Saxon People's Party
The Saxon People's Party was a left-liberal and radical democratic party with socialist approaches in the North German Confederation , which existed from 1866 to 1869 before it was absorbed into the Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) founded in 1869 .
The Saxon People's Party was founded in Chemnitz on August 19, 1866, with the decisive contribution of Wilhelm Liebknecht , Otto Freytag and August Bebel . It represented a political alliance between anti-Prussian bourgeois- liberal forces and members of the socialist workers' education associations in Saxony . It is regarded as a, albeit relatively small and short-lived, forerunner party of the later SPD .
In the preamble to the Chemnitz program of the Saxon People's Party, it committed itself to "[...] to fight the enemies of German freedom and unity under all circumstances and in all areas [...]" . She demanded "[...] the unrestricted right of self-determination of the German people [...]" , the promotion of "[...] general prosperity [...]" and "[...] the liberation of work and workers from all pressure and all shackles [...] ] " .
History of the party / historical context
Immediately after Prussia's victory against Austria in the German war and the founding of the North German Confederation on August 18, 1866, this party represented an alliance of convenience between radical democrats, Marxists and commoners , which united the common goal of curbing Prussian supremacy in the new confederation of states. She shared this goal with the southern German liberals who had rallied in the German People's Party , a split from the German Progressive Party . The difference between the southern German and the Saxon “liberals”, however, was the socialist component, which in the Saxon People's Party, with the claim to represent the interests of the workers' movement, had a significantly greater weight.
In contrast to Prussia and the local social democratic rival party, the General German Workers' Association (ADAV), the Saxon People's Party favored a “greater German solution ” that was more federally oriented . H. a German unification of the empire with the inclusion of Austria with more rights for the individual countries, while in Prussia a “ small German solution ” (excluding Austria) was preferred in order to guarantee Prussia's political dominance in a German nation-state.
Prussia's victory over Austria and the founding of the North German Confederation, of the since the Congress of Vienna existing 1815 German Bund replaced and the German principalities north Main line tied closely to Prussia, was a first step of the conservative Prussian Prime Minister and north German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck to enforce the small German solution and thus to secure the monarchical principle under the sovereignty of the Prussian Hohenzollern . Bismarck was basically always reserved about unification of the empire, but he was realistic enough to recognize that he could not suppress liberal and nation-state ideas in the long term.
For the Saxon People's Party, Bismarck's policy stood for anti-democratic reaction , militarism and a police state . In the elections to the North German Reichstag , the Saxon People's Party won three seats in 1867 . In addition to the more liberal Reinhold Schraps also attracted Wilhelm Liebknecht and August Bebel that the socialist - Marxist stood wing of the party, as deputies in the new Reichstag in Berlin , where they together with the left-liberal German People's Party against the Prussian government policies were opposed . From the beginning, however, the party was too weak, its wings too inconsistent and the political facts too clear to be able to achieve its goals with regard to the national question. In contrast, the social question and the political representation of interests of the working class gained all the more weight in the party. The bourgeois wing crumbled.
Post-story: Development to the SPD
After three years of existence, the Saxon People's Party was finally dissolved and replaced by a new party in which its left Marxist wing was absorbed: The Social Democratic Workers' Party (SDAP) was founded on 7/8. Founded August 1869 under the leadership of Bebel and Liebknecht in Eisenach as a national party. Both retained their seats in the Reichstag , now for this new socialist party .
After the establishment of the German Empire as an empire as a result of the Prussian-North German victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War in 1871, the rivalry between SDAP and ADAV was also superfluous. Both parties united in Gotha in 1875 to form the Socialist Workers' Party of Germany (SAP). After the repeal of the repressive socialist laws in force from 1878 to 1890 and renaming in 1890, the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) emerged from it, which has operated under this name since then, despite many program changes.
See also
literature
- Karsten Rudolph : The Saxon People's Party 1866–1869. A “flickering will-o'-the-wisp” in German history? In: James N. Retallack (Ed.): Saxony in Germany. Politics, culture and society 1830–1918 (= studies on regional history. Vol. 14). Publishing house for regional history, Bielefeld 2000, ISBN 3-89534-322-6 , pp. 83-96.