Central Committee of the SPD

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Berlin, Behrenstrasse 36-39. The former head office of Dresdner Bank was the seat of the central committee of the SPD from 1945 to 1946 (photo 1926)

The central committee of the SPD was founded in June 1945 in Berlin , the classic seat of the executive committee of the Social Democratic Party of Germany . He was recognized by the Soviet occupying power as a provisional chairman of the SPD and from the beginning operated the unification of the SPD with the KPD under the motto "Unity of the working class", whereby he lost his claim to overall representation for Germany and remained limited to the Soviet occupation zone . It existed until the forced unification of the SPD and KPD in April 1946.

history

Establishment of the central committee

On June 11, 1945, fourteen Social Democrats met in Berlin to establish a provisional central committee of the SPD . It was agreed that the SPD would make an appeal to the German people. This happened under the impression of Order No. 2, issued on June 10th by the Soviet military administration in Germany , which allowed the formation of anti-fascist, democratic parties and trade unions in the Soviet occupation zone and the fact that the KPD was already on the following day with the recently in Moscow elaborated call of the Communist party of Germany had taken the public.

On June 15, the central committee of the SPD followed suit, published by Erich Gniffke , Otto Grotewohl , Gustav Dahrendorf , Karl Kleikamp and others. On some issues the central committee went beyond the goals propagated by the communists at the time. In contrast to the KPD, they called for “socialism in the economy and society” and the “organizational unity of the German working class”.

The first functionaries' meeting convened by the central committee of the SPD took place on June 17 at the Deutsches Hof on Luckauer Strasse in Berlin-Kreuzberg . The approximately 1,500 participants approved the call of June 15 and confirmed the composition of the central committee. Max Fechner , Erich Gniffke and Otto Grotewohl were elected chairmen with equal rights .

On July 7th, the first edition of the newspaper Das Volk appeared as an organ of the central committee of the SPD. By November 1945, the central committee had been expanded to include four members and nine chief secretaries.

Right to the leadership of the all-German SPD

Among the participants in the functionaries' meeting on June 17 were about 300 who did not come from Berlin or Brandenburg, but from other parts of Germany. From this, the central committee derived, among other things, its claim to speak for all German social democrats. In addition, it was invoked that the party executive of the SPD had constituted an illegal Reich leadership in 1933, which was supposed to guarantee the cohesion of the party in the illegality. With Max Fechner and Richard Weimann, two survivors from this group belonged to the central committee. This was also seen as legitimizing the central committee's claim to leadership. However, neither the central committee in the Soviet occupation zone nor Kurt Schumacher , who at the same time operated the re-establishment of the SPD in the western occupation zones from British-occupied Hanover , had a formal mandate or sound arguments to speak for all German social democrats .

From October 5th to 7th, 1945, a conference took place in Wennigsen near Hanover , at which Social Democrats from all parts of Germany and members of the London exile executive committee ( Fritz Heine , Erich Ollenhauer and Erwin Schoettle ) came together to promote the SPD for the To re-establish western zones. The representatives of the central committee Dahrendorf , Fechner and Grotewohl took part as guests.

Schumacher, who strictly refused to cooperate with the KPD, prevailed at the conference with his opinion that the competence of the central committee should be limited to the Soviet occupation zone, since no leadership body should speak for the whole of Germany until a decision is made by a Nazi party rally .

Way to the unity party

In Berlin on December 4th and 5th, the members of the Central Committee met with responsible functionaries of the party organizations from the countries of the Soviet zone of occupation. Until the election of ordinary governing bodies by a party congress, this body should decide all important matters affecting the entire party. Contact should be made with the leading social democrats in the western zones of occupation in order to get them to participate in this body. The central committee thus renounced its previous claim of nationwide leadership.

Thirty representatives each from the SPD and KPD deliberated on issues of working class unity in Berlin on December 21 and 22. This meeting, known as the First Sixties Conference , adopted a resolution calling for the development of unity of action between the two parties.
On February 10, 1946, the central committee decided to merge organizationally with the KPD. At the same time, a party conference was called for April 19 and 20 in the Soviet occupation zone. The previous position that only a Nazi Party Congress could decide on a merger was abandoned.
The second sixties conference took place on February 26th. She discussed the "principles and goals of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany".
During the month of March, the leaders of the central committee tried to convince the SPD members of the need to merge the two parties at several district delegate meetings.

Rejection of the association

Social Democrats who were critical of the unification felt taken by surprise by the result of the previously unannounced first sixties conference . The Reinickendorfer district chairman Franz Neumann described the signatories of the resolution as "gravedigger of the Social Democratic Party". At the beginning of 1946 several district associations turned against an immediate unification with the KPD.

The majority of the social democratic functionaries approved a unity party in principle, but had great reservations about a quick amalgamation. On February 14, at the invitation of Tempelhof's district chair Curt Swolinzky, around twelve functionaries, including Gerhard Ausner and Franz Neumann, who rejected the central committee's unification course, met. They decided to put a motion of no confidence in the central committee at the next Berlin functionaries' conference on February 17th. However, this application failed. On February 23, the SPD district delegate conference in Reinickendorf passed a “call for all members of the Social Democratic Party to vote in the Soviet-occupied zone and in Berlin for the unity of the workers”. The approximately 2,500 participants in the SPD functionaries' conference voted on March 1st in the Admiralspalast with a clear majority for this call and thus for a ballot to be held .

The ballot only took place on March 31 in the three western sectors of Berlin. In the eastern part, the Soviet city command made the approval of the strike vote on March 30th dependent on the answering of several questions about the technical implementation of the strike vote. The party executive could not deliver the requested information within a day, so that the vote was effectively prevented.

About 71.5 percent of the eligible SPD members had taken part in the ballot in the western part, despite a boycott call by the central committee. When asked about the willingness to merge the two workers' parties immediately, 82.2 percent answered no . The second question was: “Are you in favor of an alliance of both parties that ensures joint work and excludes fratricidal struggle?” 61.7 percent answered yes .

On April 7, 500 union opponents founded Berlin-Zehlendorf an independent national organization by the Central Committee of the SPD in Berlin . Karl Germer Jr., Franz Neumann and Curt Swolinzky were elected chairmen with equal rights.

Unification convention

The unification party congress of the KPD and SPD decided on April 21 and 22 to merge the two parties to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany . The central committee of the SPD ended its activities. The SED committees were initially made up of equal numbers. Otto Grotewohl was elected chairman with equal rights alongside Wilhelm Pieck . But by 1948 the Social Democrats hardly played a role in the SED. Some former members of the central committee (Erich Gniffke, Hermann Harnisch , Annedore Leber , Erich Lübbe ) left the SED disappointed and rejoined the SPD in the West.

people

Board of the Central Committee

Central Committee members

Chief Secretaries of the Central Committee

literature

  • Martin Broszat , Gerhard Braas, Hermann Weber (eds.): SBZ manual. State administrations, parties, social organizations and their executives in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany 1945–1949. Oldenbourg, Munich 1993 (2nd edition), ISBN 3-486-55262-7 .
  • Matthias Loeding: Claim to leadership and urge to unity. The central committee of the SPD in 1945. Verlag Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 2002, ISBN 3-8300-0770-1 .
  • Manfred Wilke (ed.): Anatomy of the party headquarters. The KPD / SED on the way to power Academy Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-05-003220-0 .

Web links

Commons : Founding party convention of the SED  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung : Archive of Social Democracy: 65 years ago… June 15, 1945: Founding of the SPD Central Committee in the Soviet Occupation Zone, accessed on April 5, 2012.
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Leonhard : The revolution releases its children . Kiepenheuer and Witsch, Cologne 1992, ISBN 3-462-02188-5 , page 479.
  3. ^ German history in documents and pictures: Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD): Call for the reorganization of the organization (June 15, 1945) , accessed on April 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ SPD Berlin: Dora Lösche ( Memento of the original from October 24, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed April 5, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / archiv.spd-berlin.de
  5. ↑ SBZ manual p. 462.
  6. ↑ Norbert Podewin and Manfred Teresiak: "Brothers, now your hands in one ..." The pros and cons of the Unity Party in Berlin. Dietz, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-320-01917-1 . P. 90
  7. ↑ Socialist Communications No. 83/84 - 1946: SPD Special Party Congress for the Russian Zone , accessed on April 8, 2012.
  8. ↑ Minutes of the extended meeting of the district executive committee of the SPD with the district leaders on December 29, 1945. In: Norbert Podewin and Manfred Teresiak: "Brothers, in one now the hands ..." The pros and cons of the Unity Party in Berlin. Dietz, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-320-01917-1 . P. 282
  9. ^ Report on the conference of the district and department heads of the Berlin SPD on February 17, 1946. In: Norbert Podewin and Manfred Teresiak: "Brothers, now your hands in one ..." The pros and cons of the Unity Party in Berlin. Dietz, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-320-01917-1 . P. 304
  10. ^ Report on the Berlin SPD functionaries conference on March 1, 1946 in the Admiralspalast. In: Norbert Podewin and Manfred Teresiak: "Brothers, now your hands in one ..." The pros and cons of the Unity Party in Berlin. Dietz, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-320-01917-1 . Pp. 309-311
  11. ↑ : Norbert Podewin and Manfred Teresiak: "Brothers, now your hands in one ..." The pros and cons of the Unity Party in Berlin. Dietz, Berlin 1996, ISBN 3-320-01917-1 . Pp. 167, 226
  12. ^ SPD Berlin: Page no longer available , search in web archives: April 7, 1946 - SPD district party conference , accessed on April 8, 2012@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / archiv.spd-berlin.de