Page 90 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

2.1

THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY

AND LIBERAL SOCIALISM

We need pragmatic solutions not programmatic declarations.
There is no particular theoretical economic concept
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that can tell us how to cope with the problems in times of need.
(Kurt Schumacher, 1946)

Of all the political parties in post-war Germany, the Sozialdemokratische
Partei Deutschlands (SPD) was best positioned to legitimately assume
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leadership in German political and economic reconstruction. In
comparison with most other parties at the time, the Social Democrats
could draw on an extensive organisation and party history dating back to
pre-war times. Furthermore, due to the party’s resolute anti-fascist and
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oppositional role during the Third Reich, the former SPD delegate in the
German Reichstag and opponent of National Socialism, Kurt Schumacher,
aimed to revive the Social Democratic Party and derived a claim for
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leadership for his party in a period of political and economic
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reorganisation.
Marked by a decade in concentration camps, the antagonist of
totalitarianism and advocate of a parliamentary democracy soon became
both a symbol of a renewed social democratic self-confidence and hope
for liberation from isolation and depression. Schumacher’s physical
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appearance – aged 19, in December 1914, the combatant in the First
World War lost his right arm and, furthermore, the imprisonment for a
decade in various concentration camps affected his physical health
resulting in the amputation of his left leg – symbolised the victims of Nazi
dictatorship and provided his already brilliant rhetoric with additional
credibility. Through his patriotism and optimism, the charismatic
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democrat won both personal devotees and party members – already one
year after the legalisation of political parties in West Germany, the SPD