Page 156 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

1948 – ASPIRATION AND APPREHENSION 129

with incomprehension among politicians and the public alike. Erhard’s
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concept of a so-called ‘Social Market Economy’, which he introduced to
the Economic Council on its fourteenth plenary meeting on 21 April
1948, simply seemed unrealistic and inconceivable in times of prevalent
destitution and the absence of market mechanisms. Even the sections of
the press, that had supported Erhard’s neo-liberal approach, were largely
sceptical about his intention to abandon rationing and about market
economic measures in general. The economist and journalist of Die Zeit,
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Marion Dönhoff remarked: ‘If Germany was not ruined yet, this man with
his absurd plan to abandon all rationing will manage to do so. May God
prevent him becoming Minister for Economic Affairs. After Hitler, and
the fragmentation of Germany, this would be a third catastrophe!’ This
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statement was quite representative of the prevailing German sentiment in
spring 1948. The public was not optimistic about a return to a market
economy as the economic inequalities made the abolition of state planning
and control inconceivable. Thus, due to Erhard’s seemingly unreasonable
intentions, more and more perceived the Economic Council as unrealistic
or even a complete farce.
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Despite this prevalent sentiment, nationwide public demonstrations
against food shortages, political opposition, albeit mainly on the part of
the SPD, and the numerous admonitions for a sensitive procedure with
regard to economic, financial and social reform by various charities, the
unions and the Deutscher Städtetag (Association of German Cities and
Towns), to name but a few, there were also supporters of economic
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liberalisation. For instance, the Industrie und Handelskammern, which had
already lobbied for a free market economy via its publication IHK-
Mitteilungen in the previous year, favoured the abolition of state economic
17
controls. Similarly, German university professors of economics argued
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for a market-oriented economy and sent a resolution to the Economic
Council requesting economic liberalisation and a currency reform they
considered essential for the economic reconstruction. Also there were
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decreasing numbers of adherents of socialisation. According to an
OMGUS survey on German opinions on socialisation of industry, only 30
per cent of the respondents said that they would be better off if industry
were socialised. The fact that economic liberalism was increasingly
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standing up to the socialist Zeitgeist of the immediate post-war years was
also reflected in the election results of the local elections taking part in
Bavaria and Hesse on 25 April and 30 May 1948 respectively: while the
outcome showed the same winners as in previous elections, namely the
CSU in Bavaria (37.8 per cent) and the SPD in Hesse (35.7 per cent),
however, the relative percentage of votes revealed that in both states the
SPD and the KPD, advocating nationalisation, lost plenty of votes