Canal worker (SPD)

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An influential group of members of the SPD parliamentary group from 1957 to 1982 was referred to as sewer workers . Their attitude was considered to be rather conservative and union- oriented . In 1982 the "Canal Workers" united with the Seeheimer Kreis , after members of the " Fritz Erler Circle" such as Helmut Schmidt or Georg Leber had been guests at their meetings since the 1970s .

history

The canal workers emerged in the mid-1950s from a loose group of members of the Bundestag , who initially met regularly in a Bonn restaurant called Rheinlust (today this is the location of the House of History ), and later in the “Kessenicher Hof”. Under the leadership of the SPD -Abgeordneten Egon Franke (1913-1995) and Charles Herold (1921-1977) was a regular Stammtisch held, attended by some journalists.

In 1957, when the “Rheinlust” group protested against portions that were too small in the restaurant of the Bundestag building , the name “Canal Workers” was coined more firmly . The members ate their own sausages in the Bundestag canteen with great attention, from which they only borrowed the cutlery. When a journalist asked what this action meant, Karl Herold replied: “We are the canal workers' union .” With the self-deprecating name of canal workers, the members of the group wanted to suggest that they could say little within the SPD parliamentary group, but they did Difficult convincing work had to be done in the constituencies and in the lower party branches. The canteen protest was initially the first political action by the "Kanaler", which around 1968 consisted of around 90 members - mostly so-called " backbenchers ".

After the Schmidt era - it ended in 1982 - Hans Apel (1932–2011) took on the role of spokesman for the sewer workers in the parliamentary group. While the left in the SPD, led by Erhard Eppler , had been rejecting the NATO double decision since 1979 , it was supported by the right wing. In 1982 the head of the sewer workers, Egon Franke, campaigned in vain for the exclusion of the party left Jo Leinen , chairman of the Federal Association of Citizens' Initiatives for Environmental Protection and speaker at the Bonn peace demonstration on June 10, 1982 .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The freelance business journalist Hans-Henning Zencke wrote: On the evening of the same day on which he was named Federal Chancellor, Helmut Schmidt was with his Kanalern in the »Kessenicher Hof« in May 1974. He knew why.
  2. ↑ Manfred Schwarzmeier: Parliamentary Co-Control: Structures and Processes of Informal Influence in the German Bundestag. 2001, ISBN 978-3531135847 . P. 200 ( limited preview in Google Book search)
  3. ^ Walter Henkels: Local appointment in Bonn. Pabel-Moewig, Rastatt 1987, ISBN 3-8118-4859-3 , p. 147.
  4. ↑ a b The ship leaves the pilot . In: Der Spiegel . No. 46 , 1983 ( online ).
  5. ↑ SPD: Linen undesirable? In: Der Spiegel . No. 26 , 1982 ( online ).
  6. ↑ Seeheimer Kreis: The controversy over the NATO double resolution ( Memento from November 22, 2011 in the Internet Archive )