Page 94 - The Making of the German Post-war Economy

THE SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY 67

represented the liberal social wing of the SPD at the convention of
economic experts and politicians from all four zones in Hamburg on
21/22 June 1946. This conference showed how close some social
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democratic political positions were to market-oriented ideas at that time.
According to the minutes of that meeting, even the liberal economist
Alfred Müller-Armack was only willing to act as advocatus diaboli as his
arguments were comparable with the conception of Gerhard Weisser
arguing for a Third Way described by ‘optimum instead of maximum’.
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Accordingly, the objective of the economy was not to achieve a maximum
of private profit but an optimum for the people. Indeed, in order to
supply the population with food and basic goods in times of need, the
liberal socialists agreed with most of the conferees and the public who
considered central governmental economic planning and the
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nationalisation of core industries as essential. In contrast to Agartz and
some representatives of neo-Marxist agendas, Weisser and several other
Social Democrats, however, advocated the limitation of state control to
large-scale industry and the retention of private entrepreneurial initiative.
This opinion was shared by the Minister for Economic Affairs of North
Rhine-Westphalia, Erik Nölting. The professor for economics and former
student of Franz Oppenheimer was the designated speaker at the SPD
party congress in Nuremberg between 29 June and 2 July 1947. Here, the
spokesman of the consultative committee for economic affairs appointed
by the party executive reported on the panel’s outcomes and he used the
opportunity to present his economic ideas. Nölting aimed at restructuring
the German economy in a socialist sense, namely by socialisation and a
directed economy. However, nationalisation was confined to basic
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industries and state control was reduced to a minimum. Nölting who
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distinguished between direct and indirect control, e.g. via fiscal policies,
requested free enterprise, competition and worker participation.
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Particularly with regard to the Nazi dictatorship, the German economy
ought to be democratic and Nölting resisted any allegation the SPD
wanted to maintain the controlled economy of the Third Reich. Despite
Agartz’s still dominant position in the intra-party commission for the
formulation of a socialist economic programme, the more market-oriented
members of the intra-party commission for economic affairs, such as
Gerhard Weisser, Erik Nölting or Gert von Eynern, increasingly
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prevailed. This influence is reflected in the resolution for a social
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democratic economic policy passed at the party convention in 1947.
The concept of a Liberal Socialism characterised by a regulated form of
market economy was pushed further in the presentations by the Minister
for Economic Affairs of Wuerttemberg-Baden, Hermann Veit, and the
Bavarian Minister for Economic Affairs, Rudolf Zorn, during the SPD