free Hamburg"—established the Party of Free Democrats (PFD) as a bourgeois left-wing party and the first liberal Party in the Western occupation zones. The German Democratic Party
11772-477: Was struck hard by the Great Depression , and unable to negotiate an effective response to the crisis, Müller resigned in 1930. The SPD was sidelined as the Nazi Party gained popularity and conservatives dominated the government, assisted by Hindenburg's frequent use of emergency powers . The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold , the SPD's paramilitary wing, was frequently involved in violent confrontations with
11881-522: Was subsequently banned, and operated in exile as the Sopade . After the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, the SPD was re-established. In East Germany , it merged with the KPD under duress to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany . In West Germany , the SPD became one of two major parties alongside the CDU/CSU . In its Godesberg Program of 1959, the SPD dropped its commitment to Marxism, becoming
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