Page 86 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

THE COLOGNE SCHOOL 59

professional elite on the one side and the general public on the other, but
also finally wanted to implement his socio-economic conception. For him,
the CDU was the means to an end. Although without party affiliation,
115
Erhard affirmed that he would ‘go into the upcoming political party
clashes with particular energy for the CDU’ and campaigned for the
116
conservative party that finally adopted the Social Market Economy in its
party platform, the Düsseldorfer Leitsätze on 15 July 1949.
117
During the election campaign, which was dominated by the economic
agenda, Erhard held presentations in more than ninety locations all over
West Germany. Up to ten times a day in six weeks, the untiring
communicator of an economic and socio-political programme was on
stage. Additionally, the agent of the Social Market Economy addressed
118
and informed the public in audio transmissions. Wherever the eloquent
119
proponent of a market liberal course and opponent of a controlled
economy, which he saw represented in the tenets of the SPD’s economic
programme, went during the campaign, places were packed and a wide
120
audience was guaranteed; to the benefit of both himself and the CDU.
121
While Erhard was offered a candidateship in the constituency Ulm-
Heidenheim in North-Wuerttemberg-Baden and the prospect to become
Minister for Economic Affairs in the event of an election victory, the
122
political party disposed of a powerful manifesto. This both unified its
members and provided the opportunity to employ the dichotomy of
‘Market or Planned Economy’ to act as a wedge issue against the political
opponent in the upcoming campaign for the federal elections.
Irrespective of the outcome of the elections on 14 August 1949, it was
Ludwig Erhard who succeeded in transferring the abstract, theoretical
ideas of the Social Market Economy as an economic and social order into
both the political and public realm. In particular the citizenry was the
123
constitutive element in the socio-economic conception of Alfred Müller-
Armack and Ludwig Erhard. Thus the concept itself was as important as
its communication. While both economists attached great importance to
public relations, the contact to the public became Erhard’s elixir.
124
Ludwig Erhard was the Social Market Economy’s most passionate
125
proponent if not the concept itself. Hence, whereas the ordo-liberal
Freiburg School had neither a tangible concept nor a coordinated effort in
communicating its economic conception, the Cologne School disposed of
both. Although the Social Market Economy is often viewed as a mélange
126
of socio-political ideas rather than a precisely outlined theoretical order,
the conception possessed an effective slogan that enabled and supported
its communication to the populace. And this was exactly what Müller-
Armack and Erhard were concerned about. In contrast to the AG EvB that
mainly addressed academic and political classes, the social market