State Planning Commission

The State Planning Commission ( SPK ) was a central state organ of the Council of Ministers of the GDR for the national planning and development of the national economy and for monitoring the implementation of planning tasks. In the central administrative economy of the GDR, she was responsible for the coordination, development and control of the medium-term perspective plans ( five-year plan ) and the annual national economic plans derived from them.

Organization and Powers

The State Planning Commission emerged in 1950 from the Ministry of Planning . The district planning commissions (BPK) were subordinate to the respective council of the district and the district planning commissions to the respective council of the district or city. The state- owned enterprises , agricultural production cooperatives (LPG) etc. a. each had to defend their plans before the planning commission responsible for them, these were either approved without or only with conditions. The companies had to regularly document the implementation of the planned services with a large number of plan indicators . The control of the fulfillment of the plan was carried out at all levels in parallel by the party organs of the SED , which were authorized to issue instructions to the state leaders.

The annual economic plan adopted by the People's Chamber had the force of law. Proven violations of the planned discipline could lead to sanctions (fines) for the company before the state contracting courts and for the responsible company directors to immediate dismissal and even criminal proceedings. Since almost all leaders were also members of the SED at the same time, party proceedings were often the result that could lead to exclusion from the party and the end of all further career prospects.

At the intergovernmental level, the SPK coordinated the plans of the GDR with the countries of the CMEA , this were intergovernmental agreements concluded within the framework of socialist economic integration.

In the “State Plan Science and Technology”, particularly important “State Plan Projects” (products or services) with macroeconomic significance were defined, centrally planned by the Ministry of Science and Technology . For this purpose, material and financial resources were allocated with high priority. This also applied to military projects for national defense (highest priority), for which the three ministries of the military organs ( defense , interior affairs , state security ) are responsible.

After the turning point and the peaceful revolution , the SPK was briefly replaced by the Economic Committee of the Council of Ministers in January 1990 ; its head was Karl Grünheid . The legal successor to the Economic Committee was the Ministry of Economics from April to October 1990 .

The SPK had its seat in the former building of the Prussian Landtag at Leipziger Strasse 5-7 in the East Berlin district of Mitte .

A department of the SPK created the central article catalog of the economy of the GDR .

Chairperson

In the ministerial rank, member of the Council of Ministers, member of the Central Committee of the SED and mostly also member or candidate of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the SED .