Social Democratic Party of Germany Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Abbreviation | SPD |
| General Secretary | Matthias Miersch |
| Co-leaders | |
| Deputy Leaders | |
| Founded | 27 May 1875 |
| Merger of | |
| Headquarters | Willy-Brandt-Haus D-10911 Berlin |
| Newspaper | Vorwärts |
| Student wing | Juso-Hochschulgruppen |
| Youth wing | Young Socialists in the SPD |
| Women's wing | Association of Social Democratic Women |
| LGBT+ wing | SPDqueer |
| Paramilitary wing | Reichsbanner Schwarz-Rot-Gold (1924–33) |
| Membership (2024) |  365,190[1] |
| Ideology | Social democracy Pro-Europeanism |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| European affiliation | Party of European Socialists |
| European Parliament group | Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats |
| International affiliation | Progressive Alliance |
| Colours | Red |
| Bundestag | 207 / 736 |
| State parliaments | 453 / 1,894 |
| European Parliament | 14 / 96 |
| Heads of State Governments | 7 / 16 |
| Party flag | |
 | |
| Website | |
| spd | |
| Part of a series on |
| Social democracy |
|---|
 |
The Social Democratic Party of Germany (German: Sozialdemokratische Partei Deutschlands, [zoˈtsi̯aːldemoˌkʁaːtɪʃə paʁˌtaɪ ˈdɔʏtʃlants], SPD, German pronunciation: [ɛspeːˈdeː] ) is a social democratic[2][3][4] political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together with Lars Klingbeil, who joined her in December 2021. After Olaf Scholz was elected chancellor in 2021, the SPD became the leading party of the federal government, which the SPD formed with the Greens and the Free Democratic Party, after the 2021 federal election. The SPD is a member of 11 of the 16 German state governments and is a leading partner in seven of them.
The SPD was founded in 1875 from a merger of smaller socialist parties, and grew rapidly after the lifting of Germany's repressive Anti-Socialist Laws in 1890 to become the largest socialist party in Western Europe until 1933. In 1891, it adopted its Marxist-influenced Erfurt Program, though in practice it was moderate and focused on building working-class organizations. In the 1912 federal election, the SPD won 34.8 percent of votes and became the largest party in the Reichstag, but was still excluded from government. After the start of the First World War in 1914, the party split between a pro-war mainstream and the anti-war Independent Social Democratic Party, some members of which later formed the Communist Party of Germany (KPD). The SPD played a leading role in the German revolution of 1918–1919 and in the foundation of the Weimar Republic. The SPD politician Friedrich Ebert served as the first president of Germany from 1919 to 1925.
After the rise of the Nazi Party to power, the SPD was the only party in the Reichstag which voted against the Enabling Act of 1933; the SPD was subsequently banned, and operated in exile as the Sopade. After the Second World War from 1939 to 1945, the SPD was re-established. In East Germany, it merged with the KPD under duress to form the Socialist Unity Party of Germany. In West Germany, the SPD became one of two major parties alongside the CDU/CSU. In its Godesberg Program of 1959, the SPD dropped its commitment to Marxism, becoming a big tent party of the centre-left. The SPD led the federal government from 1969 to 1982 (under Willy Brandt and Helmut Schmidt), 1998 to 2005 (under Gerhard Schröder) and again since 2021. It served as a junior partner to a CDU/CSU-led government from 1966 to 1969, 2005 to 2009 and from 2013 to 2021. During Scholz's chancellorship, the party has set out principles of a new German defence policy in the Zeitenwende speech.[5]
The SPD holds pro-European stances and is a member of the Party of European Socialists and sits with the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats group in the European Parliament.[6][7] With 14 MEPs, it is the third largest party in the group. The SPD was a founding member of the Socialist International, but the party left in 2013 after criticising its acceptance of parties they consider to be violating human rights.[8] The SPD subsequently founded the Progressive Alliance[9][10][11] and was joined by numerous other parties around the world. Previously, the SPD was a founding member of both the Second International and the Labour and Socialist International.
- ^ "Bilanz für 2023: SPD verliert fast 15.000 Mitglieder".
- ^ Merkel, Wolfgang; Petring, Alexander; Henkes, Christian; Egle, Christoph (2008). Social Democracy in Power: the capacity to reform. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-415-43820-9.
- ^ Almeida, Dimitri (2012). The Impact of European Integration on Political Parties: Beyond the Permissive Consensus. CRC Press. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-136-34039-0. Retrieved 14 July 2013.
- ^ Ashley Lavelle (2013). The Death of Social Democracy: Political Consequences in the 21st Century. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 7. ISBN 978-1-4094-9872-8. Retrieved 18 July 2013.
- ^ Barber, Tony (23 December 2022). "Year in a word: Zeitenwende". Financial Times. Retrieved 26 February 2024.
- ^ "Where German parties stand on Europe". politico.eu. Politico. 28 August 2017.
- ^ Buck, Tobias (16 May 2019). "Germany's SPD targets voters' emotions with EU poll campaign". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022.
- ^ "SPD will Sozialistischer Internationale den Geldhahn zudrehen und den Mitgliedsbeitrag nicht zahlen". Der Spiegel (in German). 22 January 2012. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 28 September 2021.
- ^ "Progressive Alliance: Sozialdemokraten gründen weltweites Netzwerk". Der Spiegel. Hamburg, Germany. 22 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^ Sattar, Majid (22 May 2013). "Sozialdemokratie: "Progressive Alliance" gegründet". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 10 May 2015.
- ^ "Sozialistische Internationale hat ausgedient: SPD gründet "Progressive Alliance"". 22 May 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2015.