The Great Balancing Act: Explaining the Social Democratic Party’s position taking on Democracy and Capitalism in Germany (1871-1959) by Joris von Moltke A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors Department of Political Science in the University of Michigan 2017 Advisor: Professor Robert Mickey Second Reader: Professor Mika LaVaque-Manty Third Reader: Michael Lerner ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................... II ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................ III CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 1 PARTY PLATFORMS, MANIFESTOS OR PROGRAMS ..................................................................................... 4 THE SPD .................................................................................................................................................................... 6 LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................................................ 7 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS ............................................................................................................... 12 SUMMARY OF FINDINGS .................................................................................................................................... 17 CHAPTER 2: THE FOUNDING PERIOD (1917-1914) .............................................................. 20 MARX AND EUROPEAN SOCIALISM ................................................................................................................ 22 THE GERMAN EMPIRE ........................................................................................................................................ 24 ALLGEMEINER DEUTSCHER ARBEITER VEREIN (ADAV) ........................................................................... 29 SOZIALDEMOKRATISCHE ARBEITERPARTEI DEUTSCHLANDS (SDAP) .................................................... 31 SOZIALISTICHE ARBEITERPARTEI DEUTSCHLANDS (SAPD): ..................................................................... 33 GOTHA PROGRAM ................................................................................................................................................ 38 POST GOTHA .......................................................................................................................................................... 41 ERFURT .................................................................................................................................................................... 42 CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................................................................... 46 CHAPTER 3: THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC (1919-1933) ............................................................. 48 THE WEIMAR REPUBLIC (1919-1933) ........................................................................................................... 51 FIRST PROGRAMS (1919-1923) ........................................................................................................................ 53 SECOND WEIMAR ERA: AN ERA OF STABILITY (1924-1229) ................................................................ 69 FALL OF THE REPUBLIC (1929-1933) ............................................................................................................ 75 CHAPTER 4: THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC (1945-1959) ............................................................ 78 THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY: 1949-1959 ................................................................................ 80 CDU SUCCESS AND SPD RESPONSE .............................................................................................................. 85 THE ROAD TO BAD GODESBERG ..................................................................................................................... 91 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 96 WORKS CITED ................................................................................................................................. 105 i Acknowledgements This thesis has by far been the most challenging as well as the most engaging experience of my academic career. Alone, I would have stumbled and fumbled my way through the process and most likely given up when times go tough. Luckily for me the University of Michigan and especially the Political Science Department were there to support me. I want to express my gratitude for the financial support I received from both the Honor’s Summer Fellowship as well as the Gerstein Family Research Stipend. The Honors Summer Fellowship allowed me to develop my thesis during the summer of 2016 and was invaluable in helping me figure out the direction of the project from the outset. The Gerstein funds enabled me to visit party foundations and archives in Berlin and Bonn, where I was able to take a first hand look at the processes of German politics and work with primary documents from the SPD and CDU. The list of individuals that helped me along the way is too long for an acknowledgement section. I have been shaped by every professor and GSI that I have had during my time at the University, especially in the political science department. I want to thank Professor Markovits for awakening a passion for German politics in only my second semester at the University. Professor Jenna Bednar for introducing me to the variety of research methods available to a social science student. I cannot name every political science teacher that I have had but each and every one pushed me to learn about subjects from game theory to the power of ideology in general. Thanks Lisa Disch for the inside scoop on what classes might be most engaging for me as my interests developed. I may have ended up spending the last four years in the corn fields of Ohio had Mika not taken the time to meet with me as a Senior in high school deciding where to study. I am grateful to him for the skills I learned in his PoliSci 101 class as well as the guidance he provided during my first years of college. And Professor Mickey. The impact you have had on my academic pursuits far exceeds the last couple semesters. I could not have asked for a more tireless advisor and incredible teacher. The breadth of your knowledge amazes and inspires me. Your politics of American inequality class has been the basis of my academic pursuits since my sophomore year. You opened me up to the investigation of systems of inequality that benefit some at the cost of others and exist in so many different forms. Thank you for your time, your support and your feedback, it was a pleasure to work with you. Of course I want to thank my parents, who were by my side every step of the way these last four years, literally and figuratively. I owe everything to you and am so lucky to have you both as role models. And finally to my sister Lena, you have already surpassed me in your musical talents and your hard work inspires me to keep working when I’m feeling beat. I know you will find success in whatever you choose to pursue in your last year of high school and beyond. With love and gratitude, Joris ii Abstract This thesis follows the history of the German SPD from its founding in 1871 to its ideological break with Marxism and reconceptualization as a mass party in 1959. I rely on three approaches to explain the positions that the party took in their party programs on the reconciliation between capitalism and democracy. The ideational approach is concerned with the role of ideas in party position taking. The Organizational approach focuses on internal dynamics of the party, its leadership, competing factions and membership. The positional approach draws inspiration from Downsian models of party competition where parties compete to be positioned closest to the majority of voters in policy space. For my purposes I split German history into three periods, the German Empire (1871-1913), the Weimar Republic (1918-1933) and the Federal Republic (1945- 1959). I find that each of the approaches can help explain the positions taken by the SPD at different times in German history iii Chapter 1: Introduction In 1875 in the small city of Gotha, located in the center of the German Empire, a small group of politically motivated citizens came together at the founding congress of the German Social Democratic Party (SPD). Spurred by a desire to unite the two dominant political organizations of the working class, the Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands (SAPD) and the Allgemeiner Deutscher Arbeiter Verein (ADAV), delegates debated issues concerning the project of working class liberation. Deeply aware of the unequal distribution of the fruits of the dominant economic system, the prospects of working class politics looked dire. The only hope laid in the members of the working class themselves against which all other classes merely constituted a “reactionary mass” (Gotha Program 1875). This sentiment is enshrined in the founding document of this congress, the Gotha Program. In this Program the party staked out its positions on understandings of, and the proper relationship