Germanys’ Social Democratic Parties Formally Merged
Less than one week before German unification, the East and West German Social Democratic parties merged into a single organization and pledged to help the new Germany “find its place in a peaceful Europe.”
When the two countries unite next Wednesday, the Social Democratic Party, or SPD, will be the largest opposition group to the conservative-led government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl in December elections.
Only two of more than 550 delegates at the SPD’s reunification congress voted against the new party’s rules.
“Together we start work, so that for the first time in history Germany can find its place in a peaceful Europe,” the party said in its new manifesto.
“Neither national self-contentment nor even nationalistic exuberance are needed now, but rather solidarity of Germans among themselves,” the statement said. “What is also needed is solidarity with the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe who are treading a new path, and with the majority of mankind, which is faced with bitter poverty,”
Before the vote, former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt told the delegates that “Germany . . . needs social democracy.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
