Godesberg Program
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Godesberg Program | |
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Original title | Godesberger Programm |
Ratified | 15 November 1959 |
Location | Bad Godesberg |
Signatories | Social Democratic Party of Germany |
Subject | Social democracy |
Purpose | a fundamental change in the orientation and goals of the SPD |
The Godesberg Program (
Overview
The Godesberg Program eliminated the party's remaining
By accepting free-market principles, the SPD argued that a truly
After those changes, the SPD enacted the two major pillars of what would become the modern
The Godesberg program was also notable because the party abandoned and rejected Marxist theories of class conflict and revolution. This was consistent with
Labor unions had abandoned the old demands for nationalization and instead cooperated increasingly with industry, achieving labor representation on corporate boards and increases in wages and benefits. After losing federal elections in 1953 and 1957, the SPD moved toward an American-style image-driven electoral strategy that stressed personalities, specifically Berlin mayor Willy Brandt. As it prepared for the 1961 federal election, it proved necessary as well to drop opposition to rearmament and to accept NATO.[5] The Godesberg Program was superseded in 1989 by the Berlin Program, resolved at the party congress held on 20 December 1989 in Berlin.[6]
See also
- Gaitskellism
- Willi Eichler
- Ethical socialism
- The Future of Socialism
- Gotha Program
- Social democracy
- Reformism
References
- ^ a b c d e Berman 2006, p. 190.
- ^ Orlow 2000, p. 108.
- ^ a b c d Orlow 2000, p. 190.
- ^ a b Adams 2001, p. 108.
- ^ Turner 1987, pp. 80–82.
- ^ Hampton 1986, p. 76; Egle et al. 2008, p. 70.
Sources
- Adams, Ian (2001). Political Ideology Today. Politics Today (2nd reprint, revised ed.). Manchester, England: Manchester University Press. ISBN 9780719060199.
- Berman, Sheri (2006). The Primacy of Politics: Social Democracy and the Making of Europe's Twentieth Century. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521817998.
- Orlow, Dietrich (2000). Common Destiny: A Comparative History of the Dutch, French, and German Social Democratic Parties, 1945–1969 (illustrated, reprinted ed.). New York City, New York: Berghahn Books. ISBN 9781571811851.
- Hampton, Mary N. (1986). Hampton, Mary N.; Søe, Christian (eds.). Between Bonn and Berlin: German Politics Adrift? (illustrated ed.). Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9780847690091.
- Egle, Christoph; Henkes, Christian; Merkel, Wolfgang; Petring, Alexander (2008). Social Democracy in Power: The Capacity to Reform (illustrated ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 9781134071791.
- Turner, Henry Ashby (1987). The Two Germanies Since 1945 (illustrated ed.). New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300038651.
External links
- Berman, Sheri (2008). Understanding Social Democracy (PDF). What's Left of the Left: Liberalism and Social Democracy in a Globalized World. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Minda de Gunzburg Center for European Studies, Harvard University. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 January 2016.
- Social Democratic Party of Germany (15 November 1959). "Godesberg Program" (PDF). German History Documents. Washington, D.C.: German Historical Institute. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
- Social Democratic Party of Germany (15 November 1959). "Godesberg Program" (in German). Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum. Archived from the original on 23 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2010.