Christian Social People's Service

Christian Social People's Service
Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst
LeaderWilhelm Simpfendörfer [de][1]
FoundedDecember 1929; 94 years ago (December 1929)
Dissolved1933; 91 years ago (1933)[2]
Split fromGerman National People's Party
IdeologyChristian democracy
Conservatism
Political Protestantism
Political positionCentre-right to right-wing
Electoral allianceChristian-National Bloc (1933)[a]
Colours  Blue   Grey
Most seats in the Reichstag (1930)
14 / 577
  1. ^ Allied with the German People's Party and German Farmers' Party.
1932 election poster

The Christian Social People's Service (German: Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst, abbreviated CSVD) was a Protestant conservative political party in the Weimar Republic.

The party's genesis lay in Adolf Stoecker's Christian Social party, which joined the German National People's party in 1918,[3] and effectively functioned as the parties labor wing.[4] The Christian social Franz Behrens wrote a substantial amount of the DNVP's 1918 platform, however the Christian socials failed to get the DNVP to endorse trade unions over company unions.[5] The ideological differences over labor rights came to a head when Alfred Hugenberg became leader in 1929 and attacked the employment insurance scheme, which encouraged the Christian socials to consider leaving the party.[6] At the time, the Christian socials represented the moderate tendency within the DNVP, as opposed to the radical nationalist leadership of Alfred Hugenberg.[7] These Christian socials formed the Christliche-soziale Reichsvereinigung [Christian-social Imperial Association], and would actively oppose Hugenberg.[8] What eventuated was a combined expulsion and resignation of the Christian socials,[9] and other conservative elements within the party.[10]

The CSVD drew from other political movements, such as the Christlicher Volksdienst (CVD, Christian People's Service), which dated back to 1924, and drew from Pietists and Christian Trade unions.[11][12] Another Protestant party was the EV (Evangelische Volksgemeinschaft), a Hessian party. Centrist party leaders urged the EV to join with the German-Hanoverian Party to found a Protestant peoples party that would form a vote sharing agreement with the Centre Party.[13] The EV would be absorbed by the CVD in 1929,[14] and the Christian Socials/Christian-social Imperial Association would join with the CVD to form the CSVD in December 1929.[9][15]

The CSVD was mainly supported by middle-class elements,[16] however, it did support the Christian trade unions, and was significantly supported by the league of Christian unions.[17] As a result of the theocratic currents in the parties Calvinist regions, the party supported state welfare, trade unions and workers participation in management.[17] Like the Centre party, the CSVD opposed Materialism, Atheism, Liberalism and Marxism. The party would embrace co-operation with the Centre party.[16] The CSVD was a cabinet party in the second, third and fourth Brunings ministries.[18]

The CSVD portrayed itself as a Protestant version of the Catholic Centre and was mainly supported by middle-class elements. The CSVD contested the 1930 and 1932 parliamentary elections; the party CSVD formed a joint parliamentary group with the Christian-National Peasants' and Farmers' Party in the Reichstag. After the Nazi take-over in 1933, the CSVD was dissolved.

The President of the Federal Republic of Germany Gustav Heinemann (1969–74) was a member of CSVD during the Weimar Republic.

  1. ^ Fahlbusch, Methfessel: Christlich-Sozialer Volksdienst (CSVD) 1929–1933. In: Fricke u. a. (Hrsg.): Lexikon zur Parteiengeschichte. Band 1. 1983, S. 464–470, hier: S. 464.
  2. ^ "Verhandlungen des Deutschen Reichstags". Reichstagsprotokolle. Bayerische Staatsbibliothek. 23 March 1933. Retrieved 7 January 2024. Der Volksdienst [...] ist zu seinem Teil zu der Mitarbeit, die der Herr Reichskanzler in so eindrucksvoller Weise gefordert hat, bereit und gibt deshalb dem Ermächtigungsgesetz seine Zustimmung.
  3. ^ Patch 1985, p. 41.
  4. ^ Patch 2018, p. 15.
  5. ^ Patch 1985, p. 41-2.
  6. ^ Jones 2009, p. 157-8.
  7. ^ Bessel & Feuchtwanger 1981, p. 277.
  8. ^ Ward 1979, p. 220.
  9. ^ a b Patch 1985, p. 152.
  10. ^ Jones 2009, p. 170.
  11. ^ Cary 1996, p. 126.
  12. ^ Neuer 1996, p. 141.
  13. ^ Cary 1996, p. 126-128.
  14. ^ Cary 1996, p. 130.
  15. ^ Bonhoeffer 2012, p. 145.
  16. ^ a b Mitchell 2012, p. 27.
  17. ^ a b Patch 1985, p. 166.
  18. ^ Döring, Huber & Manow 2022.