Page 129 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

102 THE MAKING OF THE GERMAN POST-WAR ECONOMY

Council headed by Franz Blücher, however, supported the economic
liberalisation – Ludwig Erhard finally became Director of the
Administration for Economics upon the recommendation if not insistence
of the FDP. Indeed, the Liberal Democrats believed Erhard to be their
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candidate to realise a free and competitive economy. While the SPD and
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initially also the CDU with its Ahlener Programm advocated socialisation and
economic planning, the liberal, democratic, and federal FDP in the three
western zones of occupation consistently and consequently sided with
private initiative and the reduction of governmental interference in the
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economy. Thus, committed to implement its social and economic
liberalism which was in many respects based on the writings of Alfred
Müller-Armack and Wilhelm Röpke, the FDP largely strove to support
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Ludwig Erhard’s economic policy although cooperation between the
parliamentary groups of the Liberal Democrats and the Union proved to
be disturbed at times due to different views regarding economic
liberalisation. In December 1948, for instance, the liberals parted company
with the CDU/CSU over the first law passed by the Economic Council as
quasi-parliament compensating German victims of the war
(Lastenausgleichsgesetz) because they felt that the bill favoured collective
property owners over individuals thus introducing a disguised
collectivisation of the economy. Nevertheless, the Liberal Democrats
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devoted their campaigns to promoting the Social Market Economy in
parliament and in public where they either conjointly campaigned with
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the Union or indirectly canvassed for Erhard’s economic policy by
opposing socialisation and controlled economy. In this connection, it is
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not surprising that the election campaigns of the CDU/CSU and the FDP
as well as the DP were widely financed by a consortium of industrialists
and businessmen led by the banker and confidant of Konrad Adenauer,
Robert Pferdmenges. Although Adenauer did not want the CDU/CSU
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to become too close to industrial interests, he urged the regional and
district party organisations to raise money from all levels of society,
including commerce and industry, due to insufficient funds to conduct the
campaign fully. While industry’s contributions to the respective political
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parties are difficult to quantify and the system was still in its infancy as of
1949, the practice of industry contributing funds mainly to the bourgeois
parties was already forming. For the time being, the difference in funding
between the bourgeois parties and the SPD was insignificant, but a pattern
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had been set nevertheless. However, the CDU/CSU undoubtedly spent
more on its election campaign, estimated DM 575,000, than its SPD
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rivals did.
Just as clearly as the FDP – and incidentally also the NLP and DP –
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advocated a liberal market economy, the communist KPD rejected the