Social democratic action

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The Social Democratic Action (SDA) , later Socialist Action , had been an intra-party opposition in the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) controlled by the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) since 1948 . The work of the SDA initially began in the Berlin regional association of the SPD , which was permitted throughout the city due to the occupation statute until the wall was built. The SDA was active in both the east and west of the city. In East Berlin it temporarily provided members of the magistrate, mayors and other officials and was even represented by members of the People's Chamber until 1954 . Since 1950 the organization tried to gain a foothold in the Federal Republic of Germany , but remained a splinter group. Membership in it was declared incompatible with employment in the public service by the federal government in 1950 . In 1956 it was banned in the Federal Republic as part of the KPD ban . After the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, it also dissolved in the GDR .

prehistory

Despite the forced unification of the SPD and KPD to form the SED in the Soviet occupation zone (SBZ) in 1946, the SPD was able to operate legally in East Berlin until 1961 due to occupation law. It had been officially admitted as a party alongside the SED and the other bloc parties since 1946 and was active in all East Berlin districts . It remained part of the entire Berlin state party . The work of the SPD in the eastern part of the city was increasingly hindered. Until the Wall was built in 1961, the SPD in East Berlin still had 5,000 members.

One reason for the emergence of a social democratic opposition group was the People's Congress movement initiated by the SED in 1947/1948 . The SED set great store by the participation of social democrats who rejected Kurt Schumacher's democratic and anti-communist course . The regional association of the Berlin SPD saw participation in this movement as a reason for expulsion from the party . Since the board knew that some Social Democrats only took part under pressure, each case was examined individually. But there were actually exclusions.

In addition to obstructing the SPD's work in the Eastern sectors, the Soviet Military Administration (SMAD) suggested the formation of an opposition SPD in 1948. Wilhelm Pieck then introduced these suggestions to the SED party executive committee. The aim was to gather and organize opposition Social Democrats. On the part of the SED, Karl Schirdewan led the preparation of the founding of the organization. He later steered them.

Development in East Berlin

At first, attempts were made to build an organization in East Berlin under the traditional name of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). In November 1948, an action committee of the USPD was founded with the aim of organizing the excluded Social Democrats. This was not limited to East Berlin, but also included West Berlin . A representative from the American sector was also involved in the committee. The use of the name USPD has been banned by the SMAD. Instead, it was suggested to found a regional association of the SPD in the Soviet sector. Not all members of the Action Committee agreed, and a split developed.

Some followed this suggestion and appeared as opposition Social Democrats. Its members in the entire Berlin city council supported the removal of the elected magistrate on November 30, 1948 and elected a new one headed by Friedrich Ebert junior as Lord Mayor. As a result, Erich Geske became Deputy Mayor, Arnold Munter City Councilor for Construction and Housing and Hans Bullerjahn City Councilor for Banks and Insurance. A social democratic faction was formed in the democratic bloc . This defined itself as an "emergency community of all social democrats who, through their willingness to cooperate with the provisional magistrate, demonstrated their active opposition to the irrational policy of splitting the current SPD regional association". In 1950, a regional councilor Greater Berlin of the Social Democratic Action (SDA) was founded. He then tried to advertise his course in the Berlin SPD.

Despite its own statute and membership, the SDA stuck to its claim that it was only an oppositional wing of the SPD. The group was supported by the SED. It was therefore able to maintain district offices in the East Berlin districts. For a long time she also published a weekly newspaper with the Free Press, organ of the opposition Social Democrats in Greater Berlin .

When the district representatives were reorganized in East Berlin in autumn 1948, 15 representatives of the opposition SPD had won seats. Of these, too, some had only joined the group after pressure. The group was represented in the East Berlin city council, in the magistrate and even in the People's Chamber in the early 1950s. In the first electoral term it had six MPs. There she formed the SPD parliamentary group of Berlin MPs in the Democratic Bloc. Through its statements as opposition Social Democrats, the group gave the impression that it was part of the East Berlin SPD.

With the construction of the Wall in 1961, the SDA in East Berlin ceased its activities.

SDA in the west

The organization was also active in the West. It played a role in the Germany-political strategy of a united front with the non-communist workers in West Germany. The SDA was assigned a key role in this. It was supposed to collect and organize dissatisfied Social Democrats with the party leadership. These should then work with the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The unit of action that finally came about should be under communist leadership.

In West Germany, left-wing social democrats who were close to the KPD and the SED began building the SDA. With the newspaper of the same name, they had their own publication organ there. Members of the organization should be trained in the GDR, and conversely, instructors should travel to the West. Some of the members still belonged to the SPD or had already been excluded. At that time there was indeed dissatisfaction with the party leadership in parts of the SPD, but very few critics were willing to take communist positions. The fact that there were massive campaigns against “ social democracy ” in its own party in the SED also played a role . Incidentally, the attempt to instrumentalize the SDA directly for certain SED campaigns was of little help. By concentrating activities on West Berlin in 1951, it was admitted that the organization had not been very successful in West Germany.

In 1950 the executive committee of the SPD turned to the Federal Ministry of the Interior with the information that the SDA was a communist front organization that had nothing to do with the SPD. Some time later the federal government issued an order in which members of the public service were forbidden from membership in the SDA, among other things. In 1953, the SPD enforced before the Frankfurt am Main regional court that the organization was not allowed to use the term “social democratic” because of the risk of confusion. Thereupon it renamed itself "Socialist Action".

In the West, after sobering experiences during a visit to the GDR in 1951, there were efforts within the top management of the SDA to steer the organization in a completely different direction. The previous organization should be smashed and transformed in an anti-communist sense. The American secret service provided financial and other assistance. The opposition ousted the head of the August Kuper group from the central secretariat and took over the leadership. In a press conference, the renaming to "Community of Democratic Socialists" was announced. Kuper and others soon re-established the SDA in the old anti-communist sense.

Together with the KPD, socialist action was banned in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1956.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Introduction. In: Documents on Germany policy January 1 to December 31, 1950 . Munich 1997, p. XXXVIII
  2. Michael Lemke: Unity or Socialism? The German policy of the SED 1949–1961 . Cologne 2001, p. 152 f.
  3. 97th cabinet meeting on September 19, 1950 5. Political activity by members of the public service against the democratic state order, BMI
  4. US Politics: Hello, Marianne! In: Der Spiegel . No. 25 , 1953 ( online ).
  5. ^ Sylvia Conradt: The KPD ban . dradio.de