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The German Social Democratic Party, 1949-1953: an Analysis of Schumacher's Bid for Mass Support

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The German Social Democratic Party, 1949-1953: an Analysis of Schumacher's Bid for Mass Support Western Michigan University ScholarWorks at WMU Master's Theses Graduate College 8-1974 The German Social Democratic Party, 1949-1953: An Analysis of Schumacher's Bid for Mass Support Robert L. Gaddis Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses Part of the Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Gaddis, Robert L., "The German Social Democratic Party, 1949-1953: An Analysis of Schumacher's Bid for Mass Support" (1974). Master's Theses. 2533. https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/masters_theses/2533 This Masters Thesis-Open Access is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate College at ScholarWorks at WMU. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at WMU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 1949-1953: AN ANALYSIS OF SCHUMACHER'S BID FOR MASS SUPPORT by Robert L. Gaddis A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The Graduate College in partial fulfillment of the Degree of Master of Arts Western Michigan University Kalamazoo, Michigan August 1974 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. AC KNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my gratitude to Professor Ernest Rossi whose assistance and encouragement greatly aided me in writing this thesis on German politics. Sincere appreciation is also extended to Professors George Klein and David Hansen whose reading of the manuscript along with th eir expert advice and comments a lso aided th is author. The inadequacies of this manuscript, of course, are the responsibility solely of the author. Robert L. Gaddis Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 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Xerox University Microfilms 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. MASTERS THESIS M-6116 GADDIS, R obert L. THE GERMAN SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY, 1949-1953: AN ANALYSIS OF SCHUMACHER'S BID FOR MASS SUPPORT. Western Michigan University, M.A., 1974 Political Science, general Xerox University Microfilms,Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Table of Contents Chapter I Introduction: The Social Democratic Party and Kurt Schumacher A. A short summary of SPD B. Development of post-war party C. Schumacher's goals D. Schumacher's strategy and tactics Chapter II The International Setting and Political Attitudes of Post-War Society A. German historical traditions B. The international setting of post­ war Germany C. Post-war attitudes to political system D. Political participation E. Attitudes to the SPD F. Summary Chapter III The West German's P r io r itie s A. The most important priority i i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. 1. Schumacher and Economic Recovery B. Two other priorities 1. Adenauer's concept of security 2. Adenauer and rearmament 3. SPD and rearmament 4. In con sisten cies in SPD's p o licy 5. Social Democratic position on rearmament and public opinion C. Reunification 1. Adenauer and Reunification 2. The SPD and R eunification 3. Public opinion and reunification 4. Summary D. Summary Chapter IV The Election of 1953 125 A. The SPD after Schumacher's death B. The campaign of 1953 C. The results of the 1953 election Chapter V Conclusions 157 iv Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. List of Tables Chapter I Total Popular Vote in the 1949 Federal Election 18 Distribution of Seats in Bundestag in 1949 18 Chapter III The P u b lic ’s Most Important Problems of 1951-1955 71 Public's Satisfaction with their Standard o f Living from 1951-1956 73 The Government's Economic P o lic ie s or the Opposition's 74 Satisfaction with Government's Efforts 75 Public Opinion on Rearmament in 1953 104 The Possibility of Reunification 115 Unity or Security 116 Unity of Security by Parties 116 Chapter IV Popular Vote in the 1953 E lection 143 Distribution of Seats in Bundestag in 1949 and 1953 154 Most Popular for Chancellor 146 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Preface Like most European socialist parties the Social Demo­ cratic Party was an offspring of industrialization. The workers' movements which appeared in Germany in the 1860's at first were associations devoted exclusively to education and recreation. They soon acquired a political character and la te r these p o lit ic a l association s formed a p o litic a l party, referred to as the Social Democratic Party. This party, whose major developments are reviewed in Chapter I, had an erratic history. It was the largest party in the Weimar Republic and came into power, but it was abolished during the Nazi regime. In the post World War II era, the party was confronted with the question whether it could retain and extend its mass movement after years of exile. This attempt to attract the masses failed to attain its full potential and the Social Democratic Party did not achieve its objectives in the early years of the Bonn R epublic. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze why the Ger­ man Social Democratic Party failed to secure the mass support it believed was necessary in order to become the vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. governing party and to establish a socialist state. The period from 1946 to 1953 is examined because it is the crucial period in this regard. In order to determine why SPD fa ile d to secure mass support, two e n t it ie s w ill be analyzed: (1) the Social Democratic Party itself, and (2) the individual German citizen in his political environ­ ment. Consequently, by analyzing these two entities d e fin ite conclusions w ill be formed on the rela tio n sh ip between the two. The first objective will be to look at the Social Democratic Party and its post-war leader, Kurt Schumacher. Schumacher molded the party according to h is p o lit ic a l concepts and his position of opposition. Thus by analyzing the party and it s leader one should be b etter able to under­ stand Schumacher's objective of mobilizing the masses in order to win the struggle for power. The second objective will be to focus on the individual voter in the German political system. In focusing on the individual we will examine his political attitudes and his role in the political system. Such an analysis will help*' determine whether the masses, based on their political a ttitu d e s, were able to give the support that Schumacher v i i Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. needed in his struggle for power. This examination shows that instead of the individual being attracted to p o litic a l movements, he was more con­ cerned with governmental performance or governmental output. In examining governmental performance we w ill examine the popular priorities concerning governmental output. We will contrast the priorities which faced the individual to the policies advocated by the leader of the SPD, Kurt Schumacher, and the governmental leader, Konrad Adenauer. In doing so we shall determine whether the public agreed with Schumacher's positions or not. A final chapter analyzes the 1953 federal election, the last significant election of this period. By examin­ ing the election we can determine whether the masses responded to the Social Democratic policies and its position of opposition. Thus by analyzing the results of the election we hope to show why the Social Democratic Party fa ile d to m obilize mass support.
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