Neheim-Hüstener program

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The Neheim-Hüstener Program of March 1, 1946 was one of the first party programs of the CDU to be adopted in Neheim-Hüsten in the Sauerland . With him the detachment from " Christian socialism " was formulated.

Emergence

In view of the consequences of the Second World War , leading politicians of the newly founded CDU such as Karl Arnold , Walter Dirks or Jakob Kaiser spoke out in favor of interfering with the capitalist property system and, to a certain extent, for steering the economy. The Cologne guiding principles from the summer of 1945 already called for Christian socialism and the proponents thus also prevailed at the party's Reichstag in Godesberg in December 1945.

Konrad Adenauer, on the other hand, refused to intervene in the economy. Not least for tactical reasons, he called for a renunciation of socialism phrase : "The word socialism," as Adenauer in the summer of 1946, ". We win five men and twenty run away" Immediately after his election as chairman in the British zone , he began with the development of a party program.

Between February 26 and March 1, 1946, a meeting of the zone committee of the Christian Democratic Union for the British zone took place in the Karolinen Hospital in Neheim-Hüsten . There Adenauer was formally confirmed as chairman of the CDU in the British occupation zone .

He used the opportunity to have his draft program voted on there, bypassing the actually responsible Rhenish-Westphalian program commission.

content

The anti-materialist tendency to which the Christian worldview was opposed is striking. The preamble said: “ The CDU wants to build a new, different Germany. The epoch in which the materialistic worldview in Germany became the spiritual basis, dominated the state, economy and culture, is to be over. Even the National Socialism was rooted in this belief, he led her entstamme launch the general principles to the ultimate conclusion by. (...) The materialistic worldview must be replaced by the Christian worldview . (...) "

The concept of Christian socialism was no longer present in the program. In terms of economic policy, there was talk of a reorganization of the economy and society and a fair distribution of economic income to overcome the class struggle , at the same time the economic freedom of the person and the recognition of private property were emphasized. However, this would have to give way to a higher law, even based on ethical principles. This indicated a social bond of property . A concrete socialization of parts of the economy was described as impractical because the German economy is not free. In the case of later regulations, economic and political requirements, above all the common good, would be decisive.

In addition, the program demanded the maintenance of imperial unity and the creation of a democratic and federal state .

consequences

Adenauer later said that the event in Neheim-Hüsten had been a decisive change in the course of the party, since there the "forces that advocated excessive socialization" were overcome. In fact, that did not end the debate about Christian socialism, but the scope for it had now narrowed.

In 1947, the Ahlen program criticized the capitalist economy much more strongly than in the Neheim-Hüstener program . This was the climax of the discourse critical of capitalism in the CDU, but without using the term Christian socialism. In the following years, up to around 1949, the public service concepts , especially by Adenauer, were pushed back in favor of the idea of ​​a social market economy in the CDU.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kleßmann, p. 145.
  2. ↑ Detlev Hüwel: Karl Arnold. A political biography (= Düsseldorf writings on recent regional history and the history of North Rhine-Westphalia 1). Hammer, Wuppertal 1980, ISBN 3-87294-154-2 , p. 75.
  3. ↑ cit. after Kleßmann, p. 426.
  4. ↑ Kleßmann, p. 427.
  5. ↑ Kleßmann, p. 145.

literature

  • Christoph Kleßmann : The double founding of the state. German History 1945–1955 (= Federal Agency for Political Education. Series 298). 5th revised and expanded edition. Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 1991, ISBN 3-89331-104-1 .
  • Werner Saure: 40 years ago - Christian Democrats from the British zone of occupation gave their first program in Neheim-Hüsten. In: Sauerland. 1, 1986, ISSN  0177-8110 , pp. 10-12, digitized version (PDF; 2.46 kB) .

Web links

  • Minutes of the meeting of the Zone Committee of the Christian Democratic Union for the British Zone in Neheim-Hüsten from February 26 to March 1, 1946 (PDF, 11 MB)