SPD

SPD (Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, Social Democratic Party of Germany) Founded in 1869 as a political party committed to social upheaval, it became more pragmatic as its popularity increased, and by 1890 it was Germany's most popular party. Hence, despite its goal of international socialism, it accepted the outbreak of World War I and supported it as a necessary evil. In 1917, those of its members who opposed the war founded the Independent Socialist Party (Unabhängige Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, USPD), which merged with the Communist Party in 1920. After the collapse of the Empire in 1918, in contrast with its original aims the SPD did more than any other party to establish a democracy instead of a socialist republic. It was the largest party throughout most of the Weimar Republic, and provided its first President in Ebert. It was the only party to vote against the Enabling Law of 1933, but by then the SPD on its own was too weak to foil it. Subsequently, many members were persecuted, though some managed to escape abroad.

After 1945, in Eastern Germany the SPD was forced to merge with the Communist Party to increase the popular support for the latter. In the West, it narrowly lost the 1949 election, and spent the following twenty years in opposition to the CDU. In 1955 it transformed itself from a workers' party to one that aimed at representing all sections of the population. The first SPD government under Brandt made a profound impact upon German society through its new approach to the German question (Ostpolitik), its social policies, and its liberalization of German society. Under Schmidt, it governed until 1982, when the defection of the Liberal Party (FDP) deprived the government of its majority at national level. In 1990 it became the principal party to govern at the state level, which enabled it also to control the second chamber of the German parliament, the Bundesrat. Ironically, its prominence at the state level made it difficult for the central party to rein in the powerful party barons and present a unified front against the CDU. In 1998 one of the most outspoken state leaders, Schröder, was selected to challenge Kohl. The SPD won the general elections of that year, and formed a coalition with the Green Party. Unlike the first SPD government headed by Brandt, the SPD's election victory was not accompanied by any major ideological shift. Instead, it sought to occupy firmly the electoral centre ground, through moderate policies of fiscal, pension, and health service reform.

http://www.spd.de