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Merger of the KPD and SPD

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Treaty on the unification of the KPD and SPD into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Pieck and Grotewohl shake hands during the unification ceremony
TypeUnification treaty
ContextMerger of the KPD and SPD into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany
Signed21 April 1946; 78 years ago (1946-04-21)
LocationAdmiralspalast, Berlin, Soviet occupation zone
Signatories
Parties
LanguagesGerman

The Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and the east German branches of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD) merged to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED) on 21 April 1946. Although nominally a merger of equals, the merged party quickly fell under Communist domination and developed along lines similar to other Communist Parties in what became the Eastern Bloc. The SED would be the only party of the German Democratic Republic until the end of the republic in December 1989. In the course of the merger, about 5,000 Social Democrats who opposed it were detained and sent to labour camps and jails.[1]

Background

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Among circles of the workers' parties KPD and SPD there were different interpretations of the reasons for the rise of the Nazis and their electoral success. A portion of the Social Democrats blamed the Communists for the devastation of the final phase of the Weimar Republic.[2] The Communist Party, in turn, insulted the Social Democrats as "social fascists". The KPD abandoned its ultra-left political line at its 1935 Brussels Party Conference, appealing for a united front with the Social Democrats and a broad anti-fascist popular front including bourgeois forces.[3][4]

In 1945 there were calls in both the SPD and KPD for a united workers' party. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany initially opposed the idea because they took it for granted that the Communist Party would, under their guidance, develop into the strongest political force in the Soviet occupation zone. However, the outcomes of the elections conducted in Hungary and Austria in November 1945, and especially the poor performance of the Communist parties, demonstrated the urgent need for a change of strategy by the Communist party.[5] Both Stalin and Walter Ulbricht recognized the "Austria hazard" („Gefahr Österreich“)[6] and launched in November 1945, a campaign for unification of the two parties in order to secure the leading role of the Communist party.

Preparation for the merger

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Under heavy pressure from the Soviet occupation forces and the Communist Party leadership, and with the support of some leading Social Democrats, working groups and committees were formed at all levels of the parties, whose declared aim was to create a union between the two parties. Many Social Democrats unwilling to unite were arrested in early 1946 in all areas of the Soviet occupation zone.[7] A second conference of KPD and SPD representatives held February 26, 1946 articulated the path towards party unification.[8]

On 1 March 1946, a chaotic conference of SPD party officials, convened on the initiative of the Communist and SPD leaderships, was held in the Admiralspalast, Berlin. The meeting voted to arrange a vote of SPD party members, both in the Soviet occupation zone and across Berlin, on the proposed merger with the Communist Party.[9] On March 14, 1946 the Central Committee of the SPD published a call for a merger of the SPD and KPD.[10] A ballot was scheduled to take place of SPD members in Berlin on 31 March 1946. In the Soviet sector (subsequently known as East Berlin) Soviet soldiers sealed the ballot boxes less than thirty minutes after the polls had opened, and dispersed the queues of those waiting to vote. In West Berlin more than 70% of the SPD members took part in the vote. In the western sector, invited to vote on an immediate merger ("sofortige Verschmelzung") with the Communists, 82% of those voting rejected the proposal. However, on a second proposal for a "working alliance" ("Aktionsbündnis") with the Communists, 62% of those voting did so in support of the motion.[11]

Party unification day

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During March 1946 local and district-level joint KPD-SPD party assemblies were held across Germany.[8] On April 7, 1946 state-level SED party organizations were formed.[8]

In opposition to the unification process, on 7 April 1946 the SPD anti-merger tendency in western sector of Berlin held a party conference in a school in Zehlendorf (Berlin) at which they elected a three-man leadership team comprising Karl Germer Jr., Franz Neumann [de] and Curt Swolinzky [de].

The handshake at the centre of the SED party flag was introduced to symbolize the hand shake of the two party chairmen, Wilhelm Pieck (KPD) and Otto Grotewohl (SPD) at the unification congress of the SED.[12]

On April 19-20, 1946 the 15th KPD party congress and the 40th SPD party congress both voted in favour of formalizing the merger into SED. On 21-22 April 1946 another meeting took place in the Soviet-occupied sector of Berlin at the Admiralspalast. This was the Unification congress, and it was attended by delegates from the SPD and KPD. On 22 April 1946 the unification of the KPD and the (East German) SPD into the SED was completed. There were over 1,000 party members in attendance of whom 47% came from the KPD and 53% from the SPD. 230 of the delegates came from the western occupation zones. The 103 social democratic delegates from the western occupation zones participated in the unification congress in breach of the SPD party discipline.[13] The unification congress elected Party Board (Parteivorstand) with 42 communists (out of whom 12 were from the Western occupation zones) and 38 Social Democrats (out of whom 8 were from the Western occupation zones).[3][5][14] The SEB Party Board held its first meeting on April 23, 1946 and elected a 14-member Central Secretariat consisting of Otto Grohewohl, Max Fechner, Erich Gniffke, Helmut Lehmann, Otto Meier, August Karsten and Katharina Kern (from SPD), Wilhelm Pieck, Walter Ulbricht, Franz Dalhem, Paul Merker, Anton Ackermann, Hermann Matern and Elli Schmidt (from KPD).[14]

The new party would apply equal representation by two representatives between KPD and SPD at every level. The party Chairmen were Wilhelm Pieck (KPD) and Otto Grotewohl (SPD), their deputies Walter Ulbricht (KPD) and Max Fechner (SPD). The handshake of the two party chairmen was embodied in the central element of the new party's logo. Following this special congress individual members of the KPD and SPD would be able to transfer their membership to the new SED with a simple signature.

Although parity of power and position between members of the two former parties continued to be applied extensively for a couple of years, by 1949 SPD people were virtually excluded. Between 1948 and 1951 "equal representation" was abandoned, as former SPD members were forced out of their jobs, denounced as "Agents of Schumacher",[15] subjected to defamation, regular purges and at times imprisonment, so that they were frightened into silence.[12] Influential party positions in the new ruling party were being given almost exclusively to former members of the KPD.[12]

Berlin, the special case

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The four occupation zones in Berlin as established in 1945

The rules agreed between the occupying powers concerning Berlin itself conferred on the city a special status which differentiated the Soviet sector of Berlin from the Soviet occupation zone of Germany which on three of its four sides adjoined it. The SPD used this fact to run a party referendum on the merger, using a secret ballot, across the whole of Berlin. The referendum was suppressed in the Soviet sector on 31 March 1946, but it went ahead in those parts of the city controlled by the other three occupying powers, and resulted in rejection of the merger proposal from 82% of the votes cast by participating SPD members.[16] The merger of the KPD and SPD to form the SED only affected the Soviet sector of the city. It was not till the end of May 1946 that the four Allies reached agreement: the western allies permitted the SED in the western sectors, and in return the Soviet Military Administration in Germany agreed to allow the SPD back into the eastern sector of Berlin.[17] That did not mean, however, that the SPD was able to operate unhindered as a political party in East Berlin.[18] Following the City council elections for Greater Berlin which took place on 20 October 1946,[19] in which the SED and SPD both competed, the total turnout was high at 92.3%. Across the city, the SPD won 48.7% of the vote while the SED won 19.8%. Of the other principal participants the CDU (party) won 22.2% and the LDP 9.3%.

As matters turned out, this was the only free election to take place across the entirety of Berlin until after 1990. Following the 1946 city council election the Soviet Military Administration and the SED in effect divided the city. In 1947 the Soviet city commander vetoed from the election of Ernst Reuter as the city's governing mayor. This was followed up by the blowing up of the City Council Building by "the masses" and the withdrawal of the Soviet city commander from the Allied Kommandatura in 1948, which turned out to be a prelude to the Soviet Union's Blockade of West Berlin.[20][21]

The SPD did indeed continue to exist in the eastern sector, but the basis for its existence changed fundamentally, since it was banned from public activity and its participation in elections was blocked by the National Front of the Democratic Republic of Germany, a political alliance created to enable minor political parties to be controlled by the SED. Some individual SPD members nevertheless continued to be politically active. Most notably, Kurt Neubauer [de], the regional SPD chairman in Berlin-Friedrichshain was elected to the West German Bundestag where he sat from 1 February 1952 till 16 April 1963, for much of the time as the only member of the chamber with a home address inside the Soviet occupation zone. It was only in August 1961, a few days after the Berlin Wall was erected, that the party closed his office in East Berlin,[22] but without giving up its claim to it.

The example of Thuringia

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In contrast to Berlin, for which voting results show SPD majorities rejecting the merger of the left-wing parties, the historian Steffen Kachel [de] has identified quite a different set of results in Thurinigia, a region dominated by farms and forests, where for most of the time left-wing parties had hitherto enjoyed a lower level of overall support among the population as a whole than, typically, applied in western Europe's big industrial cities. In Berlin and nationally the SPD had already experienced lengthy periods in government during the Weimar years. Especially in Berlin city politics, the KPD had conducted an active and largely constructive role in opposition before 1933. Rivalry between SPD and KPD in Berlin was deeply rooted. In Thuringia the relationship between the two parties had been far more collaborative. There had even in 1923, and briefly, been a period of coalition between them in the regional government during the economic crisis of that time. After 1933 the collaborative relationship between the SPD and the KPD in rural Thuringia had been sustained during the twelve Nazi years (when both parties had been banned by the government) and surfaced again in 1945 until broken by the Stalinist approach presented by the creation of the SED.[23]

Party memberships at the time of the merger

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In the Soviet occupation zone (excluding Greater Berlin) party membership numbers were as follows:[13]

  • KPD: .....624,000 members (April 1946)
  • SPD: .....695,000 members (31 March 1946)
  • SED: ..1,297,600 members (April 1946)

The fact that the post-merger membership total of the merged of the SED was more than 20,000 below the combined pre-merger total memberships of the two predecessor parties reflects the fact that several thousand SPD members did not instantly rush to sign their party transfer forms.[13]

Among comrades from the SPD side, rejection of the merger was at its strongest in Greater Berlin, and it was here that the largest proportion of party members did not become members of the new merged party:[13]

  • KPD, Berlin: 75,000 members (April 1946)
  • SPD, Berlin: 50,000 members (31 March 1946)
  • SED, Berlin: 99,000 members (April 1946)

During the two years following the party merger, overall membership of the SED increased significantly, from 1,297,600 to approximately 2,000,000 across East Germany by the summer of 1948, possibly swollen by prisoners of war returning from the Soviet Union or former SPD members who had initially rejected the merger having had a change of heart.

Resurgence of KPD in the Trizone

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In the Western occupation zone (or Trizone), the party was blocked from using the name 'SED'. In April 1948 a party conference for the Trizone was held, which created a common KPD party organization for the three Western occupation zones with Max Reimann as its chairman. In the autumn of 1948 this West German KPD broke their links with the SED.[24] However this split did not include the West Berlin sections of SED. In 1962 the West Berlin section of the SED was separated from the party. It would have a minor role in West Berlin politics, later changing its name to the Socialist Unity Party of West Berlin (SEW) in 1969.

Consequences and follow-through

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SPD members who had opposed the merger were prevented from refounding an independent Social Democratic party in the Soviet occupation zone by the Soviet administration. Six months after the KPD/SPD merger, in the regional elections of October 1946 the new unified workers' party did not attract as many votes as they had anticipated: despite massive support from the occupation authorities, the SED failed to gain an overall majority in any of the regional legislatures. In Mecklenburg and Thuringia their vote fell only slightly short of the required 50%, but in Saxony-Anhalt and Brandenburg, the "Bourgeois" CDU and LDP gained sufficient electoral support to form governing coalitions.[25] Even more disappointing for the new SED (party) was the electoral outcome in Greater Berlin, where the SED won only 19.8% of the vote, notwithstanding the best efforts of the authorities.

Elections in East Germany applied the "single list" approach. Voters were presented with a single list from the National Front of Democratic Germany, which in turn was controlled by the SED. Only one candidate appeared on the ballot. Voters simply took the ballot paper and dropped it into the ballot box. Those who wanted to vote against the candidate had to go to a separate voting booth, without any secrecy.[26] Seats were apportioned based on a set quota, not according to actual vote totals.[27] By ensuring that its candidates dominated the list, the SED effectively predetermined the composition of the National legislature (Volkskammer). The upside of East Germany's new voting system, in 1950, was apparent from the reported 99.6% level of support for the SED based on a turnout of 98.5%.[28]

After 1946 SPD members who had spoken up in opposition to the party merger were required to surrender their offices. Many faced political persecution and some fled. Some persisted in their political beliefs with the Eastern Bureau of the SPD [de] which continued the political work of the party leaders and members who had fled the country. The Eastern Bureau was allowed to participate in the 1950 Volkskammer election and won 6 seats; however, the office was banned from participating from 1954 and onwards because of accusations of "espionage" and "diversion" by DDR and SED authorities and was eventually closed in 1981.

It was not until October 1989 that a Social Democratic Party was again established in the German Democratic Republic. The SPD then participated in the country's first (and as matters turned out last) free election in March 1990, winning 21.9% of the overall vote. Later in the year, in October 1990, East Germany's SPD merged with the West German SPD, in a development which mirrored the reunification of Germany itself.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Halb faule Lösung: Die große Koalition verbessert nach heftiger Kritik die Opferpensionen für Verfolgte des DDR-Regimes. Focus 24/2007, S. 51.
  2. ^ Hermann Weber: Kommunistische Bewegung und realsozialistischer Staat. Beiträge zum deutschen und internationalen Kommunismus, hrsg. von Werner Müller. Bund-Verlag, Köln 1988, S. 168.
  3. ^ a b Hans Kluth. Die KPD in der Bundesrepublik: Ihre politische Tätigkeit und Organisation 1945 – 1956. Springer-Verlag, 2013. pp. 12, 15, 21
  4. ^ Eric D. Weitz. Creating German Communism, 1890-1990: From Popular Protests to Socialist State. Princeton University Press, 2021. pp. 293-294, 301-302
  5. ^ a b Andreas Malycha/Peter Jochen Winters: Die SED. Geschichte einer deutschen Partei. C.H. Beck, München 2009. ISBN 978-3-406-59231-7. pp. 28, 42
  6. ^ Wortlaut Walter Ulbrichts siehe Mike Schmeitzner, Sowjetisierung oder Neutralität? Optionen sowjetischer Besatzungspolitik in Deutschland und Österreich 1945–1955, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2006, ISBN 978-3-525-36906-7, S. 281 f., hier S. 283.
  7. ^ „Die nunmehr frei zugänglichen zeitgenössischen Dokumente über die von örtlichen sowjetischen Kommandanturen gemaßregelten und inhaftierten Sozialdemokraten geben Aufschluss darüber, wie vielerorts erst psychischer Druck der Besatzungsoffiziere die Vereinigung möglich machte.“ Andreas Malycha, Der ewige Streit um die Zwangsvereinigung, Berliner Republik 2/2006 (online).
  8. ^ a b c Gerhard Besier, Katarzyna Stokłosa. European Dictatorships: A Comparative History of the Twentieth Century. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2014. p. 339
  9. ^ „In der Versammlung sozialdemokratischer Funktionäre vom 1. März 1946, die auf Betreiben der KPD- und SPD-Spitze einberufen worden war, um die Einheitsfrage offensiv zu debattieren, in deren Verlauf dann jedoch die Entscheidungskompetenz des Zentralausschusses offen in Frage gestellt und ein mehrheitliches Votum für eine Urabstimmung abgegeben wurde, kam es für Grotewohl fast zum Debakel.“ Zit. nach Friederike Sattler, Bündnispolitik als politisch-organisatorisches Problem des zentralen Parteiapparates der KPD 1945/46, in: Manfred Wilke (Hrsg.): Anatomie der Parteizentrale, Akademie Verlag, 1998, ISBN 3-05-003220-0, S. 119–212, hier S. 198.
  10. ^ Berliner SPD, Archiv
  11. ^ Dietrich Staritz, Die Gründung der DDR. 2. Aufl. 1987, ISBN 3-423-04524-8, S. 123.
  12. ^ a b c Publisher-editor Rudolf Augstein; Holger Kulick (18 April 2001). "PDS: Halbherzige Entschuldigung für Zwangsvereinigung: Widersprüchlich hat sich die PDS-Vorsitzende Gabi Zimmer für die Zwangsvereinigung von SPD und KPD vor 55 Jahren entschuldigt – ohne "Entschuldigung" zu sagen und ohne das Wort Zwangsvereinigung zu erwähnen. Der Sinn ist genauso verworren: Wahltaktik wird dementiert, steht aber im Hintergrund". Der Spiegel (online). Retrieved 10 December 2014. {{cite web}}: |author1= has generic name (help)
  13. ^ a b c d Martin Broszat, Gerhard Braas, Hermann Weber: SBZ-Handbuch, München 1993, ISBN 3-486-55262-7.
  14. ^ a b Heike Amos. Politik und Organisation der SED-Zentrale 1949 - 1963: Struktur und Arbeitsweise von Politbüro, Sekretariat, Zentralkomitee und ZK-Apparat'. LIT Verlag Münster, 2003. pp. 23-24
  15. ^ Kurt Schmacher was the leader of the SPD in West Germany, which was by now the name being given to that part of Germany not subject to Soviet military administration.
  16. ^ "Durch Manipulation, Einschüchterung und offene Repression ... Allein in den Westsektoren Berlins ist eine Urabstimmung der SPD-Mitglieder möglich, bei der 82 Prozent der Abstimmenden sich gegen eine sofortige Vereinigung aussprechen". Willy-Brandt-Haus, Verwaltungsgesellschaft Bürohaus, Berlin. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  17. ^ Beschluss vom 31. Mai 1946 der Alliierten Stadtkommandantur: In allen vier Sektoren der ehemaligen Reichshauptstadt werden die Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands und die neugegründete Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands zugelassen.
  18. ^ Anjana Buckow, Zwischen Propaganda und Realpolitik: Die USA und der sowjetisch besetzte Teil Deutschlands 1945–1955, Franz Steiner Verlag, 2003, ISBN 3-515-08261-1, page 196
  19. ^ Der Landeswahlleiter in Berlin: Wahlergebnisse zur Stadtverordnetenversammlung 1946
  20. ^ Gerhard Kunze: Grenzerfahrungen: Kontakte und Verhandlungen zwischen dem Land Berlin und der DDR 1949–1989, Akademie Verlag, 1999, page 16.
  21. ^ Eckart Thurich: Die Deutschen und die Sieger, in: Informationen zur politischen Bildung, Vol 232, published by the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Bonn 1991.
  22. ^ Neubauer himself, with his family, was in West Berlin when the wall was suddenly put in place, and it would be many years before they were permitted to set foot in East Berlin again.
  23. ^ Ein rot-roter Sonderweg? Sozialdemokraten und Kommunisten in Thüringen 1919 bis 1949 (= Veröffentlichungen der Historischen Kommission für Thüringen. Kleine Reihe, Vol 29), Böhlau, Köln/Weimar/Wien 2011, ISBN 978-3-412-20544-7
  24. ^ S.L. Fisher. The Minor Parties of the Federal Republic of Germany: Toward a Comparative Theory of Minor Parties. Springer Science & Business Media, 2012. p. 113
  25. ^ Martin Broszat, Hermann Weber, SBZ-Handbuch: Staatliche Verwaltungen, Parteien, gesellschaftliche Organisationen und ihre Führungskräfte in der Sowjetischen Besatzungszone Deutschlands 1945–1949, Oldenbourg, München 1993, ISBN 3-486-55262-7, page 418.
  26. ^ Sebetsyen, Victor (2009). Revolution 1989: The Fall of the Soviet Empire. New York City: Pantheon Books. ISBN 978-0-375-42532-5.
  27. ^ Eugene Register-Guard 29 October 1989. p. 5A.
  28. ^ Nohlen, D & Stöver, P (2010) Elections in Europe: A data handbook, p779 ISBN 978-3-8329-5609-7
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