Social Democratic Press Service

The Social Democratic Press Service was the news agency of the Social Democratic Party of Germany from 1924 to 1933 and from 1946 to 1995 . He provided information and opinions on a daily basis by means of various journalistic forms of representation, mainly to party-affiliated media . At peak times, this included over 200 party newspapers or 30 printing houses and 26 publishers. The editions of the press service represent a standard instrument of political communication and, over a period of several decades, the only authentic mouthpiece of the SPD party executive .

history

The social democratic movement in Germany used before foundation of the SPD (1863) newspapers and magazines as important instruments of opinion . The best-known were the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (1848), the Urwähler-Zeitung (1849), the Social-Demokratie (1865), the Volksstaat (1869), the Demokratie Wochenblatt (1869). Until the Gotha Unification Congress (1875), the socialists had 23 political organs . Of these, eleven have already been published as genuine local newspapers , mainly in central and southern Germany.

Vorwärts appeared for the first time on October 1, 1876 . Two years later the Social Democratic press had 42 organs. Although aimed at in the Gothaer program, there was no central supervision of the party's newspapers. Friedrich Engels wrote to August Bebel on November 19, 1892 :

“You absolutely have to have a press in the party that is not directly dependent on the executive committee and even the party congress, that is, that is able to openly oppose individual party steps within the program and the adopted tactics and within the limits of the party status also subject the program and tactics to criticism. As a party executive, you should encourage such a press, yes, evoke it, then you still have more moral influence over it than if it were created half against your will. "

In principle, central supervision of the party press was not even possible, since the Prussian association legislation was not applied in other member states of the German Reich or until 1908 did not allow a connection at the national level. The politically left press was banned in October 1878 with the law against the publicly dangerous endeavors of the Social Democrats . The repeal of the so-called Socialist Law did not take place until January 25, 1890. Directly afterwards, the SPD laid the foundation stone for today's press empire . Looking back, the former SPD treasurer Inge Wettig-Danielmeier remarked :

“The SPD was unable to gain a foothold immediately. The innkeepers did not provide her with any meeting rooms, the printers did not print the leaflets, the newspapers did not publish what the SPD would have liked to have distributed. And you couldn't even buy books that you needed everywhere. "

By the beginning of the 20th century at the latest, the social democratic press was tightly organized. That is, the local newspapers were never independent. In order to bring the editorial offices on a uniform line, newspapers were only founded after 1875 with the consent of the party executive committee . In addition, the management bodies prevented the local newspapers from becoming too independent by exerting pressure through loans and financial grants. From the very beginning, political press work in many places was not possible at all without financial support.

At the 18th Reich Party Congress of the SPD (1907) the delegates finally decided to found a “central office for the press”, which was supposed to take over “the daily delivery of important political news to the provincial press”. This Social Democratic press office began its work on July 15, 1908 in Berlin. Particular emphasis was placed on the "transmission of important parliamentary motions and draft laws" to all social democratic newspapers, the "rejection and correction of attacks or slander against the party or party comrades" as well as reporting on the work of the party and parliamentary groups.

By the eve of the First World War , the SPD was able to increase the number of its newspapers to 94, with a total circulation of around 1.5 million copies. In the course of the truce policy , the SPD press stopped public confrontation with the government and practiced self-censorship . As a result, the party lost a total of 64% of its members by March 1916 and the SPD newspapers 46% of their subscribers . This marked the beginning of the division of the labor movement into revolutionary and reformist socialists, communists and social democrats (SPD, SAG , MSPD , USPD , KPD etc.).

Weimar Republic

With the proclamation of the republic in Germany , the SPD took the lead in the new state. From then on she no longer represented the voice of the opposition, but was the pillar of the government. Accordingly, the social democratic newspapers developed into an influential factor of opinion and power. By the year 1923 the number of SPD party leaves rose to 187 and by 1929 to 203. Already in mid-December 1918, had executive council of the workers 'and soldiers' councils to enforce a clear opinion journalism his various press offices to a combined press service, under the direction of Felix Stroessinger and Paul Scholze .

The SPD separated itself from this intelligence service in 1921 and established the Social Democratic Parliamentary Service as a new "mouthpiece" . The editorship was taken over by the Reichstag deputies Adolf Braun and Wilhelm Sollmann . In reaction to the collapse of the Weimar Republic, which was averted at the end of 1923, the SPD reconstituted its comment service and launched the Social Democratic Press Service at the beginning of November 1924 . Erich Alfringhaus became the new editor-in-chief. Previously, the reporting for the social democratic press focused on class struggle , but now the government's own policy with all state issues was the focus of the news.

With the Social Democratic Press Service , an efficient apparatus was created that delivered reports and analyzes to the party-affiliated daily newspapers on up to 20 printed sheets every working day. From 1925 onwards, the press service included a separate supplement, “German Reichstag”, which summarized the speeches by members of parliament . Eugen Prager wrote these “Reichstag mood pictures” .

At that time, too, the social democratic newspapers were anything but platforms for a variety of opinions within the party. A third of the 200 or so daily newspapers at the time were headers , that is, local and regional editions with identical content but under different names. The other two thirds were also subject to strict uniformity, because the party official Social Democratic press service was the most important and only source of information for almost all provincial newspapers . Walther Victor , then editor of the SPD local papers Hamburger Echo and Sächsisches Volksblatt , noted in retrospect:

“When you went into the editorial office in the morning, there was a thick express letter from Berlin that contained a complete daily newspaper in correspondence form. The fear that anyone outside in the country might have their own opinion led to the grotesque phenomenon that hundreds of Social Democratic papers contained not only the same editorials , but also the same entertainment items, even the same book reviews. The party's opinion factory functioned excellently, just as it did in the communist press. [...] "

Victor belonged to the left wing , which accused the party leadership of democratic deficits. In October 1931, these considerable differences over the control of opinion within the party led to a further split in the SPD and the founding of the SAPD . The change of former SPD voters to the NSDAP was even more alarming . In the state elections in Saxony in May 1929 alone , around 60,000 former Social Democratic regular voters gave their vote for the NSDAP. The events at the so-called Blutmai were a major cause of the SPD's loss of votes . The unrest was triggered by the communist and social democratic press, which mutually boosted the mood and thus caused severe damage to the workers' movement across the empire.

According to an analysis by the SPD member of the Reichstag, Ludwig Quessels, the election result in Saxony should have been a "warning sign of insight and reversal" for the party leadership and the editors of the Social Democratic press service . Ultimately, in the Reichstag election of July 31, 1932, every fourth worker voted for the NSDAP. After the National Socialists came to power , the press service appeared briefly under the title Deutscher Informationsdienst before it was discontinued on April 21, 1933.

Federal Republic

With the end of the Second World War, a new chapter in SPD media history began. One of the most important tasks of the party leadership was initially to negotiate with the occupying powers about reparation and restitution of the property expropriated by the National Socialists. This was successful: the party received a total of 20 million marks back. After the return of assets, the SPD started with 140 companies in the publishing and printing industries. At the beginning of 1947 the party again owned 17 newspapers with a circulation of 2.5 million copies.

The initiative to re-establish the central social democratic press service came from the SPD politician and journalist Fritz Singer , who as editor-in-chief of the Braunschweiger Neue Presse published by the British military government , later the Braunschweiger Zeitung , had access to news and paper. In the first issue of May 7, 1946, published in Braunschweig under a locker number , the press work for the first SPD post-war party conference, which took place on May 8, 1946, was started without further introduction.

At that time, the focus of the reports on their own party politics was the demand for nationalization in order to solve economic problems in all areas. The contributions of the press service revealed that the party propaganda was not working in West Germany and that the socialization ideas of the SPD against the “capitalist forces supported by the American occupation forces did not come into play”.

At the end of September 1946, the editorial office moved its headquarters directly to the building of the party executive in Hanover and changed its tactics. In terms of content, the press service has been expanded with the new series “Volks-Wirtschaft” and “ Feuilleton ”. In addition, the press service passed on the express wish of the party executive that from now on "above all the entertainment section in all social democratic newspapers should be of a high standard". The yearbook of the SPD from 1947 officially designated the Social Democratic Press Service for the first time as an “essential mouthpiece of the party executive”.

At the beginning of 1947 the SPD treasurer at the time, Alfred Nau, founded the Social Democratic Press Service GmbH based in Bonn on behalf of the party leadership , which he integrated into the concentration GmbH created in 1946 . The conversion into a GmbH should achieve economic independence. In the long run, however, the Social Democratic Press Service could not finance itself through subscribers, especially since the majority of customers were always party-owned or affiliated media. Until its end, the press service could only be kept alive by means of organized acceptance tests and direct subsidies from the party and federal parliamentary group.

In the mid-1950s, the SPD's media empire included 26 newspaper publishers and 30 printing companies with a total of 15,000 employees. There were also book and magazine publishers, bookstores and other companies. To this end, the party executive officially announced in 1956: "Every tenth newspaper that leaves the rotary press is a paper affiliated with the SPD." Separated from the Social Democratic Press Service, the SPD published additional commentary services with changing titles from 1958 to 1998:

• Press releases and information from the SPD (1958–1976)
• Social Democrats - service, press, radio, TV (1976–1986)
• Service of the SPD for press, radio, TV (1986–1989)
• SPD press service (1989–1998)

These products provided brief information for the press, radio and television. Programmatic documents as well as prepared interviews and statements by social democratic politicians were also published for print and audio media.

With the increasing amount of media information, the dividing line between information for the press and the public, general information material for internal party information, or special agitation aids for officials of the SPD was lost. The change and smooth transition between the press and information services raised the fundamental question of the extent to which there was still a traditional separation of information about one's own political work with communications for the press, internal information and information services for the public. A characteristic example of this was the Bonner Depesche published by the press service from 1961 onwards , a weekly state-political mirror that combined the latest news, comments and contributions from high-ranking social democratic politicians with illustrations, literal sources, personal news and, last but not least, working aids for the party base.

In 1971 the party merged its media companies and holdings into a corporation-like entity. The Deutsche Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft (DDVG) began its work as the hub of the SPD media empire . This holding company has been 100% owned by the SPD since it was founded and is now involved in numerous media types, such as daily newspapers, advertising papers, online, apps, digital signage , TV production and radio. The share capital of the Sozialdemokratischer Pressedienst GmbH in the amount of 100,000 DM has also been held by the DDVG since 1971.

After German reunification, the SPD fought for the return of numerous newspaper houses in Central Germany, including filet items such as the Leipziger Volkszeitung , Märkische Allgemeine , Dresdner Latest News and Ostsee-Zeitung . In addition, the DDVG founded several new publishers in the new federal states and acquired a large number of media holdings, which resulted in high financial losses for the entire SPD press within a short time.

Due to the poor economic conditions in eastern Germany and the widespread unemployment there, many people in the new federal states decided not to subscribe to a newspaper. In general, the circulation of subscription newspapers in the new federal states fell by around 30% between 1991 and 1995 and of paid newspapers by almost 60%. This time was marked by newspaper cessation and increasing mergers of editorial offices. As a result, the press service lost more and more subscribers and generated heavy losses over several years. In 1994 the SPD presidium decided to liquidate the Social Democratic Press Service GmbH .

The last edition of the Social Democratic Press Service appeared on January 31, 1995. According to the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung , the press service has been the only authentic mouthpiece of the Social Democratic Party of Germany for a period of several decades. As an important source it contains verifiable statements by the party, which reflect the official opinions of the SPD executive committee, the parliamentary group, the SPD working groups and commissions and their elected board members. The Bonn Forum appeared as a successor in May 1995 , but was discontinued when the company moved to Berlin. Since 1999 the party gives the parliamentary group as a press service at the federal level . INTERN. Information service of the SPD. out.

Known employees

Wilhelm Sollmann (1881–1951), editor and politician Friedrich Ebert junior (1894–1979), editor and politician Edmund Goldschagg (1886–1971), editor Jakob Altmaier (1889–1963), editor and politician Alfred Dang (1893–1956), editor Erich Gottgetreu (1903–1981), deputy editor-in-chief Eugen Prager (1876–1942), editor Adolph Rastén (1913–1993), editor Erich Arp (1909–1999), politician Friedrich Regitz (1925–1971), editor and politician Jakob Altmaier (1889–1963), editor and politician Peter Raunau (1902–1982), editor-in-chief

Alfred Kubel (1909–1999), politician Friedrich Stampfer (1874–1957), reporter and politician Wilhelm Korspeter (1897–1967), politician Herbert Kriedemann (1903–1977), politician Richard Borowski (1894–1956), politician Erich Klabunde (1907–1950), reporter and politician Martin Hirsch (1913–1992), lawyer and politician Günter Markscheffel (1908–1990), editor-in-chief and politician Kurt Hirsch (1913–1999), editor

See also

• Editorial network Germany

Web links

• Social Democratic Press Service (1928–1933 editions) Library of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation
• Database of the Social Democratic Press Service (1946–1995) Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung

literature

• Paul Kampffmeyer : The Social Democratic Press Service (SPD). Dietz, 1929.
• Kurt Koszyk : Between the Empire and the dictatorship. The social democratic press from 1914 to 1933. Quelle & Meyer, 1958.
• Andreas Feser: Wealth Power and Media Influence. Party-owned companies and equal opportunities for the parties. BoD, Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2003.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Nadja Fischer: The history of the social democratic party press in Germany and in the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt. (P. 71 f.) Historical commission of the SPD regional association Saxony-Anhalt, accessed on December 5, 2019.
2. ^ Nadja Fischer: The history of the social democratic party press in Germany and in the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt. (P. 71.) Historical commission of the SPD regional association Saxony-Anhalt, accessed on December 5, 2019.
3. ^ Nadja Fischer: The history of the social democratic party press in Germany and in the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt. (P. 71 f.) Historical commission of the SPD regional association Saxony-Anhalt, accessed on December 5, 2019.
4. ^ The corporate empire of the SPD Deutschlandfunk dated February 2, 2001, accessed on December 5, 2019.
5. ^ Nadja Fischer: The history of the social democratic party press in Germany and in the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt. (P. 71 f.) Historical commission of the SPD regional association Saxony-Anhalt, accessed on December 5, 2019.
6. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 381. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.
7. ^ The corporate empire of the SPD Deutschlandfunk dated February 2, 2001, accessed on December 5, 2019.
8. ^ Nadja Fischer: The history of the social democratic party press in Germany and in the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt. (P. 78.) Historical commission of the SPD regional association Saxony-Anhalt, accessed on December 5, 2019.
9. ^ Nadja Fischer: The history of the social democratic party press in Germany and in the area of ​​today's Saxony-Anhalt. (P. 78.) Historical commission of the SPD regional association Saxony-Anhalt, accessed on December 5, 2019.
10. ↑ Kurt Koszyk: Between Empire and Dictatorship. The social democratic press from 1914 to 1933. Quelle & Meyer, 1958, p. 116.
11. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 381. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.
12. ↑ Social Democratic Press Service 1928–1933 Library of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, accessed on December 6, 2019.
13. ^ Hans-Albert Walter: German Exile Literature 1933–1950. Volume 1. The prehistory of exile and its first phase. The mentality of the Weimar Germans. The politicization of the intellectuals. Springer-Verlag, 2016, p. 331.
14. ^ Hans-Albert Walter: German Exile Literature 1933–1950. Volume 1. The prehistory of exile and its first phase. The mentality of the Weimar Germans. The politicization of the intellectuals. Springer-Verlag, 2016, p. 331.
15. ↑ In Saxony, the triumph of the Nazi Party began the world of 12 May 2019 called on December 11 of 2019.
16. ^ Hans-Albert Walter: German Exile Literature 1933–1950. Volume 1. The prehistory of exile and its first phase. The mentality of the Weimar Germans. The politicization of the intellectuals. Springer-Verlag, 2016, p. 50 f.
17. ↑ In Saxony, the triumph of the Nazi Party began the world of 12 May 2019 called on December 11 of 2019.
18. ^ Rolf Schneider: European unification and the problem of Germany. P. Lang, 1999, p. 75 f.
19. ↑ The Path to the Dictatorship Der Spiegel of January 29, 2008, accessed on December 11, 2019.
20. ↑ Social Democratic Press Service 1928–1933 Library of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, accessed on December 6, 2019.
21. ^ The corporate empire of the SPD Deutschlandfunk dated February 2, 2001, accessed on December 7, 2019.
22. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 382 f. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.
23. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 382 f. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.
24. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 382 f. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.
25. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 382 f. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.
26. ^ The corporate empire of the SPD Deutschlandfunk dated February 2, 2001, accessed on December 8, 2019.
27. ^ Social-Democratic Press Service Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 8, 2019.
28. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 399 f. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.
29. ^ Andreas Feser: Wealth Power and Media Influence. Party-owned companies and equal opportunities for the parties. BoD, Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2003, p. 145.
30. ^ Andreas Feser: Wealth Power and Media Influence. Party-owned companies and equal opportunities for the parties. BoD, Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2003, p. 177 f.
31. ↑ Beate Schwartzkopff: The development of the regional and national daily press in Germany since 1989. Diploma thesis Fachhochschule Stuttgart, 2002, p. 33. Hochschule Medien Stuttgart, accessed on December 8, 2019.
32. ↑ Beate Schwartzkopff: The development of the regional and national daily press in Germany since 1989. Diploma thesis University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart, 2002, pp. 30-33, p. 37. Hochschule Medien Stuttgart, accessed on December 8, 2019.
33. ^ Andreas Feser: Wealth Power and Media Influence. Party-owned companies and equal opportunities for the parties. BoD, Würzburg, Univ., Diss., 2003, p. 145.
34. ↑ Lars Normann: Right in the mirror from the left. GRIN Verlag, 2008, p. 6, footnote 4.
35. ^ Social Democratic Press Service Library of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, accessed on December 8, 2019.
36. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 382 f. Library of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, accessed on December 8, 2019.
37. ^ Antje Sommer: From press service to press release. P. 383. Library of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, accessed on December 6, 2019.