Democratic bloc

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Meeting of the Central Democratic Block of Parties and Mass Organizations, October 18, 1989

The Democratic Block of Parties and Mass Organizations (also block of democratic parties and mass organizations ; DB) was an association of political parties and organizations in the GDR .

history

In parallel to the EAC workforce, in the spring of 1944 the CPSU commissioned the KPD in exile in the Soviet Union to develop its own concept for Germany policy. A first concept was presented by Wilhelm Florin on March 6, 1944 at a working meeting of the KPD in exile . The concept developed according to Soviet guidelines saw the future KPD as the ruling party of Germany.

After the unconditional surrender of the Wehrmacht on May 8, 1945 and the Berlin declaration by the commanders-in-chief of the four victorious powers on June 5, 1945, any political activity was initially prohibited in all occupation zones. After consultation with Anton Ackermann , Gustav Sobottka and Walter Ulbricht on June 4, 1945 in Moscow, Order No. 2 of the SMAD of June 10, 1945 allowed the formation and activity of anti-fascist parties in the Soviet Occupation Zone (SBZ). With its appeal of June 11, 1945, the KPD in Berlin was the first to go public and campaigned for cooperation:

“The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany believes that the above program of action can serve as a basis for the creation of a bloc of anti-fascist democratic parties (the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, the Center Party and others). We are of the opinion that such a bloc can form the solid basis in the struggle for the complete liquidation of the remnants of the Hitler regime and for the establishment of a democratic regime. "

On June 15, 1945, the SPD responded with its own appeal and also offered to cooperate with all democratic forces. On June 26, 1945, the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) was founded and on July 10, the LDP was licensed by the SMAD, on condition that it join the "bloc". On July 14, 1945, the four parties approved by the SMAD came together for a joint meeting in order to form the bloc of anti-fascist democratic parties .

The DB belonged to:

They each had five representatives and resolutions were generally passed unanimously. On July 27, 1945, rules of procedure were adopted.

In addition to the block at zone level, corresponding blocks were set up at state level. In Brandenburg , the anti-fascist-democratic unit bloc Brandenburg , consisting of three members from each of the four parties, was constituted on November 28, 1945. In Thuringia, the anti-fascist-democratic bloc of Thuringia was formed on August 17, 1945. In Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt it was founded on August 29, 1945.

The first confrontation in the central democratic bloc arose in August 1945 when a joint position was formulated on the Potsdam Conference and, in particular, on a future demarcation along the Oder-Neisse line . The differences of opinion between the KPD and the bourgeois parties over economic policy (arbitrary expropriations of companies on the basis of order No. 124/126 of the SMAD) and with regard to the resistance to land reform led to a serious crisis in the autumn of 1945. In November, the first chairman of the LDP, Waldemar Koch , had to resign under pressure from SMAD. His successor was Wilhelm Külz . In December 1945, the SMAD forced the chairmen of the CDU, Andreas Hermes and Walther Schreiber, to resign. In the sessions of the block on November 22nd and 27th, 1945, both refused to sign the KPD's appeal for "Help the new farmers". This development clearly showed the intention of the SMAD in the hasty admission of parties in the Soviet Zone / Greater Berlin in the spring of 1945:

"In just five weeks, between June 10th and July 14th 1945, a four-party system was established in the Soviet Zone with the backing of the occupying power, which only outwardly showed party pluralism."

Political persecution of dissenters began in the Soviet Zone as early as 1945. Around five thousand Social Democrats and several thousand members of the CDU and LDP were arrested between 1945 and 1956 and sentenced to sometimes drastic sentences by Soviet military tribunals and later by special courts in the GDR. (see also Waldheimer processes )

In view of the election results in occupied Austria on November 25, 1945, the KPD increased its efforts in autumn 1945 to bring about a union with the SPD as quickly as possible. At the sixties conference (30 representatives each from KPD and SPD) on 20./21. In December 1945 the union was decided in Berlin. A strike vote did not take place in the SBZ. In April 1946, the forced unification of the KPD and SPD to form the SED was carried out. Otto Grotewohl and Wilhelm Pieck became chairmen . In the block, the SED took over the seats from the KPD and SPD. The application of the FDGB union, which is dominated by communist cadres, to join the bloc was vehemently rejected by the CDU and LDP.

The years 1946 and 1947 were not without tension in the DB. In addition, it became increasingly clear that the Allies could not agree on the future of Germany either. In December 1947, the chairmen of the CDU Ernst Lemmer and Jakob Kaiser were deposed on the instructions of the SMAD. Both joined the CDU in exile . Some CDU and LDP functionaries also had to vacate their desks at district and state level. Some were able to flee in time, others were pressured or arrested.

Between November 1947 and August 1948, the work of the central block virtually came to a standstill due to differences of opinion. After the death of Wilhelm Külz in April 1948, a reorientation began in the LDP. This tried to break away from the SED policy and threatened to leave the DB in July 1948. The SMAD responded to this attempt with a threat to dissolve the party and a wave of arrests. This prevented further resistance. In order to undermine the resistance of the CDU and LDP, the SED introduced a new instrument in the form of the People's Congress movement in 1947/1948 . At two meetings in 1947 and 1948, the German People's Congress decided to accept new bloc parties ( NDPD and DBD ) and mass organizations ( Kulturbund , FDGB, DFD , FDJ ), which were largely communist-dominated, into the anti-fascist bloc. In addition, it was decided to expand the scope of duties to include the implementation of an economic two-year plan and provisions for the “further development of democracy”. On June 17, 1949, the DB was renamed the Democratic Block of Parties and Mass Organizations .

On February 1, 1950, Central DB discussed issues relating to the division of Germany and the establishment of two German states. Although numerous representatives of the bourgeois parties had left the Soviet Occupation Zone or the newly founded GDR out of displeasure, the remaining executives around Nuschke (CDU), Götting (CDU), Dieckmann (LDP) and Loch (LDP) decided to continue the previous cooperation in the DB under the leadership of the SED and the retention of the unanimity principle when reaching resolutions.

On March 30, 1950, the DB spoke out in favor of holding elections on the basis of a program of the now-established National Front of Democratic Germany . On May 16, 1950, a common election program and unit lists were agreed. The approval of the uniform lists in the Volkskammer and Landtag elections in October 1950 basically means that the bloc parties are brought into line 'from above'. Any rejection of the unit list election was immediately severely punished by the courts.

The Stalin Notes of March 1952 once again aroused hope for change among the bloc parties. At the central meeting of the Democratic Bloc in May 1952, the political insignificance of the Bloc (in the meantime decisions were made solely by the Politburo of the SED ) and the discrimination against LDP and CDU members in the GDR were openly criticized. The resolutions of the 2nd party conference of the SED in July 1952 on the "building of socialism" effectively mean the end of their independence for the bloc parties. In addition, at the turn of the year 1952/53, two representatives of the central bloc were arrested and later convicted.

The End

On December 5, 1989, the LDPD and CDU left the Democratic Bloc. The NDPD followed on December 7th.

Principles

After the DB emerged as the core of the National Front for the Democratic Renewal of Germany , later the National Front of the German Democratic Republic , it considered its main task to be the development of a new type of socialist democracy :

“In the DB, basic political questions of the development of the GDR and problems of international development, fundamental draft laws and other state documents are discussed and measures for their implementation are determined. [...] With the work of the DB, the principle is also realized to give every citizen, regardless of his social origin, his religious or ideological creed, the widest possible range of active participation in the shaping of the developed socialist society. "

In addition to the central DB, there were corresponding bodies in all districts and districts of the GDR. Their deliberations took place alternately with all parties and organizations represented in DB. The chairmanship of the deliberations also changed regularly.

criticism

Since the Soviet Zone was founded and the GDR was founded, criticism has been loud: less about the goals than about the methods used to achieve them. Thus the representatives of the SED obtained political preponderance in the preparation and adoption of resolutions by bypassing the equal, equal representation of all DB participants by placing their representatives in the mass organizations. The SED representatives achieved a similar leveraging of the democratic instruments in most of the parliamentary bodies of the GDR, from the highest level ( People's Chamber ) to the lowest level ( community representation ). As a result, the resolutions desired by the SED usually came about on a regular basis. Well-meaning constructive critics of the real socialist system also saw such misuse of organizational structures as a perversion of the SED's political claim to exercise the leading role in society. These critics included a. Robert Havemann , Wolfgang Harich and Rudolf Bahro .

Derived terms

  • Block parties : the GDR parties operating within the framework of the DB
  • Block politics : Political processes and behaviors in the GDR aimed at adhering to the rules of the game laid down by the DB
  • "Recorders": an ironic foreign name, especially from the camp of the GDR opposition groups and the parties opposing the Union parties SDP and Greens to identify the other parties acting in tow of the leading SED

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jörg Morré: Behind the Scenes of the National Committee: The Institute 99 in Moscow and the German policy of the USSR 1943–1946 . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-486-64582-X , p. 84 .
  2. ^ "The situation and tasks in Germany up to the fall of Hitler", presented on March 6, 1944 at the working session of the KPD in exile; Peter Erler, Horst Laude, Manfred Wilke, Peter Erler: "After Hitler we come": documents on the program of the Moscow KPD leadership 1944/45 for post-war Germany , Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1994, ISBN 3-05-002554-9 , p. 153.
  3. ↑ “From the beginning the KPD appeared with an axiomatic claim to leadership. It justified it with the fact that it was the only party in the Weimar Republic to have warned of the rise of National Socialism and to have made the greatest blood sacrifices during the Hitler dictatorship. Furthermore, she claimed to have the only correct, scientifically founded program for the solution of the national and social life questions of the German people and to be allied with the Soviet Union as the `` most progressive power in the world '', from which she established the legality and victoriousness of the Socialism deduced. The party history rewritten in this way became compulsory reading in party training after June 1945. ” Gerhard Keiderling: Sham pluralism and bloc parties. The KPD and the founding of the parties in Berlin 1945. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte. 2nd issue, April 1997, p. 263; Manfred Wilke: Communism in Germany and framework conditions for political trade after 1945. In: Manfred Wilke: Anatomy of the party headquarters: The KPD / SED on the way to power. Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-05-003220-0 , p. 29.
  4. ^ Order No. 2 of the Supreme Chief of the Soviet Military Administration
  5. ^ Wording of Command No. 2 of the SMAD
  6. ^ Appeal by the Communist Party, Berlin, June 11, 1945, quoted from Wolfgang Treue: Deutsche Parteiprogramme seit 1861. Berlin / Frankfurt am Main / Göttingen 1968, pp. 168–174.
  7. ↑ “We are ready and determined to work together with all like-minded people and parties. We therefore warmly welcome the appeal by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Germany on June 11, 1945, which correctly assumes [...], [...] that the decisive interests of the German people in the current situation are the establishment of an anti-fascist democratic Regimes and a parliamentary-democratic republic with all democratic rights and freedoms for the people. ” Appeal of the Social Democratic Party, Berlin, June 15, 1945, quoted from Wolfgang Treue: German party programs since 1861. Berlin / Frankfurt am Main / Göttingen 1968, Pp. 174-177.
  8. ↑ “The four parties approved by the Soviet occupation power hold their first joint meeting. The representatives of the four parties decide to recognize their mutual independence and to form a unified front of the anti-fascist democratic parties in order to jointly solve the great tasks facing us. " Franz Osterroth, Dieter Schuster: Chronicle of German Social Democracy. Berlin et al. Electronic ed., Bonn, FES Library, 2001, cut-off date: July 14, 1945.
  9. ↑ SBZ manual. 1983, p. 88 ff.
  10. ↑ SBZ manual. 1983, p. 176 ff. And p. 618.
  11. ↑ SBZ manual. 1983, p. 618.
  12. ^ Siegfried Suckut: Parties in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945–1952. Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-89331-384-2 , pp. 22-23.
  13. ^ Friederike Sattler: Alliance policy as a political-organizational problem of the central party apparatus of the KPD 1945/46. In: Manfred Wilke (ed.): Anatomy of the party headquarters: the KPD / SED on the way to power. Akademie Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-05-003220-0 , p. 163f.
  14. ^ Gerhard Keiderling: Sham pluralism and block parties, The KPD and the founding of the parties in Berlin 1945. In: Quarterly books for contemporary history. 2nd issue, April 1997, p. 294.
  15. ^ Karl Wilhelm Fricke: Resistance and political persecution in the GDR. In: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung eV (Hrsg.): For freedom and democracy, 40 years of resistance in the Soviet zone / GDR. ISBN 3-931575-99-3 , pp. 8/10.
  16. ^ The Social Democrats won 76 seats, the Communists four. See election to the National Council in Austria in 1945
  17. ↑ Mike Schmeitzner: The Communist Party does not want to be an opposition party, it wants to be a state party. The KPD / SED in the SBZ / GDR system (1944-50). In: Sovietization or Neutrality? Options of Soviet occupation policy in Germany and Austria 1945–1955. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2006, ISBN 3-525-36906-9 , pp. 304ff.
  18. ^ Siegfried Suckut: Parties in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945–1952. Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-89331-384-2 , p. 64.
  19. ↑ Wolfgang Buschfort: The east offices of the parties in the 50s. In: Jan Foitzik: The Soviet terror apparatus in Germany. (= Series of publications by the Berlin State Commissioner for the records of the State Security Service of the former GDR). Berlin 2006, p. 36.
  20. ↑ The election of the unified list was confirmed on August 9, 1950 by an 'electoral law'.
  21. ↑ See also the sentence of 25 years of forced labor by Günter Stempel , General Secretary of the LDP.
  22. ^ Siegfried Suckut: Parties in the Soviet Zone / GDR 1945–1952. Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 2000, ISBN 3-89331-384-2 , p. 103.
  23. ^ Karl Hamann (chairman of the LDP) and Georg Dertinger (GDR foreign minister, CDU)
  24. ^ Author collective (ed.): Small political dictionary . Berlin 1983.