Labor Party (AP)

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The Workers 'Party (AP) (also known as the Workers' Party ) was the first left-wing socialist party in Germany after the Second World War . The small party existed from 1945 to 1954.

The central figure of the Workers' Party was Heinrich Galm , who founded the party in Offenbach in autumn 1945 . The aim of the foundation was to overcome the division of the working class in Hesse and then in all four zones of occupation . In 1946 local groups of the party were founded in other Hessian communities, many of the local party founders were former activists of the Socialist Workers' Party (SAP) and the Communist Party Opposition (KPO). Local groups were established in Württemberg-Baden in 1947, and in Bremen in 1948 . But the AP was unable to position itself noticeably alongside the major parties SPD and KPD . Attempts to unite with programmatically similar small parties failed. As early as 1948, the party ran into financial difficulties as a result of the currency reform , and there were also internal disputes about the future course. There were only modest electoral successes at the municipal level in Offenbach and in small communities in Württemberg-Baden.

From 1950 the party's activities were again limited to the Offenbach area. The last party members switched to the SPD together with Heinrich Galm in 1954.

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  • Bernd Klemm: The Workers' Party (Socialist Unity Party) Hesse 1945-1954. Creation conditions, history and program of a 3rd German workers' party after the Second World War . SOAK-Verlag, Hannover 1980, ISBN 3-88209-031-6 .
  • Siegfried Heimann : The Workers' Party. In parties handbook. The parties of the Federal Republic of Germany 1945–1980. VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden 1986 (electronic resource), ISBN 978-3-663-14349-9 , pp. 367-394, online preview .
  • Andreas Diers: Left Socialism. Origins, development, baselines. A short historical overview, ( online ), PDF.