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52-557: The Erfurt Program was adopted by the Social Democratic Party of Germany during the SPD Congress at Erfurt in 1891. Drafted by theorists Karl Kautsky and Eduard Bernstein , the program set out a Marxist view and superseded the party's Gotha Program of 1875. The Erfurt Program identified private ownership of the means of production as the source of social ailments, and advocated a political struggle with

104-410: A big tent party of the centre-left. The SPD led the federal government from 1969 to 1982 (under Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt ), 1998 to 2005 (under Gerhard Schröder ) and again since 2021. It served as a junior partner to a CDU/CSU-led government from 1966 to 1969, 2005 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2021. During Scholz's chancellorship, the party has set out principles of a new German defence policy in

156-597: A 1952 Soviet suggestion for Germans to form a neutral state was ignored by the CDU/CSU–FDP government. After 17 years in opposition, the SPD became the junior partner in a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU which lasted from 1966 to 1969. After the 1969 federal election , the SPD's Willy Brandt became chancellor in a coalition with the liberal Free Democratic Party. His government sought to normalise relations with East Germany and

208-777: A cross-German party since the end of 1990. One part of the Brandenburg state alliance advocated against a unification with the Greens, including future Minister-President of Brandenburg Matthias Platzeck , Günter Nooke, Ute Platzeck, Peter Schüler, Manfred Kruczek and Gerd Gebhardt. However, they were unsuccessful in their case and founded the Citizens' Alliance ("Bürger Bündnis"), headed by Günter Nooke, Matthias Platzeck und Wolfgang Pohl. The party Alliance 90/The Greens in Saxony had already been established on 27 September 1991, one and

260-585: A key role in the German Revolution of 1918–1919 . On 9 November 1918, leading SPD member Friedrich Ebert was designated chancellor and fellow Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann , on his own authority, proclaimed Germany a republic . The government introduced a large number of reforms in the following months, introducing various civil liberties and labor rights . The SPD government, committed to parliamentary liberal democracy , used military force against more radical communist groups, leading to

312-405: A life without exploitation, suppression and violence, hence in social and human security", the realization of which is emphasized as a "permanent task". Social democracy serves as the "principle of our actions". The party platform of the SPD espouses the goal of democratic socialism, which it envisions as a societal arrangement in which freedom and social justice are paramount. According to

364-557: A party, as opposed to for a person) for the group "Alliance 90/Greens – Citizens' Movement" ( Bündnis 90/Grüne – BürgerInnenbewegung ), which entered into the German Bundestag with eight East German electees: Klaus-Dieter Feige, Ingrid Köppe, Gerd Poppe, Christina Schenk, Werner Schulz, Wolfgang Ullmann, Konrad Weiß and Vera Wollenberger. Werner Schultz took over the function of Speaker of the Bundestag group, which he held for

416-679: A permanent split between the SPD and the USPD , as well as the Spartacist League which would go on to form the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and integrate a majority of USPD members as well. The SPD was the largest party during the first 13 years of the new Weimar Republic . It decisively won the 1919 federal election with 37.9 per cent of votes, and Ebert became the first president in February. The position of chancellor

468-513: Is a social democratic political party in Germany . It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together with Lars Klingbeil , who joined her in December 2021. After Olaf Scholz was elected chancellor in 2021, the SPD became the leading party of the federal government , which the SPD formed with

520-695: The Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The SPD played a leading role in the German revolution of 1918–1919 and in the foundation of the Weimar Republic . The SPD politician Friedrich Ebert served as the first president of Germany from 1919 to 1925. After the rise of the Nazi Party to power, the SPD was the only party in the Reichstag which voted against the Enabling Act of 1933 ; the SPD

572-669: The Eastern Bloc , a policy known as Ostpolitik . The party achieved its best ever result of 45.8 per cent in 1972 , one of only three occasions in which it formed the largest Bundestag faction. After Brandt's resignation in 1974, his successor Helmut Schmidt served as chancellor until 1982, when the SPD returned to opposition. During the Peaceful Revolution in East Germany, the East German SPD

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624-707: The Nazi government while others fled the country. The party-in-exile was called Sopade . After the end of World War II , the re-establishment of the SPD was permitted in the Western occupation zones in 1945. In the Soviet occupation zone , the SPD was forcibly merged with the KPD in 1946 to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). The SED was the ruling party of East Germany until 1989. In West Germany ,

676-768: The Progressive Alliance and was joined by numerous other parties around the world. Previously, the SPD was a founding member of both the Second International and the Labour and Socialist International . The Social Democratic Party has its origins in the General German Workers' Association , founded in 1863, and the Social Democratic Workers' Party , founded in 1869. The two groups merged in 1875 to create

728-583: The Reformed Protestant region of East Frisia directly to the north, with its strong traditional streak of anti-Catholicism , is one of their strongest constituencies. Further south, the SPD also enjoys solid support in northern Hesse , parts of Palatinate and the Saarland . The social democrats are weakest in the south-eastern states of Bavaria, Saxony and Thuringia , where the party's percentage of votes dropped to single-digit figures in

780-519: The Reichstag , except for the one of 1919 which was called the National Assembly and since 1949 the parliament is called Bundestag . Note that changes in borders (1871, 1919, 1920, 1949, 1957 and 1990) varied the number of eligible voters whereas electoral laws also changed the ballot system (only constituencies until 1912, only party lists until 1949 and a mixed system thereafter), the suffrage (women vote since 1919; minimum active voting age

832-587: The Second International 's agreement to oppose militarism, the SPD supported the German war effort and adopted a policy, known as Burgfriedenspolitik , of refraining from calling strikes or criticising the government. Internal opposition to the policy grew throughout the war. Anti-war members were expelled in 1916 and 1917, leading to the formation of the Independent Social Democratic Party of Germany (USPD). The SPD played

884-605: The Socialist Workers' Party of Germany  [ de ] (German: Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands ). From 1878 to 1890, the Anti-Socialist Laws banned any group that aimed at spreading socialist principles, but the party still gained support in elections. In 1890, when the ban was lifted, the party adopted its current name. The SPD was the largest Marxist party in Europe and consistently

936-750: The Zeitenwende speech . The SPD holds pro-European stances and is a member of the Party of European Socialists and sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament . With 14 MEPs , it is the third largest party in the group. The SPD was a founding member of the Socialist International , but the party left in 2013 after criticising its acceptance of parties they consider to be violating human rights. The SPD subsequently founded

988-520: The political centre . After World War II , the SPD was re-formed in West Germany after being banned by the Nazi regime ; in East Germany , it merged with the Communist Party of Germany to form the ruling Socialist Unity Party of Germany . Under the chairmanship of Kurt Schumacher , the SPD was a socialist party representing the interests of the working class and of trade unions. With

1040-439: The 1959 Godesberg Program, the party evolved from a socialist working-class party to a modern social democratic party working within democratic capitalism . The SPD's Hamburg Programme, adopted in 2007, describes democratic socialism as "the vision of a free and fair society in solidarity", which requires "a structure in economy, state and society guaranteeing civil, political, social and economic basic rights for all people living

1092-502: The 1990s, the left and moderate wings of the party drifted apart, culminating in a secession of a significant number of party members which later joined the socialist party WASG , which later merged into The Left ( Die Linke ). Much of the SPD's current-day support comes from large cities, especially northern and western Germany and Berlin . As of 2019, 10 of the country's 15 biggest cities are led by SPD mayors. The metropolitan Ruhr Area , where coal mining and steel production were once

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1144-453: The 2018 and 2019 elections. In 2021, it significantly increased its vote share in the states of the former east. The federal leader is supported by six Deputy Leaders and the party executive . As of 2021, the leaders are Saskia Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans . The previous leader was Andrea Nahles , who announced her pending resignation on 2 June 2019. As Germany is a federal republic , each of Germany's states have their own SPD party at

1196-663: The Alliance 90 took office alone. In other states, the Greens also successfully took part in the electoral alliances. In Brandenburg from 1990 until 1994, Alliance 90 participated in a traffic light coalition with the Social Democrats and Free Democrats . In the 1990 federal election held on 2 December 1990, the first election following the reunification of Germany , 6.1% of voters in the Eastern electoral area (1.2% across Germany) cast their Zweitstimme (the vote for

1248-603: The CDU/CSU after the 2013 federal election . This arrangement was renewed after the 2017 federal election . SPD narrowly won against the CDU/CSU in the September 2021 federal election , becoming the biggest party in the federal parliament (Bundestag). Social Democrat Olaf Scholz became the new chancellor in December 2021, and formed a coalition government with the Green Party and the Free Democrats. The SPD

1300-637: The Greens and the Free Democratic Party , after the 2021 federal election . The SPD is a member of 11 of the 16 German state governments and is a leading partner in seven of them. The SPD was founded in 1875 from a merger of smaller socialist parties, and grew rapidly after the lifting of Germany's repressive Anti-Socialist Laws in 1890 to become the largest socialist party in Western Europe until 1933. In 1891, it adopted its Marxist -influenced Erfurt Program , though in practice it

1352-722: The Nazi Sturmabteilung . The Nazis overtook the SPD as the largest party in July 1932 and Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor in January 1933. Of the parties present in the Reichstag during the passage of the Enabling Act of 1933 , the SPD was the only one to vote against; most of the communist deputies had been arrested ahead of the vote. The SPD was banned in June. Many members were subsequently imprisoned and killed by

1404-555: The SPD became one of two major parties, alongside the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) . In the inaugural 1949 federal election , it placed second with 29.2 per cent of votes and led the opposition to the CDU government. In its 1959 Godesberg Program , the party dropped its commitment to Marxism and sought to appeal to middle class voters, becoming a big tent party of the centre-left. Although strongly leftist ,

1456-455: The SPD initially opposed both the social market economy and Konrad Adenauer 's drive towards Western integration fiercely; after Schumacher's death, however, it accepted the social market economy and Germany's position in the Western alliance in order to appeal to a broader range of voters. It still remains associated with the economic causes of unionised employees and working class voters. In

1508-437: The SPD was willing to compromise. Only through its support did the governing CDU/CSU pass a denazification law that its coalition partner the Free Democratic Party (FDP) and the far-right German Party voted against. At the same time, the SPD opposed the pro-West integration of West Germany because they believed that made a re-unification of Germany impossible. Austria could have become a sovereign neutral state in 1956, but

1560-501: The classical social democrats continue to defend classical left-wing policies and the welfare state. The Keynesian left-wing of the SPD claims that in recent years the welfare state has been curtailed through reform programs such as the Agenda 2010, Hartz IV , and the more economic liberal stance of the SPD which were endorsed by centrist social democrats. In reaction to Agenda 2010, an inner-party dissident movement developed, leading to

1612-488: The core documents of 'orthodox' Marxist theory before the October Revolution of 1917 caused a major split in the international socialist movement. Social Democratic Party of Germany The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( German : Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands , [zoˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkʁaːtɪʃə paʁˌtaɪ ˈdɔʏtʃlants] , SPD , German pronunciation: [ɛspeːˈdeː] )

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1664-578: The creation of the strategic partnership Alliance 90 ("Bündnis 90") for the 1990 East German general election . On 18 March 1990, in the next and final free election of the former East Germany , the Alliance 90 received 2.9% of the vote, thus securing 12 seats. By far the best result for Alliance 90 was in constituency of Berlin with 6.3%. In the remaining constituencies results ranged from 1.6% in Neubrandenburg to 3.8% in Potsdam . Together with

1716-601: The eight elected mandates from the " Green Party in the GDR ", they created the “Alliance ’90/Greens Party” Faction ( Fraktion Bündnis 90/Grüne ). In the East German Landtag elections on 14 October 1990 the differently-composed electoral alliances made their entry into every Landtag except Mecklenburg-Vorpommern , where the New Forum did not participate in the alliance. In Brandenburg , the three civic groups of

1768-460: The entirety of the legislative period. Its West German partners, the Greens, fell short of election to the parliament. On 21 September 1991, the party Alliance 90 was founded, which brought together parts of the New Forum, Democracy Now and the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights. On 14 May 1993 came the agreement to create the union of Alliance 90/The Greens with the Greens which had been

1820-651: The foundation of the new party Labour and Social Justice – The Electoral Alternative ( Arbeit & soziale Gerechtigkeit – Die Wahlalternative , WASG) in 2005, which later merged into The Left ( Die Linke ) in 2007. The Parlamentarische Linke comprises left-wing SPD Members of the German Bundestag . Prior to World War II, as the main non-revolutionary left-wing party, the Social Democrats fared best among non- Catholic workers as well as intellectuals favouring social progressive causes and increased economic equality. Led by Kurt Schumacher after World War II,

1872-415: The goal of achieving a social revolution and an equal society without class divisions. Before this could be achieved, the program advocated reforms including universal suffrage , freedoms of speech and association , gender equality , separation of church and state , free education and medicine , and a progressive income tax . It also demanded labor protections including an eight-hour working day and

1924-455: The immediate task for socialists was to work for the improvement of workers' lives rather than for the revolution , which was inevitable. The draft program was criticised by Friedrich Engels for its opportunist, non-Marxist views on the state in a criticism he sent to Kautsky on 29 June 1891. Kautsky wrote the official SPD commentary on the program in 1892, which was called The Class Struggle . The Marxism exemplified by The Class Struggle

1976-471: The main industries, have provided a significant base for the SPD in the 20th century. In the city of Bremen , the SPD has continuously governed since 1949. In southern Germany, the SPD typically garners less support except in the largest cities. At the 2009 federal election , the party lost its only constituency in the entire state of Bavaria (in Munich ). Small town and rural support comes especially from

2028-441: The most popular party in German federal elections from 1890 onward, although it was surpassed by other parties in terms of seats won in the Reichstag due to the electoral system. In the years leading up to World War I , the SPD remained radical in principle, but moderate in reality. According to Roger Eatwell and Anthony Wright, the SPD became a party of reform, with social democracy representing "a party that strives after

2080-613: The party platform, political freedom , justice and social solidarity form the basis of social democracy. The SPD is mostly composed of members belonging to either of the two main wings, namely the Keynesian social democrats and Third Way moderate social democrats belonging to the Seeheimer Kreis . While the more moderate Seeheimer Kreis generally support the Agenda 2010 programs introduced by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder ,

2132-548: The prohibition of child labor . The Erfurt Program was SPD's official program until 1921, when it was replaced by the Görlitz Program  [ de ] . The program declared the imminent death of capitalism and the necessity of socialist ownership of the means of production . The Party intended to pursue these goals through legal political participation rather than by revolutionary activity. Kautsky argued that because capitalism, by its very nature, must collapse,

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2184-407: The socialist transformation of society by the means of democratic and economic reforms". They emphasise this development as central to understanding 20th-century social democracy, of which the SPD was a major influence. In the 1912 federal election , the SPD won 34.8 per cent of votes and became the largest party in the Reichstag with 110 seats, although it was still excluded from government. Despite

2236-399: The state level. From August until October 2010, senior Bundestag member Joachim Poß served as interim Bundestag leader in the absence of Frank-Walter Steinmeier , who was recovering from donating a kidney to his wife. The SPD, at times called SAPD, took part in general elections determining the composition of parliament. For elections up until 1933, the parliament was called

2288-408: The traditionally Protestant areas of northern Germany and Brandenburg (with previous exceptions such as Western Pomerania where CDU leader Angela Merkel held her constituency, which the SPD gained in 2021) and a number of university towns. A striking example of the general pattern is the traditionally Catholic Emsland , where the Social Democrats generally gain a low percentage of votes, whereas

2340-550: Was 25 till 1918, 20 till 1946, 21 till 1972 and 18 since), the number of seats (fixed or flexible) and the length of the legislative period (three or four years). The list begins after the SPD was formed in 1875, when labour parties unified to form the SPD (then SAPD, current name since 1890). Alliance 90 On 7 February 1990, the New Forum , Democracy Now and the Initiative for Peace and Human Rights agreed upon

2392-545: Was established as a Marxist party in 1875. It underwent a major shift in policies, reflected in the differences between the Heidelberg Program of 1925 which called for "the transformation of the capitalist system of private ownership of the means of production to social ownership" and the Godesberg Program of 1959 which aimed to broaden the party's voter base and to move its political position toward

2444-457: Was held by Social Democrats until the 1920 federal election , when the SPD lost a substantial portion of its support, falling to 22 per cent of votes. After this, the SPD yielded the chancellery to other parties, although it remained part of the government until 1924. Ebert died in 1925 and was succeeded by conservative Paul von Hindenburg . After making gains in the 1928 federal election , the SPD's Hermann Müller became chancellor. As Germany

2496-470: Was moderate and focused on building working-class organizations. In the 1912 federal election , the SPD won 34.8 percent of votes and became the largest party in the Reichstag , but was still excluded from government. After the start of the First World War in 1914, the party split between a pro-war mainstream and the anti-war Independent Social Democratic Party , some members of which later formed

2548-513: Was often referred to by later critics as " vulgar Marxism " or "the Marxism of the Second International ." The popular renderings of Marxism found in the works of Kautsky and Bebel were read and distributed more widely in Europe between the late 19th century and 1914 than Marx's own works. The Class Struggle was translated into 16 languages before 1914 and became the accepted popular summation of Marxist theory. This document came to represent one of

2600-505: Was refounded. It merged with the West German party in 1990, shortly before German reunification . The SPD returned to government under Gerhard Schröder after the 1998 federal election in a coalition with The Greens . This government was re-elected in 2002 but defeated in 2005 . The SPD then became junior partner of a grand coalition with the CDU/CSU until 2009 . After a term in opposition, they again served as junior partner to

2652-485: Was struck hard by the Great Depression , and unable to negotiate an effective response to the crisis, Müller resigned in 1930. The SPD was sidelined as the Nazi Party gained popularity and conservatives dominated the government, assisted by Hindenburg's frequent use of emergency powers . The Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold , the SPD's paramilitary wing, was frequently involved in violent confrontations with

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2704-588: Was subsequently banned, and operated in exile as the Sopade . After the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, the SPD was re-established. In East Germany , it merged with the KPD under duress to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany . In West Germany , the SPD became one of two major parties alongside the CDU/CSU . In its Godesberg Program of 1959, the SPD dropped its commitment to Marxism, becoming

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