Page 112 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC/ SOCIAL UNION 85

which finally gained him the party chair of the CDU in the British zone of
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occupation. Only a few days later, Konrad Adenauer began general
public campaigning for his Christian-oriented economic and social order
following the principle that the economy serves the human being, not the
human being the economy. Furthermore, he appealed to all political
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parties to present their respective concrete party platforms to enable the
electorate to make a decision in the upcoming elections. Still, Adenauer
did not commit himself to a particular economic model instead merely
stated that the materialistic Weltanschauung (ideology) had to be replaced by
a Christian philosophy; he deferred the debate about nationalisation of
core industries to a later stage. However, by making sure that the
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formulation of the CDU party platform permitted room for
interpretation, the abstract resolutions also gave rise to internal debate
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and public speculation complicating the communication of a conclusive
economic and socio-political concept: for instance, when Jakob Kaiser
proclaimed socialisation and Christian Socialism as the intention of the
CDU and the content of the official party platform in Essen on 31 March
1946. In order to defuse the intra-party conflict about the economic
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conception, and mainly to control the claims to the leadership, which
threatened to split the CDU, Adenauer set up the Wirtschafts- und
Sozialausschuss (Economic and Social Committee) of the Rhenish CDU.
The politically instrumental committee with its 17 members chaired by the
banker Robert Pferdmenges and the chairman of the Catholic workers
association Josef Gockeln was assigned the task of determining the
fundamental principles of the party’s future economic and social policy on
10 April. Due to tactical political considerations, the party chairman in
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the British zone compromised both in his public speeches announcing the
indispensability of economic planning and control, and in the resolution
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of the economic and social committee submitted by him to the Rhenish
party committee on 24 July. Here, Adenauer departed from his
individualistic-liberal interpretation of Christian Socialism, and emphasised
a collective and cooperative economy by simultaneously excluding the
term and concept of socialisation. This formulation of a so-called
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‘Gemischtwirtschaft’ (Mixed Economy) that allocated economic power to
both the private and public sectors as a compromise and alternative to
general socialisation became central to the CDU’s principles for economic
and social policy proclaimed by Adenauer in Essen on 24 August 1946.
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According to the party chairman of the Rhenish CDU, these economic
and social guidelines were meant to form the basis for a comprehensive
party platform for the Christian Union on a national level. Adenauer’s
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pragmatic efforts to integrate the political wings of the CDU and to
consolidate the party on a supra-zonal level aimed at providing an