Page 110 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC/ SOCIAL UNION 83

the programmatic development in 1945 are still controversial, for the
19
time being, the commission of the CDP for the formulation of a party
platform did not make a statement regarding socialisation and state
control. Furthermore, the final party programme of the Rhenish-
20
Westphalian CDP, which widely adopted the Kölner Leitsätze, abandoned
21
the term ‘Christian Socialism’. Not until the so-called ‘Reichstreffen’, the
first official meeting of the various founding circles in Bad Godesberg
between 14 and 16 December 1945, did the Christian Democrats in the
British zone of occupation commit themselves to the Christian Socialism
of the Walberberger Kreis, and decide to follow the Berlin proposal by taking
on the name Christlich-Demokratische Union Deutschlands (CDU). However,
they agreed upon the formulation Sozialismus aus christlicher Verantwortung
(Socialism in Christian responsibility).
22
Solely the Bavarian Christian Democrats held on to their name
Christlich-Soziale Union (CSU), while deliberately abandoning the term and
23
concept of Christian Socialism. According to the party chairman, Josef
Müller, the notion ‘socialism’ put off the middle classes, the bourgeoisie
and entrepreneurs. Due to this consideration, the party’s foundation
24
charter instead referred to a so-called ‘soziale Wirtschaftsordnung’ (social
economic order) rejecting general socialisation and valuing free
enterprise. Equally, the fundamentals of the CSU published on 31
25
December 1945 did not correspond to an anti-liberal Christian Socialism
but emphasised personal responsibility and private initiatives. However,
26
Müller and the party’s internal commission for economic policy, which
was established immediately after the CSU received provisional permission
by the Office of Military Government for Bavaria on 8 January 1946,
avoided an early programmatic commitment to any particular economic
order. For the time being, in its policy statements as well as in the
27
campaign for the first communal and local elections in Bavaria on 27
January, 28 April and 26 May 1946, the CSU merely distanced itself from
both economic liberalism and a collective economy. While the party
28
further defined its economic and socio-political objectives in the
resolution Die fünf Punkte der Union (Five Articles of the Union), adopted at
the first party convention in Munich on 17 May 1946, and circumscribed
29
its perception of a liberal socio-economic order in the first post-war
constitution, namely the constitution of the Free State of Bavaria coming
into effect on 8 December 1946, the CSU did not determine a specific
30
economic model at this stage. Not until the guiding principles Dreissig
Punkte der Union (Thirty Articles of the Union) based on the policy
statements of the Christlich-Soziale Union, agreed upon at the second party
conference in Eichstätt on 14/15 December 1946, did the CSU identify an
economic order between doctrinaire liberalism and socialism labelled the