East Germany Abolishes Communists’ Power Monopoly, Keeps Socialist Label

Parliament abolished the Communist Party’s 40-year guaranteed monopoly on power today but retained East Germany’s designation as a socialist state.

The unexpected move reflects a national fever for swift and thorough reform and was a concession to one of the major demands of pro-democracy opposition groups.

East Germany became the second East European country to abolish the Communists’ guiding role this week in the rapid pace of reforms sweeping the Soviet-allied region. Czechoslovakia’s Parliament scrapped the same provision Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Poland named its first non-Communist government, and Hungary’s Communist Party transformed itself into a Social Democratic party. Bulgaria also has embraced reforms.

The 500-member Peoples Chamber, long a rubber-stamp body that translated Communist Party policy into law, had been scheduled to devote today’s session to discussion of new regulations on foreign travel.

But non-Communist Parliament Speaker Guenther Maleuda opened the session by saying the leaders of all parties represented in the People’s Chamber jointly proposed a constitutional revision to strip the Communists of their guaranteed leading role.

Without debate, a show of hands was called on the motion to drop a passage from Article 1 describing East Germany as “under leadership of the working class and its Marxist-Leninist party.”

The Communist-dominated chamber broke into applause after all but five of the 420 deputies present voted in favor of striking the Communist power monopoly from the constitution. The five abstained.

“This is the best we could have wished for,” said Carla Kawalt of the leading opposition group, New Forum, when told of the decision. “We are very happy with this action.”

The official news agency ADN said the full, 163-member Communist Party Central Committee will meet Sunday to weigh necessary “consequences” on the situation in the party.

The emergency session could decide to expel from the party Honecker and other members of his ousted leadership, after reports of massive corruption.

The party has already expelled top Honecker lieutenant Guenter Mittag, the former economic chief.